“So what you’re telling me is that I have to spend my whole summer break watching my sisters?” Jake Hartley said to his parents. “You have GOT to be kidding me!”

“Look Jake…we need you to be responsible and help us out” his Mother, Jessica said to him. “Your Dad and I both have to work full time and even then, we can’t afford to hire a sitter all summer”

“But this sucks” Jake said. “All my friends are going to spend all summer hanging out at the Lake or going to the movies or doing all kinds of things better than sitting around watching cartoons and making sandwiches for those two brats”

“Jake; you’re sixteen and you need to be responsible and help out all of us as a family” His Dad, Rick said to him. “There’s no negotiating your way out of this: We need you to watch Ashley and Taylor this summer”

“You’re ruining my life!” Jake got up and stomped out of the room.

“I wish you’d see this differently” Jessica called out after him.

As Jake rampaged through the house on his way to his room, he stopped in the living room to yell at his younger sisters. Nine year old Ashley was on the couch reading and 4 year old Taylor was playing on the floor. “I hope you two little brats are happy! My life is over because I have to watch you two all summer. So since I’m not going to have any fun neither are you!”

“Jake! That’s enough!” Rick yelled.

Jake stormed off to his room and three weeks later when summer vacation began, his mood had not improved one bit.

He heard his dad leave first, then his mom and he could hear his sisters up and about downstairs as he refused to leave his room. Eventually at around 10:30 he decided he was hungry and finally set foot outside of his room.

When he got downstairs, Ashley was in the kitchen “So you decided to join us Jake” she said.

“Shut up” he replied as he pulled a can of Mountain Dew out of the fridge.

“It’s okay…I already made sure that Taylor and I had our cereal and cleaned up our dishes” she said and was answered with a grunt. “I know you’d rather be anywhere else than here and I realize that I’m going to have to take care of myself and Taylor this summer, so I just ask that you not be totally miserable all summer”

“Sounds good to me” Jake said as he left the room and his empty can on the counter.

“Looks like I’m going to have to take care of Jake too” Ashley said as she picked up the can and put it in the trash.

“Look Jake” Ashley said as she followed him out of the room “Quit acting like a child…you’re acting like you’re Taylor’s age. You’re supposed to be the responsible one around here…not me”

“But you’re doing such a good job with it Ash…why don’t you just keep the job all summer long” Jake said.

As Jake turned to walk away, he felt a strange tingle run up his spine and he shuddered in response.

Ashley was just staring at her brother’s back as he walked away from her. She was so mad that she felt hot. Her cheeks were red and she balled up her hands into fists and through clenched teeth she said “Why that little jerk…little…” she stopped as she saw her brother’s body spasm.

Ashley stopped, suddenly confused. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “What on earth did I just see?” she thought to herself. She looked around and saw her little sister Taylor standing up with a confused and scared look on her face too.

“I feel all funny” Taylor said.

Ashley was speechless for a moment; she sought to reassure Taylor and began to say “It’s okay Tay…lor” and trailed off as it looked like Taylor was growing. Her shirt was rising up and her shorts were getting tight.

Ashley then realized that her own shirt was feeling really tight across her chest. She looked down and her shirt was pulled taut against her. “What’s going on?” she said worried.

Jake turned around and was instantly and thoroughly confused. “What the hell?” he said. Both of his sisters looked different. He took a step forward and suddenly he had to grab his shorts as they began to fall off of him.

Jake clutched his shorts and realized that he was swimming in his t-shirt too. “What the hell is going on?” Jake said in a high pitched panicky voice “What’s happening to me? Why do you two look…?” Jake scanned his sisters up and down as Ashley walked up to him. As she got closer, he realized that she was almost the same size as him and that wasn’t right.

“Jake! Are you okay?” Ashley said as she walked to her big brother “W…What’s wrong?”

Jake and Ashley were standing nose to nose and then Jake shuddered again and suddenly, Ashley was taller than her big brother.

“AH! Jake!” Ashley screamed as she grew taller. Her shorts were getting tight and she heard a ripping sound as she felt air on her mid-section. Her shorts were giving way along with the stitching underneath her arms and along the sides of her shirt.

“Ashley!” Jake yelled as his voice pitched higher as the word continued out of his mouth. His voice cracked as he retreated back through puberty. His arms were shrinking and losing all definition and strength. His chest contracted and became skinny as the neck hole of his shirt showed Ashley his regression.

“Ashley…um…Jake”

Ashley turned and saw that the changes weren’t just affecting her and her brother. Taylor was getting taller as well. Her shorts were pulled tight along with her shirt and she looked scared and confused.

“It’ll be alright Taylor” Ashley said. As she spoke, her hand flew to her mouth because before she said her sister’s name, her voice dropped two octaves and came out sounding different and mature.

Ashley felt the sides of her shirt give way as her chest developed. Her brown hair came loose from her ponytail and fell freely over her broadening shoulders. Her arms were growing longer and stronger as were her legs. Her bare feet had grown larger as had her hands.

Jake looked up…way up to see his sister’s face maturing into the face of a teenager. He watched her lips fill in, her cheeks rise up and define themselves along with her nose and her eyes grow mature and large.

Jake couldn’t keep a grip on his shorts any longer and he lost control of them and they feel to the ground. His massive shirt though covered everything as it now came down to his knees. It was bad enough for Jake to see how big Ashley had become compared to how small he had become, but yet another humiliation was in store for him.

Jake looked down at the approaching floor as he continued to shrink. His legs were skinny and short and he could barely see them under his own shirt. His feet were buried beneath his oversized shorts that he stood in but as he looked back up, he saw that he was now eye to eye with Taylor.

“Why are you so small Jake?” she asked him; shock and awe on her face.

Jake could only shake his head in disbelief. “No!” he yelled “Not you too! I can’t be smaller than Taylor too!” he cried as Taylor spurted up taller than him.

There was a clothes basket with folded laundry on the floor of the living room. Ashley quickly grabbed a pair of her Mother’s shorts and stepped into them along with one of Jake’s large t-shirts. She grabbed some of her old clothes and quickly dropped a shirt over Taylor’s growing head just as her old one tore along the sides under pressure. She handed Taylor a pair of her shorts as they both watched Jake continue to get smaller.

Jake’s face lost any and all signs of maturity. It was round with chubby cheeks and tears streaming down them. His arms and legs had gone from kid skinny to little kid chubby and soft as he finally stopped shrinking as he reached age 4.

Ashley was in total state of shock. She looked around and tried to make sense of what had just happened, but that was impossible.

Her mouth hung open and she was speechless. Jake continued to cry while sitting in a puddle of clothes on the floor, Taylor looked scared and Ashley knew she herself was scared. “What just happened to us?” she said out loud.

Taylor looked at her and said “I got bigger; you got bigger, and Jake got smaller: Like really small”

“Like we all just swapped ages” it dawned on Ashley. “I’m 16…you’re 9…and…and he’s…oh my God Jake’s 4!”

Jake cried harder at the words he heard from his big sister. “No! I don’t wanna be 4!” he protested. “I can’t be 4!”

“Well I guess if you were going to act like a four year old, somebody made you into a four year old” Taylor said putting her foot down.

Ashley realized what they had been arguing about a few minutes ago had just actually played out. “I guess I really do have to take care of Jake too this summer” she thought.

Ashley turned and walked across the room to the mirror on the opposite wall. “Holy…” was all she managed when she saw herself. Her hands came up and she began to smile despite her shock. “I look like a teenager; I am a teenager…I’m 16 now”

Her hands ran over her cheeks and through her hair. “Oh My Gosh” she said as she turned her face back and forth to get a profile view. Her hands trained downward along with her eyes. “Ah” she said as her hands ran over her chest and down over her stomach to come to rest on her hips. She rose up on her tip toes, making herself even taller.

Taylor soon joined her “I can see myself in the mirror now” she said. She ran her fingers through her longer blonde hair as she too took in her new image. “I can’t believe I’m 9 now” Taylor said “Does this mean I get your stuff Ashley?”

Jake heard their conversation and while he was afraid to look at himself, it hit him that he needed to get to his room. He scrambled to his feet and despite the fact that the t-shirt that had fit him 10 minutes earlier now came down to his wrists and ankles. He scampered up the steps as fast as his little legs could carry him. He flung open the door to his room and yelled “No!” in his childish voice.

Jake stared wide eyed into his room only to have The Avengers staring back at him from the walls and from the bedspread on his twin sized bed. “Where…where’s all my stuff” he said as he slowly wandered into the room.

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind him and heard what he now knew was his sister Ashley’s deep voice calling out for him “Jake…Jacob? Where are you?”

He turned and standing in the doorway were his two big sisters. Jake let out a gulp sound as Ashley said “Oh, your room is so cute Jake…I love it”

She took a hold of the door and began to close it as the two of them backed out of the room “Why don’t you change into some clothes that fit you honey”

As the door closed, Jake’s cheeks burned red with embarrassment. “How dare she talk to me like that? Doesn’t she know that I’m still her older brother and once I change back I’ll…” his thought trailed off as he looked around his room. “What if I don’t change back?” he thought. “If I was going to change back, my room would have stayed the same…and my clothes…” he lunged for his dresser and as he flung it open, he was greeted by superhero underwear and small clothes that would unfortunately, fit him perfectly now.

Ashley closed the door and gave a quick glance to Taylor. They both walked to their doors and opened them simultaneously.

“Whoa” Taylor said as she looked into her new room. The pink walls were now a light purple and her Doc McStuffins poster had been replaced by one with dolphins. She stepped in and saw all the types of things that had been in Ashley’s room. Some toys, but mostly books and her own IPod sat on top of her dresser.

Ashley smirked as she looked into her new room “No way” she mumbled. There was nothing childish at all about the light green walls and a simple green and purple striped comforter on her double bed. Not only was there a cell phone sitting on her desk, it was next to her own laptop. She opened the closet to reveal her wardrobe of clothes and shoes “This is real” she said to herself.

Ashley got dressed in some of her own clothes and when she stepped out into the hallway wearing short tan shorts and a white tank top along with a bra that fit her she called down the hall “It’s okay to come out Jake…you know I have to watch you all summer long”

Ashley stared at the closed door at the end of the hall “I promise we’ll have fun this summer, you know I’ll be nice to you” as Taylor poked her head out of her door.

“Well whenever you’re ready; come on downstairs and I’ll make you some lunch” Ashley said as she descended the stairs.

Jacob stood with his back against the door. He scanned his room and tried to remember what had been there this morning but the longer he looked, the more he seemed to forget. “I had a phone…and…uh…”he stopped and chewed on his thumbnail. “I had a computer too” but all that was on his desk were some crayons, colored pencils and a stack of drawings. He slowly walked over to the paper “I was going to get a real car…” he said as he looked over the crude drawing of a red car. “What kind of car was I gonna get?” he tried to think. Jacob shut his eyes but when he did, all he saw was a bike. “I’m going to get my very own bike for my next birthday…Mommy said so” he said to himself.

Jacob looked around for a minute and then looked down at himself “Why am I wearing Daddy’s t-shirt?” he asked himself before he climbed out of it and put on his own clothes, including his favorite Spiderman shirt. “I’m hungry…I wonder what Ashley will make me for lunch. I hope it’s Spaghetti-O’s” he said as he flung open his door and ran down the hall.

Ashley had gone downstairs after she had called out to Jake. After she had gotten dressed, she grabbed her phone and started scrolling through her text massages as the thought of being 16 became less and less odd to her. She still hoped her parents could get her a car sometime but at least she had her license and that was enough for now.

Ashley reached the bottom of the stairs and cleaned up the living room a bit before she went into the kitchen. As she scrolled through more and more texts and pictures, she checked her twitter page and was just pulling up Instagram when Taylor came into the room carrying a book.

“Judy Moody…good choice” Ashley said to her younger sister.

“Yeah…I’m almost done with it” Taylor replied “But I have a few more in the series to go through”

Jacob came into the kitchen. For a split second, everyone froze where they were.

“Why is this weird?” Ashley thought.

“Is there something wrong?” Taylor thought

“Wait a minute…this isn’t how…” Jacob thought “…but…”

“Hey Ashley” Jacob said and Ashley snapped out of her slight second of thinking something was wrong.

“What’s up little dude?” she said.

“Can you make me something for lunch?” the four year old asked his older sister.

“Sure thing…what do you want Taylor?” Ashley asked.

By the time Jessica got home a few hours later, Ashley had the sprinkler set up in the backyard and was watching Taylor and Jacob run through it.

“Hey Ash…how was it today?” Jessica asked her oldest child.

“No problems…everybody was good” Ashley responded with a smile.

“Glad to hear it” Jessica responded. “Just let me change clothes and you can take my car to go meet up with your friends for the evening.

“Thanks Mom…sounds great” Ashley said as she realized that this summer wasn’t going to be so bad after all.