Piper's Perfect Polaroid

Piper stared into the crowd. There were more people here than she'd expected. She felt sweat trickling down her back. She snorted to herself, why was she so nervous? It's not like anyone was going to come talk to her. Piper was in her first year in Hawthorne's Fine Arts program. One of her classes was having a mock gallery event and all the students had to stand by their pieces to discuss them with anyone who wanted to come see. That primarily meant other students, friends of those in the class. Of course it was only natural they went to see their friends first, or even only their friends. Still, it would have been nice if someone, anyone, wanted to talk about her art for its merits.

Miranda certainly didn't have the problem. Or perhaps she did, Piper suspected the crowd around her could care less about her shoddy art and cared more about the three missing buttons on her blouse. Piper self consciously looked down at herself. Not for the first time she wished she had tits, her bee stings didn't seem to attract much attention from boys. Not that she wanted it, not really, well, it would be nice to have the option. She looked back at the piece she'd chosen. She had felt really good about it. It was one of her better pieces, but also less abstract than her absolute favorites. She felt realism would go over better with her audience, but it turned out to be a moot point.

The gallery had been going on for 45 minutes and so far only her professor stopped by, and he went around to everyone. He barely took a minute to look at hers, said, "Nice job as always Pepper." Of course that wasn't some nickname due to their great relationship, he just could never remember her name. Not like Piper was super common or anything. He definitely never forgot Miranda's name.

"Wow Piper, looks great!" The voice of her only friend pulled her out of her thoughts. She turned as saw him staring at her art, "You've used all the cool colors, but it still feels so warm. It makes me happy just looking at it."

She couldn't help but smile. Percy was always so positive. A true optimist. Also, a hopeless idiot. His optimism was often tested in the face of reality, but he never learned his lesson. "Thanks Percy, glad someone likes it."

Percy looked around, "Oh, you didn't get a lot of feedback? Well don't worry, I'm sure they are all just too intimidated by you to approach."

Piper put her hands on her hips and glared at him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Percy put his hands up defensively, "Whoa, I just meant because you piece is so awesome. They probably just don't know what to say to you." Coming from someone else Piper might have been offended, but she had to remind herself that's just who Percy was. He probably truly believed that. The idiot.

"Ya, you're probably right," Piper said, not meaning it at all, "Are we still on for tonight?"

"Definitely. I could really use your help. To prove it, I'll get dinner. What are you feeling? Pizza or Indian..."

Piper thought for a second, "Well if you're paying...sushi."

"Sushi it is. I'll pick it up on my way home, you can come over whenever you like. See ya." Percy waved bye and headed out.

Piper stayed an additional 15 minutes until she felt like she could leave without losing credit, then packed up her painting and went home to her dorm. She dropped her stuff out and set out immediately. If Percy was getting dinner, might as well go eat.

She lived in a dorm on campus, but Percy lived with roommates in a house a few minutes away. She had to walk through downtown, such as it was in Briarwood. It was really just one street a few blocks long. She kind of liked it. She was from a much larger city where there were always people around you, it was nice to be able to walk down the street and be the only one here. Plus these small mom & pop shops had so much more charm than the big box stores she was used to shopping at.

She paused at the sight of a new store, Celestial Delights. Huh, didn't she walk by here yesterday? It must have just opened today. She didn't have a set time to be at Percy's, so she decided to head inside, just to see what it was. Inside she found rows of shelves with odds and ends, it looked almost like a thrift store. There was no particular order to things. She spotted an antique looking polaroid camera and picked it up. Maybe it was a thrift store after all?

"Ah, I see you found my newest creation." Piper jumped as someone spoke behind her. She turned and saw a gorgeous woman towering over her. "Oops, sorry to startle you. My name is Vivi, I'm the owner of this store."

"Oh, um, hi," Piper managed to squeak out, "Did you say creation? Isn't this a thrift store?"

"Thrift..." Vivi said, sounding shocked, "Heavens no. This is a magic store." Vivi said it totally seriously.

Piper looked at the camera, then back at Vivi, "Oh, I'm surprised a small town like this had enough amateur magicians to justify opening it," She spoke without thinking, then realized she might have offended Vivi, "Sorry, I shouldn't criticize. I was just surprised, that's all. So what does it do?"

Vivi smiled sweetly, "You misunderstand. I don't sell to stage performers trying to pull rabbits out of their hat. I sell real, genuine magic."

"Real magic. Right. Oh I get it, some kind of magician's code thing? You can't explain the tricks to me since I'm not a real magician."

"Not at all. I'm being totally serious. Everything is here is magical, and I'll happily tell you their tricks. Take that camera for example, I wonder if you were drawn to it. Have you ever wished you could be someone else? Not forever perhaps, but just to see what life could be like?"

Piper shrugged, "I suppose, I mean who hasn't..."

"No, not some passing fancy. You've thought about it a lot haven't you? It's ok, you don't have to answer. That camera is perfect for you. I insist you buy it."

"Lady...that's not really how things work."

"$500!" Vivi said sharply.

Piper's eyes widened in amazement, "What? No way. Nevermind." She set the camera down.

"Wait! I meant $5!" Vivi shouted, "No, that's too little, uh, $50!"

"Are you just making it up?"

"What? No, of course not. I know perfectly well how much human's value money. I mean, no, $5 is enough. Oh, plus tax. I don't want that problem again."

Piper looked at the camera. She was definitely bullshitting her, but $5 for a antique polaroid was not a terrible deal. Even if it didn't work she could paint it, it would be kinda cool as an art piece, "Fine. I'll buy it."

"Wonderful! Come to the front cash then." Vivi lead her to the cash and Piper took out her wallet.

"Wait, what about film?"

"Film? What's that?" Vivi asked.

Piper stared at her, "Seriously? I mean I can probably find some on e-bay or something, I just figured you'd have film if you had the camera."

"Oh, don't worry about film. Just point and shoot. Oh and I wrote an instruction manual for it. I learnt my lesson after that one customer...um. Nevermind. Just read it before you use it, ok?"

"Uh, sure." Piper paid for the camera and left the store. That was weird...very weird...but maybe it wasn't that unusual for a small town like this. They always had their characters, right? Piper looked at the 'manual' Vivi had given her. It was just a series of bullet points.

• Aim camera at subject. May only focus on one subject at a time.
• Press button, camera will eject film. Be careful to hold film by thin white edge.
• Photo doesn't develop right away, will appear blank.
• If anyone touches the film, they transform into that person and film will develop.
• Transformation lasts until film is destroyed substantially or the camera is used on the transformed person

Wait, what? Vivi was just fucking with her, of course she was. What a weirdo. She tucked the instructions along with the camera into her purse and headed over to Percy's.