Bailey Edwards sat down on the corner of her bed as she put her warmup jersey on overtop of her sports bra. She looked at her equipment bag at her feet and checked it one more time. Cleats, socks, shin guards, shorts, jersey; everything she needed was there to change into after she got to the field.
“District Finals! I’m so excited”
Bailey looked up and saw her little sister Leah standing in her doorway, also dressed and ready. She smiled and stood up ”Are you nervous?” Leah asked.
“No…we’re going to win” Bailey said confidently but added “But I do know that the next time I lose, I’m done…last game” Bailey was a senior and now it was down to elimination time in her last season.
“How do you even think about that? I don’t ever want to stop playing soccer” Leah said tugging on her red jersey.
Leah was one of the three ball girls and she took her job very seriously. She played 8U soccer and wanted to be just like her big sister.
“You have to let it motivate you to win so you can keep on playing. I don’t want to be done. I have to win to keep going”
Leah shifted her weight on her tiny socked feet; she wore her cleats to the games too but her Mom would yell at her if she walked around the house in them “I wish you could play for as long as you want”
Bailey came forward and ruffled her little sister’s dirty blonde hair “Thanks squirt…I still have a shot at a scholarship so I hope to keep playing for at least another 4 years” she laughed.
Leah looked up at her sister, her big brown eyes beaming along with her smile.
Bailey was 18 while Leah was 8. They were the only two girls in a family of five kids and had to stick together. Bailey was 2nd while Leah was the baby. Their oldest brother was a sophomore in college while the two brothers in between them were in 8th and 5th grade.
Leah was small for her age; she barely came up to the bottom of Bailey’s breasts. Bailey was 5’7” with long straight brown hair and brown eyes. She had a mouth that turned down while at rest giving her what everyone referred to as Resting Bitch Face while Leah was the picture of 2nd grade optimism. Her wide smile with a set of mismatched teeth was always on her small round face.
The ball girls always wore red to stand out while Bailey’s team colors were blue and white. Leah dreamed of the day she would have that blue and white jersey with her name across the back like Bailey. She hadn’t decided if she would wear the same number as her sister when she got her chance to pick one out but Bailey was 22 and she really liked that number.
Bailey was still barefoot. She grabbed a pair of black ankle socks and tossed her black slides onto the ground to put on but as she sat back down on her bed, she seemed to gaze off out the window.
Leah allowed herself to daydream for a moment as Bailey stared out ahead. Leah too got a far off look in her eyes as she stared at her big sister.
Bailey tightened her ponytail for the thousandth time. Sometimes, she had her hair braided for games; anything to keep it back and out of her way.
As Leah watched her sister’s hands reach back and pull her hair, she reached up and mimicked the action. Her hair was long, but not as long as Bailey’s or as thick and her ponytail was always coming loose. Usually by the second half, she had pulled the hair tie out and just let it fly. Her Mom might bring a hair band to keep it out of her face too but she only liked to wear that if Bailey was wearing a headband during the game.
“Are my cleats in here?” Leah asked “I couldn’t find them in my room or in the closet downstairs”
“Why would your cleats be in my room?” Bailey asked but then something black and pink caught her eye by her closet door.
The kid’s size 4 soccer cleats stood out as they sat by a pair of Bailey’s size 8 flats “How did these get in here and why didn’t I notice them earlier?” Bailey giggled as she padded over to them and picked them up.
“They’re so small…how do you even walk around on feet this small?” she teased.
“Hey!” Leah smiled and put her hands on her hips “Not fair or funny”
“Yes it is” Bailey countered putting the shoes in the palms of her hands “You’re so tiny…it’s so frickin adorable”
“You were this small once too you know” Leah said.
“Yeah, when I was like 4…not when I was 8” Bailey laughed.
Leah came into the room and tripped over Bailey’s equipment bag on the floor; kicking it and stumbling around. She saw Bailey’s cleats clearly through the opening so she picked them up and held them, one in each hand “What if these were my shoes and those were yours…you wouldn’t have any place to pick on me would you?”
“If those shoes fit you and these fit me, I’m guessing you’d be my older sister and that’s not going to happen” Bailey laughed “We’d have to switch ages…I’d be the 8 year old and you’d be 18! I’m guessing you’d like that though wouldn’t you?”
Leah smiled without admitting it out loud.
“I wouldn’t have to worry about this being my last game that’s for sure” Bailey added.
Leah’s smile widened as she looked past her sister into the open closet behind her.
Bailey followed her gaze and smirked “All these clothes would be yours…my homecoming dress that you liked so much….the shiny silver heels that went with them; and me…I’d be the one stuck getting dressed in the clothes that Mom picks out for me”
Leah nodded and giggled “Now that’s something I’d like to see”
Bailey still held the small shoes but she folded her arms over her chest “I bet you would”
“Wish I could…” Leah said.
“Somedays…I wish I could too” Bailey added.
“Really?” Leah asked shocked.
“Haha…you’ve got it easy squirt…you have no idea” Bailey said making a face as she swallowed hard.
“But I’d like to” Leah replied feeling her heart race in her chest and just thinking it was because she was excited about their little conversation.
Leah’s body was kicking into a higher gear. Blood pumped to her muscles, her body tingled, her fingers twitched.
Bailey’s body also clicked, but for her it felt like fear. Her flight or fight mechanisms began to trigger but instead of either, she froze in place; a feeling of impending doom creeping into her mind.
Bailey’s fingers and toes went numb, she was holding her breath as her ears got hot and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up at attention.
Bailey’s eyes watered and itched. She dropped the small soccer cleats hearing them clatter on the ground as she rubbed her eyes. She looked to the ground to try and focus, blinking away the excess moisture “Those shoes are mine!” flashed into her mind scaring her even more.
Bailey took a staggering step sideways. Leah had dropped her cleats and both had landed in the upright position and now Bailey saw them “Those already don’t fit you and they’re only going to get bigger”
“Leah?” Bailey said in a hesitant and uncertain tone of voice “What’s going on?”
“I…I don’t know Bailey” Leah answered. Her body was warm and tingling all over as she looked up at her sister who looked pale and frightened.
Bailey gripped the bedpost until her fingers turned white. That was when she felt her stomach drop and saw the room begin to grow around her “AAAHHHH!”
Leah saw her sister looking around frantically but more than that; it looked like Bailey was shrinking before her very eyes “Bailey!” she yelled out as she saw her dropping inch after inch. Her clothes getting larger and larger as she seemed to shrink down into them.
Her sleeves came down to her elbows, her shorts dipped below her knees and the practice jersey seemed to balloon out oversized and very loose on her.
Leah felt her red jersey get tight across her chest and back. Her shorts pulled against her waist and it felt like her socks were slipping down her legs. She looked up and could tell she was moving but also knew she wasn’t in control of it “I’m not moving a muscle…how am I moving?” she asked as she began to grow taller by the second.
Bailey sucked in a gasp of air loudly as she saw her little sister begin to grow. Unable to even comprehend the possibilities of what was occurring to the two of them “This is impossible!” she cried out “How am I getting shorter?!”
Leah was now up to her sister’s chin and closing in fast on her. She cocked her head as she saw Bailey’s face. It was no longer the face she had been seeing but instead, looked like a younger version of her sister. Her nose was smaller, her cheeks less defined, her eyes wider and less confident.
Bailey was having a similar reaction as Leah’s face drifted up in front of her own. This wasn’t the face of the little girl who had walked into her room minutes earlier. This looked like a teenage version of Leah with more defined features and maturity.
Leah’s teeth widened and straightened closing all the gaps as a full set of adult teeth took hold. Her nose grew larger, her chin and cheeks defined.
The two sisters came eye to eye.
“BAILEAH!”
Their voices mingled into a single pitch as their names merged into a single word called out by one and followed by another.
They stared.
They were the same height, the same age for a brief moment frozen together as their jaws hung open after calling out to the other. For the last time, Leah had called out to her big sister for reassurance while for the first time, Bailey called out to her big sister for the same thing.
They crossed paths, ages, sizes, directions, and lives in that single moment and from then on; it would all be different.
Leah’s eyes drifted down as Bailey shrank down shorter than her.
Bailey felt her eyes shifting upward to maintain eye contact. She was now shorter and younger than her sister.
“Ah!” Bailey shouted out as her chest constricted, her sports bra came loose and she felt it deflate against her diminishing body frame. Panicking, she was now only up to Leah’s chin and still getting smaller and younger.
Leah took a step back, her clothes were extremely tight against her to the point of almost bursting open. Her socks had rolled down to her ankles and she saw that her legs were thicker; curvy.
She peeled her red jersey off just as her breasts began to grow larger “What the…?” she said as she felt weight and gravity kick in on her chest.
She dropped the shirt absent-mindedly and had to shimmy her way out of her now skin tight shorts. Leah had hips and a growing ass now as well. Her voice had pitched lower and deeper as her body really began to mature and change.
Bailey grabbed at her clothes as they hung loose and threatened to fall off of her. Her baggy shorts had two very skinny legs sticking out of them, her arms were like twigs as well. “Leah?!” she called out again in a high pitched little girls’ voice.
Bailey’s hands flew to her mouth. Her shorts dropped as her lips thinned beneath her trembling hands. Her teeth shifted a spread apart. Gaps formed up as a mixture of adult and children’s teeth took hold. Her nose was button small, her brown eyes large in her round youthful face and her hair shorter and thinner than it had been.
Bailey found herself at Leah’s breast level. Leah’s chest had grown out, her flat muscular stomach stood out along with her toned athletic legs. Her hands were shaking as her fingers grew longer.
Leah’s hands went up and ran through her thicker and longer dirty blonde hair. Her big brown eyes shone over her now mature face with its strong chin and wider mouth with her straight white teeth. “Oh my God!” she said in a very adult sounding voice. “Bailey?!”
“Leah?!” Bailey said looking up “How…how did you get…you look so big to me!”
“I don’t know Bailey…I…you look like a little kid”
Bailey examined her little sister’s face and noticed the changes, the maturity that had changed it into the face of “You look like you’re the senior in high school”
“I think I am the high schooler” Leah said looking down “Which means that you look like you should be in the 2nd grade”
“No” Bailey said.
Leah nodded ”I think we really just switched ages with each other Bailey. I’m big and you’re little now. You look like I used to”
“And you look like I used to” Bailey repeated.
“But not exactly…you’re not me. Your hair is darker still” Leah said “You just look like the old pictures I’ve seen of you…like you went back in time 10 years”
Bailey shook “No” she said taking a cautious step backwards; her tiny foot lifting and planting before she pivoted on the ball of it and turned to the mirror and nearly fainted.
Looking back at her from the mirror was indeed 8 year old Bailey. The blue polish she had on her toes and fingers was gone, her skinny and short legs poked out from beneath her now massive warmup jersey. Just her lower arms and tiny hands exited the sleeves and the neck sat uneven only on her right shoulder, her left drooped down showing off the top of her flat skinny chest.
Her round childish face was framed by her thin dark brown hair and her jaw hung open as she shook with fear and trepidation.
A new figure came into the reflection behind her. It closed fast and in just two steps was directly behind her, towering over her, looming and leaning down.
“Oh my God” Leah repeated looking at her now mature body and face in the mirror. Her chest was bare and developed. Her tiny, kid sized panties stretched to the limit and torn; only kept up by sheer will and the slimmest of stubborn elastic.
Her dark blonde hair fell over the left side of her face as she fidgeted and shuffled her big feet.
“This can’t be happening” Bailey said.
“It happened” Leah said. “I’m 18”
“But you’re not supposed to be…I am” Bailey countered.
“Not tonight…” Leah replied.
“We have to wish ourselves back before it’s too late!” Bailey grabbed Leah by the arm and tugged, pulling her away from the mirror with all her effort.
“Um” Leah said standing up straight and tossing her hair back effortlessly.
“I wish Leah and I would swap back!” Bailey said bouncing a bit at the end.
Leah just looked down at her now little big sister.
“I wish I was 18 again and Leah was 8 again” Bailey added a bit more urgently.
Leah just shook her head waiting to feel something.
“You need to help me out here Leah” Bailey said in a pouting little kid voice.
“Ok fine…um…I wish we were back to our original ages” she said still feeling nothing.
“It’s not working!” Bailey yelled “It has to work! I wish I was big again!”
“Maybe there’s like a time limit on it; you know, only one way for like 24 hours or something” Leah said.
“No. I am not missing the game tonight and if we don’t swap back…” Bailey went pale.
“Well you don’t have to miss it. You can take my spot” Leah said.
“The ball girl?! No way!” Bailey said. “You can’t just show up and play for me…it’s not allowed!”
Leah looked around the room “I don’t think I’d be playing for you Bailey” she took a few steps over and took a trophy down from the shelf. She turned it to Bailey and showed her the inscription on it.
“All Conference Award…Leah Edwards…2017…but that was my award” Bailey said. “This can’t be happening…how are taking over my life?”
“It’s okay squirt…guess those tiny little feet of yours can wear those tiny little cleats now huh” Leah said with a smile spreading across her face.
“What are you talking about? You actually want me to just accept this and go along with it like nothing’s wrong?” Bailey said.
“I think you’re going to have to. Do you think Mom will believe us? Dad?”
“They have to! They know I’m the oldest daughter! They’ll freak out when they see us like this! We’ll be going to Doctors and trying to figure out how to change us back and…and what are you looking at” Bailey said seeing Leah leaning over her desk and chuckling.
“This…I don’t think Mom and Dad will freak out” Leah said picking up her phone and showing Bailey the picture on it.
“No!” Bailey said, tears welling up in her eyes “This is…how can this get any worse?!”
The picture showed a high school girl in her homecoming dress standing next to her boyfriend. That girl had dirty blonde hair.
The next picture showed that girl with her parents at senior night.
The next photo was also on Homecoming night. The staircase in their home was featured. Two sisters stood smiling by each other. Bailey recognized her round little face and dark hair having to stand on the third step up to be equal in height to her big sister Leah who looked so pretty with her hair and makeup done and in her beautiful red and silver dress and silver strappy heels.
Bailey was speechless. Her whole world spun. She felt cold as the huge shirt hung loose over her tiny body.
Leah pivoted and they both heard the pop of fabric giving way. The last stubborn strand of elastic gave way and her little girl panties floated and slid down her athletic legs. She kicked them aside. Her size 8 feet stood out with their blue painted nails. She went to her dresser and grabbed a new pair and a white sports bra “Holy shit; didn’t think I’d be needing a bra today but you never really do know what a day can bring” she said as she put on her base layer. She grabbed a pair of compression shorts that went with her uniform and worked them on “So tight” she grimaced as she got the extremely form fitting and snug shorts up over her expanded hips and ass.
Bailey just watched slack jawed.
Leah picked up her shorts from the ground where they had slipped off of Bailey and put them on before turning to her diminished little sister and raising an eyebrow “I’m going to need that jersey”
“No!” Bailey grabbed at it protectively; clutching it close and squirming.
“Come on Bailey! I’ve got to get going! I need to be at the field in like 15 minutes” Leah said.
“No! You can’t! I have to keep it! It’s mine!” Bailey squealed and protested.
“Come on!” Leah said and reached for it. She easily pried Bailey fingers back and snatched the warmup jersey off of her.
Bailey was embarrassed at how easily Leah overpowered her and took the shirt off. She gasped being left in just a useless sports bra. She dashed from Leah’s room across the hall to her own room.
“Wait a second…my room?” she said to herself after screeching to a halt just inside the door. The room was light purple and decorated with flowers and butterflies.
Leah zipped up her bag after putting on her warmup and soon came over behind her little sister “All yours squirt” she said as she handed her the red ball girl jersey, shorts and socks. “Mom will bring you and Kyle and Tyler over in a half hour”
“But…” Bailey began to protest.
“But what? I’ve got to get going” Leah said stressing the urgency of her leaving.
“But you can’t drive” Bailey said softly.
“Yes I can” Leah whispered back. “It’s my car now” she added with a smile before bouncing down the stairs in her black ankle socks and slides.
The mental changes were very apparent to Leah. Her increased vocabulary had already been on display along with her increased knowledge. High School classes were just there, driving was just there. She was really 18 now. “Bailey is going to be even madder when she realizes she now has the brain of an 8 year old again”
Leah jumped into her car and backed out quickly, heading off to her game.
Bailey still stood inside her room in shock “That Leah…Oooo…she makes me so mad!” she stomped her small foot and threw her red clothes towards her bed. She took off the sports bra and threw it across the hall back into Leah’s room “I can’t be little again! I worked too hard doing this once already to have to do it all over again. It’s not fair!”
“Bailey!”
Bailey jumped at hearing her Mom’s voice behind her “Mom!”
“What are you doing standing there butt naked!? Get dressed! We’ve got to still pick your brothers up from practice and get to Leah’s game!”
“Ye…yes Mommy!” Bailey sprang into action. She rushed to her dresser and put on some underwear before putting on her red shorts and red jersey. She pulled her red socks all the way up to her knees.
She went to her dresser and saw that she would have to either go up on her tip toes or stand on something if she wanted to see her whole face in the mirror. Just the top half of her head was in the reflection.
Her heart beat faster again as she grabbed a red hair tie. She put her brown hair up into a ponytail but wasn’t happy with how it came out. It was loose and off to the left hand side.
“Let me help you honey” her Mom said coming up behind her and pulling on her hair.
“Thanks” Bailey said softly as her Mom put it into a tight ponytail “Perfect…now where are your cleats?”
“In…in Leah’s room”
“Why on earth…never mind; just get them and let’s get going” Heather Edwards told her youngest daughter.
Bailey went to get in the passenger seat of their van once they were in the driveway. “What do you think you’re doing young lady? Back seat!”
Bailey just mumbled as the door slid open and she had to step up to get into the minivan “Stupid short little legs…I was 5’7” an hour ago”
“What was that?” Heather asked.
“Nothing Mom” Bailey replied. She climbed up into the seat; her feet lifted off the ground and dangled above the floor as she did her seatbelt.
Bailey swung her feet as they drove to her brother’s soccer practice field. The side door slid open and 13 year old Kyle and 11 year old Tyler piled in “Watch out shrimp” Tyler said as he banged his equipment bag off her knees.
“Hey” Bailey shot back “You need to be more careful”
“Make me” Tyler shot back as he sat down.
“Stop it you two” Heather yelled back without looking up.
Kyle just laughed as he tossed his bag aside and buckled up “You two are pathetic” he said shaking his head.
Bailey was about to say something before it hit her that these two were no longer her little brothers. They were now her big brothers. She had gone from second oldest to the youngest in the span of about 3 minutes of physically transforming from an 18 year old into an 8 year old and allowing Leah to take her place higher up in the family hierarchy.
Whereas she had been older and taller than both of them this morning when she had seen them last; now, the tables had been turned and she was younger and much smaller than both of them.
“This is so unfair” she said to herself.
“What’s unfair…you being a little shrimp? I think it’s hilarious” Tyler told her.
“So you know I’m bigger than you really?!” Bailey let slip out.
Tyler looked at her like she was the dumbest person on the planet before busting out into laughter “I have no idea what any of that meant but it’s funny”
Bailey’s cheeks burned bright red.
They were already at the high school and Heather turned into the parking lot. Once stopped; Kyle and Tyler got out before her and she had to hop down to the pavement below.
Her little spikes barely made a sound as she walked towards the field. Adams High School; the Eagles were already doing their warmup drills and she spotted Leah right away. She was dribbling right behind Reagan Tomasik; her usual spot in the lineup drills.
“My spot…” she muttered as she made her way to the sidelines. Leah smiled when she spotted her. Abigail Murphy was also there in her red jersey “Hey Bailey!” she said with a wave.
Bailey cocked her head. Abigail was in her class with her; Mrs. West’s 2nd grade “Why do I know that…she was Leah’s friend…now she’s…mine?” Bailey felt close to Abby; excited to see her friend.
“Hey Abby! Big game tonight; we have to pay attention” Bailey said. She was a couple inches shorter than Abby but she didn’t mind. Abby was nice and never picked on her about her size.
“We always pay attention; that’s why we get to do this” Abby said.
“Duh” Bailey said and they started laughing.
Abby started talking about a JoJo Siwa video and Bailey knew all about it too as they fell into easy conversation.
The warmups were over and Leah jogged back to the locker room to change into her game jersey. The #22 went on over her head and her adrenaline started pumping as their coach yelled out instructions and encouragement “Remember to shoot high…their goalie is fast but not very tall” she said making eye contact with Leah who nodded as she rocked back and forth; her energy building.
“Eagles on three!” the coach yelled and the girls all came forward and put a hand in “ONE, TWO, THREE, EAGLES!” they said before running out to the pitch.
Bailey even got wrapped up in the moment when the team came out. She bounced and cheered along with the stands as they ran out and began to warm up a bit more. She went to her position down the sidelines toward the opponent’s goal “I hope I get a lot of action…that would mean we’re down on this end all half”
The teams took up their positions and the whistle blew. Bailey’s heart pounded as she watched her big sister play and run. About three minutes into the game, Leah took a pass and ran right past Bailey at full speed.
“Go Leah!” Bailey screamed with pride. She got even happier when she saw Leah line up and kick a high screaming shot into the upper right corner of the goal.
The crowd went wild and the whole team mobbed Leah.
It was the only goal they would need. The Eagles won 3-0.
Leah was hot and sweaty but wound up and not tired as she sat down on the bench in the locker room. The coach was yelling but she didn’t hear much of it. She had spotted her little sister with a bag full of balls slung over her shoulder.
Bailey dropped them off in the corner and lingered for a minute. Leah got up and went to her.
“Great game Sis” Bailey told her.
Leah crouched down and smiled “Thanks Sis” and hugged her.
Their eyes met “On to Regionals” Bailey said.
“And then on to State” Leah finished.
“At least you get to keep on playing” Bailey added.
“Yeah; I’m not done yet” Leah said standing back up.
“Hopefully, I’ll be playing in the playoffs when I get to high school” Bailey said looking up.
“I’m sure you will…I’m sure you will” Leah said before going off to celebrate with her teammates.