The Do-Over
Poor Penelope still had no idea what was going on.

There was too much air! This shouldn’t, no… couldn’t happen to a person, but somehow it was and her mind could barely accept it. Something drastic was happening to her, not in the natural way either. She was laying down, her stomach on the boardwalk floor, and she couldn’t turn all the way to get a good look. She had to make do with craning her neck around. It wasn’t much, but what she could see was more than enough.

Put simply, her behind was the size of a small couch and wasn’t showing any signs of slimming. It was so huge it filled her vision, which was insane enough, but despite that she felt almost nothing but the pressure filling inside her. It was ever so strange just by itself, almost fake! She got her exercise in every day. She should’ve had the firm tone of a fit girl her age. Understandably, she was having trouble understand what was happening to her.

She was so frantic she had trouble thinking straight. So instead of trying to figure this out, she reached back like a fool and desperate tried to shove her ass back down to normal size. It was a stupid idea, but what else could she do?

“I… I can’t…” she gasped as she desperately tried to push against the pressure, but nothing was responding right. Her skin was smooth and shiny: she couldn’t even feel the rough of her jeans, even though they should’ve been unbearably tight against her. They were pressed so thin they almost looked like they literally painted on… but that was impossible! When she tried to push against them, her hand sunk into something hollow, taut and very unbooty-like. It was like pushing on an air mattress, and it just felt wrong. She realized with a gasp that it wasn’t just her bum, either: she couldn’t really feel her legs any more, and she definitely couldn’t move them! They curled up by themselves under her expanding hips, hence her being unable to turn around fully. And where were her toes? Why couldn’t she make them out?

This had to be a dream. But something in the back of her mind told this this was totally, impossible real. But how?

She tried to think about how the got here. She had been invited. This was some kind of party, she wasn’t sure. They were on the shore, about to have a good time. Her friend…

She looked up frantically. A crowd had formed around her. Mostly kids, who were staring at her with… excitement? Delight? The adults were little better, they actually looked amused! She realized that some of them had even been laughing when she was trying to push her behind back down to normal size. The men and some of the older boys were even leering without shame at it, making half of her shudder. But her friend Janine… she realized suddenly that Janine was still standing by her, but hadn’t lifted a finger at all!

“J-Janine!” She stammered. “What’s going on? H-help, please!”

But Janine was leering at her too! “Wuz goin’ awn’?” She repeated, cruelly making fun of her friend’s slight Southern drawl. She smacked Penelope’s expanded bottom. Penelope barely felt it, but it didn’t sound like it should have. More like the pom you get when you hit a trampoline.

Penelope tried remembering again. The last thing she knew, Janine invited her to this “wharf club” or whatever it was called to swim and hang out and try rafting the lake. One second she was at the nearby store trying to figure out if she wanted to buy a new swimsuit, the next… this!

“I don’t… nnghh!” A moan cut off her train of thought. The pressurized feeling had spread up her back, and suddenly she was forced to lay straight as something pressed into to the small of her back - though she had no idea what, she could hear and feel the quick POP!! it made as it pushed into place. And that was just the least of her worries. She tried to talk to Janine again, but she couldn’t get around to it - for a second later she had to cry out as the pressure hit her chest. Breasts the size of beachballs, hers, popped into her face. Her head was pushed upright to stare at Janine’s evil smile, while what was left of her back arched. Her arms cuddled her bust on their own accord. Like her legs, they pushed so tight she could barely tell them apart any from the rest of her any more.

She had no control over her body any more. Penelope looked up to Janine for help one last time, but her friend leaned into Penelope’s face with a terrible grin. “Shut up and finish, already! I want to hit the water!”


Janine watched with wicked excitement as Penelope’s confused eyes clouded and lost all definition, until the whole of her humanity vanished for good with one final SQUEAK!! She couldn’t ever see it now, and was too panicked to fully understand it when she had the chance, but the once spirited coed was not a person any more, not by a long shot. But Janine thought she made the best pool toy she had seen yet! A pretty attractive inflatable raft, if she wanted to be precise.

The overalls and shirt her friend had brought with her were now just as painted onto the raft’s latex chassis as Penelope had unwittingly thought, keeping the “country” theme. A spotted bra - once only slightly visible behind the girl’s shirt - was blown out over an inflated, “fake” bustline: the perfect size to balance out the floatie’s huge but comfy hind parts. Anyone would think someone lewd had just designed a toy to look like an over-idealized girl. No one outside the club would have any idea.

A large seat was indented into its “back,” which Janine knew would make riding the waves a ton of fun. But the best part was her face. Her friend’s fair features were now forever replaced by a sweet, cartoony smile that made Janine want to giggle just looking at it! The smiling eyes stared cheerfully into space as what had been Penelope’s long pigtails - the only thing human left - quickly went plastic too. They twisted around and latched onto the sides of the seat, then filled with air and became rigid to form a pair of cute handlebars. The design was perfect!

Since it was done, Janine could pick the inflatable up with no risk of messing up the change. And though Penelope may have been as heavy as your average college student, as a floatation device she was full of air and light as a bag of feathers despite the exaggerated figure. Janine squealed with delight as she squeezed around its middle, causing the rubbery bust and bottom to pop out a little more. With zero regard whatsoever for the friend her new plaything had been a moment before, Janine lifted it over her head and ran for the shore. The kids aroundher tried to grab at it for themselves, each wanting to get first ride, but Janine snatched it away from their hands. This was her friend, so that meant this belonged to her! It was time to have some fun!

Or so she thought, anyway. “Not so fast!” She heard from behind.

She turned to see the owner of the local store stomping towards her. The man was old and gruff, but his glare was terrifying - not least because of what he could do to back it up. It was somehow emotionless and furious at the same time, and was fixed on Janine. She gulped instinctively, even though she had known this man for so long that she was pretty sure she had nothing to worry about.

“What?” She whined. “I’m burning daylight, here!”

“We’re not done,” he barked at her. She noticed him carry a suspicious looking vial in his hand. The liquid inside was fast acting, and she had just seen what even small exposure could do someone like her. “I’d say there’s one more change left.”

She flinched. Maybe she did have something to worry about after all. “W-what?”

The crowd of kids gasped in delight at the thought of having not just one, but two new toys to play with. Janine was much less excited. In fact, she felt a little betrayed. Hadn’t she been bringing these rugrats toys to play with for years?

She stepped away from shopkeeper, not wanting to stay in range of any splash from that vial. “What are you on about? What’s going on?” She said warily.

“Your tab is way overdue!” He shouted, pointing to the large toy in her hands. “I let you have your fun with your ‘guest,’ but unless you want to be floating out there on the rental queue with her you best settle up now!”

Janine was shocked. Granted, she knew how the club operated: the rare guests and unwitting visitors always became the rentals for the official members to enjoy. But she had an arrangement, dammit! “What are you talking about! The expense of every new rental is covered by the club, as long as I give it to you after! And I’ve given you five times as much as anyone else!”

“Yes, you’re very enthuastic. But that deal’s for special acquisitions, like events, not all these custom jobs you pull in off the street! Those cost extra! And you haven’t paid for any of it.” Janine flinched again. Lots of members commissioned transformations like this to get rid of enemies, but she was the only one who did it just to have fun. She never thought she would have to pay for it! “Not to mention that I know you’re constantly ‘borrowing’ my stock for joyrides when you think I’m not looking. We welcome you month after month, but I’m tired of your greedy antics. This time, I plan to collect. And you know what happens to people whom I need to collect.”

“Sure, I know. I’ve only seen it happen a couple dozen times!” Janine tried to say confidently, but she squeaked a little. She would be making a habit of that if she didn’t think of something. “B-but that won’t be necessary, because I also know the perfect new acquisitions to do with as you please. That should square us away, right?”

The shopkeeper frowned. He mentally went over a few upcoming events he could use some new product for. “Like who, exactly?”

“Like… um… well…” Janine quickly fished her phone out of her bag and scrolled down her contacts list. “Gisela? No, wait, she’s already here…” She glanced to a pair of adults on the water, riding on one of the club’s many rafts. The shape was the same as Penelope, but it had a different color scheme and a noticeably distinct face with glasses. Another old friend. She kept scrolling. “Nashwa? No, she’ll never trust me after what happened last time. Jasmine and Coleen? No, they’re out of town…”

The shopkeeper grunted impatiently. “If that’s enough stalling, I’d like to get started.” He said, lifting the vial to dangerous throwing position. Those treacherous kids looked way too excited for Janine’s liking.

“NO, WAIT!” She shrieked. She threw her hands out in a last ditch effort to change his mind. It went without saying that she really didn’t want to be someone else’s pool toy: these things were only fun when it wasn’t her humanity on the line! And she was in luck, for she had just spotted an out to her rubbery fate. “I actually do know a few idiots who would be perfect to square us away. Three of them. Nice bodies, very gullible. They’ll be perfect!”

She smiled nervously, but nervously hugged her girl-turned-floatie a little tighter. The transformed Penelope’s unseeing eyes stared up into the sky, something that was fun to think about a moment ago but now just seemed like a cold and very real possibility in her own future.

The shopkeeper let her sweat for way too long as he considered. But then, just when she was resigning herself to buoyancy, he smiled.

“Call ‘em.”

—Meanwhile—

Further down the boardwalk, three young bikini clad women made their way through the streets enjoying the brisk summer’s breeze. The summer’s sun was doing them well, enough that their figures cut in their swimsuits earned them a few looks on the street, but they ignored them all. These women weren’t here for boys, after all: they were here to have fun. Or at least they were trying to. It was turning out to be surprisingly hard, especially when one of them was dead set on enjoying herself in ways the others… weren’t particularly into.

“Lauren! Would you get out of there already?” Evie - a frizzy haired redhead - shouted from the other side of a clothing storefront window. As usual her friend had run in acting like she was going buy something, which the assistants bought even though she was already wearing a bikini - a pretty skimpy one, no less - and didn’t have a purse on her. And instead of shopping, she snuck over to the display when nobody was looking and was now amusing herself and any guys passing by making silly and sexy poses alongside the store’s actual mannequins.

Evie couldn’t decide if it was more inappropriate or illegal, but either way she didn’t want to have to deal with it. The store workers weren’t likely to miss the fact that one of their “mannequins” was Asian, not to mention alive! “We’re going to get in trouble!”

“Oh, don’t be such a prude, Eve!” Lauren stuck out her tongue and flashed the world another pose, this time popping her hips to the side as she bent all the way over and whipping her long, black hair behind her. One distracted looking fellow stopped what he was doing to gape at her, and she slapped her ass just to give him a show, laughing all the while.

Evie groaned with embarrassment. She turned to their third, but Melody had checked out of the situation the moment Evie started acting up and was now standing by flipping through one of her larger textbooks. “She’s going to get us in trouble!” Evie said again, hoping to get the most sensible of them to give her a hand.

Melody was usually on her side when Lauren started acting up, but even she had her limits. She adjusted her glasses and gave a half-glance up to Evie’s face, then turned back to her book, brushing her hair - short, brown and curly - out of the way. “You know she’s not going to stop unless someone makes her.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Evie sighed dramatically, so Lauren would see. “Let’s just go, then.”

Lauren was in the middle of a set of provocative stretches when she saw Evie and Melody turn to leave. They knew it would piss her off, but also get her to stop: and as expected before they even left the front of the store Lauren was by their side again. And just in time to avoid getting spotted by the store manager, too.

“Come on!” She said with a whine. “No need to be a jerk. I was just trying to have some fun around here.” She slid up to the fellow who had stopped to stare and twirled around his arm until she was pressing flirtatiously close to his chest. “You liked it, didn’t you big guy?”

The guy choked on nothing at all, giving Evie the opportunity to finally do something.

“We’re on the boardwalk!’ Evie shouted, and she yanked Lauren off the poor devil before he could recover or - worse - reciprocate. “You can find fun anywhere!”

“But it’s all the saaaame!” She whined, in Evie’s arm. “What’s even new around here? Hell, the nerd’s so bored she brought a book!”

She pointed at Melody, who didn’t bother looking up. “Don’t blame me for your immaturity,” she said.

“You’re on the beach!” Lauren said. She grabbed the textbook and playfully tried to wrest it away, only for Melody to yank it back. “Why don’t you live a little, chica?”

Melody, who was Hispanic, frowned. She was clearly annoyed by now, but she still shut her book just to keep Lauren from bugging her about it. “Can we find her something to do, already?” She hissed.

“You really are out of control, Lauren,”  Evie said. She shoved Lauren’s discarded purse into her hands. “Can you dial it back just a little?”

“I’m booored!” She replied, stomping her foot like a child. “What would you have me do, play with this thing?”

She gestured ahead of them, to an old-fashioned novelty machine that had been set up on the side of the boardwalk. It appeared to be new, since between the three of them they had frequented every inch of this place since coming to school and none of them had ever seen it, but it looked like something from the 50’s, maybe earlier. It was a wooden statue in the shape of a gnarled old woman, wearing stereotypical gypsy garb. There was a coin slot in one of its hands, and a ticket slot in the other: on the front hung a sign that said “CROSS MY PALM WITH SILVER, AND LEARN YOUR FORTUNE.”

It looked like something from a retro carnival or something. And it was also very creepy. Even Melody, who was not particularly superstitious, shivered just from looking at it.

“Where did that even come from?” She said. “I don’t remember ever seeing it before.” The other two glanced at each other in silent agreement.

Evie whispered in her friend’s ear, though she wasn’t sure why she was being so careful. “Maybe someone dug it out of their basement or something…” Melody shrugged, it was as good an answer as any, and the two of them decided to walk away. Just in case.

But meanwhile, while she had been just as creeped out as the others as first, Lauren saw their now nervous faces and suddenly felt a lot more interested. “You know what, I changed my mind,” she said, wearing a devious smile. “This is as good a thing to do as any.”

Melody didn’t even stop. “Ugh, you’re impossible!” She ignored Lauren’s teasing little “thanks” in reply, and kept walking down the way where she leaned against a fence and waited for the others..

Chuckling to a joke only she thought was funny, Lauren sashayed over to the fortune teller and pulled something out of her hair. It looked like a coin, but it was actually a very large bottlecap attached to a string.

“Come on, really?” Evie groaned.

“Hell if I’m going to actually pay money to this piece of junk,” Lauren smirked. Though Evie he had to wonder why she even had the trick coin in the first place. Only an ancient machine like this one would even be fooled by something like that, and how many of those were sitting around in this day and age?

But it worked, at least. She slammed the cap into the coin slot, then just as the machine began to shake she yanked it back out with the string. Easy as pie, her totally free fortune rolled out. She snatched it up like candy.

She looked it over, scrunched her nose in confusion, then read it again. Evie leaned over her shoulder to get a peek, but Lauren pushed her away and read it out loud instead. “ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, YOU WILL CHANGE. IT CAN BE A CURSE, SO MAKE IT A GIFT.” She stared blankly at Evie, then Melody, waiting for someone to decipher it for her. But Evie just shrugged. “What the hell does that even mean? What ripoff”

“No use complaining about something you stole!”  Evie pushed past Lauren, and reached into her purse.  “Luckily, I brought enough ‘silver’ for the both of us. And hopefully whoever owns this thing didn’t see you!” She pulled out enough quarters for two whole purchases, and gently slipped them into the machine. A second later, her own fortune appeared. The fortune teller only gave her one despite her paying twice, almost as if it knew what she intended.

Her fortune was bigger than Lauren’s - it looked the same, but was actually twice as wide and folded in half. Evie took it carefully, and read it aloud. “SOMETIMES WE PAY FOR THE FRIENDS WE KEEP. BUT IF LED ASTRAY BY BAD COMPANY, IT HELPS TO HAVE A DO-OVER.” She too ended up staring blankly at the paper. That made even less sense than Lauren’s!

“Ha!” Lauren poked her in the shoulder. “Now you know how it feels!”

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Melody, shouting from across the way. “Are you guys finished throwing your money away now?”

With a shrug, Evie hurried over to join her. Lauren walked sulkily behind her, still a little bitter about her own fortune. “Didn’t you want one?” Evie said teasingly to their third, though she already knew the answer.

Melody scoffed. She turned her nose away, and started walking down the boardwalk. “No thanks. Giving away money to a plastic fortune teller is a step too irrational in my opinion.”

“Oh, learn to have a little fun!” Lauren said, a little too harshly. Melody’s turned around with gritted teeth and an argument clearly about to jump out of her throat.

But in Melody’s defense, and also because she was really starting to lose her patience, Evie rounded on her rambunctious friend before Melody could say a thing. “And you could learn to be less of a cheat! Why would you even steal something that costs a quarter?”

“Or maybe you should get up off that high horse for once!” Evie replied, not backing down. “It’s not like it mattered!”

“It matters to whoever owns that machine!”

Evie pouted, again acting just like a child. “Yeah… well…” She grumbled defensively. “You paid my way anyway, so it all worked out in the-“

RING! RING!

The argument actually stopped for once, as all of them looked to Lauren’s purse, where her phone was ringing. Lauren herself stopped short and, a little confused, lifted the phone to her ear. For once, she hadn’t been expecting a call today.

A couple seconds later, she grinned. “Hey, it’s Janine!” She said, missing the way Evie and Melody frowned at the name. “Uh huh… uh huh… oh, wow!” The last part she shouted outright, making the other two jump. She lowered the phone and hopped up close to them, shaking with delight. “Janine’s inviting us to some kind of party! And get this: it’s at The Wharf!”

The Wharf, not to be confused with the actual wharf they were actually standing on, was a private part fo the boardwalk cordoned off by some kind of elusive club. There was a gated pier with a restaurant and a social club, plus a secluded shore right on some of the most beautiful stretches of water in the entire area. Some of the richest and most powerful people in town came there with their families, and had gated affairs and post, upscale parties. Even though nobody really knew much about them or what they actually did, every student just knew their events had to be the richest and most amazing experiences they could find in this town - everyone dreamed of being able to go to one.

Everyone also knew Janine had, somehow, gotten in deep with The Wharf. Most, like Lauren, were stewing in jealousy. Though for some… not so much.

“That’s… strange.” Melody said. “Why would Janine invite us to anything? We’re not close.”

“Yeah,” Evie agreed, though she was less harsh about it. “And wasn’t she chilling with Penelope today?”

“Who cares?!” Lauren squealed. She was jumping up and down on her feet, she was so excited. “This is a party at The Wharf! Why wouldn’t you want to go?”

“Maybe because they say weird stuff happens at that place?” Melody said, shaking her head. “As far as private clubs go, they’re creepy and secretive. That isn’t my favorite combination.”

Lauren groaned. “You two are just dedicated spoilsports.” She said rudely. “Come on, I’ll show you how to really have fun.” She lifted up her phone again, apparently having not forgotten that Janine was still waiting on the other side. “We’ll be right there!”

“Hey wait, don’t just…” Evie insisted, but Lauren had already hung up the phone and was now sprinting in the direction of The Wharf, laughing gleefully. Evie just watched her and sighed. “I guess we’re going…”

Melody bonked her head against a nearby wall. “I’d better not regret this like I do every time that girl takes charge,” she grumbled.

“Come on.” Evie said lightly, trying to make her feel better. “Sure, Janine’s kind of a flake, but how bad could one party be..?”

Melody sighed, but went along with it for now. “I could think of a few ways…”

—Later—

The Wharf was exactly as posh as they were expecting. Their part of the pier was done up with metal fences and fancy lights, and while everyone here was dressed for relaxation even their casual wear and swimsuits were fancy and designer. Lauren was practically drooling at all the glitz. And to their surprise, the bouncers at the entrance let them right in. Evie figured Janine must have put in a good word for them.

Still, something seemed off. Everyone was looking at them like they didn’t belong, which didn’t surprise them given how exclusive this place was, but also had a kind of… appraising look to them. Like the girls were being sized up for something. But Evie had just about to decided to put it out of her mind, when suddenly she felt a sharp prod on her behind. A group of boys rushed past - one of them just poked her in the ass with a stick!

Laruen nearly jumped after them, shaking her fists. “Come back here, you little brats!”

The kids ran off, laughing. She could hear them commenting on the size of her ass - rude! She considered herself to be pretty svelte. She could also just make out the one who poked her saying something like “she’s already totally bouncy, I’ll bet she floats real good!” Didn’t make a lot of sense to her, but she bet it was rude too.

“Nice place,” Melody said bluntly.

“Forget these kids,” Lauren huffed. “Probably the first time they’ve ever seen a real woman! Let’s just party!”

Lauren led the way, her excitement back in a second. Evie and Melody trailed behind. “Uh… sure,” Evie said. Melody might have still been indifferent to everything, but she was liking coming here less and less, even if there was something fun going on. Whatever Janine invited them for, it had better be worth it.

Speaking of Janine, it didn’t take long to find her. She came running out to meet them soon after they chased off those kids. Maybe they let her know she arrived. None of them thought to ask, since they were too distracted by what she had with her.

Over her head, Janine was holding a large inflatable raft that was very obviously shaped like a smiling and way too voluptuous woman. It was big enough for at least one person to sit comfortably in a seat on its back, Janine had to hold it with both hands, and when fully inflated it looked quite buoyant. But the most striking thing about it were the super-sized busts and bottoms that exaggerated its feminine design especially with its cartoonish arms and legs cradling them in place. Clearly they were there as floatation devices, so that the raft wouldn’t capsize even if someone hopped on or off it, but none of them had ever seen anything like it.

When they looked around, they suddenly noticed that Janine wasn’t the only one who had one: people were carrying them back and forth, and on the water they could even see a few people racing them here and there. There were ones of all kinds: white or black or brown, with all kinds of fake, rubberized hairstyle and stylized chassis that looked like dresses or swimsuits or even costumes like bodysuits and spy gear. The Wharf seemed to have quite a market for or these.

Evie’s jaw dropped. She had seen novelty pool toys from time to time, but this was something else entirely. Beside her, she could see Melody scowling furiously while Lauren was, of course, giggling her head off. Janine apparently only wanted to get that reaction out of the girls, because when they walked up she handed hers off to a pair of kids.

Evie caught its style as they walked off. Something about it, the “pigtail” styled handlebars or the bright, painted overalls on its body, reminded her of something… “Um… wasn’t Penelope supposed to be here?”

Janine kept watching the kids run off with their toy, smirking like she just thought of a good joke. “Oh, she’s around here somewhere.”

It wasn’t a great answer, but Evie took it. She just hoped they could meet up with her at some point. Melody, on the other hand, less interested in seeing any other friends. She was still very distracted by the shape of the club’s signature toys. “Interesting design choices,” she said scathingly.

“Yeah, they love their toys here.” Janine shrugged. “Inflatable rafts, inflatable dolls, hot air balloons. Floaties are the trademark here.”

“And I see they’ve hired the randiest teenage boys they could find to design them,” Melody sniped cattily. Her eyes narrowed as a couple ran past with another floatie and nearly bowled her over with one of its overinflated breasts. “Honestly, how sexist is this place?”

This was pretty blunt, and Evie thought Janine might get upset. She was known to do that sometimes. But she just laughed it off. “I happen to like them, actually. And if you think they’re sexy to look at, well…” she chuckled. There was something dark about it, but Evie couldn’t place why she thought so. “…just you wait and see!”

Melody muttered an “I’d rather not,” but Janine was now completely ignoring her. She led them over to the middle of the Wharf, but while they thought they were being brought to a club or beach party, she instead brought them to a store that was set up right in the center. Outside a few more of those woman shaped rafts were tied up, waiting to be rented, while they could stop a few more stacked and deflated on the inside. Melody looked them over with a frown, while Lauren looked a little excited.

An old man walked out from the inside, with a tray of drinks. Evie assumed he was the shopkeeper, which confused Evie a little. She wasn’t sure why Janine had brought them there. Was Janine about to rent them one of those racy rafts? Maybe that was what she invited them to try out.

“One second, ladies.” She said, as she hopped over to the shopkeepers side. “This is important.” She nudged him in the ribs, which he barely reacted to like some sort of elderly statue. And he totally didn’t react to the grin on her face. “Did I tell you, or did I tell you?” She said like some sort of car salesman, as she grabbed a couple drinks from his tray.

The three girls looked on, feeling pretty confused. The old man turned looked back at them, and again Evie got the feeling they were being judged for something. After a moment, he turned away. “Acceptable.”

“Um… acceptable for what?” Evie said

Janine laughed. “Never you mind.” She said. She handed Evie one of the cups from the tray. It was a really abrupt subject change, which meant Janine was definitely hiding something. And she wasn’t sure she trusted that drink: it was blue and bubbled constantly in the bottle. But then again, she guessed it had to be alright if the uppercrust were drinking it. That didn’t stop her from backing up when Janine stuffed it under her nose, though. “Drink?”

Even if it might not be a bad drink that didn’t mean she had to go on a bender just because one of her shifty friends said so. Not yet, anyways.. ’“I don’t think we should…” She started, but unfortunately she didn’t get to finish.

Melody said no without even needing to be asked, but Lauren clearly didn’t share their skills at ‘pacing.” Instead, she snatched the one Janine offered to Evie and chugged the whole thing down in a second, then retched dramatically. “Tastes weird.” She said. Then as if she hadn’t done anything at all, she turned to the end of the pier and started with the bobbing again. “So, is that where the party’s happening?”

“Everyone’s there, yes,” Janine said vaguely.

She didn’t need to be told twice. Without even a thank you, Lauren left her friends behind and went running for the end of the pier, where most of the club members were assembled just as Janine said, watching the members races around along the shore.

“Beach!” She squealed as she went. “The beautiful people! Wooooo!”

Evie rolled her eyes. “What are we going to do about her…”

“I wouldn’t worry.”

She jumped at the sudden voice, and again as another sharp poke hit her in the back. She spun around and saw that the shopkeeper had sidled around her. He was aiming what looked like some kind of toy gun, one that fired some kind of paintballs. She craned her neck to see what he hit her with, and saw her skin was stained with the same blue liquid as the drinks Janine just offered them. “What the hell?” She shouted, as she tried to wipe it away. But the liquid wouldn’t come off. Instead it simmered on her back, then then seemed to sink right into her skin!

She heard Melody go “hey” beside her. While they were looking at the shopkeeper, Janine had pulled out another toy gun and nailed her right in the boob. She tried to wipe herself off

 “What’re you two trying to…” Evie started to rant, but she trailed off. All of a sudden, she felt kind of strange. A little numb, but also light. Almost as if her body was… full. “W-what’s going on?”

“You know, that’s the second time I’ve heard that today!” Janine laughed. She didn’t give any answers, but it became obvious soon.

Evie’s whole body seized up, like she was hit with an electric shock. She tried to curl her fingers, but they wouldn’t respond. No, they were too big to move correctly. She wasn’t just feeling bloated, she was literally swelling like a balloon! Her skin felt tight, as if being stretched from the inside. She squeezed one arm with another, and it pushed back soft but taut, like air. But not at all like a human body.

She wobbled on her feet, and only partially because the shock made her feel faint. She wasn’t so full yet that she couldn’t move around, but she was definitely filling up quickly. Her parts were all thicker, and turning round and bubbly. Her legs were already having a problem staying balanced, which made even standing straight a problem. And strangest still, when she tried to twist around her limbs fought her like they had places of their own they wanted to be. Her body was going through a drastic change, something inhuman! But obviously this was impossible - if it weren’t happening to her, she would never have believed the sensations was feeling!

She looked to Melody hoping the more clever girl would have answers, but Melody had her own problems. Evie heard a frantic “mmmmph!” before she saw it, and the sight really did nearly send her off her feet! While Evie’s change was more spread out, Melody’s ruthlessly blew through where Janine shot her. Her friend’s breasts had somehow grown to an incredible size, so big they blocked off her face!

She had both arms scrambling across her chest, try in vain to get her massive bust someplace manageable. She wasn’t having the best luck, especially since her fingers were losing definition as the swelling spread to them as well. Feeling this was one thing, seeing it was another. And yet, the most impossible thing wasn’t her body, but her bikini. With the way her chest burst out so hugely so fast, Evie would have thought Melody’s top would have snapped. But it didn’t. In fact, they were growing comfortably with the rest of her. Instead of stretching or painfully squeezing where the air was filling her, they almost looked like they were actually part of her breasts now.

Evie hadn’t thought about her own swimsuit, but she realized she hadn’t felt them pinch either even though she was swelling up too. And now she knew why: their swimsuits were fusing with their skin! Melody’s chest looked shiny and unnatural. Almost plastic, just like…

She gasped. They looked just like the rafts they saw coming in! They were turning into a pair of the Wharf’s signature pool toys! This must have been Janine’s doing! It was the stuff they were shot with! She gasped again when she realized that while they were just hit with it, Lauren drank whole cupful! She had to warn her! She looked to where Lauren ran off, trying to scan the pier for any sign of their other friend.

Janine laughed in her ear. “Oho!” She said, grinning with something that creepily resembled anticipation. The shopkeeper eyed her, looking annoyed. “Looks like someone’s figured it out. But you’re as bubble headed if you look if you think Laurie there’s any better off!”

Janine was right. Evie didn’t have to look long before her heart fell.

Drinking the liquid directly obviously made it work faster. Lauren never made it to the end of the pier. Instead, halfway down Evie could see one of the pool toys, huge and fully inflated in that same comically exaggerated female shape, but this time with a terrifyingly familiar, bikini clad design. Everything about it had swelled to a comfortable size. Its legs were part of its behind, its arms were part of its chest. And it even had a small area in its back where a rider could sit. Even with what was clearly happening to her and Melody, Evie might have thought there was nothing strange about it (besides the risqué design, at least) if it weren’t for the fact that the toys hands and feet still had fingers, which wriggled and twitched before they too quickly fused into a single padded shape.

Any humanity was already gone from its blank and smiling face. Evie gulped knowing that their brash friend had become a lost cause, and she wasn’t far behind. She tried to look at Melody again for support, or maybe to give it. It was getting harder to do, since her neck could barely turn, but she could see that Melody was also too far gone. In the seconds since Evie had last looked Melody’s head had joined the balloons she had for breasts as hollow plastic, and she too looked ahead with a blank, latex smile. Her brilliant friend had literally become an airhead.

With not a single thought to guide it, the rest of Melody’s body went slack. Evie’s own head turned away by itself as she saw Melody’s legs curl up under her butt, but she heard a faint POP!! as something jerked Melody’s waist forward. A minute later, she felt it herself - a sudden sound as something caved into the small of her back. Given what became of Lauren, she could only guess it must have been a seat.

She had a seat now. She was turning into something people sit in! What the hell?!

Evie could only look forward now. She hadn’t even felt herself fall off her feet and land on her stomach. Janine was in front of her, talking to the man from the booth. She wished she could punch her smug face, but her arms were too light and poofy to be of much use even if she could move them. “There, that should square us away. I told you I’d deliver!”

“Hmm…. sure.” The man said gruffly. “But remember your word. These are for club use only. No playing with ‘em. Keep to the rules from now on, and we don’t have any more problems.”

“Aww…” Janine looked disappointed, but she was still smirking. Evie tried to at least spit on her feet, but she didn’t seem to be able to do that any more. Janine patted the top of her head, which made a distressingly hollow sound. “I guess so, if it keeps me out the water myself. I’ll just have to made do with what I already have…”

Evie didn’t know what that was all about, but it sounded an awful like Janine had literally sold them out. But she supposed it didn’t matter any more, though. It had spread to her head now too. She was feeling lightheaded, and that was more literal than she had ever meant it. Her whole body was a puffed up mess, It all felt so numb and distant, fuzzy and vague… she was losing herself!

In fact, she only thing she could feel clearly was the piece of paper that was barely still stuck in her cartoony, merging fingers. The fortune! She’d had it in her hands the whole time! But… could that really help her?

Well, she knew it couldn’t hurt. She couldn’t see it, but from the loud SQUEAK!! she heard from her side Evie assumed Melody’s change was just about finishing up too. Lauren was long gone. She was the only one left. Janine was laughing at them. If people could be transformed into pool toys, maybe old fortunes had some magic in them. Or she desperately hoped they did.

“D… Do… Ov…” She rasped, but she wasn’t quite able to make the words. There were only a couple more seconds of human breath in her. If she didn’t act now, she would never talk again! She took a deep breath, the last breath she would’ve been able to make before her lungs vanished, and shouted as loud as she could. “DO-OVER!”

Janine’s face looked down at her with a fake, mocking pity. “What are you talking…”

Her voice faded away. In fact, everything faded away. Evie’s mind filled with the sound of squeaking latex and hissing air. Her eyes stared ahead, but she couldn’t see. And it wasn’t that she couldn’t breathe, but that her body no longer knew how. She was too late. Or the fortune was just a piece of paper after all. Either way, this was it for her.

“Maybe,” her last thought, “it was always going to end… like…”

SQUEA-

—???—

“Or maybe you should get up off that high horse for once!”

Evie shrieked, jumped and immediately fell on her ass. This wasn’t The Wharf. It looked like the boardwalk. And her butt hurt! It was it’s normal, small size - well, more or less small, since she would never call herself flat - but this was still pretty great! She actually had legs to fall off of in the first place! She was human again! The girls were all around her too, all perfectly human and just fine too! Though they looked a little confused.

“We’re back!” She shouted, leaping to her feet. Melody and Lauren stepped back, giving her strange looks.

“Back?” Lauren said. “What the hell are you on about? Where did we go?”

She looked them over. Neither of them had any hint of a plastic sheen, nor the inflated proportions or sporty shapes she had just seem then with. But in their concerned faces - even Lauren, who seemed to be in the middle of yelling at her - she couldn’t see the same relief she had. Why weren’t they more excited about their escape?

“You guys don’t remember The Wharf? What they did to us?”

“The private club up the block?” Melody’s eyebrows raised. “Why would we be there?”

“Why wouldn’t we be there?” Lauren snapped. “That place is probably awesome!”

Evie looked at them like they were crazy. How could they forget? “But Janine…” She stammered. “And the pool toys… they…”

Now they were looking at her like she was crazy. Evie went quiet. For the first time, she really took a look around her. She wasn’t just back at the boardwalk, she was exactly where they had been before. Did all of that actually happen? Was she the only one who remembered? No, that didn’t make any sense. Maybe she had just hallucinated the whole thing. That was the only way to explain her mind showing her something so silly as human beings changing into pool toys.

It had looked and felt so real, but as far as she knew maybe hallucinations could do that. She would have to watch what she ate from now on…

“Hold on, my phone’s ringing.” Lauren said, popping Evie out of her thoughts. She gasped. It couldn’t be… “Hey, speak of the devil! It’s Janine. I wonder what she wants?”

It was! She didn’t care if she was hallucinating, she couldn’t let that happen again! Lauren lifted the phone to her ear and got as far as “hey, Janine!” before Evie leapt forward and snatched out of her hands.

She screamed into the receiver so loud the other girls winced. “No! Leave us out of your crazy plans!” Then she mashed the “hang up” button and threw the phone back at Lauren, breathing heavily.

This was a big victory against the forces of evil, Evie felt. But if Lauren and Melody looked concerned before, they were outright shocked now. “What. In hell. Was that about?” Lauren said, as she fumbled the phone back into her purse.

“Oh, right,” she thought. For a second she forgot that they didn’t remember.

“I… uh…” Evie trailed off, trying to think of a decent answer that wouldn’t sound like she was losing it. They would never believe it. She hardly believed it. “I heard her talking shit about you earlier,” she said to Lauren, deciding to play on her vindictive streak. “I don’t trust her. I bet she was just going to play a trick on you.”

It worked! Lauren blinked, stunned, but Evie saw the anger flare up. “Oh, then screw her! We can find something else to do!” She said, and she turned and flounced down the street, grumbling under her breath. Evie held in a sigh, since Melody was still watching her, but it was a good thing for once that Lauren was pretty uncomplicated. She would want to blow off steam, which would keep her nice and distracted for a while.

Melody stared at her for a little longer, but eventually followed their fuming friend. Evie should’ve known Melody wouldn’t completely buy it, but at least neither of them were calling Janine back. At least they weren’t going to the Wharf. She never wanted to go there again. She could explain away acting weird, but losing her very humanity? She couldn’t go through that again.

But then again, maybe she would have to...

She took up the rear and let her friends walk ahead of her. While they were looking the other way, she checked the fortune again. Everything was the same, the writing, the Do-Over in big bright letters, all but one thing. She was right. One of the holes was punched. one of the Do-Overs had been used.

There were only two more left. Would she really need all three? What other literally life-changing fates could the world have in store for them before the day was through?

—Meanwhile—

Janine stared at her phone in disbelief. Not even a “hello?” What had she ever done to those three? Sure, she was about to completely screw them over, but they couldn’t have known that. This was a disaster! She needed them to come along with her. Without them, how was she ever going to-

SPLASH!

“W-what?” Janine whispered. She was suddenly covered in blue. The pit in her stomach knew what that meant before her brain could process it.

“That was your last chance, girl.” The shopkeeper said. He sounded bored, which in her stunned state pissed her off even more than saying nothing! He could at least acknowledge what he was losing! “Welcome to the rental rack.”

“But… but I…” She stuttered. She knew the liquid, but she tried anyway. To think she always laughed when they did that!

The shopkeeper had emptied a whole vial on her, which was more than almost any transformation she had ever seen. She knew the change would be mercifully fast. It was an odd feeling, being this light. Was this how everyone she led her felt? The children were crowding around her, cheering and laughing and being irritating brats. After all the fun she had made for them, how could they just laugh at her misfortune. And yet she knew that she would be making them very happy, very soon.

“Frankly, I prefer it this way,” the shopkeeper was continuing, but she barely heard him over her own hazy senses. “You’ve made everyone around here far too invested in the process. It’s supposed to be used sparingly, only to deal with… undesirable threats to our life. But you’ve had the kids begging for more, bringing people onto the rack day and night, and that’s no good. Which, I guess, makes you an undesirable.” He chuckled. The first time she ever heard him do so. “Funny, isn’t it?”

His laugh might have scared her, and being lumped in with the undesirable might have stung at any other time. But she didn’t really give a damn what he thought about her or her hobbies at this point. It was hard enough just trying to keep herself together. She couldn’t even feel her legs any more. It was moving fast, too fast! The children were already trying to pick her up, but for the moment she was still too heavy for them. That would change before long, however. In fact, it already was…

 “Oh, fuck me.” She thought to herself, as her own inflated breasts began to obscure her vision. “Well, I hope they find something fun to do without me. Or… with me… none of these other guys could… party like… I… can…”

POP!! SQUEAK!!