Split-second thinking hadn't always been Jon's best quality, but this time he even surprised himself. He held the stone in his hand again, the red ruby smooth rock clutched in his pink-frosted claws. There was no way he could just wish to be himself again -- with Sarah remembering that he had changed back, she'd stop at nothing to ruin him after he made his wish. So, he decided to make sure the stone went where any other sophomore girl would put anything important.
"I wish the stone was away from me and inside my purse!"
A quick flash, and the stone was gone. Safely back at home in the hundred she had hanging on the carousel in her walk in closet - smashed somewhere between the Coach and the Marc Jacobs, the sequined skull-and-crossbones and the white leather clutch. He wasn't always great at split-second thinking, but this time, he had won.
Whirling around to look Sarah in the eyes, Jon threw his arms to his hips, spread his feet apart, and gave her a smug smirk. He had to gloat. Jon was the winner, and Sarah was the loser. The second he got back home, it was bye bye McMillan life.
Sarah stood there unfazed and started to laugh. Louder and louder she cackled until Jon couldn't take it anymore.
"I won, Sarah - that's it. I won and you lost. Take a good look at your precious little sister one more time because she won't be home for dinner." The condescending tone oozed into every word uttered. He proceeded to muss his hair for added effect. "Too bad, too -- I was thinking of taking you on for Captain next season. Varsity's really going to miss out." He tossed his hair back and waited for Sarah's comeback.
"Don't you see why I'm laughing, PAIGE? I haven't lost at all. Just look at yourself. Look at how you're standing, how you're acting "
Jon's brow furrowed as he listened.
" the way you manipulate your friends to get you things, your general distaste for anything not designer, how you can't leave anywhere without first looking at yourself in a mirror. You're just like me!
You're wrong, Jon. I've won. I'm the queen, and you're heir to the throne. You took on that title the second you stepped into those pink high-heels. The second you moulded your best friend Karyn into your perfect #2!"
Jon turned to look at Karyn as the confidence evaporated from his posture. Was Sarah right? While he was fighting to get back to normalcy did he become exactly what he was fighting against? What had he done to Karyn? The questions consumed him. He just wished that he could lay for a while at the tanning booth -- it was where he got his best thinking done.
"Aw, don't worry sis. Just embrace it. Like me. When I'm gone, you'll be the most popular girl in school. You'll be more than pretty, you'll be perfection.
There aren't many girls who can say that they were head cheerleader, fashion club president, and prom queen, but it'll be yours for the taking. And then after high school, you'll get to do it all again - being fun and having fun until you're walking around in lingerie and a silk robe, sipping champagne at two in the afternoon with the rest of the well-kept housewives.
Just think about it sweetheart. You're more Paige than you are Jon now. Think your life will be any better? After all you've been through, think you could ever go back now?"
Jon's head was a puddle of mush -- how could he have not noticed all of this happening? The things she was saying did sound great, but Sarah was evil! He could never be like that, could he? No, and he wasn't going to give in. McMillans never gave in. He shook his head twice to clear the cobwebs.
As if on cue, Karyn's eyes lit up giddy as a child on Christmas morning.
"Omg! Paige, Paige, Paiiiiiige!" She stamped her feet with boundless energy, "I've got that that red shiny thingy you were holding earlier! Good thing I grabbed your purse off the bleachers right? God it's so like, heavy and stuff, wouldn't it make a super cute necklace though?"
