Wishes were dangerous, and Shawn knew that. She had made one big wish to try to fix her life a little bit to be what it was like as Jon, but even that took a lot of planning and checking the wish to make absolutely sure it was okay.
And even that had side effects.
It was possible to talk to Mia at lunch, at least. School was safe from her parents. Shawn looked around the cafeteria and waited until she got on the line, so they could get lunch together. "Mia," she said, "I need to say something to you."
"It's not your fault, Shawn," she replied. "My parents are just bitches."
"It is, Mia. Look, there are things going on that are... hard to explain. Things you have no idea about, things you couldn't possibly figure out."
"Are you trying to make me feel better? Because I don't get it."
"No! I mean yes! But not like you think. I told you it's something you can't figure out. I really mean it. You just can't figure it out. Please don't try, it won't work. Let's go find a table."
Mia eyed Shawn, as if trying to figure it out anyway. But she said "All right. Go ahead."
Shawn got a burger and drink and didn't say another word. After they were rung up and she had led Mia over to a table, she sat down. "I think I made you a lesbian," she said.
Mia cracked a smile. "I don't think anyone's pretty enough to make straight girls into lesbians."
"But I... oh, I may as well do it. Mia, if you could have one wish and it was something you could see the effects of, what would it be?"
"I want my parents to figure out it's the 21st Century and not tell me who to date! Stop stringing me along and say what you're going to say."
"I didn't mean it that way. Just name, uh, some food you'd rather have than cafeteria food."
"How about a piece of pecan pie?"
"All right." Shawn reached into her pocket and then said, "I wish Mia has a piece of pecan pie, without changing any reality."
Mia rubbed her eyes at a sudden irritation and then... a piece of pecan pie was on the table. She yelped and poked a fork into it, then tasted the end of the fork to convince herself it was real. "I... okay, I want a million dollars."
"It'd never fit on the table."
"Fine. I want a pink blouse just like the green one I'm wearing. Oh, and you have to wear it."
"I wish I'm wearing a blouse just like Mia's, but my size and pink."
A moment later, Shawn was. Mia gaped. "It happened!" she exclaimed. "It really happened!" She reached for Shawn's chest and touched the blouse. "You ought to wear more pink," she said. "But to have that happen by wishing... I can't believe this is real. Are you a genie?"
"No, Mia. One day I find out that my grandfather died, and he left me a magic stone. I got the stone and I thought he was nuts, until I tried it a couple of times. You know Karyn's blonde hair? And her breasts? She wished that up by accident."
"So she wanted to be like Sarah."
"Yeah, but only a bit. She didn't expect it could happen. And these wishes are one way. Once you made a wish, you can't reverse it. Which is how we get to...."
A realization came over Mia and she rubbed her eyes. She got up, nearly crying. "What did you do, Shawn? You said it's your fault. That means you made a wish. You made my parents hate me? You made me a lesbian? My god, you sit here making desserts and clothes and it's all because you ruined my life...."
"No, I didn't, Mia! Sit down, please. That's not the whole story."
She did sit down but said "Fine. Tell me your whole story."
"My name's not Shawn. It's Jon. I'm a guy, or I was. There was this accident where Mom wished I'd know what it was like to carry around big breasts. It was either grope girls without ever being able to stop, or become a girl with my own breasts. I chose the girl. So now we're in a new reality, a reality where I've always been a girl. If you dated me, that means you're a lesbian. I didn't make you into a lesbian on purpose. It's just that if I become a girl and I keep my past the same, it automatically works like that."
"Then you did...."
"I did. I'm sorry, it wasn't supposed to be that way." Thoughts raced through Shawn's head. She had just confessed the truth and Mia didn't like it one bit, and she could hardly blame her. As Mia started crying, however, Shawn realized something. "Wait a minute."
Mia just kept sobbing.
"Wait a minute, Mia. We broke up. Tell me why we broke up?"
"B-- because I got tired of hiding it and I didn't know how to handle it?"
"That's what you remember in this reality. It's not what happened. We broke up because there was never anything between us. Don't you see? I didn't make you a lesbian. We broke up because you already were. If we had broken up for any reason other than that, there wouldn't be any difference between why we broke up in the old reality and the new one."
"Then you didn't do anything?" she asked hopefully, rubbing the tears out of her eyes.
"Not to you. Only to myself... and I suppose making myself a girl caused the trouble with your parents finding out, but if they're like that it would happen sooner or later. Now Mia, you may have bad parents, but I have a magic wishing stone. There's no need for you to put up with what you've been putting up with....."
