Katie surveyed the room. The 25 year old women she had known throughout the day were gone now replaced by their 10 year old personalities. As Katie adjusted to this new reality she began to understand what was going.
Mary Elise, Claudia and Mika had lived in the same neighborhood as Katie for the last two years. The fourth graders were in the same class together and were close friends. Mary Elise and Claudia were best friends while Katie and Mika were best friends in this reality. Their friendships mirrored eachother. Mary Elise was a kindly tomboy while Claudia was a spark plug and the alpha in the group. Mika was an energetic and spunky girl who was best friends with Katie the athlete. Tricia and Samantha had recently moved to the area and became best friends quickly. Samantha was an athlete while Tricia was a shy and kind hearted girl. All six of them had become close friends over the course of the year. With school ending for the summer in a couple of weeks Katie had invited the group over for a sleepover since they had the next couple of days off from school. Katie's mom Kellie had agreed to it but had warned the girls to be on her best behavior since she was prepping for a trial next week.
"Hey Mary hey Claudia what you doing in my moms room," Katie asked. Both girls gave Katie a confuse look and smiled. "Not quite sure," Mary Elise stated. "I was talking with Claudia and then things got a bit fuzzy." Claudia nodded in response. "We were getting ready for bed and ended up in here," Claudia stated.
Katie breathed a sigh of relief, the ring had adjusted their memories so that they believed they had already known about the sleepover. "You have something else for me to wear," Mary Elsie asked. "I don't know what possessed me to put this dress on its way to girly for my taste." Claudia sighed. "God Mary," Claudia exclaimed. "How many times have I told you you look great in a dress. You should try girdling it up once in a while. Your too cute to be dressing so boyish all time." Mary Elise shook her head vigorously. "Not my style Claudia," she said. "I'm more comfortable in jeans and a shirt. I can look cute in jeans and a shirt." Claudia sighed and looked at her friend. " You never take my advise," she smiled. Mary Elise returned Claudias smile as the two girls began to giggle.
Katie smiled, while the dynamics of the group had changed but she still enjoyed their company. "Maybe we should head to bed," she said. As the girls wre leaving the room Claudia paused. "Hey where's Mika?" Claudia asked. "She fell asleep on the couch," Katie said. "I figured I'd let her sleep there." Claudia gave a mischievous smile. "We should go wake her up," she grinned. Quickly Claudia went downstairs to find Mika with Mary Elise and Katie in hot pursuit.
Milk remained where Katie had left her still soundly sleeping on the couch. Slowly Claudia crept towards the couch giggling. Before Katie and Mary Elise could stop her Claudia began tickling the young girls feet.With a jolt Mika jumped off the couch. "Hey what you doing!" She exclaimed. Claudia could only giggle. "Sorry shorty thought you'd want to join the party."
Mika glared at Claudia. "Don't call me shorty," she glowered. Claudia continued to laugh at Mika causing the little Asian girl to stomp down on Claudia's foot. Claudia began to hop around in pain causing her overly large panties to slide off tripping the small blonde girl. As she fell Mika began to laugh. "God Claudia," Mika laughed. "You run out of clean undies at home and have to borrow your moms." Claudia went beat red and jumped to her feet. While only an inch taller than Mika she attempted to stand on her tiptoes to make herself seem taller. Both girls were now in a staring contest and yelling at eachother.
Mary Elise and Katie looked at eachother and sighed. These arguments were nothing new and the two now stepped between the girls to try and break them apart.
"What's going on!" A much older voice yelled from the kitchen. The girls stopped arguing and stared into the kitchen. Kellie had woken up and gotten dressed. The clothing she wore looked out of place on her 43 year old body and she look quite tired. While Katie was glad her mother was up an about the child in her was nervous about an adult yelling at her.
Kellie glared at the four 10 year olds in front of her. She was tired and was still trying to get her bearings. She had woken up on the floor in the nude and had quickly dressed in clothes made for a woman twenty years her junior. Now all she wanted to do was go to bed. "Girls," she sighed. "It's almost one you need to go to bed."
"Sorry," the girls exclaimed in unison as they ran back to Katie's room. The girls quickly ran into Katie's room and changed into pajamas. Now all four of them were lying in bed. Slowly but surely all of them fell asleep until only Katie was awake. She listened as her mother made her way into her bedroom and went to bed. Now Katie had time to think. While she missed the old reality this new noose seemed to have possibilities. The ring seemed to tell her that she had planned to tell the girls about the ring. Before she did that though she had to adjust her room. Silently making a wish she watched as the room transformed into a room more suitable for a 10 year old girl. Gone were the childish pictures of fairy princesses replaced by pictures of nickelodeon shows.
Now Katie had a choice. Her ring told her that her mother was going out tomorrow and that their neighbor Ms. Menses was watching them in the morning. Katie could regress her or she could offer her new friends the opportunity to grow up or stay children. Katie mused over the endless possibilities as she drifted off to sleep.