"Okay everyone, just...just take a few minutes and then we'll take it from the top, all right?" The drama teacher and director of the play, Ms. Jeanette Barry sighed as she waved the collected cast of students away, trying not to glare at Eve Kazinski's back as she quickly darted backstage faster than anyone else.
"What has gotten into that girl?" Jeanette muttered to herself as she massaged her forehead in a vain attempt to get the stress headache to go away. For the past hour the drama teacher had been dealing with watching as her star pupil, someone who had memorized all the lines, had every last bit of the stage choreography memorized, and had been giving the original Sandy a run for her money suddenly turn into a talentless, graceless klutz who knew none of her routine and was suddenly putting the entire production (and possibly Jeanette's job) at risk. The teacher turned director considered slipping out for a rare smoke when she her Eve's telltale voice begin screaming from backstage, followed by a crash.
"Just what I need...I better go have a talk with her..." Jeanette said as she summoned what remained of her patience and marched backstage.
Meanwhile, Eugene was trying his best not to have a panic attack as he bee-lined for the box at his makeup station. He was a girl! He was a popular girl! And the star of the play! And it was bad enough that his new body felt entirely alien to him, despite it being nice to not be constantly be wracked by aches and pains and instead feel so full of energy. But it wasn't his body! Everything was so large now that he was smaller, his balance was off from the set of not insignificant pendulums that now hung off his chest, his cushioned bottom, or, as he pulled off the scratchy blonde wig, all the HAIR. Eugene tossed the wig to the floor and pawed as the cascade of fiery red curls as they fell over his his cute face, and blinked away tears from his big green eyes as he struggled to keep his composure.
"I can't believe the rock did this!" He muttered to himself, not believing how soft his voice was, even with all the painful off-key singing he had been doing for the past hour. Eugene rubbed his adam's appleless throat with a slender hand and for a moment was just entranced by his own reflection. He WAS pretty, though he leaned more towards the 'incredibly cute' side of the spectrum rather than the 'drop dead gorgeous' that the blonde girl, Joanna, was. But now wasn't the time to get distracted, there was no telling how long Ms. Barry would allow the students to rest before starting the torture all over again and as a main character, Eugene would be stuck embarassing himself for who knew how much longer. The former janitor shook his head, sending his curls swinging side to side, and looked down at the makeup station and it's large central drawer, pulling it open and scanning the very disorganized pile of used makeup for the strange emerald that had transformed him from Eugene into Eve.
"There!" Eugene said a little too loudly as he spotted the gemstone, and snatched it up with one swoop of a small hand. Eugene spun around, a smile on his face that, had it been directed at a boy (or a girl), it would have melted their heart. "Okay, gemstone, I don't know how or why you did this, but I think I'd like to go back to being me now..." He said, and he did mean it. This had been a scary, exciting, very strange adventure, but he just wasn't a teenage girl, he was an old man and before he did anything else with the gemstone, he needed to fix that problem first. And despite having already tried once without success at McFly's during his fumbling performance on stage Eugene had come to the conclusion that perhaps the gemstone worked like a battery and that it had to recharge after each wish, though for how long was something the teenage elder didn't know. He just hoped that an hour had been long enough.. Eugene held the Ahn'Ger Stone in both hands and pressed it together against his squishy chest and closed his eyes.
"I wish I was myself again!" He whispered, and braced himself for the change...That never came. After a few moments Eugene opened one eye and looked down, expecting to see his old body, only to be met with his twin peaks of femininity.
"OH COME ON!" Eugene yelled at the top of his girly voice, and he felt the need to throw the gemstone at the nearest wall as he clenched his much smaller fist tight, so tight that he failed to see the golden glimmer that pulsed from the artifact's interior. His little outburst had drawn attention however, and as he flopped down on the small stool that was in front of the makeup station, Eugene saw his apparent 'best friend' Emily creeping over with a concerned look on her face.
"Eve? Hey, what's wrong with you today?" Emily asked as she approached the frustrated looking Eve. Emily was indeed concenred, since this was so out of character for her best friend, the girl that she practically considered her sister after growing up as next door neighbors and being involved in, well, pretty much everything together. The brunette placed a concerned hand on Eve's shoulder and the redhead shrugged it off rudely.
"Even if I told you, I bet you wouldn't believe me" Eugene said bitterly, looking away as hot, angry tears welled up from somewhere inside. This wasn't fair! Sure life was rough as an old man, but it had been HIS life! Now he was apparently trapped in the body of 'Little Miss Perfect', as the Vanapolous girl had called him, stuck in a life full of things that he was completely clueless about, surrounded by kids he only knew in passing and most of which had, at one point or another, made his old life hell. And what about his living situation? His mother and father had passed early in his old life, were they somehow alive again? Or was he with complete strangers!? The lack of control or knowledge about who he was now, and the stupid magic stone's inability to correct it's mistake continued to sour his mood.
"Uh, okay?" Emily said, grabbing the stool from the vacant makeup station next to Eve's and sliding it close. "I know you're nervous but you got this! Now just chill out and when Ms. Barry calls us back you can get out there and break a leg just like you always...Oh gosh!" Emily said as she leaned around Eve's luxurious curly mane and saw the tears pushing through her best friend's makeup. "Oh, come here!" Emily wasted no time in grabbing a handful of tissues from the makeup station and spun Eve around, much to the crying girl's surprise, and began dabbing at the salty face water and the mess it was leaving behind. "Oh girlfriend, you're ruining your makeup..."
"I DON'T WANT TO WEAR MAKEUP! I DON'T WANT ANY OF THIS!" Eugene roared as loud as he could in his unwanted new voice and batted Emily's hand away harder than he meant, sending the girl toppling to the floor with a loud thud.
"Holy shit, what is wrong with you Eve!?" Emily spat back, "That fucking hurt!" She pulled herself up off the floor and moved a few feet away, "I don't get it, you were so excited about practice during class today! You BEGGED me to be here! I could be at home catching up on MY homework instead of playing second fiddle to your majesty!" The shove seemed to have broken something in Emily, as if suddenly years of repressed jealously were suddenly unleashed. "You're...you're acting like a brat!" Emily spat the last word out, knowing that Eve hated the word. She had spent so much time cultivating her image to NOT be seen as another fairly wealthy pretty girl with no brains, but the insult seemed to just pass over her friend.
"I'M NOT EVE! THIS ISN'T MY LIFE! THIS ISN'T WHAT I WISHED FOR!" Eugene screamed again as the sheer insanity of the situation overwhelmed his self-control. In his fist, the Ahn'Ger Stone began to burn brightly, though the man turned girl and his new best friend were too enraged to see it. What they also failed to see was the looming form of Ms. Barry appearing from from behind a costume stand as she stomped towards the two.
"WELL SOME PEOPLE WOULD DIE TO BE YOU, 'LITTLE MISS PERFECT'" Emily screamed back, and gave a smug little snort as that particular insult seemed to get under Eve's skin.
"I AM NOT LITTLE MISS PERFECT! GODDAMNIT I JUST WISH-" Eugene screamed as the Ahn'Ger Stone flared to life in his small, dainty hand.
Option 1: "I DIDN'T HAVE TO DO THIS!" In a flash of light, Eugene suddenly switches spots, reappearing in a full body cast while Emily preens herself in her Sandy costume, saying "I can''t believe I'm your understudy, Eve! This is so exciting! I'm sorry about the accident, though. At least you get to sit in the front row!"
Option 2: "THAT YOU HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS!" In a flash of light, Eugene suddenly doesn't care so much about getting back to his old body. Meanwhile, Emily begins freaking out about...being a girl?