The alarm clock was not a sign of the time to get up. It was Mom yelling at the door to get up and turn off the alarm. Jon leaned over, turned off the alarm and lay back in bed. Just for a moment, no risk of falling asleep. The quiet of the alarm-less room was certainly better. He tried to assemble the dream he’d just been having, the bits and pieces scattering like clouds. There was…
No, it was gone. Probably something about being April. He was sure thinking about it a lot before going to bed. It’s hard to say that there was any planning or logic that went into those thoughts, but they were enjoyable. All he had to show, really, was a half-forgotten list of ideas that hadn’t faded with the trip to dreamland. And at the top of the list was a small alteration of the core transformation.
“I wish that sticking my hand into a shower's water counted as entering the shower”
There. Now there was no need to get wet feet for a quick transformation. Or wet clothes, which was the actual concern. Being able to change form without needing to get dressed and undressed was just going to make everything easier.
The second wish was also going to make things easier.
“I wish I had a small terrarium on my windowsill that had a small shower that would count as enough of a shower to transform me.”
And on the windowsill, such a terrarium did appear. It was maybe seven inches long and four inches wide. A bunch of green plants pressed up against the side, and a small reservoir and a showerhead pointed down into the tank. There was plenty of room to get a hand under it, but it didn’t look like it could make a mess at all. Perfect.
One of the other items on his list was to play a practical joke. Karyn was going to be so surprised when April ended up next to her in gym class. And that wasn’t the only part of the prank.
Jon began the process of getting ready, putting his homework in his bag, putting the wishing stone back in the box and hiding behind the loose panel of his bed, and most importantly, dressing for the day. While he had thought about April wearing all sorts of things, he wasn’t confident in his ability to dress as a girl. So, shortcuts!
With his backpack on, he strode over to his terrarium and began building April in his head.
This April was going to be just a regular high school girl. Probably one that looked a lot like him. Like a sister that didn’t dye her hair. He focused on two key aspects. The first was on her school schedule. The rest didn’t matter, but having 2nd hour with Karyn was key. That was the core of the whole prank, after all.
The second thing was that April was wearing a school uniform. Specifically, she was wearing a uniform that was enforced by Lakeview High School. Plaid skirt, red jacket, button up blouse. It was the standard attire, so of course, April would wear it. That’s what uniforms meant, right?
With those two items fixed firmly in his mind, he started the little terrarium shower and placed a hand underneath it. The water was surprisingly warm, less surprising if you remember Jon’s previous wish that showers he turns on have an infinite amount of comfortably hot water.
April looked down at her outfit, and then around the room. A flu length mirror had manifested itself with the changing of the room. All of the furniture was different, themed white with pastel pink highlights. It wasn’t nearly as pink as the Princess Peach from last night, but there was enough that the set of furniture was obviously for a girl.
The uniform looked cute enough. The backpack had a few keychains dangling from it, demonstrating April’s gamer girl cred. Jon’s Skyrim poster was missing, but there was a chibi Astarion doll on the bed, so that probably canceled out? The bed had been made, by the way, and April’s clothes were in the hamper and not wherever Jon had left them, and that’s all April was going to think about that.
Giving herself a wink and a pair of Vs in a cutesy anime pose in the mirror, April went on to breakfast.
