“Tyler will you please calm down” Isabella Watkins pleaded with her little brother.
“Ha-Ha Isabella, you can’t catch me!” 7 year old Tyler yelled as he fired a burst of 6 Nerf bullets at his big sister and ran down the hallway.
“Tyler! Stop it!” Isabella yelled swatting at the barrage but failing to stop any of them from hitting her squarely in the chest.
She ran down the hall only to find the worst thing possible when dealing with a younger brother; a single Lego brick in the middle of the hallway which found itself against the bottom of her soft bare left foot.
“Ow! God Damn It Tyler!” Isabella yelled out as she bounced on her right foot “Ooooo you are so aggravating!”
“Ha-Ha” Tyler laughed from down the hall. “You’re no fun Isabella”
“No! You’re annoying!” she replied.
“And Mom’s gone all day” Tyler said.
“Keep it up and I’ll take away your PlayStation…no Fortnite for you!”
“Ugh…no fair!” Tyler protested
“Mom told me to limit your time on there today anyway and now you’ve made me mad so…” Isabella said coming closer.
“”You’re so mean!” Tyler yelled jumping out in ambush and spraying a full clip of 10 Nerf bullets at his 17 year old sister.
“Ah! Knock it off you little jerk!” Isabella yelled as she spun to the side so as to not take the hits in her face “You are so in trouble when Mom gets home”
“Nuh-Uh…you’re going to be in trouble when Mom gets home cuz you’re being so mean to me” Tyler said defiantly.
Isabella shook her head and pulled her long black hair up into a ponytail “You just don’t get it”
“All I get is that you get to be mean to me and not let me have any fun” Tyler replied “You wouldn’t be so mean if I was your babysitter”
“What are you talking about?” Isabella asked folding her arms.
“If I was your big brother and you were my little sister; I’d be nice to you” Tyler said.
“HA! I’m sure you wouldn’t be” she replied. “And besides; there’s no way I would be annoying you like you’re doing to me”
“I bet you would be” Tyler replied escalating their war of words.
“No way shrimp but not like you’ll ever get a chance to see that. Although it would be a good way to teach you a lesson in respect. See how you like it trying to be in charge and responsible” Isabella said. “Now go to your room and if you’re quiet and good for an hour; I’ll let you play Fortnite”
Tyler smiled and raced to his room.
“Annoying little shit” she mumbled to herself as she picked up loose Nerf bullets along the hallway.
Isabella went back to the living room and her phone where she picked back up with her text conversations, stretching out on the couch in her black leggings and loose gray top. By the time she glanced over at the time, Tyler had been quiet for 45 minutes.
She sighed knowing that in a few minutes he’d be on his headset and making more noise than ever before “God he’s so annoying; I wish he’d just grow up” she said to herself.
She thought about their conversation and him mentioning their roles and ages being reversed. She tried to imagine what a 17 year old Tyler would look like while remembering what she thought she looked like a decade ago when she had been Tyler’s current age of 7. “At least I could torture him for a day before Mom got home and we could switch back. I would make him play dress up Princess like I loved to do at that age. I could paint his nails and do his make-up and have a tea party”
Isabella laughed at the thought of the two of them being flipped “What if you know…might actually teach him a lesson he wouldn’t forget but only if it were for a day”
At the hour mark, Tyler burst out of his room and ran down the hall “Ha Ha…you didn’t think I could do it but I just proved that I can...shows what you know Isabella” he stuck out his tongue and wagged his hips back and forth.
“Yeah, that dance of yours looks real mature” Isabella replied with an eye roll.
Tyler stopped; he barely came up to the middle of his 5’6” sister’s chest. His big brown eyes shone as he bounced up and down now “Oh yeah? I am mature and if I really was your big brother, I would show you”
“Are you still thinking about that?” Isabella asked surprised that he was still dwelling on it.
“Oh yeah…I think it would be cool if we could switch places like that” he answered.
Isabella smirked and sat down on the couch, tucking her legs and feet up underneath her while Tyler started playing his video game.
Just out of her own curiosity, she looked up ‘how to swap ages’ on her phone. A variety of YouTube clips from Anime and some fictional stories came up but as she scrolled down further she stopped on a site that said ‘Spell to swap ages’ and she clicked in on it.
“To swap ages with someone, stand directly across from each other holding hands and touching toes. As you do, repeat the words ‘My age is your age, your age is my age, switch and swap our years. Places and faces change, responsibilities rearrange’ 7 times”
“Well that sounds easy enough” Isabella said to herself. “No way it’ll work but it’ll be a good laugh”
“Hey shrimp!” she called out.
“What?” Tyler answered not looking away from his game.
“I just found a spell that says it’ll switch our ages; you wanna try it out?”
Tyler spun around, his eyes wide “Heck yeah!” he took off his headset and ran over “A chance for me to be your big brother haha…yeah I’ll do it!”
“Now I’m only doing this to show you how annoying you are” Isabella told him “So get ready to be tortured by your little sister until Mom comes home”
“Why, what happens then?”
“We’ll switch back when it’s time for Mom to come home dummy. No way I’m staying your age”
“Oh…ok” Tyler answered with a shrug.
“Take off your socks and take ahold of my hands” Isabella said wrapping her long, thin fingers around her brothers’ short stocky ones. She scooted forward until the tips of their toes were touching “Now repeat after me; we have to say this 7 times in row”
She said it once then they started to say it together. As they did, Isabella found her heart racing. Her ears were burning and she felt a weird sense of anticipation. Tyler was smiling wide the whole time but their voices seemed to blend together as they got the cadence of the words down.
Tyler was about to burst at the seams but saying the words in time with his sister calmed him down. It felt like all the hairs on his head were standing up and his neck was hot. They locked eyes as they said the words for the 7th time.
As the last word came out of Isabella’s mouth, she felt a sudden jolt and her muscles twitched. Her shoulders rose up and she froze. She could see her brother having a similar reaction and his eyes were wide in surprise.
As she eased up and let her muscles relax, she saw Tyler’s expression loosen and a smile begin to form in the corners of his mouth.
Suddenly, Tyler’s fingers gripped down and he squeezed Isabella’s hands hard “Ow” she said surprised at the new found strength in them “Tyler…you’re going to break my fingers”
“Sorry…I can’t help it” Tyler said through gritted teeth. Isabella tried to break his grip but found that she couldn’t. She looked down past their hands to see that their feet were still together. They had been touching long enough that she didn’t really feel his toes anymore but now she got a sensation that his feet were pushing hers backwards.
It looked like a tug of war that she was losing. Tyler’s feet were pushing forward, taking up more and more of the view as hers seemed to slide back in retreat.
“Oh my God Tyler!” she said as he went into a growth spurt; shooting up several inches in height all of a sudden.
“Is it really working?” he asked now up to his sister’s chin “I think it’s actually working!”
“Oh My God! It…I mean you…I mean me…holy shit! I didn’t think it would really work!” Isabella said. “I don’t really want to be your little sister!”
“But you said it! You said the words…you were the one who brought it up” Tyler said before he grimaced as his clothes grew tighter and tighter on him.
“It’s just for today…oh my gosh Tyler…you’re going to be my BIG brother and I’m going to get to be your annoying little sister! HAHA…I’m going to be so annoying and show you exactly what I have to put up with…this is going to be awesome!” Isabella said letting a genuine excitement wash over her.
A pop announced that the seams in Tyler’s jeans had given way and now his thighs and claves flowed out tearing them to shreds.
Isabella felt a numb tingling in her chest as her breasts began to shrink back. She was a skinny girl with a lean, athletic build so her 34B cup breasts didn’t have far to go but she felt them separate from the cups as they shrank down and she got skinnier again.
Isabella’s face was losing maturity. Her features began to round and soften and Tyler’s jaw dropped watching his sister look younger and younger. “You look like a kid again Isabella!”
Isabella’s nose shrank down to button small and her cheeks rose up high and round. Her brown eyes went wide as her lips thinned and her teeth went crooked as she passed back out of her teens to her tween years “I feel like I’m becoming a kid again” she added breathlessly “And you…you’re getting so big”
Isabella’s eyes scanned her brother up and down as she began to shrink which evened out their heights at 5’4” for the moment.
“I feel so weird Izzy…I feel tall and like I’m getting stronger and stronger” Tyler said.
“Izzy?!” Isabella asked, her voice pitching slightly higher.
“Well…I was thinking that if you’re my little sister I wouldn’t call you Isabella; or would you prefer shrimp?” he asked as their heights adjusted again and Tyler grew taller than his sister for the first time.
Izzy giggled. She felt her shirt puff out around her as she shrank down inside of it. Her chest went flat making her bra a useless accessory as her shirt sleeves crept over her hands which were still locked with Tyler’s.
Her fingers were getting smaller as Tyler’s were getting larger. She held on tight, their grip held as her nails thinned and shrank down losing their polish as they did.
“I think I’m older than you now sis” Tyler said growing at a rapid pace again. Several inches hit him in a sudden burst as a new growth spurt took him through his early teen years. His tiny t-shirt pulled taut against him, rising up exposing his stomach and pulling threadbare across his arms before it tore it about a dozen places at once.
Izzy’s eyes could barely keep up as he grew 9 inches up to 6’1” making him tower over her as she dropped down closer to 5’.
She looked down to the floor which seemed much closer now and noticed that her feet looked very different, they looked childish. Her toes, still touching her brother’s now very large ones, looked stubby with small round nails painted a garish pink. It wasn’t a good job either as she could see brush strokes and chips and missed spots “It’s like I did them myself” she marveled.
As she stared down, her brother’s feet now took up about 75% of their shared space. Her leggings were drooping and getting baggy at her ankles on her thinning legs.
Isabella could feel her curves vanishing; going straight and skinny again as she passed back to her single digit years.
She looked up in time to see stubble break out on Tyler’s chin.
His face was rapidly maturing, developing into the look of a young man instead of a boy. His black hair thickened as his bone structure sharpened, taking on a stronger jaw and chin and cheekbones.
Muscles developed as well. His arms, chest, back and shoulders went from skinny in his early teens to quite formidable as he went to his late teens.
Tyler laughed as his tattered shirt tore away and fell off “Whoa” he said in a deep rolling voice.
Isabella began to giggle a little girls’ laughter “You look like the Hulk with your pants all torn and no shirt”
“Yeah…and the fact that I’m like huge!” Tyler added in looking more than a foot and half down to his little sister “This is unbelievable!”
Isabella’s mouth went numb as a few of her adult teeth vanished, replaced with baby teeth or just left open. The other shifted around looking huge in her small mouth as she truly became 7 years old again.
Tyler blushed feeling a sudden urge beneath his trashed trousers.
Hair had burst out on his arms, legs, face and chest…that he could see. He felt a deep seated burning grow in his abdomen and he shifted his feet as much as he could.
The two had been locked together, holding hands and touching toes but as Tyler truly became 17, their hands released and they both jumped back away from each other.
“Whoa!” Izzy said, her voice high pitched and childish.
“Whoa” Tyler echoed, his voice deep and mature.
They sized each other up and down as their hands began to explore their own bodies.
As they did, Izzy felt her clothes begin to shrink and change on her. Her leggings tightened up, changed to a girls’8-10 and now fit her body. Her extremely baggy top too shrank back to a girls’ size while gaining a glittery unicorn on the front of it.
She ran her tiny hands through her long, straight, thin black hair, her mouth smiling the whole time.
Tyler felt instant relief as his waistband of his pants ballooned out to fit his now larger body. The jeans re-stitched themselves as they grew back down to his ankles and his shirt lying on the floor regenerated into a Men’s XL t-shirt with a LA Rams logo on it.
He patted his new bulge “HAHA…think you’ve got something there now huh brother?!” Izzy laughed and pointed “Nuh-uh! Nothing for you to worry about!”
Tyler blushed “Stop it Izzy, that’s not nice to talk about things like that”
Izzy closed her mouth instinctively “Sorry”
“Good…I won’t have to tell Mom that you were being inappropriate”
Izzy cocked her head “What’s that mean?”
“That you were talking about stuff that you’re not supposed to talk about” he answered and both of their jaws dropped.
“I should know that…wow…this is really a good swap!” Izzy said in shock.
Tyler was a bit uneasy about how his vocabulary had grown, along with his knowledge in general “I guess it’s an immersive swap while it lasts”
Izzy didn’t know what he meant “Stop using such big fancy words Mr. big pants. You said I could watch Moana and you’d have a tea party with me”
“Ok…sure…whatever” Tyler replied.
“I’m thirsty” Izzy said and dashed out of the room. Before Tyler could react he heard a pop can open.
“Hey! No! Mom said you can’t have sugary stuff except once a day” Tyler called out and began to make his way to kitchen.
Izzy looked shamefaced as she sipped on a Dr. Pepper “Come on…Mom doesn’t hafta know”
“Give it over” Tyler said putting his hand out.
“No fair!” Izzy protested but handed it over.
“What’s not fair?” he asked taking a long drink from the can.
“It’s not fair that you can drink that and I can’t”
“Well, I guess that’s one of the perks of being in charge…of almost being an adult…haha shrimp…Thanks for the change” he added while raising his eyebrows and smiling as he left the room in triumph.
Izzy huffed and put her hands on her hips but couldn’t say anything. Instead, she decided to do what she could.
She ran to the bathroom and brought out the nail polish and brought several colors back to the family room where Tyler was sitting on the couch with his feet up “Check it out sis…I’ve got a phone. I’ve got a Twitter account and an Instagram…”
“You don’t have time for those silly things today though big brother. We have plans!” There were several Barbie dolls and stuffed animals now in the room; items that hadn’t been there this morning but neither of them questioned it.
Izzy arranged them all into a circle then waved her arms “Come and join us Tyler!”
Tyler had to fold himself down to sit cross legged on the floor across from his little sister who was bouncing with excitement.
Izzy sat on her heels so she could jump up and serve tea. She introduced each animal and doll with its own name and story as Tyler just rolled his eyes and let her go.
Tyler was getting antsy “Can I…?”
“No!” Izzy said curtly “You’re supposed to be playing with me today; not playing on your phone or talking to your girlfriend. Mom said so”
“Ok” Tyler sighed. He sat back for the rest of the tea party.
“Now it’s time to paint your nails” Izzy announced coming to him.
“Nope…that’s where I draw the line” Tyler said standing up quickly. “I’ll play with you but just because we’re like we are now doesn’t mean you get to torture me”
“But you were torturing me” Izzy said confused.
“You could have told me no. You could have disciplined me and just told me no instead of switching us to ‘teach me a lesson’ about being the older and responsible one”
Izzy folded her arms in a huff.
“It’s called being responsible Izzy and I’m doing better than you did. Guess I learned my lesson huh little sis” Tyler said picking up his phone and sitting back on the couch “But you keep playing ok. I’ll put on your movie and I’ll fix you some lunch too ok, how does that sound?”
Izzy stomped her foot “Fine! If you already…” she wagged her head back and forth in a sassy manner “…learned your lesson… then I want to switch back!”
“Nope…sorry…I think it’s time you learned a lesson instead little sis. A lesson about appreciating what you have in life for one and also a lesson about how much it sucks to be a little kid. You’ve got no power; nobody listens to you, you can’t do anything. I’m good with switching back in a few hours once Mom comes home. Until then…sorry” he shrugged.
“Uh! That’s not fair!” she stomped again.
“I already told you life’s not fair or did you forget that when I took your soda because you’re too little for it”
“Shut up!” was all she could come back with as her frustration grew.
“Calm down shrimp” Tyler said patiently.
“Don’t call me that! I’m tired of being the little one! I want to be big and in charge again!”
“No…not yet” Tyler repeated “If you can’t handle that, you can go to your room until you calm down”
“But…!” Izzy protested.
Tyler just waved a finger. Izzy pouted but went and sat on the couch quietly. She scooted all the way back and her little legs barely went off the edge.
Tyler started up Moana and made her chicken nuggets with ketchup for her lunch.
While she enjoyed the movie, Izzy also fidgeted and got up several times to play with different things, her attention span was that of a gnat.
“When are we gonna switch back?” she asked when the movie ended.
“I don’t know…whenever…pretty soon” he answered.
Izzy got up and began playing a recorder, badly.
“Oh my God!” Tyler replied with an eye roll.
Izzy smiled and began to sing Let It Go in all its glory along with inventing a dance routine that she tried to drag him into “Come on Tyler…dance with me!”
“Ok…time to settle down” he replied as Izzy bounced away in front of him.
“Settle!” he said a bit firmer and she stopped bouncing and just smiled up at him.
“Okay…jeez…” she flipped her hair, which was sticking up with static electricity out of her tiny little heart shaped face.
“Wow you listen so much better than I did at that age” Tyler commented.
“Maybe because you’re a boy and boys are worse than girls” Izzy replied.
“Maybe it’s because I’m better at being 17…ever think about that?” Tyler replied sticking his tongue out playfully. “I think I win…I was the better babysitter”
“Whatever…you wouldn’t have ever even got a chance to be a babysitter without me swapping us dummy” Izzy said.
“Sure…Thanks for finding that spell and switching our ages…it was a lot of fun” Tyler said.
“Yeah it was…I had lots of fun today being annoying to you big brother!” Izzy said. “You ready to switch back?”
“Yeah…I guess so. I mean, I’d like to stay like this but…” Tyler said.
“That wouldn’t be fair” Izzy finished up for him.
“Do you remember the words?” Tyler asked her as they scooted up closer to each other. They touched their toes together and Tyler took Izzy’s tiny hands in his and squeezed them gently.
Their eyes met and they began to say the words that had put them into this position in the first place. Their voices blended together; his deep one and her high one as they repeated it 7 times.
They finished up but neither of them felt the jolt. Izzy held her breath waiting for her feet or hands to start growing or to see her brother begin to shrink back down, but nothing was happening.
“What’s wrong? Something…nothing’s happening” Tyler said looking around. He easily let go of his sister’s hands, nothing was locking them together.
“Did we say it right?” Izzy asked a bit panicked.
“Yeah…I’m sure we said it right” Tyler replied.
“Then why isn’t it working?” Izzy said.
“I don’t know…let’s try it again” Tyler answered.
Once again they locked hands and touched toes and recited the lines 7 times but once again, nothing changed.
“Oh No…oh no!” Izzy began to panic “Get out your phone Tyler…you need to check the website I found earlier and check that we’re doing it right”
“Yeah, sure…I mean I know we are but…” Tyler got out his phone and began searching how to swap ages. Izzy jumped on the couch so she could see what he was doing.
“That one! That’s the one I clicked on!” she said seeing the spell site.
Tyler went into it and saw the same thing, the same words they had been reading but then he scrolled further down to read the bottom of the page. He turned white.
“Oh shit” he said reading the words.
“What? What…” Tyler put the phone underneath Izzy’s eyes.
“No” she said flatly, a rock sitting in the pit of her stomach, a burning fire rising up her cheeks and face.
‘Good for only one way. Spell is irreversible’
They looked at each other again and Izzy screamed.
“No!” she started screaming over and over, tears ran down her cheeks and she began to jump up and down, red in the face.
“Calm down Izzy…you have to calm down” Tyler said, the reality starting to hit him that he was now permanently Izzy’s big brother.
“No! How can I calm down?! I just turned myself into a 7 year old and gave you all my years and brains!”
“And I hate to say it but there’s nothing you can do about that now. The spell is what it is” Tyler said.
“It’s not fair!” Izzy screamed.
“How many times have I told you today: Life’s not fair” Tyler said.
“AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!” Izzy just screamed now.
“That’s it” Tyler said. He scooped her up easily.
“Put me down you big jerk!” Izzy yelled while punching at his chest.
“No…you need to calm down. I’m putting you in your room for a time out” he told her “I want you…no, I need you to calm down before Mom gets home. You need to sit in your room and compose yourself. I don’t want to hear a peep out of you is that understood?”
Izzy was breathing hard through her nose and still squirming against her brother’s clutches as he carried her effortlessly up the stairs.
Finally he set her down in the hallway and she whispered “How could I be so stupid?”
Tyler didn’t have an answer. Part of him wanted to go back to being 7 again too and he told her as much “Don’t beat yourself up Izzy. You’re not the only one affected by this” he got down on his knees in front of her “Part of me wishes we went back to the way we were. I liked being 7. I’m going to miss 10 years of growing up because of this. You have to do those years twice so neither one of us is honestly really happy right now okay. Our situations are different but kind of the same”
“But I hafta do and learn everything all over again! School…middle school and high school. How to drive, how to even do stupid stuff like make-up and wear a bra. I’m gonna hafta have braces again”
Izzy nodded and sucked in her tears. “Don’t be selfish and think you’re the only one thinking this isn’t fair. We were both excited to do this, we both just thought it was a goof. A one day trade…now we know it’s forever and we have to make the best of it okay”
“I mean, I lose all that. I have no middle school and 90% of high school is just gone for me. Sports and dances, learning how to drive. It all just happened for me but I never really go to, you know, do it” Tyler continued.
Izzy nodded again “I’m sorry…I’m sorry I screwed up for both of us”
“It’s not your fault” he hugged her and she hugged him back tightly.
After they broke off, Tyler opened the bedroom door and both were in for another surprise “Whoa”
The room that had been Isabella’s; the bigger of the rooms was now decorated for a guy. “This is my room now?” Tyler said stepping in cautiously.
Izzy spun and opened up what had been Tyler’s room and instead of seeing Marvel characters on the wall, was greeted by unicorns and butterflies and pink walls “My room?”
“I guess when we swapped, we swapped everything. I’m the older one so I have the bigger room since I came first”
Izzy opened her mouth but Tyler cut her off by saying “I know…Not Fair!”
Izzy just pouted her lips and stared up at him. At just 4’3” she wasn’t intimidating anymore and her big brown eyes just didn’t hold the same threat level for Tyler.
“You’re really my big brother now then huh” she finally said.
“Yeah…it sure looks that way” Tyler replied. “And I don’t think anyone else will realize anything is up given how our rooms are decorated”
“So Mom won’t be mad?” Izzy asked curiously.
“No…I don’t think she will be” he replied as they heard a car in the driveway. They both held their breath as their Mom came in and called out “Tyler? Izzy? I’m home”
They looked at each other and Izzy hissed “Answer her”
“We’re upstairs Mom” Tyler called out.
“Good…I hope Isabella behaved herself for you…I can see from down here that she was having one of her tea parties”
“She doesn’t know…she thinks this is how it’s supposed to be” Isabella whispered.
“Which is super weird considering that, you know, she was there for both of our births and should be the one to see that something is up” Tyler replied somewhat relieved.
“That…was one heck of a spell” Izzy said.
“Yeah, you got that right” Tyler said elbowing his little sister playfully.
“Come downstairs you two…I brought home pizza for dinner” their Mom called out.
Tyler’s phone went off as he came down to the stairs to see his Mom’s smiling face. “I’m glad you didn’t give your brother a hard time” she said as she patted Izzy on the head.
“I’m just gonna grab a piece and head out if that’s okay with you Mom” Tyler said reading his text “Jenny and a bunch of people are going to Chipotle and…”
“Go have fun with your friends; you’re only 17 once” Mom said as Izzy laughed so hard she spit out her drink.