Jennifer's alarm clock rang with a little jingle, as she lazily rummaged around her pillow she realized she couldn't feel her phone. She suddenly woke up, in a daze trying to find the source of that ringing, before looking at a small clock on her nightstand. When did that get there? She used her phone as her alarm, she flipped over her covers and stood up, only to immediately fall on her face. "What the?" She exclaimed, before standing back up, slowly realizing what had happened.
Her room was now plastered with teen boy bands and cartoon posters, she looked down to find herself wearing those princess pajamas she had been dreading to wear last night. "Oh no...I got younger!" Jennifer ran across the hallway again to the bathroom mirror, she could only see her head poking out above the sink. Was I even shorter? Jennifer spotted a stepping stool near by and used it to get on top of the sink, now in full view of the mirror she could survey the damage.
No matter how you could spell it out, she had definitely gotten younger, she started to strip her pajamas to see herself better. She grabbed her chest, yesterday she had at least the makings of breasts, now she was officially flat, the only change in elevation being her puffed up nipples, she pulled down her pants. She used to carefully trim herself after puberty, always tried to shave her legs and her arms, just like mom, but this was clearly out of control. A wiry bush of pubes greeted her, and she had a mixture of hair and peach fuzz over her legs and arms. Jennifer didn't remember when she learned how to shave, but this was clearly before then. She poked out her finger to count her age. If she was eighteen in twelfth grade, then that would make her fifteen in ninth, that would make her fourteen in eighth grade. Her heart sank. Eighth grade, she wasn't even high school anymore.
She tried to recall where she had messed up, was it with Katie? No that was all her fault, and she certainly wasn't mean to Sarah. She shook her head in anger. It was those punks at lunch! Jennifer cried "Thaff's not fair! They started it!" Recoiling from her own voice, she ran her tongue over her teeth as she smiled wide. Braces. Yup, she was fourteen all right. She never did get used to her braces Jennifer remembered, as she was stuck for a minute constantly feeling around her mouth. A knock on the door, as her mother called out "Jenni, are you almost ready for breakfast?" Jennifer replied back "Yesf, I'll be ready in a minute!" She hopped down from her step stool, and got dressed in her pajamas again, she was about to leave the bathroom before she noticed the scale. How did I forget about the scale? Jennifer hopped on the scale, after a second of parsing it read. 64 lbs. 64? That was barely anything! She hopped down, again remembering her growth chart, her dad used to mark her every year on her door frame. She ran back to her room, it was still there! Score, no more guessing. Jennifer traced her finger up the frame looking at each marking to finally get to the most recent one, 51 inches. Jennifer paused to do some math in her head. "Thatf's...lesth than four feet and a half, I think." Her mind sank again, anymore smaller and I'll disappear. Jennifer shuttered, "No, Ith still have plenty of time, who wouldn'f fail their first day of being cursed right?"
She got ready for school yet again, she opened her top dresser again to orient herself, though she did have to use her tippy toes to look inside. She still had the picture of her in the school play, but not the picture of her football game, odd. I could have swore I did that in middle school Jennifer thought. She noticed new items too, a old flower crown that had been pressed, probably by her mom, a picture of her with her family on a vacation, and a picture with her dog, Texas. Texas! Jennifer started to swell with tears, she had lost Texas that summer, and she was heart broken for months, but if it was the school year, that means! "Tex!" Jennifer shouted out, and sure enough a minute later she heard scratching by the door, she rushed to open it, to find Tex, a fairly aging German Shepard, his fur streaked with grey fur. She gave the dog a long hug. "At least I have you again." she whispered, hugging the dog dearly. Her mom called out again, prompting Jennifer to let go "Ok boy, I promise I'll see you tonight, I gotta get ready." As Tex left the room, tail still wagging. Jennifer then got dressed, a blue blouse, thankfully one that fit her, over another training bra, and a pair of shorts with sneakers. She grabbed her backpack and headed down stairs.
Her mom waited for her with some toast on a plate. Jennifer was still not used to seeing her mom growing younger with herself, she looked to about in her thirties, Jennifer tried to count again, if she was fourteen, and her mom was thirty seven when she was eighteen, that would make her in her uh, thirty three. Studying her mom it confirmed her suspicions, she had almost completely shed off her descent into getting old, she looked beautiful, wearing a bit more revealing clothing to match, her ample bosom clearly showing through a low cut shirt. Her mom grabbed her keys as Jennifer grabbed the piece of toast. "And don't forget this afternoon Jennifer, you have your first soccer game, I got your uniform all washed and ready." Jennifer retorted playfully "It's acthually called football mom." As her mom rolled her eyes, "Well, whatever you call it, just make sure to do your best sweety, and make sure to take the bus to the high school after school." Her mom planted a kiss on her forehead as Jennifer exited the house, and started to wait at the end of her road for the school bus to arrive.