Weekdays had the best nights to pull this off. Especially toward the beginning of the week. When Susan left for shoots, Sarah had late practices, and Mr. McMillan had his weekly status meeting with the rest of the executive board, they could slip in, grab the stone, and slip out. The looming, pitch-black mansion on the northeast side of town told Jon that his instincts were right. No one was in the main house - and, if real-McMillan life was anything like how he experienced it in the dream, the back door would be left unlocked.
He and Karyn had gone through the plan a million times, just to be sure they were both on the same page. The stone would be in one of three places. They were where Sarah hid all of her important things; the pool house, chest of drawers, third from the top; the basement, dance studio, in the secret compartment under the dull blue tumbling mat; or Jon's hunch, the captain's bedroom, either placed in the hidden shelf beneath Sarah's vanity, or jumbled in her underwear drawer. To be fast, they'd have to split up. They'd both start with the pool house, but after getting in the back door, Jon would head up, and Karyn would head down the stairs. They'd both check their specified areas, leave after their part was finished, and meet back at the thick row of hedges that made up the border between the McMillan front yard and the sidewalk. They each had ten minutes to get through their task, and a five minute bumper to meet up and getaway together. They couldn't leave each other behind, but if push came to shove, Jon and Karyn both accepted the risks. At least the cover that Sarah's friends always were hanging out around the house made them easier to face.
To Jon though, those risks paled in comparison to his anxiousness to get the stone. It had only been two days since Sarah's wish ended, but he still felt like he was losing it. His daydreams hadn't changed back. Instead of dreaming about scoring points while shooting up the competition in Half-Life multiplayer, he found himself scoring rewards points on his credit card while he shopped for the perfect prom dress. The worst thing was, some of the Paige reflexes were popping up in his daily life, like the way Karyn had to stop him when he ordered a light salad for lunch earlier in the day. But the problem was, he wanted that salad, just like how he wanted that prom dress after waking up, which was what frightened him most.
Getting into the pool house was easy enough, but like Jon suspected, there was a slim chance they'd find anything there, which lead the duo to the back door. Jon jiggled the knob, and the door swung open with ease. No noise, no issue, nothing. Jon silently pointed down to Karyn who slipped away into the dark stairwell. And now he was alone. He had never been in this house before, yet he had so many times. The massive corridors that connected the sections of the McMillan home stretched before him, as he tiptoed through the kitchen, along the wall in the den, and up the half-spiraled staircase that lead to the bedrooms. He counted off steps in his mind. The dim light shown by the strategically placed night lights did little to help him find his way. And then, he was there. Jon tentatively rotated the knob to free the door and pushed, which put him at the threshold of Sarah's room.
Chats, gossip, and makeup. That's what Jon remembered most about this room. If the carnation-colored walls could talk, they'd be holding on to Lake Point High School's deepest secrets. If they could see, they could have filled ten seasons' worth of look books with the amount of private fashion shows taking place in front of the full-length mirrors strategically placed to accentuate, and exaggerate all curves and angles. The vanity to the far left corner was a massive brute. With a queen-sized padded chair and line after line of cosmetics arranged by color and function, when it came to makeup, Sarah didn't mess around. Jon made his way there first. and dove his hand deep underneath the table.
Nothing! And he was so sure that he'd at least find something worthwhile.
He swiveled his head to the chest of drawers. The riskiest search of the night. Finding a boy in Sarah's room was one thing, but finding that same boy with his hand plunged into her underwear drawer was a whole new level. Unfortunately, he was the only one uniquely suited to the task, having experienced a look inside the drawer many times before, while Sarah got ready for school.
His hands went right into the center of the cool pile of light, snug-fitting garments without as much as a peep. He felt around between the hipsters, bikinis, thongs, tangas, and the rest, but still still had no luck making contact with the stone. Jon shut the drawer, then thought better of it and opened the drawer once more to snap up a neon yellow G-string for Leonard and stuffed it into his coat. If anything was to come from this disappointment, at least he could give his half-friend, all-nerd a thrill. He checked his watch - still a few minutes early.
Jon stepped back into the hallway and looked both ways. His rational mind told him to get out of there as fast as he could, but with the extra minutes, Jon wanted to explore just one more thing; he had to know what had happened to his old bedroom. If the stone worked the way he thought it did, odds are there wouldn't be a room at all, but maybe when the wish ended, the room became an empty guest room - it could've been confidence, or stupidity, but he wanted to find out.
The main second floor corridor stretched on forever in front of Jon. As he stepped forward, a flash filled the hallway. He stepped backward, worrying that it came from the stone, but then made his move forward, as he heard the comforting sound of thunder a few moments later. The weatherman did say it was supposed to rain later that night, didn't he? Jon continued down the hallway until he came to the door he was looking for. The moonlight from the window inside the room cast a light that eerily glowed from beneath the doorway. Jon opened the door to find through the darkness, the bedroom just as fully furnished as he remembered. Everything was still there, from the walk-in closet to the window treatments he picked out what seemed to be a couple of months ago but in reality was never. Another flash of lightning lit the room up, and to his surprise, he made out a solemn figure looking out the window. He'd recognize that hairstyle anywhere.
"Karyn, what are you doing here?," he whispered. "We've got to get out of here, and fast!" As she slowly began to turn around to face him, Jon was able to get a better look at his friend, and he was beginning to get confused. They had both come in all black sweatsuits and black hats to stealthily move around the house, but now Karyn was wearing a skirt. A short white skirt trimmed with navy blue and gold. Her top had changed, too. Now, it was more of a tank top, with no sleeves, but in the same material as the skirt. As she faced him directly, he could finally make out what the words were pushed out on the front of her top were, if you could call them words. LPHS. Jon dropped his flashlight. He knew that outfit anywhere. Karyn was wearing a cheerleader uniform. As she stepped closer, the vacant smile on her face alerted Jon that this Karyn wasn't the one he came with earlier. He took two more steps backward, when a light clicked on at the computer desk.
It was Sarah. And she was holding the stone.
"Paige! This makes me so happy, I just KNEW you'd come back!"
