“Come ON Aubrey…don’t be such a downer. You have to come with us” Stella Curtis said with a sly smile to her friend Aubrey Milbright.

“I’m not being a downer…my Mom and Dad left me in charge and I told Mia that she could have a sleepover tonight: I have to stay here with them…I’m responsible and if I leave, I’ll be in so much trouble” Aubrey replied.

“So you’re going to miss the concert of the century to play den mother to a bunch of nine year olds” another one of Aubrey’s friends, Skyler Young, said.

“Somebody back me up here that I’m doing the right thing by not leaving…Katherine…come on, you’re the one who like, babysits, every night. You at least see where I’m coming from don’t you?” Aubrey said.

“Hey, I cleared my schedule for tonight…no way I’m missing Taylor Swift” Katherine Phelps said.

Skyler grabbed her boyfriend Charlie Hughes by the arm and hugged him close “We could leave Charlie here since his baby sister will be here too I’m sure”

“But it’s my car you need to get there” Charlie reminded them.

“They’ll be fine by themselves for a few hours” the last and youngest of the group Athena Myers said. “We were all left by ourselves for short periods of time when we were that age…come with us Aubrey, you can’t miss this”

Aubrey sighed and slumped her shoulders “Just…just give me a minute okay” she said as she slipped into the kitchen.

Aubrey entered and saw her younger sister Mia sitting on one of the bar stools at edge of the counter. She smiled an all knowing smile and crossed her arms. Her feet dangled and kicked back and forth. “So…I heard the whole story out there; what a predicament you have on your hands sis?”

Aubrey cocked her head at her nine year old sister and frowned.

“Stay here like you’re supposed to and like you told Mom and Dad you would or go to a once in a lifetime concert…Hmmm…” she tapped at her chin.

“Look Mia…I know I need to stay here with you and your friends” Aubrey said.

“I think you should go” Mia replied.

“What?”

“Yeah….I would want to go to that concert so why wouldn’t you” Mia said.

“Because I’ll get in trouble, that’s why” Aubrey replied.

“So let’s make a deal” Mia said.

“What kind of deal do you have in mind?” Aubrey asked reluctantly.

“Let’s see…I won’t tell Mom and Dad if you leave us $40 for pizza, let us drink all the soda we want tonight, let us watch whatever movie we want tonight and you clean up after us you get back…”

“Okay” Aubrey said.

“Oh I wasn’t quite finished; I had one more thing.  You and your friends have to come in and perform, with choreography, one of Taylor’s songs from tonight; Preferably Shake It Off” she finished with a laugh.

“You’re not kidding are you…are you sure you’ll be alright” Aubrey asked as she saw Caroline Hughes, Charlie’s younger sister and Mia’s best friend, come into the kitchen.

“To see my brother dance to Shake It Off…I won’t say a word” Caroline added.

“Yeah, you have to get all your little friends to keep their mouths shut too” Aubrey said.
“Don’t worry about that” Mia assured her.

Aubrey slapped the money on the counter and took off.

Mia and Caroline giggled as they heard the group in the other room squeal and take off out the front door.

“Now we have the house to ourselves” Mia said proudly.

“Oh Yeah…” Caroline said slowly.

Mia and Caroline were staring out the front window waiting for their other friends to come over. Four more girls were coming over for the sleepover and they were anxious to get going.

“Sweet; Vicki’s here” Mia said as their friend from their soccer team Vicki Albertson got dropped off.

“Hey…what’s up?” she yelled as she came through the door.

“Oh…not much…just the fact that my sister took off and we now have the house to ourselves!” Mia said.

“Awesome” Vicki replied. Vicki was almost 11 and was the biggest and the oldest of the group so it was decided that she would make the call for pizza and answer the door when it arrived.

Mia’s next door neighbor, Maddie Engelhart, was next to come over.

“Ready for an awesome night Maddie?” Mia asked her as she came in.

“Yeah” Maddie replied. She had just turned nine three days ago and was by far, the smallest girl in the group of friends.

Vicki was a full head and shoulders taller than her as she tapped Maddie on the shoulder and said “Don’t worry…we’re going to have fun” as she picked up the phone and called in their order to Vincennes Pizza.

Just as she was done talking, Allie Ziegler walked up the front yard.

Allie was Mia and Caroline’s best friend and had been since their first day of kindergarten together. Allie was an only child and loved every opportunity she had to hang out with her friends.

When she heard that they were going to be alone for the next few hours, she immediately went into responsible mode. “We have to make sure everything is cleaned up…if anyone finds about this…”

“Calm down Allie…quit acting like you’re our mother” Caroline teased her.

Allie sat down on the couch, but remained perched on the edge a bit wary of how the night was starting off.

Finally, their other soccer teammate Lizzy Stone came running from around the corner, red hair flying behind her. If Mia hadn’t opened the door, she might have plowed right through it with her shoulder.

“Hey guys” she yelled as she tore into the room “Lizzy is here! The party can start!”

Everyone laughed and started talking at once as Coke and Mountain Dew cans were opened.

Mia flipped on the TV and went to Netflix “How about a night of scary movies?” she said.

Caroline, Lizzy and Vicki cheered while Allie continued to worry about something happening while they were by themselves and Maddie just smiled weakly.

Maddie didn’t want to admit that she didn’t want to watch horror movies, even seeing the commercials on TV for them scared her. She didn’t want to get picked on though for being the smallest and the youngest though, so she kept her mouth shut.

Mia started to scroll “Scream…Halloween…Nightmare on Elm Street…Saw…Oh…Friday the 13th: Perfect for a marathon…Jason…”

“Should we start with the original from 1980 or the remake?”

“Original” Vicki yelled out as they saw the pizza guy pull into the driveway. The girls all jumped up and crowded around as the pizza made its way inside the door.

Mia, Caroline, Lizzy and Vicki all crowded together on the floor with their backs against the sofa as the movie started. Allie and Maddie decided to sit at the table to eat. Allie didn’t want to make a mess and Maddie was trying everything she could to avoid the movie.
“You’re going to miss the movie” Lizzy yelled.

“I think we can figure out what’s going on when we get there” Allie called back.

“Whatever…” Vicki replied.

Allie and Maddie hung out and talked while the other four watched. Eventually they made some popcorn and watched a few minutes before Lizzy got bored and left the floor too, which gave Maddie a different reason to be out of the room.

As the first movie ended and Part 2 started, thunder rolled in the distance and lightning flashes could be seen in the windows. “Oooo spooky” Caroline called out.

With the storm picking up momentum outside and the fact that the only light on in the house was in the kitchen, it was getting a bit spooky in the house but no one wanted to be the first to admit it.

After Part 2 had ended, Vicki had switched over and started Scream but by that time all the girls’ attention spans were shot and they were talking more than watching. A second round of pizza and popcorn had been eaten. They were all still wide awake when at 1:17; they saw lights in the driveway.

“That’s Charlie’s car…I know that sound anywhere” Caroline said hopping off the couch.
The girls sat up as the front door swung open.

“I knew you’d all still be up” Aubrey said as she came in a flicked on the main light.
She ran her hands through her sandy brown shoulder length hair; spraying water out from the rain. Aubrey was 5’8”, the tallest of the girls and she flashed her crooked smile to her sister as Mia came forward.

“How was the show sis?” Mia asked, looking up to her sister with a smile on her face.

“It was great” Aubrey responded, bending over. Aubrey was skinny, with long legs and a trim, lithe chest.  She kicked off her shoes and stepped further into the house as Katherine was the second through the door.

“Katherine!” Lizzy yelled out “You went too”

Katherine stepped in and took off her wet shoes as well. The rain was coming down hard again and she shook slightly as she entered the air-conditioned house.

“Hey Lizzy; yes…I was going to the concert too. Oh hey Allie, Maddie…wow, I guess I know everybody here” she said realizing that she had babysat all six of the girls at one time or another.

Stella came in next, still dancing and singing her own tune. “Awesome show; Awesome!” she said and shot her hands up into the air as she jumped out of the way as Athena rushed in.

“I can’t believe it’s raining so hard again…that was awful driving home…there were times I couldn’t even see the road” Athena said as she ruffled her wet hair.

Skyler and Charlie were the last two in and they came in hand in hand.

“Hey love birds” Caroline yelled at them as they kissed once inside. “Shut the door”

Charlie blushed and broke off his kiss and closed the front door finally.

“Is there any pizza left?” Stella asked heading for the boxes.

“There’s a few pieces of pepperoni and a few of cheese left” Caroline answered.

Stella came out holding two pieces of pizza “I’m starving” she said as she flopped on the couch “Scream; cool movie but aren’t you all a little young for this?”

“No…Aubrey said we could watch anything we wanted tonight” Mia said a bit miffed that Stella had taken her spot.

As Jamie Kennedy explained the rules for surviving a horror movie, Skyler and Charlie also sat down on the couch, forcing Stella to the end.

Katherine stayed in the kitchen and hopped up on one of the bar stools next to Maddie. “Let me guess; you’re not a big fan of the movies tonight are you?”

Maddie smiled and nodded bashfully.

“It’s okay…I never liked them either” Katherine admitted.

“I’ve stayed in the kitchen for the most part tonight” Maddie admitted to her frequent babysitter.

Katherine smiled and cocked her head as she saw Allie sitting at the kitchen table a few feet away “And you haven’t been able to relax all night because you were all here all by yourselves”

Allie smiled and looked down at the table. She brushed her long hair back behind her ears and just nodded.

“I know my girls” Katherine said proudly. Not only had she watched all the girls here, Katherine also had three younger siblings that she had helped raise, so if anyone understood, it was Katherine.

Athena came into the kitchen looking for pizza. She was a skinny girl, only 15, but already a star soccer player on the High School team. Lizzy was following her and asking her soccer questions as Athena took out a piece of cold cheese pizza and started eating while walking.

“…I watched you against Jefferson last year and you like ran right past like three other girls and you like stole the ball away and took off and you went all the way down and scored…do you remember that” Lizzy said at Athena’s heels.

Athena nodded and mumbled “Yeah” with her mouth full.

“…and then you were like on defense and you were all like, yeah, you ran down and slid and like blocked this one kick…” Lizzy said as she trailed her around the room. Athena just rolled her eyes and kept walking.

Vicki was still trying to watch the movie. She sat on the floor only to feel Stella putting her feet up on her shoulders. “Cut it out” she said as she wiggled forward dropping Stella’s feet to the ground.

Stella just laughed as Caroline came in and sat on the floor below her brother. Skyler curled up close to Charlie and snuggled in “Are you going to hold me if I get all scared watching this movie honey” she asked him.

Charlie snorted out a laugh before he leaned in and rubbed noses with his girlfriend “You know I will”

“Oh stop you two…geez… give us all a break” Caroline said disgusted.

Skyler bopped her head up and down and made sarcastic noises back to Caroline while Vicki laughed at both of them. “Why don’t you grow up Caroline” Skyler said.

“Why don’t you make me” Caroline replied in what she would admit was not the best comeback.

“Oh I would if I could…” Skyler replied as she cuddled closer to Charlie. “All of you would act different if you were our ages…” she finished.

“Well duh…and all of you would act different if you were our ages” Caroline replied.

Just then, lightning struck very close by: The whole house shook and the power flickered out for a second before coming back on as thunder rumbled loudly for several more seconds.
“Shit” Athena said as the power went out.

Someone let out a quick scream but no one knew who it was and when the lights came back on, everybody’s eyes were wide open. Nervous laughter and chatter began amongst everybody.

Aubrey and Mia stood by the front door. Aubrey leaned with her back against it and looked down to her sister. Mia smiled anxiously in return. “Well that was freaky” Aubrey said.

“Yeah…definitely” Mia agreed. “Not like we’re not used to it though…Oklahoma City in summer isn’t exactly the calmest place for storms…”

“But not in the middle of the night usually…” Aubrey said. “And we hadn’t had any lightning in the last hour…just rain”

“Weird” Mia said.

“So…anyway, was everything alright here tonight?” Aubrey asked.

“Yeah…we were just fine, don’t worry about it” Mia said.

“But I did worry about it, like all night. I shouldn’t have gone…that was stupid” Aubrey replied.

“What, don’t you think I could be in charge if I had to be” Mia said.

“No, it’s not that; you’re very mature for your age. But I’m 17 and you’re 9 and I’m supposed to be looking after you, not the other way around” Aubrey said.

“But like I said to you earlier, I wanted to go to that concert…” Mia began.

“So if you were the big sister and were supposed to be home and in charge; would you have gone?” Aubrey asked her little sister.

“Well…uh…” Mia stuttered and paused; she looked down at the ground and chewed at her bottom lip. She rubbed her big toe back and forth against the tile. She thought back to that morning when she and Aubrey had painted their toes together. They had sat on the couch and used the same color of pink.

Mia didn’t know why her mind had gone to that place at that moment before she could answer the moral question that her sister had just asked her. In her mind, Mia understood what responsibilities Aubrey was dealing with that week with their parents gone.

Mia looked up “Look, I get it…you’re…” she stopped and looked at her sister; something was different.

Aubrey saw Mia staring at her “What…what is it?” she asked innocently enough.

Mia continued to stare trying to put it together “You just look…I don’t know…different all of a sudden”

“Different how?” Aubrey asked slowly.

“You look…” then it hit her “…you look younger!” Mia said. “You look like you’re like 14”

“What?” Aubrey said as she shuddered and began to drop in height. “What the…what’s going on Mia?!” she asked panicking.

“I don’t know Aubrey, I…OH God” she said as she too shuddered and began to grow.

“AH!” Aubrey screamed.

“AH!” Mia screamed in response.

Katherine heard the screams and immediately jumped off her stool and rushed toward Aubrey and Mia.

“What’s wrong you…oh my God what’s going on!” she screamed as she got close and saw what was happening to the two sisters.

“Help me Katherine” Aubrey pleaded as she continued to shrink smaller and smaller. Her voice was already pitching higher in tone, sounding younger and more childish.

“I…” Katherine was speechless.

Athena now came up next to her and grabbed onto Katherine’s shoulders. “Holy Shit you guys!” she exclaimed.

“AH!” Mia yelled again as she came up equal to her sister in height. They looked each other directly in the eye and then Aubrey shrank down shorter than her little sister which prompted another scream from her.

“Mia…” Aubrey’s voice was shaky and high.

“Aubrey…” Mia’s voice was deeper but equally shaky.

Aubrey dropped her arms to her sides and felt her t-shirt sag and droop off her right shoulder. Her bra strap slipped off as well leaving the top of her shoulder bare. Her sandy brown hair was retreating upward into a short bob instead of the wavy shoulder length locks she had been sporting. As her nose shrank back to a cute, pert button and her lips thinned; her cheeks puffed out almost chubby in appearance as baby fat came back onto her face.

Aubrey’s dark, deep set brown eyes widened as freckles burst across the bridge of her nose.

“What’s happening to us Mia?!” Aubrey repeated as she made a grab at her shorts as they began to slide off her diminishing hips and ass.

Lizzy had crept forward and was peeking around Katherine watching the two sisters changing before their eyes. Allie and Maddie had actually retreated backwards a few steps but they still had a good view of the chaos occurring.

Stella, Skyler and Charlie had also come off the couch and had slowly made their way to the doorway as well along with Vicki and Caroline.

As the crowd gathered, Mia’s clothes began to pull tight against her changing, growing body. She was wearing a pair of grey cotton shorts that had ridden up her thighs and were tightening around her waist. Her white shirt had pulled up, exposing her stomach and rising up her upper arms as they grew long and trim.

“Oh shit” Mia said as her breasts began to grow “Oh shit that’s tight”. Her shirt was straining to restrain her expanding breasts and the bottom rose up even higher. Mia grasped at her chest in awe.

Aubrey’s chest had gone flat and her empty cream colored bra hung useless off her small chest still making their own indention in her huge shirt. She looked down at her skinny legs poking out from beneath her big shorts. Her legs were still getting shorter and skinnier and even her feet had shrank several sizes.

“What…what…” she repeated.

Mia now stood over a foot taller than her sister. She had risen to a height of 5’9”, an inch taller than her sister had been at 17. Her hair had come down silky straight and almost black in color and almost down to her waist. Her face had matured with her jaw and chin defining themselves below her full lips, long straight nose and piercing dark brown eyes.

“You look like a teenager Mia…and you look like a little kid Aubrey” Athena said.

“Yeah…it looks like you two, like, switched ages with each other” Skyler said.

“But…but that’s impossible” Aubrey said in her high pitched kid’s voice.

“I know but look at yourselves” Athena said.

Mia and Aubrey did just that. They took in the sight of each other before looking down at their own bodies. Aubrey screamed again, long and loud.

Aubrey was hyperventilating as Mia kneeled down before her and took her by the shoulders and said “Calm down Aubrey, just calm down…we’ll figure this out”

“How am I supposed to calm down Mia? Look at us! I’m a little kid!” Aubrey yelled, her shorts finally falling off and dropping to the ground around her feet.

“This is some big time freaky shit” Stella said as she backed up. Aubrey stared at her now much larger and older friends. She looked around and realized that even Vicki and Caroline were bigger than her now too. Tears formed in her eyes and Mia put her hand on her back and led her to the stairs.

“Come on…let’s go upstairs for a minute okay” as she led her to their rooms.

Mia and Aubrey could hear everybody talking downstairs as they went into Aubrey’s room.

Aubrey was shaking with fear “I don’t understand Mia” she said.

“I don’t understand it either” she said as she pulled off her tight clothes and began to root through her sister’s drawers for clothes that would fit her new body.

As Aubrey watched her sister get dressed, she took off her huge clothes and picked up her sisters discarded ones. “At least these will fit me” she said in resignation. She took in her short and skinny childish body as she got dressed in Mia’s clothes. Aubrey had to admit that Mia had a better body than she had at that age.  

Aubrey glanced at the mirror and saw herself and remembered the look all too well. The short bobbed hair, the crooked smile and freckles had all returned to her from her past.

Aubrey looked at Mia’s reflection in the mirror as Mia took in her own body. Mia was curvier than Aubrey had ever been, with hourglass hips and a larger bust. Mia’s breasts were several sizes larger and even though she was only an inch taller in total, her legs seemed longer as well.

Mia sucked in and hooked one of Aubrey’s bras behind her back. It was small and tight, but it would have to do for now. She put on a blue tank top and tan shorts and grabbed her hair and twisted it into a ponytail as she said “Athena’s right; somehow we switched ages with each other”

“So you’re Seventeen and I’m Nine now” Aubrey said.

“Yeah…it looks that way don’t you think” Mia said.

Aubrey shook her head “the last thing I said to you before this happened was ‘what would you do if you were the big sister’ and now look at you; you are my big sister”

“Don’t say that like that; you’re still my big sister” Mia said and saw Aubrey smile for the first time in a while. “Well…maybe not like what everybody else would think of when they see us, but I know”

Downstairs, the conversations were flying “What do you think happened to them?”

“How did that happen?”

“That’s impossible…if I didn’t see it with my own eyes; I never would have believed it”

“What are they going to do?”

The conversations had mostly stopped by the time Mia and Aubrey came back downstairs. Everybody cleared aside to let them through.

Katherine came forward first. She gave Aubrey a hug and asked “Are you okay Aubrey?” in the tone she usually used when babysitting kids.

Aubrey smiled weakly before she broke off the embrace and sat down on the couch. Mia stood next to her and said “Look, we don’t know or understand what happened to make us change ages with each other. I’m still just Mia, but I now have the body of a seventeen year old. Aubrey is still Aubrey; she just looks like she did when she was nine again for some reason”

“What are you going to do?” Skyler asked.

“We don’t know” Mia said with a shrug.

“We’re trying to think of something…anything we can do” Aubrey said.

“We’ll help you” Athena piped up. “Anything we can do to help you know…”

Mia and Aubrey both smiled.

“It’s going to be a long night” Katherine said.