Laura laughed. "Okay that's funny. But..." She paused and pulled out a notebook then started writing it. The other Laura resumed speaking, "Right, that makes sense. If it did work, and the serum is properly reality-altering then you really wouldn't know. This is going to sound crazy to you. Especially this part..."
The speaking Laura stepped to Jen's side and hit her hard on the upper back with an open palm. Jen instinctively coughed and a pill flew up out of her mouth. Laura caught the pill before it could fall to the floor, and held it up to Jen. "You cough these up periodically. Every hour or so. They're kinda weird - I hear they taste good and give a pretty good buzz. They're actually something of a delicacy around here. Don't be surprised when you cough them up, people will ask if they can have it. Actually..." Laura popped the pill in her mouth and grinned as she sucked on it, like a peppermint candy.
Jen stared at Laura in shock. A few seconds passed before Laura spoke again. "Mmm, that's good. Better than I expected. Like a blueberry pie crossed with cheesecake and then covered in rocky road ice cream. Amazing. Anyway, it's those... pill things. If no-one eats it, after about 10 minutes it starts to grow and eventually becomes a recursion. Still with me?"
Jen nodded slowly. She was unsure how to react to Laura's news - it almost sounded like the chemical had changed the curse. But was that even possible?
Laura stepped beside her and hit her on the back again. Jen coughed again, another pill flying out of her mouth. She caught this one and held it in her hands.
"This is... weird." Jen commented as she stared at the pill.
"Yeah, biology is strange. Just gotta make do with what you have. In a way though, I'm envious. You have some amount of control over when and how many times you recurse. I don't have that - it just happens to me."
Jen looked up at the two Lauras in front of her and suppressed a gasp. Laura had changed again after eating the pill - Now 2 heads topped each of her shoulders - the two Lauras cumulatively had 4 heads. The expressions on Laura's heads were synchronized - one Laura was focused on writing in her notebook, while the other focused on Laura. "Uh. Do you feel okay Laura?"
"Yeah, why?" Laura responded with a slight echo as 2 mouths spoke at once in perfect synchronization. "Wait... is something different? I never considered that my serum might affect other people."
"I uh... I'm pretty sure you didn't have 2 heads."
"Huh, weird. I've always been like this, it was a mutation I inherited from my mum. It's been a huge help in my work. Though to be fair, it is fairly uncommon... Maybe the serum is altering your memories in addition to reality itself. I definitely wouldn't be smart enough to synthesize such a serum with only 1 head." Laura laughed in duplicate. "Of course, I wouldn't exactly be a monobrain. Hmm, perhaps there is some potential there. I probably should have recorded your beta waves before, during, and after the injection. Oooh, or possibly hormone levels..."
Jen quickly changed the topic before Laura went full mad scientist on her. "Uh, wait. If I'm recursive now, shouldn't there be uh... another me? I mean... how else would you know how I recurse?"
Quadruple sighs echoed from the two Lauras in the bathroom. "Okay, that... that question is enough to make me believe you. Damn I'm a good scientist! WOO! Oh yeah, who figured out how to modify reality? With CHEMISTRY!?? That's right, it's me! It's me!"
"Uh, Laura? Focus?"
"Right, right. What do you remember about 8th grade? Specifically, first day of school."
Jen paused and thought back. "Not much. Maybe something about a new boyfriend? I faintly recall him being a total twit? Or maybe that was 7th grade..."
"Oookay. You must not have any memories of when your recursion manifested. Or probably anything involving your recursion since then. That's when you coughed up your first capsule. Rumor was, you were uh... Doing a clothing-optional activity with the quarterback in the locker room. And he was a bit of a gossip, and soon the entire school knew about it. But you kept one of the capsules around lunch, probably to assert your power cause everyone was clamoring to try them. And after about 10 minutes it grew into a second you. Right there, in the middle of the cafeteria. Talk about being the center of attention."
Laura shifted to lean against the wall and continued speaking, "I remember being exceedingly jealous. My recursion didn't manifest until a couple months later. You made a point of coming to school with both bodies every day, but only 1 of you was ever in class. It was a real bitch move. Rumor mill said you were banging your way through all the different sports programs. At least for a couple months. Then your original body got flattened by that trash truck when its brakes gave out. That really took you down a peg. You were out for almost a month. Heard you tried to kill yourself after your original died, and they committed you to a hospital. Gruesome stuff, a bit heavy for me. We haven't seen a recursive you since then. Most people don't really remember that you're recursive, but if a second you shows up that would definitely jog their memory."