"So," Jon faced directly at Sarah, crossed his legs, and leaned in. "I got a wishing stone from my grandfather, and Karyn and I have been using it to make our lives better," he said with matter-of-fact, slightly smug enthusiasm.
Sarah had absolutely no response. Whatever she had expected Jon to say, this completely wasn't it. Her mouth opened slightly, but no noise came out. She simply stared, dumbstruck.
On the inside, Jon was fighting every compulsion that had been copied onto him. He heard a voice like Sarah's say, This is too good to keep secret, and who doesn't love a little gossip? He head Mrs. Kline admonish, But let's make sure we deliver this story well so it's memorable! And Karyn's voice piping in, You're not fully beholden to this, Jon, you have some wiggle room.
Jon tried to think as fast as he could. Sarah loves gossip- but wait, she's meticulous with what she shares out. There's got to be some freedom in that. We can gossip about this, but let's do it like Sarah would do it!
He found himself propping his chin on one hand, with his elbow on his knee. He felt himself sharing a sly smile. "I know how that sounds, but it's entirely true. I was just another average, lame dweeb before showing up to school today, and now I'm pulling off looks that have most other guys and girls here saying I'm one of the hottest people in the school."
Lame dweeb? Ok, that's DEFINITELY Sarah coming through, he thought.
Sarah's eyes had narrowed at this point. "A magic stone. Really."
"You wanted to know my secret, but that's the truth," Jon smirked. "And now I've got the same muscles as Biff, the same hair as Jennifer, the same confidence as Mrs. Kline, and the same absolutely incredible manhood as Steve."
Sarah was completely skeptical. "You've always been like that, Jon. If you really had something kind of all powerful magic, then Karyn wouldn't be the same loser she's always been."
Jon shrugged nonchalantly. "Oh, she'll get her turn, we're just more focused on me today."
Sarah rolled her eyes. "Let me see this stupid rock, then."
Jon found himself batting his eyes (perfect showmanship, Mrs. Kline approved), and he was grinning. "Oh, Karyn has it at the moment. And anyway, we're not dumb, we made sure that no one else besides the two of us can make a wish on it."
"So your reason for why you, one of the hottest guys in school is going on a date with a total loser is because you have a magic rock that you can't show me and barely works if it even exists," Sarah drawled out. "That is the most bullshit I think I've ever heard for something that you can't even prove."
Jon reached up and pulled his sunglasses off. To Sarah, it looked like he'd made the glasses appear out of thin air. She stumbled back in her chair.
"I guess you must be right, Sarah." Jon slid them on Sarah's face, and watched the glasses disappear, then watched her stare back at him with a rapid series of different expressions on her face, all some form of bewilderment. He quickly plucked them back off her face and pushed them on his own face. "As you said... total bullshit."
Jon turned back to face forward, and tried attacking the math problems in the worksheet. He could hear Mrs. Kline voice applauding his performance, he could hear Karyn's voice thinking that he threaded the needle, and he could hear his internal Sarah's voice salivating over how juicy that secret was. Karyn and I are going to have to figure out how to block these copies from happening. Or maybe just slow it down so we have time to work out how to respond and cross them off before they set in?
Ten minutes had passed during which he'd been completely caught up in his own thoughts, until he felt Sarah tapping him on the shoulder. He turned, and she had her phone held out to him. "Jon, the call's for you," she said, straight-faced.
"What?" he was confused.
Sarah gave him a weird look. "I don't know, my phone was buzzing and they asked to talk to you." She shoved her phone into his hand.
Jon narrowed his eyes at her as he slowly raised the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Monsieur Jon?" he heard a timid woman with a French accent say.
"Um, yeah, who is this?" He looked at Sarah, confused. She continued
"My name is Mollie Giraud? I am the maid for the McMillans? And Miss Sarah says to say that you need to always do what she says."
Jon's eyes widened. Oh shit. Oh shit oh shit. And in instant response, a slow, utterly wicked grin broke across Sarah's face.
"Here," Jon heard Mollie say. "Copy off me."
He felt a slight surge hit his ear. The phone fell out of his hand, which Sarah quickly darted forward and caught before it hit the ground.
"Thank you, Mollie, that will be all for now," Sarah said, hanging up immediately. She tossed her phone in her purse, and leaned forward to Jon, delight dancing in her eyes. "Now Jon, give me those glasses back."
Without thinking, Jon reached up, pulled them off, and handed them to Sarah, his head slightly bowed in deference. She pleasantly took the glasses and placed them on her face, and they disappeared from Jon's view. She tilted her head at him. "There's that loser dweeb you really are, Jon. And wow, he looks really, really scared right now." Her grin widened even further as she practically bared her teeth, a lion salivating over the prey it had just captured. "Let's figure out how we make that loser feel even worse."
