"Any luck Lisa?"
Lisa turned, glancing back her now 12 year old partner. Kumiko had been reduced to a skinny preteen, her once fashionable outfit hanging off of her. "No nothing Kumi," she sighed. "You?"
"Nothing," Kumiko sighed. The young Asian girl now walking over to Lisa, astounded by her friends bright red hair and youthful face. "We gotta find Lynne fast Lisa," Kumiko said nervously. "This is starting to get serious."
"Pretty sure it already is," Lisa sighed. "I don't know about you but I'm having alot of trouble thinking like a grown up. I feel more and more like a kid the more time passes."
"And that's the last thing we need," Kumiko grumbled. Unfortunately the young girl had said that a bit too loud, the fiery preteen spinning around as she glared at her friend. "Whats that supposed to mean?!"
"I'm just saying you weren't exactly the most level headed kid Lisa," Kumiko replied.
"Says the girl that got suspended from school Freshman year for smoking in the bathroom," Lisa glowered.
Both Kumiko and Lisa began to argue, their voices rising in pitch. The two now sounding like the petulant children they resembled. Julia and Maddie now ran to see what was going on.
"Is everything okay in here," Maddie asked meekly. "I heard you two yelling and OWWW!"
Maddie now shrank down to 12, the young preteen losing most of her adult attributes. Julia, Lisa, and Kumiko regressed to 11. The former adults now looking like elementary students. "Are you okay Maddie," Lisa asked, her voice high and shrill.
Maddie now seemed to run her tongue along her teeth, the girls cheeks blushing as she fidgeted in place. "My um braces just appeared on my teeth," she replied meekly. "I'm really just a kid again."
"Are you still you Maddie," Julia asked, surprised to find herself looking up slightly at the older girl.
Maddie nodded looking over her youthful friends. "Yeah I can still remember things," she said. "I'm in sixth grade and you guys are in fifth. We all live in the same neighborhood and have been friends for like, ever."
Julia, Lisa, and Kumiko now gave eacjother a worrisome look before glancing back at Maddie. "Maddie your not 12," Lisa exclaimed.
"Of course I'm 12 Lisa," Maddie said. "And we're looking for your sister Lynne. She used her magic to sneak in to the school party."
Lisa shook her head, that wasn't right. Or was it? As the young girl tried to rack her brain she found herself forgetting things. Memories were changing, her thought vanishing like smoke. She was an adult. No that wasn't right. She was 11, or was it older? Or younger? Also why were they wearing clothes so big?
"Maddie listen," Lisa exclaimed. "Somethings happening, your not 12."
"Shes right," Julia said. "Try to remember. Somethings happening to us."
"So how old am I," Maddie asked. As Kumiko was about to answer the girls lost yet another year. Julia, Lisa, and Kumiko becoming only 10 years old. The elementary girls bodies becoming smaller, their faces rounder. Maddie in turn became a girl of 11. The child wincing because of her braces, she had only had them put on a week ago.
"Your 11 Maddie remember," Kumiko stated.
"Oh yeah," Maddie lisped, causing her friends to giggle. "Dang this braces hurt and it makes me talk funny."
"So did anyone find my sister," Lisa asked. "Katie and Gloria are gonna kill me if I lost our sister again."
"Again," Julia asked. "You mean this has happened before?"
Before Lisacould answer a now 11 year old Nina ran around the corner. "Guys I think I know where Lynne is," she exclaimed.
"Thats great Nina," Lisa smiled before pausing. Lisa knew Nina had recently moved into town from the country but she was curious now as to why the girl was running around barefoot. "What happened to your shoes?"
"Eh who cares," Nina scoffed. "Now you wanna get this kid or not? We got a party to go to after that."
The girls now happily agreed, the elementary girls sprinting towards the stairs, actually running out if their own shoes. All Lisa could think of now was finding her baby sister Lynne and getting back to the elementary Christmas party. Afterall, she was almost done with elementary school and would be in junior high soon enough.
"Too bad I have to grow up," Lisa thought, the girl ironically not realizing that at the rate the girls were going elementary school would probably be a few years away.