Before Emily could even get a full step, someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back. Her hair flew in her eyes as she whipped around. Looking up, she saw her mother, Olivia. Her mouth dropped.
"M-mom? Is that really you?"
Olivia frowned. "Don't tell me you have memory loss now. I'm not buying your excuses."
"W...what?" Emily asked, confused. She brushed her long hair out of her face and turned to look back down the hallway, hoping her dad hadn't run off with the camera again. To her relief, and surprise, Paul was actually walking their way, and he was back to normal as well. He looked as displeased as Olivia.
Looking around more, Emily saw that the daycare had turned into a proper school. The toddlers were gone. Some teenagers in uniforms like hers were walking down the hall.
"I'm really sorry about all this," Olivia said. Emily turned to who she was addressing and saw Mike, who was still a woman, but his hair was now in a bun and he was wearing a blazer-skirt combo. "I don't know what got into them this morning," Olivia continued.
"It's all right. I think we can overlook one misstep," Mike replied.
Paul walked up to them, holding up the camera. "I don't know what it is about this camera that made you run out of the house this morning, but the shenanigans are going to stop." Emily instinctively reached for the camera, but Paul held it back. "I have an important meeting to get to. I can't be driving around the neighborhood looking for two girls playing hooky."
"Hooky? We're not even in high school!" Rick protested.
"You can indulge your aspiring photography ambitions after school," Paul said. "See you at home, girls."
"But Dad!" Emily protested. "We're not supposed to be here. That camera--"
"See you at home, girls," Paul repeated, more forcefully. Emily knew when he did that, discussion was over.
"Just...please...don't use that thing until we get home, okay?" Emily insisted. "It's...touchy."
Paul gave her a quizzical look and started walking toward the door. Olivia held up two matching backpacks. "I believe these are yours."
Emily and Rick reluctantly took "their" bags. Rick had trouble slipping on the shoulder straps with his ridiculously long hair. "Um, hey, does anyone have a scrunchy or something?"
Olivia shook her head. "Maybe you should have spent more time putting up your hair than spazzing out with that camera. You seemed perfectly fine to leave the house au naturel, so you can spend the day like that, too." She then softened her motherly demeanor and kissed both girls on the forehead.
"Mom..." Emily pleaded.
"If there's anything you want to talk to your father and me about, we'll listen. But first: school. Love you." With that, Emily's parents left the building.
"All right," Mike said. "Off to class, both of you."
Rick and Emily walked slowly down the hall. "We can't just let them leave with the camera!" Rick insisted.
"I don't see what choice we have. If we tried to take it, it could have gone off again, and who knows what we'd become next. At least Mom and Dad are back to normal."
"Yeah, but if Dad takes any photos in the meantime, we might never see our parents again," Rick said.
"We just have to hope they won't care to use it," Emily said, then stopped in her tracks. "You just called them 'our parents'."
"Oh, shit. I did," Rikki said. She scratched her head, collecting her thoughts, and then realized she was even thinking of herself as a girl. "It's gotta be the awareness setting. We noticed all the changes, but Mom and...I mean your parents didn't."
Emily's face fell. "Something's up with the camera ever since you dropped it. Maybe it's broken, or is only partly affecting us because we've already used it so much?"
"Maybe, but I've got a horrible feeling that things'll get worse if we stay here all day." Rikki tossed some stray locks over her shoulder. "And I dunno about you, but this hair is really annoying."
"Yeah." Emily looked around. Mike was still watching them, arms folded, from down the hall. "We'll figure out a plan, but we should play along for now. Can you 'remember' our class schedule?"
Rikki closed her eyes and concentrated, sifting through her jumbled memories.