"Yeah, I'm sorry too, princess!" yelled Greg Strasserman, her father. "Dont let those Regina George wannabes get to you. But look on the bright side, your friend is here to see you! Come in and say hi to them!"
'My friend? Who could that be? It's got to be Tom, right? And god, way to date yourself dad' Thought Bill as he wandered into the kitchen, trying not to be weirded out by how different everything looked in his current (and hopefully temporary) body. Everything was a little bit bigger than he remembered it being that morning, 'Willow' being a few inches shorter than Bill's old body had been. Now, what was Tom-
"Hey Wills!" Paige said as Bill entered the kitchen, the overweight, slightly pug-faced girl leaping up from her seat at the table and rushing over to stand in front of Bill, "I was starting to get worried when you didn't text me back! You're okay, right?"
"Uh" Bill's mind blanked as he tried to remember who the girl in front of him was before a name clicked into place. The girl in the texts on his phone! This was Paige Walters! He could see why she was considered a Loser in the by the lower classmen of Shermer. She wasn't all that much to look at and her voice sounded like a dying frog. Bill was suddenly grateful that as a Senior he...But the thought died as he realized that he was no longer a Senior. He wasn't graduating in a few weeks, he was a Sophmore all over again and somehow back in October 2018!
Paige, on the other hand, simply narrowed her eyes at Willow's confused, almost disgusted face. And what was that mark on her arm?
'Something's wrong' She said to herself as a million scenarios of how those cheerleading bitches could have hurt her best friend. She shouldn't have let Willow go alone, she was so sensitive and naive! Paige grabbed Willow's hand and gave it a squeeze out of habit, to show the young at heart teen that it was okay...Only for the other teenager to recoil and jerk her hand out of Paige's almost is if she'd been stung by something.
"Oh. Uh, sorry?" Bill said as he saw the look of concern and a little bit of hurt on Paige's puffy, swollen face. And while part of it had been a reaction to Paige's sudden touch, he did feel a bit sorry; This girl was just...not pretty at all. Almost ugly, even, and part of Bill had simply reacted. He hoped it wasn't too 'out of character' for the girl he was now.
There was a tense silence between the two teenage girls as neither of them knew what to do next in the awkward moment that was, thankfully, broken by Martha Strasserman.
"You girls can go up to the room if you want, this meatloaf still has about fifteen minutes left before it's ready" Martha was trying not to eavesdrop, but she also realized something was wrong. This was not the way her Willow acted, so...reserved, especially with Paige. The two girls loved each other like sisters, and Martha was glad that Willow had someone looking out for her in school. But this...This was so out of character for the both of them. Maybe Willow was just nervous? Her daughter had a penchant for over-investing in things and when they didn't pan out, sometimes she could get a little emotional, so maybe she just needed to have a good cry in private. But regardless, her words seemed to break the tension, at least for Paige.
"C'mon Wills, let's head up. You can show me that new picture you were working on before you left!" The tubby girl said and grabbed Willow's arm, this time a bit more forcefully, and headed towards the stairs, practically dragging her BFF with her.
"Uh, sure. The, uh, drawing!" Was all Bill could say as his skinny form was jerked forward. The two girls plodded up the stairs and down the upper hallway, passing Kimberly's room, in which the pre-teen was dancing around with her eyes shut, a pair of headphones on. And then they were at what was once Bill's door, but now it was clearly someone else's.
This morning, the door had simply been plain and featureless, just another door, but now...Now it was covered in cute pictures of cats, several images of 'Willow' and Paige at several different ages, as well as a white board that had "Do unto others EXACTLY what was just done to you!" written on it alongside an actually not half bad looking Pidgey from Pokemon. Beneath it was some weird starfish looking thing that was saying "Praise Helix!" in different handwriting, clearly not the same as the Pidgey. But as interesting as that was, Bill tried to examine the pictures on the door before Paige opened it and pulled him into what had once been his bedroom.
Everything was different. And pink. Just a few hours ago, Bill's bed had been against the far wall, his desk in front of the window, but now those things were reversed, with his bed sitting right next to the window and decked out in pink and white blankets and way, way too many plushies. And his computer was different! Instead of a slightly outdated gaming rig it was now some dinky looking Apple computer with an art tablet next to it! Posters of boy bands and anime shows hung on the walls instead of his much smaller collection of Star Wars and Marvel posters. And what was with the bean bags? Were those...Were those Barbie dolls set up like models?
'Oh my god' Bill thought as he wandered in, not realizing Paige had let go of his arm and was quietly closing the door behind him, beady eyes staring at him as he carefully made his way through the feminized room for the first time.
'It's like she's...She's never been here before. Did she hit her head or something at the gym? Did...Was Matt there? Did he do something to her? What is going on?!' Paige said as Bill finally found a uneasy seat on the edge of the bead, his frizzy face still staring around the room in shock, confusion and...anger? Willow was never angry! She was too kind for that! There was something off about Willow's eyes...Like there was someone else behind them? Paige knew she was a full fledged geek, maybe even a nerd, but she was firmly planted in reality. Life's cruelty and the need to look out for a Dreamer like Willow made her the cynical realist of their little friend group, but for some reason she couldn't shake the feeling that this was not the Willow she knew, that something had changed inside her best friend.
The two girls locked eyes as Willow finished looking around the room, and Paige couldn't see the same excited sparkle in those green-blue pools, just...clouds. It was too much for the overweight girl to bear as suspicion crumbled into concern, her eyes watering up behind her glasses.
"Willow, ar-are you okay? Did something happen at the gym? You're...This isn't you! You're acting like you've never been here before, and like...like you hate me!" Paige said, her voice struggling not to break. "
'Shit shit shit!' Bill screamed to himself as he tried not to panic. He couldn't escape, the fat girl was blocking the door, and it was clear that his mom wasn't going to save him...save her or whatever this time. He had to think of something, and fast!
Option 1: Bill decides to fake it to make it, telling Paige a lie and putting on the best act he can to get through the evening with raising more suspicion. Later that night, while trying to find out more information about 'Willow', Bill tries to contact Eve on Facebook about the Stone.
Option 2: Bill...Tells the truth? Or at least a version of it. Hedging his bets on being able to get out of the situation, Bill tells Paige everything about the Stone, promising that if she helps him get it back from Eve and back to normal, she can have a wish!