A quick look at the clock in the hallway told me that I only had ten minutes left. I dug the wishing stone back out and held it firmly in my hand while I tried to think of what to wish for. I murmured quietly, "I wish that everybody else would not be surprized to see me as a were-leopardess." I felt the wish take hold and relaxed. "There."
Karyn looked at me oddly. "You could have just changed back to your normal human self, you know, and then no one would have noticed anything," she whispered to me. "Why did you make that wish?"
I felt my tail freeze. She was right -- why had I made that wish? "I... I don't know," I said lamely. "Just the first thing that came to mind."
"Jonni!" she said, exasperated. "You can't just blurt out whatever comes to your mind when you're using that -- it's too dangerous!"
My ears went flat in embarassment. "I know, I know." I put the stone back in its box and back in my backpack. "I'll wait until I get home before doing anything else. I'll work out something better."
Karyn tilted her head and studied me. "Of course, you know, that wish certainly makes it easier for Mark to see more of you like this. Can you still change back?" she asked with concern.
I paused and felt my fur bristle. A glance at the clock showed I still had a couple minutes left before noon. I quickly wanted to be back to my normal human self and I was, then tried being an eagle again but with my human mind, and that worked, too. I changed back. "Yes, I can still change into what ever I want," I said, relieved.
Karyn gave me another odd look and I realized I had changed back into being a morphic leopardess. I looked at myself, then at Karyn. "Uh... I wasn't thinking. It just felt... um..."
"Natural?" Karyn asked.
I felt my ears flush as I nodded. Before I could say anything the noon bell went off. Students started rushing by to get to the lunch room I tried not to look around nervously to see how they reacted to me. No one seemed to be surprised, but I noticed that some of the guys seemed to be looking at me like... I was an attractive morphic leopardess. I started digging the stone back out. "I got to..."
Karyn grabbed my arm firmly. "No!" she hissed quietly. "Don't make any more wishes without thinking! Don't panic. We'll figure out something later." She started dragging me to the lunch room. "It's not like you're stuck in a zoo or something -- things could be worse! I guess everyone just thinks you're... a cute leopardess!" She grinned and giggled quietly as she hauled me into the cafeteria line. "Just hush and enjoy it for now. We'll fix it later."
"You're right, Karyn." I forced myself to be calm. At least I tried to keep a calm expression, though my tail kept twitching behind me as I stood in the cafeteria line with Karyn.
None of the cooks noticed anything different about me, sort of. One told me firmly that I was not going to get any extra meat today and to eat my vegetables as a human -- school nurse's orders. Karyn and I looked at each other, startled by this. I stammered a "Yes, ma'am," and moved on. Human? Well, if people thought I was a were-leopardess, then that meant I had a human form, too, which would be...
It only took a brief thought in that direction, and I found myself a human... female. My clothes only changed a little. I found myself an inch shorter than Karyn now -- and briefly jealous that she had a large bust than I did because of her wish. "Uh..."
Karyn tired not to giggle. "Well, that's different," she murmured. I found myself joining her at a cafeteria table like I often did, except this time her friends Mary and Joelle joined us, too, and started chatting with us.
"So watcha doing tonight, you two?" Mary asked.
"Jonni and I are going to go help Mark and Zach with their homework tonight," Karyn said. I almost tried to stop her, but then decided I should just keep quiet -- Joelle and Mary might think this was a regular lunch for them, but it was a new thing for me!
"Ooh! You two finally dating a bit?" Joelle asked, teasing. "And Mark and Zach... not a bad catch!"
"We're just helping them with their homework," I said defensively.
"Uh-huh," Mary said, smirking.
Lunch did not get any better after that. By the time the class bell ended, both Karyn and I were blushing, though I far more than her! I was glad to escape from the cafeteria. I double checked my class schedule, rattled enough to forget which was my next class, and found that my schedule had changed -- it listed a new room number that I didn't remember. I told Karyn I'd catch her at the end of the day and hurried towards the room.
It was a small room just off of the infirmary. Inside the school nurse looked up as I came in. "Hello, Jonni." I noticed that the wall had a chart of a human being and a second one of a leopard tacked up beside it. "I know you don't like these courses on being a lycanthrope, but I'm glad to see you're on time today. Now then..."
Geeze! I don't believe it! School can take the fun out of anything, even being a were-creature! I sighed, but at least it took my mind off this evening's date! I mean, not date, study session!
