The Ahn'Ger Stone: Chapter 3

((Again my apologies for the delay. New image caption tomorrow.))

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Gloria was furious. She couldn’t believe how Bill was speaking to her! TO HER! Who the hell did this little fatso think he was! Someone with all those brains should know better, but then that was ALWAYS the problem! How many times had Bill talked Tom out of doing the sensible thing and listening to HER? And now refusing to help her out in her moment of need? In order to teach Tom that she was ALWAYS right? And what was worse was that Bill had that high and mighty opinion of his ‘smarts’. Bill didn’t care about the social game at school and the one thing that Gloria COULD control, he ignored! If he didn’t have that stubborn personality, that...that irritating pride, Bill WOULD have known better! Then he’d be just a neat little cog in her game, part of the school cliques that SHE ruled! But no, he just stood there making demands of her! Gloria couldn’t stand it anymore!

“Bill, you little creep!” Gloria hissed, her pretty face hardening as she felt the words enter her mind, “Fuck you! I wish I could control you like the other girls!”

The moment Gloria had completed the sentence, time seemed to stop as a flash of gold blinded the popular girl, the flash wiping out the rest of the world around the two of them. The sounds of the early morning became distant and muted, like Gloria’s ears were clogged or if she was underwater. There was a gust of wind that danced through her hair as the light or…whatever was happening erupted from her manicured fist! The queen of Shermer High stumbled backwards for a moment, blindly bumping into the porch railing as she let the uncomfortably warm gemstone in her hand fall loudly to the porch boards.

But where the Stone had merely caught Gloria off guard and left her slightly dazed, the full brunt of the gemstone's magic was unleashed upon Bill Strasserman. As the light engulfed him, he felt his skin tingling before the sensation turned into pain as it felt as if the teen's body was on fire! Bill wanted to scream, to throw himself on the ground and roll, but he could do nothing, frozen where he stood as the burning sensation spread across his body and drowning out the world in a blaze of green-gold light.

He felt the burning sink into his body as the painful sensation spread to his bones. They felt as if they were burning so hot that they were snapping as Bill felt his body begin to change! He couldn't tell quite what was happening, but his skin, if any was left, felt as if it was actually rolling across his body! His scalp felt as if someone was pulling his short hair out strand by strand and his mouth felt numb as if he had been injected with the numbing agent they used at the dentist. All the teen wanted to do was scream out for his mom, for his dad, for his little sister Kimmy or Tom, even Rob or Big Jon to save him from this pain! Eventually it became too much for him as Bill felt his organ begin to re-arrange, almost as if something SCOOPED out his manhood with a dulled spoon, and Bill finally let go of his grip on consciousness.

To Bill, the entire ordeal had felt as if it had last for days, but by the time Gloria had recomposed herself on the porch railing, the intense verdant glow was already subsiding, so quick the eruption of light had been. The gorgeous girl rubbed her eyes with a manicured hand and blinked the spots out of her eyes as the world returned to focus around her, which she was grateful for as for a brief moment she thought that maybe she'd gone blind!

"What the FUCK was that!? Bill, your stupid rock almost-" Gloria snarled, but her voice faded away as her mouth went slack as she stared at where Bill had been. She blinked and rubbed her eyes once more just in case she was hallucinating or something, she even pinched herself to make sure that SHE hadn't blacked out! But the mid-spring morning air was cool on her flawless skin and her eyes seemed to be in perfect working order (along with her nails, ouch), as she stared at the person in front of her. Bill should have been there, but he wasn't!

In front of Gloria, laying limp in the large front porch swing that had NOT been there just a moment ago, was another girl! Her eyes were closed behind the large circular glasses she wore, the frizzy mousey hair dangling over a freckled face that was decidedly nerdy but undoubtedly cute. Even slumped over in the swing, Gloria could tell that...whoever this girl was, was shorter than her, and younger. The girl's limbs were gangly beneath a much more conservative version of Gloria's outfit, pale but somewhat ruddy skin sticking out beneath a...was that a hand-stitched cardigan? A black knee skirt held two stick-like legs that ended in a pair of black, slightly heeled shoes, and two small breasts poked out through the old fashioned blouse the girl was wearing. Overall it was as if this stranger in front of Gloria was trying to emulate her own immaculate style…And only managing to look even MORE like a nerd because of it!

"Bill?" Gloria said softly, slowly reaching out, as if dealing with a sleeping animal, and gave the girl a quick tap on a small shoulder before recoiling with fear. As the girl stirred, Gloria couldn't help but glance at her hand hoping that whatever had just happened wasn't, well, contagious.

"Mmrrh?" The new girl's groan was high pitched and light, a tiny manicured hand rising up to brush the mousey brown hair out of her face and start rubbing her forehead, while the other smallxhand pushed the girl's body upright into a sitting position. Beneath the girl was now several piles of papers that she had been laying on, carefully paper clipped and binder clasped together. Even from here Gloria could see that each pile had a name attached. But Gloria didn't get a chance to read them as the nerdy girl's large brown eyes finally fluttered open as she adjusted the large glasses on her face.

"Huh? Oh-oh! G-Gloria!" The girl gasped as a large smile formed on her face. The girl that had been Bill lept to her feet. She quickly smoothed out her clothes and stood at attention in front of Gloria, tiny hands clasped in front of her. "H-hi! I was, um, w-well..." The girl's ready voice sputtered as her pale cheeks turned red, "D-doing all that homework last night, I was up r-really late! But I got it d-done!" The girl grabbed the piles of paper from the swing and practically shoved them in Gloria's shocked face, where she could see that each separate stack was for a girl in Gloria's clique. Vanessa, Marissa, Sara, Jess, Danielle, Rachel, even one for Emily McLeod! And of course, a pile for Gloria herself, which was decorated with a sticky note that had all sorts of flowery doodles and hearts splattered around her name. Was that even a...BFF? "I, um, m-must have fallen asleep w-waiting for you!"

"Bill, what...what happened to you!?" Gloria's voice finally returned as she stared from the papers back to the eager, still nervous face of the geeky girl in front of her. The girl's smile began to crumple into a frown however.

"B-bill? Gloria y-you know my name is W-Willow! Is-this isn't some p-prank right? Y-you said you'd s-stop doing those to me!" The girl's, this...Willow, eyes began to turn watery, "Y-you s-said if I d-did homework for y-you and the girls you'd let me be part of the age-group and stop being mean t-to me!"

"Holy shit!" Gloria gasped, and ignored the way the little nerd looked suddenly looked away as her face turned bright red, the gemstone! The popular girl shoved the homework out of the way, causing 'Willow' to let out a high pitched squeal as Gloria's eyes searched for the small jewel that had clearly done this. "That thing is magic!" She hissed, her green eyes frantic, not noticing that the gem rested next to her sandal.

"M-magic?" Willow sniffled as she blinked back the hot tears in her eyes, M-magic isn't re-real, Gloria! It’s f-for nerds!" The nerdy girl exclaimed, looking extremely unsure as to what was happening, her large watery eyes darting around, as if searching for a hidden camera or some snickering other popular girl hiding nearby with a paint balloon.

“Just shut up and help me look!” The far more attractive of the two girls hissed as she scoured the porch, looking for the tell-tale glimmer of green and gold that had drawn her eyes towards it just moments before. She HAD to find that thing! Not to undo her wish and bring back big-headed Bill, but to unlock the life of her dreams! If it could just, like, CHANGE someone so completely like this then Gloria could have anything she wanted! Eternal life, eternal beauty, riches beyond measure…Freedom from her mom, putting Tom in his place and keeping him there…ANYTHING!

“U-umm, I-is that it?” The little nerd croaked from behind Gloria, and the raven-haired girl spun on her heel to see Bill, or Willow or WHOEVER this nerd was reaching down to pick up the softly glowing gemstone.

“DON’T TOUCH IT!” Gloria screamed, darting forward as…