"Bill, you coming or what?" Grace said as she stood there on the front porch of the Strasserman household, nestled against the muscled arms of Rob Bolstrum.
"I..." Bill began. On one hand, as much as he KNEW that Grace was his sister, he also knew that she was, in fact, his dad.
'She's my sister...But this isn't right. This isn't what I meant to happen!' Bill's mind stumbled as it put together a response. Grace was into some heavy shit, her depression and grief over the loss of their 'father' James had caused Grace to fall in with a VERY bad crowd and was leading her down the wrong path. But at the same time Grace was supposed to be Greg Strasserman, Bill was supposed to be eighteen instead of being sixteen again, and his family wasn't supposed to be broken! The two versions of Bill's memories began to toss suggestions at him in a non-verbal battle of the, well, Bills.
*She is your SISTER. You have a whole life in your head that tells you this! You need to be a good brother and try to help her out of this!* The mental version of this reality's Bill said adamantly, stomping a metaphorical foot on the equally metaphorical ground.
**The Stone messed things up! You need to wish things back to normal! You've got to get dad back! You can deal with Rob now that you know what is going to happen!** The mental version of the previous reality's Bill pleaded, his voice a little fainter and weaker as if he was shouting from behind a window.
Both of the mental Bills made valid points to Bill, it was true that this reality WAS a mistake, but what was reality when there existed an artifact that could create or reprupose beings and memories out of nothing? The existential angst of it all was giving the newly regressed teenager anxiety and he suddenly felt the need to puke. But instead he simply watched as Grace rolled her eyes and extended a small hand out to Bill and gave him a small smile that shook the new version of him.
*She hasn't smiled like that since before dad died* The current version of him whispered.
**SHE *IS* DAD** The past version of himself screamed through the mental pane of glass. But the moment passed as another voice, shrill and full of anger, rang out from inside the house.
"GRACE LYNN STRASSERMAN YOU GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Martha screamed as she saw her delenquint daughter sneaking off AGAIN with that thug she'd hooked up with. The harried former wife turned single mom came stomping down the stairs of the house in her work attire and heels, looking far more worse for wear as her makeup couldn't hide the dark circles under her eyes or the streaks of gray that had appeared in her formerly healthy brown hair.
Grace's hand retracted as she her head snapped towards the sound of her mother's approach.
"Shit, there's the bitch. Let's go!" Grace said, pushing Rob forward off the porch and hustling towards Rob's truck that was parked halfway on the sidewalk. There was a flash of black and blue hair as she turned towards Bill once more. "BILL! YOU IN OR OUT!?"
*If you go you can keep an eye on her, maybe you can keep her from getting into trouble again* Current Bill's mental voice said, wavering as Bill watched his sister flee, a spark of hope that maybe all she needed was her little brother to help her out of this personal crisis.
**Just make another wish! Get back to normal!** yelled Past Bill, banging his metaphorical hands against the window that separated his old memories from his new ones. But then the moment of choice passed as Martha Strasserman burst through the front door of the house and stamped angrily across the porch.
"GRACE! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" The widow screamed at the top of her lungs, her formerly peaceful face contorted in a mask of rage and worry. Grace, however, simply flipped her mother the bird as she piled into Rob's truck, the door slamming shut as the engine turned over and, with a roar, took off down the street.
"GRACE!" Martha wailed as she rushed out onto the front lawn. But it was no use, the red truck squealed as it took the next corner far too fast and disappeared into the April morning. Bill's mom stood there for a moment before a hand covered her face and she shook her head in frustration as the normal morning ambiance of Shermer returned. Across the road, now that the drama had ended, Bill could spy the group of other teens that had stopped on the other side of the street, the girls whispering to themselves as the greasy haired boy stared at Bill with an unsettling gaze.
"Bill your...your friends are here" Martha said as she turned back towards the house, wiping at her eyes as a trail of tears began to ruin her makeup, "Have a good day at school, okay?" She said as she stepped back onto the porch, giving her son a weak smile before vanishing back inside the darkened interior of the house.
'Well, guess that decides that' Current and Past Bill both said in unison before immediately falling back into arguing over what to do.
*Mom has enough on her plate right now, just go to school, maybe you can talk to Grace later!* Current Bill said hopefully.
**MAKE.THE.WISH** Past Bill roared again, and Bill forced his former self to be quiet for the time being.
"Enough. Just...Enough" Bill muttered as he rose out of the chair he'd been sitting in and grabbed his waiting backpack. There was already too much drama this morning ad with several different lifetimes in his head, Bill was just ready for the banal normalcy of school. The two mental Bills fell silent as Bill looped the backpack across one shoulder and stepped down off the porch and began crossing over to the waiting group.
"Hey, guys. Sorry about that" He said as his sneakers stepped off the asphalt and onto the concrete of the opposing sidewalk. He felt embarassed about his sister's behavior. Usually it wasn't so...public.
"That's okay Bill, we know it's been hard for you!" Came a soft, sweet voice that made butterflies erupt in Bill's stomach. He looked at the older teen, the Senior out of the group of Sophmores that Bill was once again part of and had graced their little group with her presence since she lived just down the block from Bill's house. She was a little shorter than Bill, topped with golden blonde hair and sweet blue eyes that sometimes hid behind a pair of glasses. Her Star Trek Beyond shirt and green flannel top accented her curvy short-stacked figure perfectly, and Bill felt himself smiling as he tried to ward off the boner forming in his pants.
"Thanks, Tammy" He said, trying to hide his blushing face as he gave the goofy grin on his face to the other girl in the group, Paige. Paige Walters was like a dark, funhouse mirror version of Tammy. She wasn't very attractive, VERY overweight and covered with acne. But she was a geek like Bill was, and she was friends with Tammy (but honestly who WASN'T friends with Tammy, aside from the cliquey cheerleaders or the assholes of Shermer High) and was nice enough to spend time around.
"Hi Bill!" Paige said, her pockmarked face dominated by the bright smile that was on it. She hadn't said anything to him about it, but between her and Tammy (who was so pretty and geeky yet still hung out with the group of Sophmores, despite them being near the bottom of Shermer High's popularity ladder), Paige was head over heels for Bill. He was the only boy that WASN'T a creep that gave her the time of day. And didn't make fun of her. And the way he looked at her every morning with that silly smile just made the various teasing and cruel comments from the rest of Shermer's school population much easier to bear. She'd even been trying to diet and lose weight!
"Hey, Paige" Bill said, looking at Paige long enough for the awkward boner he had for Tammy to fade away as he fell in with the group. He looked over at the other male of the group, the greasy haired Matt Harris, who was still staring at him, but now had a almost scary looking grin on his face. Matt was...weird. He was a perv, quick to anger and overall was considered a bit of a psychopath. He was even seeing a shrink, though no one knew why other than 'to help him control his anger'.
"Hey, Matt. What's up?" Bill said as friendly as he could. Matt was nice enough to him, but there was always just something off about their friendship. Really the two had, in this reality, just sort of hung together since grade school, but it always felt...off. But Bill just assumed it was just Matt being Matt. He raised his hand for their typical high-five.
"Dude, your sister is SO hot!" Matt said, and Bill immediately regretted being nice. He felt the sting of Matt's little-too-hard' return five and gave the greasy haired teen a look of annoyance. "What? WHAT!? I mean it's a compliment! You see the way her boobs-" Matt whined as the group collectively rolled their eyes and took off walking. Matt immediately felt his eyes shift back towards Tammy's ass even as he sputtered "Hey, wait up!".
Bill had forgotten in the heat of the moment but there was another figure with the group this morning, a smaller one in an nerd-chic outfit that looked more like it belonged on Tammy, one who rode to school with her mom. Her long blonde hair was tucked into a ponytail and her large glasses made her already huge eyes even larger as they kept sneaking glances back at Bill. He felt like he knew the face but yet...
"Oh, I already told Paige and Matt but have you met my little sister, Kimberly? She's gonna hang out at the high school today!" Tammy said as the group stopped at a crosswalk. "Kimmy's doing really great in her classes and they're thinking about moving her up a couple of grades next year! They wanted her to see what high school is like before the summer gets here!"
The smaller girl turned tried but failed to suppress a wave of nervous giggles from escaping her red as a beet face as Bill's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he realized who the smaller girl was.
"H...Hi Bill!" Kimmy Ackerton squeaked.