Katie spent the rest of the weekend trying to come up with a plan to get Lisa and Jason back together. Despite her best efforts she hadn’t come up with any good ideas. She had ideas but none of them seemed that good and could only make things possibly worse. As she sat in a free period before lunch Katie now tried to ask her friends if they could help.
“Well yeah of course I want to help your aunt,” Claudia said. Samantha, Mika, and Mary Elise all nodded in agreement as they looked at Katie and Kellie. “So what have you come up with so far?” Mika asked.
Katie sighed as she looked at her friends. “Nothing very good,” she groaned. “Lisa and Jason haven’t talked since Saturday and she’s been moping around the house. I thought about maybe inviting Jason and Gloria over for dinner but it seemed to obvious.”
“Probably right there,” Kellie said. “I’ve been talking with Gloria, her dad is in a pretty similar state as your mom. He wants to call her but doesn’t know what to say. Gloria said he just sits in his study looking sad.”
“Ugh that sucks,” Samantha added. “Too bad these two just can’t sit down and talk.”
The girls nodded as they now thought about their options. “Well,” Katie said. “I do have one option I haven’t said yet cause it just seemed a bit extreme.”
The girls gave Katie a concerned look as she spoke. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t going to be one of your better ideas,” Mary Elise groaned.
“Because it isn’t,” Katie sighed. “Listen the reason Lisa is so freaked out is because she’s getting older.”
“I’m already not liking this,” Mika grumbled.
“Yeah it’s bad but hear me out,” Katie said. “If Lisa was a little younger she wouldn’t be so worried about a long term relationship. Before anyone jumps down my throat though let me explain.”
Katie took in a deep breath as the girls looked at her anxiously. “Lisa knows about the ring and if she changes and no one else does she might figure it out. That’s why I figured I change everyone.”
“What do you mean everyone?” Claudia asked as she furrowed her brow.
“I mean EVERYONE,” she said flatly. “Not just Lisa but all of us so that things seemed normal to Lisa.”
“Wait,” Kellie said. “Are you saying you would make everyone Lisa knows younger too?”
Katie nodded grimly as the girls took this in. “How young we talking,” Kellie said. Katie shrugged before answering. “I’m thinking three to five years for everyone she knows.”
The girls eyes bulged as they took this information in. “You want all of us to become three to five years younger,” Mika hissed. “Katie! That means we’ll all be between 13 and 11 years old again!”
The girls now began to quietly condemn this plan so as not to draw attention to themselves. Katie hung her shoulders as she listened to this. She knew this was an awful option and method of last resort. Asking the girls to relive their childhood was almost too much to ask to help Lisa. Claudia had only recently gotten her license, while Samantha and Mary Elise would be trying for their licenses soon as well. Even Katie and Kellie were looking forward to this right of passage. A further complication was the fact that each of the girls was in a relationship at the moment. If they went ahead with this plan they would lose their respective boyfriends and girlfriends.
“Katie that’s a lot to ask,” Claudia stated. “I mean look at all the crap Mika and and I had to deal with to be together. Hell look at you and Kellie. Do you really want to turn everyone back and erase everything that we’ve struggled for over the last month?”
Katie shook her head no, she knew the answer already to that question but felt it needed to be put out there. “No I don’t,” she said. “But I want to help Lisa too. Like I said it’s a last resort, a nuclear option if we can’t come up with something so please help me come up with an idea.”
“Maybe we can help,” a voice said from behind. Curious the girls turned around, their jaws dropping in shock. “How long have you two been there?” Katie asked.
Ashley and Jennifer now looked at the group. The two girls had stern but compassiornate looks as they gazed down at everyone. “We heard you talking about your aunt, Katie,” Ashley said. “We didn’t quite catch the other parts but we want to help. She....she really did help us out on Friday, it was kind of a wake up call.”
“Katie,” Jennifer added. “Your Aunt is amazing she kinda made us see how dumb we were acting. Even though she ratted us out it was for the best. We, um, we want to help her out. You guys weren’t there when they drove us home, she understands us probably better than our own parents.”
Katie smiled, Lisa did have a way of connecting with people. That Ashley and Jennifer were willing to help out showed just how much of an impact she had made. “Thanks guys I appreciate that.”
“Oh and Mika,” Jennifer said meekly. “I really hope you could send a message to your brother for me.”
Mika gave Jennifer a curious look at Jennifer, who was blushing softly. “What does Shiro have to do with this,” she asked.
Jennifer blushed harder as she now began looking for words. Sighing Ashley stepped forward to answer for her friend. “Jen is crushing on your brother Mika,” she sighed. “She feels real bad about not telling him how old she was but she’s been crushing on him since she saw him. She wants to apologize real bad but for the first time EVER, she got shy.”
The girls gaped at this bit of information. Katie did feel bad about Ashley, Jennifer and Shiro but helping them would have to be placed on the back burner for now. She needed to help her aunt and if Ashley and Jennifer were willing to help she didn’t see the downside. “Thank you guys I appreciate any help you can offer,” she said. “Pull up a chair and maybe you can help us.”
Ashley and Jennifer pulled a couple of chairs up to join the group. As they did Kellie motioned to Katie that she wanted to talk to Katie in private. Excusing herself Katie and Kellie now stepped away to speak. Once out of ear shot Kellie spoke. “Are you nuts,” Kellie whispered. “Bringing Ashley and Jennifer in on this. Do you trust them with the ring!?!”
Katie shook her head no as she looked at her girlfriend. “No but if they can help Lisa I’ll take that chance,” she said. “Listen Inwont say anything about it to them for now. If that happens though we’ll decide it as a group.” Kellie frowned as she now looked at Katie. “It’s an awfully big risk involving those two,” she muttered. “I’m willing to go along with this but please Katie be careful.”
Katie smiled and kissed Kellie softly on the lips. “I will Kel I promise,” she said. “Your my moral compass and I promise I’ll listen to what you have to say. Just please, let me do what I can to help Lisa Okay?” Kellie nodded and smiled as the two made their way back to the group.
“Sorry,” Kellie said. “Just needed to ask Katie something.”
Ashley and Jennifer nodded, understanding that under the circumstances asking them to help was something out of the oridinary. “It’s fine,” they said. “Just tell us what you need us to do.”
“That’s the problem,” Mary Elise said. “We haven’t figured that part out yet. We’d like to get them together to talk but we’re just not sure how.”
“I’m guessing they don’t want to see each other huh,” Ashley said to which the girls nodded. “And I’m guessing trying to set them up is probably out of the question,” Jennifer added to which the girls nodded once again. The two reformed mean girls now rubbed their chins thoughtfully as they began to form a plan. Smiling devilishly theynnow turned to eachtoher and nodded.
“What if it was a secret get together like a blind date,” Ashley smiled impishly. Katie tilted her head curiously before answering. “What are you two thinking,” she asked.
“Okay hear us out,” Jennifer pleaded. “Mr. Turner is an architect right? Well daddy is always redecorating the house, What if he called him to ask if he can come to our house to draw up some plans for an expansion.”
“Awesome idea Jen,” Ashley said. “Then one of us can pretend to be Jens mom and invite her over to her house to talk. She could say she wanted to sit down and thank her for helping last Friday or something.”
The girls looked at each other thoughtfully taking this bit of information in. “It’s crazy but it could work,” Claudia said. Ashley and Jennifer smiled as they high fives each other. “Guess we could do it if everyone agrees it’s the best plan.”
The girls now looked each other over as they decided if this was the best plan possible. The vote they took could determine not only Lisa’s future but their own.