"SIX!" she whispered under her breath in astonishment. "Oh geeze, this isn't good."
The training bra Nora had donned before ducking under the bed now hung like a loose, cropped tank-top on her slender frame. Thankfully the panties were staying up - if she remembered correctly, Amy was about nine or ten years old and a little small for her age, so the borrowed clothes weren't completely swamping Nora's adolescent body. Spotting a small t-shirt with a unicorn on the front, she quickly pulled the bra/tank-top off and slid the purple shirt over her head, all while quietly searching for some bottoms.
The sound of voices and the front door closing had her racing to peek out the window, and Nora heaved a sigh of relief as she watched the whole family load up into their SUV to head to the store. But before she could turn back to her search the bedroom door behind her suddenly crashed open, bouncing off the wall with a loud BANG! Nora jumped and spun with a hand to her heart, only to find Scott, the family dog, standing in the doorway, his tail wagging as he stared at her.
Nora sighed again. "You gave me a fright, boy!" she realized she was still whispering, even though the house was now empty. Scott pranced over to her, his whole backside wriggling now along with his tail as he eagerly sniffed the young stranger in his home. Reaching out to pat the dog, Nora marveled at her small, youthful hands, noting that they even retained a bit of baby-pudge at this age. Pushing the friendly pup away, she dug into the drawer at the base of the wardrobe and successfully located some small shorts crumpled in the back.
"I've gotta get out of here, Scotty. I feel bad borrowing these clothes, but until I can figure out how to reverse this, I did need something to wear!" the dog followed her as she gathered her robe, making sure the watch was in the pocket and hustling back down the stairs to the mudroom. Twisting the knob, Nora found the door to be locked and noticed that there was a deadbolt above the handle. "I guess it's out the same way I came in, huh?" she muttered to the mutt watching her from the bottom of the stairs.
Slipping through the dog door was much easier this time, and much less awkward now that she was at least clothed. As she scrambled over the fence, she glanced back once more to see Scott the dog watching her leave with sad eyes. The urge to stay and play with him welled up, but she didn't want to risk Amy and her family returning to find a strange kid playing in their backyard... in Amy's clothes!
Nora dropped to the ground and raced back up the dirt alley to her house, leaning her small, skinny back against the door once she made it inside.