"...No... This opportunity came too... abruptly... Besides what would I say?" John finished thinking.
The magic of time manipulation started ending leaving John still mentally drained and Kathy's words still coming out "-d me, I just had a little breakfast so I'm heading out to school. Need a ride to your school or something?"
John quickly came up with the excuse "No thanks... I get home schooled."
"Alright then... bye then." and then Kathy left the house... back to her life at school with all of their other friends...
John covered her eyes and groaned internally berating herself "That was your out! Why COULDN'T you SAY ANYTHING?!? You're a girl sure, and would be hard to talk about... However you have time powers maybe they could help explain SOMETHING?!?" Rogue came back into the room with her oversized mug filled to the brim, and a more normal sized cup with a nice amount of coffee that looked rather creamy.
Rogue said "Well I got your coffee... Need someone to talk to?"
John didn't respond for awhile still berating herself and thinking, and then blurted out "Silky!"
Rogue was confused and asked "...huh? Do you mean the couch or?"
John shook his head and said "No, Silky the daughter of the folks taking care of a shrine! Yes I just need to see her for some god advise. She's always around and actually home schooled from her sickness-"
Rogue said "Nah, got better. Divine miracle she says. She goes to school with my little sister."
John was confused "What do you mean by Divine Miracle?!?"
Rogue said "Have you been under a rock for months? Awhile ago odd things started happening all around everywhere really. I mean Priestesses just started popping around everywhere with magic powers. Yeah that Silky girl became a Priestess of Amaterasu. Sure at first it seemed odd, but after her odd "Soul Therapy" power or whatever yeah that's some real magic." Rogue took a sip from her mug with a smirk muttering "Silly seeing Jess addicted to coffee for awhile though..." John's mind was racing and quickly knew what she needed to do and raced off leaving her coffee on the table. Rogue a bit annoyed said "But your coffee..." then looked down, sighed, and downed the untouched cup... Yeah maybe she should try to get rid of her coffee dependence.
Silky was happy to be at school and be able to do a presentation... At least it was till she noticed everyone in her classroom weren't moving at all. She looked all around, went outside and checking the other classes... well it seemed like the whole school was frozen in time. Even the birds in the sky were hovering in mid-air. Silky thought to herself "...Maybe that myth about a Priestess of Chronos is true? Why would she be coming here though? Why her? She was just that sickly girl that some goddess blessed. She didn't even think she was stepping on anyone's toes... outside of maybe several religious organizations by existing, but they generally didn't mess with Priestesses outside of their faiths.
"...maybe..." a voice muttered. Was that the Chronos Priestess? What was she planning on doing? Did she even know that I was here? the voice continued "I'M John!... Nah that's a stupid idea..." it's a female voice so... could she be referring to THAT John? What was she- "Ok if just telling her outright "I am John Mavis, your childhood friend!" is probably not going to work... Maybe I shoul-". Silky was just confused now, was the Chronos Priestess trying to impersonate John? "Oh yeah, there was that one night we had that sleepover where Silk-"
A figure was coming around the corner that for sure was the Priestess and may or may not have been John but Silky yelled out "I CAN HEAR YOU SO DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE FINISH THAT THOUGHT!"
John was confused and asked "Huh? I froze everything how can?"
Silky said "Priestesses generally can't affect other Priestesses. I've heard you... Are you really John?!?"
John nodded and asked "...Do you believe me? I don't really look like myself after all..."
Silky sighed and said "John, several guys have became Priestesses and all have became female. John you can let time flow again, let classes continue, and go to the roof. I'll get your friends and mother together and we can see how everyone takes it."
John said "Right... That time I think I'll need to mentally prepare anyways..."
"Correct, just remember that with all of their complex feelings. I think they miss you more than anything... That said it's also possible they'll be like me. This situation is just odd and I can't really feel much right now with my brain processing everything. Where was my presentation when time stopped anyways?"
John nodded and said "Well I'll go to the roof and turn time back on... After a few minutes if that means anything in stopped time." John left and Silky was left to go back to class, get back and be ready to present... but really how could she concentrate on the presentation after something like that just happened?
Cindy was a little confused asking Silky "Why are we going to the roof? We really shouldn't be going there."
Silky responded "Just trust me." as she opened the door to the roof where John was just sitting in the open.
Cindy asked "Um... Silky who is that girl?"
Silky said "Remember the rumors of a Priestess of Chronos? That's her... and she used to be a guy."
Cindy asked "...And why do I need to know this?"
John sighed and thought to herself "Just say it... You were caught off guard with Katrina. This is your mother... just tell her..." she opened her mouth and blurted out "I'M JOHN!... wait that kinda came out wrong..." Silky was happy that John had said it, but was flabbergasted in how John had said it.
Cindy hoping that she had actually found John, but skeptical asked "So... what happened that night?"
John said "Chronos offered me power in exchange for doing some prayers... I accepted... and then I changed into a girl painfully... Then I ran off scared that you'd see me as an invader."
Cindy said "So to confirm the events... John screamed, I barged in and found him gone without a trace. So you in great pain flung yourself out of your room and managed to run far from sight in a few seconds?"
John said "...I guess I just slowed time down accidentally." Cindy got a better look at her now daughter's face. Seeing similar features between her and the John she knew along with some of her own features that hadn't been a part of John's male face.
Cindy asked "So what have you been doing these past months? How have you been eating, sleeping, getting clothes?"
John sighed and said "I was doing prayers and... Well I haven't. These clothes are the only things I've ever worn in this body, and whenever I got hungry, tired, or injured I'd just rewind my body... So I could just keep doing prayers and... trying to stall for time to think of some way of explaining that... Oh Mom you suddenly have another daughter and she's an IDIOT!" Silky backed away to give the mother and child some room. There may have been some hesitation, but the longer Cindy heard John the more she believed this girl was her child.
Cindy sat down next to her daughter and said "...I don't think I can blame you. If I opened that door and saw some random girl instead of my child... I'm not sure what would've happened. It's not like we could see what would've happened right?.."
John said "I mean I tried going back in time, but it didn't work... thinking about it maybe other Priestesses had something to do with it." The two women sat silent for awhile... John not entirely sure what to say or whether her mother truly believed her. Cindy wasn't sure what to say in case she accidentally spooked John away again. However John broke the silence by asking "I've been held back haven't I?"
Cindy said "You haven't had anything to eat in months and your school standing is what you're concerned about... We'll talk to the Principal about it."
John sighed and said "I feel like there should be more tears and hugging... it's just everything has been so exhausting... Do you think I could just go home and take a nap?"
Cindy asked "How are you even going to get in?"
John said "I can just rewind the lock to when it's unlocked... Doors haven't really been an issue to me for a long time."
Cindy nodded, gave her daughter a hug, and said "We'll talk more about things during dinner." The hug lasted awhile neither really wanting to let go, but it ended and John time stopped her way as a moment later she was in her old room while Cindy was reminding herself that her daughter now could speed herself up and do whatever now.
In her old room John saw that the blinds were closed and everything had a small layer of dust... The bed was cleaned and made in her absence, but it had been that way for awhile... and on her desk was a dusty letter? It was addressed to John so she opened it and read "Dear John, If you can read this please stay. I don't care why you left or why you only came now, but stay. I miss you. Mom only has a facade of happiness for her students. I can only imagine how your friends are holding up. If I found out you read this and left I don't even know what I'd do. Pleadingly Dolly"
John could only think that he had no intention to leave anytime soon... but months of mental fatigue plus all the emotional development that was occurring had taken their tolls and she was tired and collapsed on her bed.