Paige lay in her bed, under her own pink blankets and sheets, staring at a point of light on the ceiling. The night sky seemed to exist there on the ceiling, the product of a night light with holes in the cover to give the impression of a crescent moon and stars.
Her bedroom was almost as large as Sarah's room, and had a similar pink and white motif. Before she had turned the light off however, Paige noted that while Sarah's room had an elegance to it, her own room bore more of a childish playfulness. The pink baseboards were the same color, but had a pattern of pigs and cows and sheep. The pictures on the walls included a Harry Potter poster, some Anime characters that she did not recognize, Lizzie McGuire, iCarly, and oh my god she couldn't believe this was her room.
Her thoughts were not upon how girly everything was though. Instead, she was mentally replaying the converstion she'd had with her older sister about an hour earlier.
After she had finished crying, Sarah gave her some facts. "I made some wishes, but don't be afraid." As if she could be anything else. "I know a lot about what my wish did, but I can't tell you too much. Suffice it to say, you will understand me by the time this wish is fully granted."
That had opened up some interesting possibilities to Paige, and the various braincells that had given up entirely before sat up and took notice now. They began working on ideas in the background while the rest continued to deal with the present.
"To be honest, I am SO sorry that I did this to you." Yeah, right. "Do you think I wanted a little sister? Or a little brother??" Ok, that was something Paige could believe. "But now that I have you, things are, different."
Paige couldn't help but smile at the humor she felt from her response, "No shit." Even Sarah had chuckled at that. When she said that, Sarah finally let her go and sat down on the desk chair. Paige didn't want to admit it, but that separation felt terrible. She wasn't going to hug Sarah on her own though.
Sarah dropped a bombshell on Paige after that. "I know what I've done to you and who you are inside, and I'm sure you'll consider yourself a lesbian." Fear made Paige unable to react then, and then shock kept her still when Sarah continued. "I don't expect you to have to give that too much thought until you are older, and then if you are still attracted to females, well, I don't have a problem with that." This time it had cost her something to say the words. Her hesitation at that last part was particularly telling.
Then Sarah invited a discussion on this statement and the girls discussed briefly the fact that their mother would push her to consider the kinds of boys she would eventually date. "I only ask that you keep an open mind and don't rock the boat with mom and dad on this unless you have to." Unsure what she meant, Paige pledged to nod and say "ok" when appropriate to forestall any arguments.
The rest of their conversation was downright casual compared to this as Sarah explained some new parts of this reality she had learned from the wishes. Karyn and the Merlin family knew nothing of Paige McMillan. In fact, in an ironic twist, Karyn had actually tried out for, and made, the cheerleading squad last year, but after a week decided that it wasn't for her. They had been friendly since, though not close enough friends that they hang out.
Sarah outlined the life she lived as Paige, which included things like ballet practice, piano lessons and being daddy's girl a lot. Sarah offered to help, in a non-wish capacity, in any way she could, but due to the way the wish was going to work itself out, they would really be sisters, which would include some disagreements and tension that was only natural between siblings.
Paige continued to stare up into the sky on her ceiling. An itch on her leg absentmindedly sent her fingers to scratch and some more braincells woke up to the fact that she was female.
