"You want to help me, Bill? OK! I wish that you were trying to understand women as well!" declared the newly christened Tammy in a hysterical, some might even say bitchy tone of voice.
The emerald bauble that the former football star held at arm's length exploded dramatically into a fiery anomaly. To onlookers, it seemed as if the attractive brunette woman that Tom had become was holding a miniature green star in the palm of her hand. Or, if you were geekily inclined like Bill, kryptonite. Or even an Infinity Stone.
Either way, the stone Tom was holding was clearly unearthly in nature. The pulsing green light it was generating shot out in a wide beam, enrapturing Bill in its mystical glow.
The former Tom watched in awe as his friend's body altered shape just as he himself had been altered a scant few moments ago. It seemed as if all of Bill's masculinity was being stripped away from him in a blaze of verdant flame. The boy's facial features became progressively more feminine as his skin softened, his nose became pert, his eyes became wider and more doe like, his lips became fuller, and his cheekbones became higher and more defined. In his face at least, Bill now appeared like a much younger version of his mother Martha, or an older version of his sister Kimmy. But things were just getting started.
The unwanted transformation then spread over Bill's body at large. Surprisingly, the tall teenager didn't lose any inches in height. However, what little masculine bulk he had was lost in the effort to design his new slender female form, either going straight to his chest or to the curvaceous new posterior he now owned.
Whatever body hair Bill had had evaporated into nothingness, and his skin became just as smooth and well maintained as his face. Tom noticed that he was even slightly pale.
Bill's waist and shoulders narrowed, and his hips grew outward into child bearing range. He hands slimmed down, becoming soft and delicate, his fingernails long and well maintained, coated with purple varnish. Internally, all of Bill's male sex organs morphed into their female equivalent. Needless to say, he would now need to sit down to pee.
The short chestnut brown hair on top of Bill's head recolored itself into an alluring shade of dirty blonde. It grew out in long, curly waves, trailing far past his now dainty shoulders, eventually settling on Bill's now rather curvy waist. A set of bangs creeped over his forehead, and settled just beneath his bushier, blonder eyebrows. There was no mistaking Bill for a "he" anymore.
Finally, it was time for Bill's clothing to change shape. His vintage Simpsons T-shirt shimmered like a mirage until it decided on becoming a featureless, long sleeved red women's top. Likewise, Bill's pair of black trousers also shimmered until it decided on becoming a knee length, white pleated skirt, his distinctive pair of red sneakers likewise transforming into a pair of designer Jimmy Choo heeled sandals. Lastly, the strap of a cute crossbody handbag found itself sitting atop the new woman's right shoulder.
The Ahn'Ger Stone's eerie chromatic light immediately faded away, its job finished.
**
To any pedestrians or commuters who passed through Robinson Avenue at that specific moment, they would notice two young women gawking at each other as if they had just seen a ghost. One was brunette and the other one blonde.
Neither one was older than their mid twenties(Or at most, late twenties). The people who knew these two young women knew them as Tammy Ackerton and Willow Strasserman, the former Tom and Bill no longer existing in this reality. But neither former teenage boy knew that yet.
**
The newly female Bill squeaked out a complaint in her reedy new voice.
"Tom, what the hell did you do to me!?"
The former Tom, as her increasingly fuzzy memory kept insisting that her real name was Tammy, stuttered out a profuse apology.
"I'm so sorry! Bill, I don't know what came over me! You just made me so angry, always insisting that you're right and never listening to what I have to say! I'm freaking out here, OK? My mind is acting so weird right now. I'm having all of these flashbacks to things that never happened to me, and I...I just panicked! When you started mansplaining to me how this stupid magic rock works...I just couldn't. I couldn't let you get away with that. But I'm sorry I took your life away from you. I'm...I'm just so sorry! Please forgive me!"
Tom was on the verge of crying, which wasn't exactly...abnormal for the disgraced and ostracized sports star. He had a sensitive side to him that Gloria mocked him for constantly. Yet, the tears welling up in his wide blue eyes seemed different somehow. Somehow this all seemed familiar to Bill, as if "Tammy" was a naturally histrionic person, someone who often went to him for a shoulder to cry on whenever something in her life went wrong.
But that wasn't right. That was a false memory.
Shit! The magic is already affecting me too!
Bill needed to get that gemstone back. And fast!
"It's OK, Tom. I forgive you. You're fine."
Bill sashayed over and gave his transformed friend a supportive hug. Just the very act of walking in heels felt off to the changed teenage boy, and the tactile experience of having breasts and long hair and a skirt even more so, but what did feel right was supporting his friend. What they were going through was completely bizarre, and they both needed their heads on straight.
"Feel better?" asked Bill in his softer voice as he held onto his friend more tightly than he had ever done except once before, the night Gloria officially broke up with him.
"Much. Sorry for the chick flick moment" answered Tom, wiping a stray tear away.
"Considering we're both chicks at the moment, it's kind of appropriate."
They let go of one another after what felt like an excessively long time.
"Can I please have the stone back, now? Tom, my own memories are starting to muck up too! I'm beginning to forget my own name!"
"Oh don't be ridiculous! You're Willow Strasserman! Just say it. The magic can't be that strong!"
"See! You're forgetting it yourself!"
"No I didn't! Your name is Will...iam Strasserman. No...I meant Will...iam Elias Strasserman. Damn, that's weird. It's like I'm being censored from saying your name. I got it! You're Willow Gwendolyn Strasserman! D'oh!"
Bill Strasserman sighed.
"I definitely don't want to be a Willow."
Tom wrinkled his cute button nose at the gaffe he had just made, and reluctantly agreed with Bill.
"Listen, Willo...Bill. I still really believe that we need to see what it's like living as the fairer sex for a while. That's literally what I wished for. I'm pretty sure this is one of those *You need to learn an important lesson* type things. Like...like Dorothy having to accept that there's no place like home! Once we realize what women are all about, this curse will go away! We're not idiots! We're strong-willed! We won't forget who we are!"
Bill listened to Tom's melodious new voice expertly defend her...his position on things. He didn't exactly agree. Bill was sure that the stone was powered on anger and not on some weird kind of storytelling logic as Tom seemed to believe, but what choice did he have? Sure, he could argue with Tam...Tom until the sun came down, but that wouldn't go anywhere, they'd be stuck in an eternal stalemate. And he couldn't imagine a world in which he could physically confiscate the stone from Tom. Even as a woman, Bill felt somehow...not weaker exactly, but very unwilling to hurt her friend? He didn't know why, but he was starting to feel oddly protective of the former jock.
"Fine" replied Bill flatly. "One day as chicks. But if we haven't learned our lesson by sundown, I'm taking it from you and making my own wish. Deal?"
The former Tom smiled through pearly white teeth. She extended her hand.
"It's a deal!"
Bill shook it, enjoying the softness of Tam... Tom's handshake.