Ashley curiously scanned the world growing around him as he absentmindedly sipped at the water bottle. Meanwhile, Tom and Josh were preoccupied with looking around for the next ride to try. He stopped sipping when he noticed that Tom and Josh appeared to be even younger girls now, and yet he had to look up at them.
They were taller than him, no, older, Ashley realized.
The bottle slipped out of his fingers and hit the ground.
"Um, giwrls?" Ashley asked, noticing how much higher-pitched his voice sounded now, just like a little child's. "I fink somefing new jus' happen'."
Surprised at his squeaky voice, the girls turned to look down at him.
"Oh my God," Tom said. "What happened to you? You look like a toddler."
Ashley looked down at his feet. They seemed much closer now, and his shoes appeared to have swollen into stumpy toddler shoes. "No way," he muttered. He now wore a bright red pair of corduroy overalls. He touched them and noticed how little and stubby his hands looked now.
"Whoa, look at you," Josh said, but not about at Ashley. She was pointing at Tom. "You look like you're five or something."
Shocked, Tom looked down at herself. "Eep!" she cried as she gazed down at the frilly yellow dress she now wore and down along the white tights that ended in a shinny black pair of little Mary Jane's. "No," she moaned, like a petulant preschooler. "As if I wasn't girly enough already..."
"You wook younga, too," Ashley said, addressing Josh.
Josh looked down at herself. True, she felt smaller and her clothes appeared to be a bit more youthful, with her sun dress now a bright pink color. But, she clearly was not affected as strongly by the change as the other two had been. She was at least a head taller than Tom and probably a couple of years older. "Why didn't I turn into a little kid like you two?" Josh wondered.
"You ARE a widdle kid," Ashely said, snottily.
"Yeah, but not as little as you guys."
"What was in that water?" Tom asked as she picked up the half empty bottle. Turning it around in both hands, she read the label. "Fountain of Youth Water?!"
Ashley's eyes went wide. "Oops," he said. "I jus' saw da wurd, 'water.'"
"That explains it," Josh said. "Ashley drank most of the water, and you drank more than I did," she said pointing at Tom.
"Great," Tom said. "Just great. I bet we won't even be able to get on any cool rides now that were so young. We're going to be stuck on kiddy rides for the rest of the day."
Josh scratched her head. "How do computers even make 'Fountain of Youth' water anyway?" she wondered.
"Nanobots?" Ashley ventured, just barely getting the big word out of his little mouth. "I mean, how dose any of dis stuff make any sense?"
"Who cares," Tom moaned and tossed the bottle into some bushes. "I just want to do something fun. Let's see if there are any rides for little kids around here. Maybe something that will make us a bit older again."
Tom stomped off, like a girl on the verge of a tantrum. Josh followed, like a concerned older sister. And, Ashely stumbled along after them, crying, "Wait up, guys!" like a tag-along little brother.