Patrick raced over to Mary's house and hid behind a bush across the street. He watched as her dad came out, kissed his wife goodbye and left for work. He decided that was a good sign, maybe she turned back and didn't remember it. He waited crouched down behind the bush till Mary's brother came out and started to head off to school. He waited hoping to see Mary but she never comes out. 'Maybe she left earlier?' Glancing down at this watch he knows he has to leave and runs full out to school to make it time.
Kristy walks into the kitchen still thinking about her son’s odd behavior and spies the clown nose. Patrick has always been fascinated by clowns but has entered the phase in his life where it is uncool. He tried to play it cool when there was one at Sam's birthday party but she could tell he enjoyed it. Picking up the clown nose she feels its warmth in her hand and slowly puts it on, hearing a suction sound as it goes on. Turning to the mirror in the living room she sees her reflection and laughs.
Patrick gets to school and spends a minute catching his breath before he hears the first bell and dashes in. Walking down the hallway people are talking and ignoring him as normal that Patrick takes as a good sign. He looks for Mary and passes by where she and her friends usually hang out and find that she is not among them. Trying to listen in on their conversation he moves closer till one of them spots him.
"What do you want loser?" they spit at him. Patrick takes off not bothering to answer them. In a panic he tries to stake out her locker but finds another girl getting stuff out of it. He looks around sure that this was her locker and hears the second bell, sighing he makes his way to class.
Kristy smiles at the way she looks. Maybe Patrick has the right idea about clowns. She doesn’t notice the subtle tingles starting to run over her body. She turns and goes back to the kitchen for breakfast, her skin starting to lighten.
Patrick runs into class as it begins and does not have a chance to ask his friends about Mary. He spends all of class day dreaming bad outcomes of people finding out about him being a clown, vandalizing Mary's house and assaulting her; arrest, jail, expulsion, medical exams, dissection or worse being an outcast for the rest of middle and high school. Hearing his name called he snaps back to reality and focuses on the teacher.
"Patrick, are you ok? You look pale, do you need to see the nurse?"
"Um. No, I'm fine."
"Ok then pay attention." The teacher continued as Patrick slipped back in to day dreams now also worried that he apparently still had not changed back.
Kristy giggled to herself as she got out some cereal, by the time she had the milk she was giggling out loud. Pouring the milk into the bowl she noticed that her skin now was the same color as the milk. That thought sent her into a fit of laughter as she fell to the floor.
Patrick heard the bell ring and dashed out of the classroom and to a bathroom. Getting into a stall he locked the door and opened his shirt, to his horror his skin was still white with his red nipples standing out. Slowly buttoning up his shirt the terrible thought came to him 'What if he never changed back?' He started to shake and braced himself against the toilet.
Kristy's lips turned red and curled up into a smile as her thin eyebrows disappeared and purple arching ones drew themselves on her forehead. She moaned as her breasts grew sending a shirt button shooting off into the room like a bullet.
Patrick checked himself in the bathroom mirror and he was still pale. He started to remove his hat to check his hair but someone else came in and he changed his mind and left fast. Finding his friend Brian he asks as casually as he can "Have you seen Mary today?"
With a laugh Brian replies "Who's that a girl you like?"
"Mary Stevens you known her since elementary school."
"Who?" The look of absolute confusion on Brian's face tells Patrick that he is not joking. His mind reels, why doesn’t he know her. Walking off, he asks his other friends about her and gets similar responses. Panic and confusion is enough for him to walk up to the group of her friends and ask. They look at him like he is the slime off a slug and ask "Who?" Walking away Patrick wonders to his next class in a zombie state.
Kristy stares at her feet as they shoot up tripling in size. A blush forms around her mouth and freckles appear on her cheeks. Her shoulder length hair starts to grow and curl up as it slowly turns neon green from the roots to the tips.
Patrick sits down in class and doesn't see the teacher walk up to him and grabs his hat.
"No hats allowed in school." Patrick makes a grab for it but it is too late as he feared he sees the stunned look on his teachers face. Looking at his reflection in the window he sees that his hair had developed blue streaks in it despite him cutting them out this morning.
"And you cannot have blue hair either. Principal’s office now." At the principal’s office he tells him he cannot come back till his hair was back to normal and he would inform his mother. The principal escorts him out of school and Patrick begins the walk home. Patrick dread what would his mom say when she got the call from the principal? Would the changes ever go away or would he be stuck like this? He took a shortcut down the alley hoping to avoid anyone, his heart almost stopped as a young clown stepped out in front of him.
"Hey Patrick" The clown girl was a young whiteface clown with a pink nose and long purple hair flowing down her back. Patrick nearly pissed his pants with everything going on running into a clown was too much and he started to back away.
"It's ok Patrick." she said with a laugh. Patrick finally looks closely at her and the light of recognition dawn on him and send a jolt of new fear through him.
"Mary" he sputtered out
"Yes, silly" she spun around him in a little dance
"I'm...I'm...sorry I didn't know anything would happen. I don't know what to do. I tried to find out what happened but everyone seems to have forgot you." Patrick blurted out
"It's ok. I am not mad, I have never felt better or sillier." a fit of giggles over takes her
"But you’re a clown."
"I know it is wonderful." She drapes her arms around him and pulls him in close. "I wanted to thank you being a clown is great. You should know how it feels when you were clowning around."
"Yea but everything is going wrong. I am not changing back to normal, I got expelled from school, my mom is going to kill me, I turned you in to a clown...."
"shhh...." she puts a white finger to his lips "It's ok, I found this amazing place where everyone is a clown and life is so much fun, you can be free and silly all you want." Patrick found himself imagining himself as a clown living there bouncing around being silly.
"I will show you. Here." She holds up her hand offering him a clown nose. At the sight of it Patrick tries to jump back but Mary holds him tight. "NO. I can't. I may not change back, my mom, my life..."
"Would that be so bad, being a clown is so much fun." She brushes his hair out of his eyes "You're so cute. I am sorry for being mean to you but I have always had a crush on you but you seemed so nerdy. But you were right clowns are cool and thank you for helping me be one." She slowly kisses him, her pink clown nose brushing his face as her soft lips met his. Patrick felt his lips tingle as he ran his hand over her arm, her smooth white skin, he imagine this for most of his life. He dreamed of being a clown and making people laugh and being with Mary, maybe things aren't so bad. She breaks the kiss and whispers "Put it on"