Jon and Karyn

Jon was waiting anxiously, his leg shacking with anticipation as he stared at the mysterious box before him. He'd been the only one home that morning when he'd heard the soft knock on the front door, signalling the arrival of a guest. The last thing he'd expected was a beautifully carved wooden box with the note - the note that said he'd just been given world shattering powers.

A wishing rock.

According to the note, all he had to do was hold the thing and say "I wish" and whatever followed would suddenly be reality. Anything his heart desired - fame, money, sex. All could be his. He knew of the rock's power; after all, he'd tested it. Now he was waiting for Karyn.

Karyn was a childhood friend. She and Jon did everything together, having grown up as neighbors - the only two kids on the whole block. They'd been inseparable ever since. As it seemed to be for all young friendships between a boy and a girl, they'd always been teased that they'd eventually end up together, often told that they made a cute couple. And, in their early highschool years, Jon had in fact harbored feelings for his young friend. But Karyn, who knew him inside out, caught on early and told him she wasn't interested. Not wanting to lose the friendship, he'd done his best efforts to move on and both were convinced they were closer because of it. Some friendships weren't meant to be complicated.

He'd heard her familiar knock on his front door, signalling her arrival. Rushing to open it, he greeted her with a grin. She was wearing her usual get-up of scruffy old slacks and her favorite worn old green jumper. Her short red hair was in its normal unruly state and she displayed her quirky grin as she stood beyond the threshold. Even now, with his feelings long since passed, he couldn't help but find her cute.

"Hey, Jon! How's it going? You been good?"

He shrugged, still grinning sheepishly. "I'm well, doing good. Yourself?"

She shrugged in return, "You know, same-old, same-old. What's up? You sounded pretty anxious on the phone." She asked while stepping into the abode.

He chuckled, suddenly nervous. Despite how close he and Karyn were, he doubted she'd believe what he was about to say. "I... Um... It's probably best if I just show you."

Jon couldn't keep his emotions in check while Karyn read the note. The pair had rushed to his room and he'd given her the mysterious paper and let her discover it on her own. It wasn't long before she Karyn finished reading the note, looking at him accusingly. "Is this a wind up, because it's not funny if it is?" He shook his head. "No way! You can't be serious. If this note is real, Some stranger came to your porch and has left behind a magic Inca stone which grants wishes."

Jon nodded. "Yep."

"And you expect me to believe that?"

"Yep."

"Not a chance." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I mean, I'm as open minded as the next girl, but this is just plain silly."

He sighed, knowing this would happen. "You don't believe me? Fine, I'll show you - when I first got it, I held it and wished that my bed wasn't just a twin anymore. Instead, I turned it into a king, with an expansion to my room to boot!"

She scoffed at his words, quickly glancing around the bedroom. "Please, you've always had that mattress. And your room hasn't changed since the last time I saw it! If this isn't a joke, you'll have to do better than that."

"Alright," He said, standing and bringing her to the window which overlooked his yard. As they moved, he reached over and grabbed the wishing rock. "How about something practical? See that branch?" He indicated a piece of wood that had fallen off one of the nearby trees. "I wish the bark on that branch was blue."

While the stone gently burned in his hand, he was once again washed by that sensation of change. It was like momentarily getting something in one's eye, forcing them to be unable to look at the object the wish was affecting. Karyn, stranger to the feeling, was obviously a little taken aback by the new sensation.

"Hey, weird, it was like..." Then she caught sight of the branch. Which was bright blue. "Holy shit!"

"Impressive, huh?"

"My god, it really works!?" She was agape.

"It does indeed. Wanna see the scary part?" Jon grasped the stone again and wished for the branch to be red.

Nothing happened.

"Why didn't it work?" asked Karyn, looking puzzled.

"Because it was contradictory to a previous wish. Basically, you can't undo wishes, which is what makes this thing so scary to me. I tried changing my room back to the way it was previously and, obviously, I was unsuccessful."

"You aren't kidding, that is scary!"

"There is, however, some room for movement: I wish the branch was very dark blue." The sensation was felt by both of them again and when they looked, the branch was indeed a dark, almost black blue, which was a lot more innocuous than the bright blue it had been moments ago. "So, you see I was able to make a new wish which didn't contradict the old one and have it work. The branch is still blue. However, if I was to try and move the branch back to its previous brighter blue, that would fail as it contradicts the latest wish."

Karyn was clearly astounded. "This is great. Scary but great. We can have lots of fun with this. But... if you were suddenly given this power, why invite me over? Surely you could have..." Her voice trailed as she realized something. "Oh god, you haven't changed anything major already, have you?!"

At her accusation, he raised in hands in defense, stepping back slightly. "God Karyn, wait no! I haven't. I invited you over because it seems very dangerous to me. I'm thinking of just locking it away and throwing away the key. I wanted a second opinion first."

She stared at him like he was an idiot. "You can't be serious. You have the most amazing discovery ever, and you want to lock it away?! How about this: how about we try it out for a while and if anything disastrous happens or looks like happening, then we'll decide to put it somewhere safe."

He paused, unable to deny that she was making a reasonable amount of sense. "Okay. We'll use it for a week, but not for anything drastic. We'll have a little fun and nothing more. Agreed?"

"Sure thing. Can I have a go?" Jon felt the urge to sigh. He'd been worried she'd ask. Karyn had always been the more outgoing one of the two. Not that he had any intentions of refusing her if she did. With everything they've been through together, he knew he could trust her.

Karyn fingered the stone, passing it from hand to hand, feeling it in her fingers. The first thing she tried was wishing the branch back to light blue, with no success. She was just contemplating changing the color of her shoes to better match her old slacks when a sound broke out from her purse.

Her phone buzzed, the jingle signaling a new text.

"Anything interesting?" Her friend asked while she checked it. Upon seeing her look of disgust, he immediately knew what the message was about. She turned the phone and he saw a picture of Sarah McMillan, head cheerleader and class-A bitch. The picture was of her with her usual entourage of drooling, overmuscled football players and other assorted testosterone-fueled flunkies. At the center of it was Karyn's ex boyfriend, Julian Nelson. The picture had been sent by a mutual friend of theirs, clearing having caught Julian with Sarah.

Karyn was unimpressed. "Can you explain to me why men are so shallow? Everyone knows that McMillan is a total bitch and yet, because she has blond hair and big tits, every guy in the school spends half his life dribbling down her cleavage. Julian included, apparently! I thought him to be better than that."

"Not every guy," Jon noted, referring to himself. The last thing he wanted was to be anywhere near Sarah.

"Okay, most guys. There's only one of her; why can't she just pick one and let the rest of us have a go?" She sighed.

At that, he grinned, catching the hidden meaning behind her words. "Got your eye on anyone in particular?" He asked, nudging her with his elbow as he teased.

She scowled in return. "No. Just a general feeling. God, I wish I had long blond hair and big boobs and maybe then I'd get some of the attention."

It dawned on both of them at the same time - her words and how she'd said them. The two friends barely had time to look at each other before the wave of change hit them. Jon tried to close his eyes and wash the feelings away despite knowing what he'd see when he reopened them. It was still weird, knowing reality itself was being rewritten.

To be fair, the breasts weren't really noticeable. Karyn always wore her favorite baggy green sweater and despite how close they'd been, Jon had never been too familiar with Karyn's bust size. But, presumably, they hadn't counted as 'big', at least in her mind. The hair, however, was a different story. Not only was it now light blond and lying gently across her shoulders, but more shockingly, perfectly straight. If he were honest, it was far from a look which suited her, but he figured that made sense considering she hadn't been serious with her hastily spoken wish.

Karyn looked down, pulled at her bra and lifted a lock of yellow hair to take a look at it. "Fuck. NO!"

And she dropped the stone as she ran into the washroom, distraught.

Originally written by @Zach on FictionBranches, modified by @Crushedforlife for Chyoa