Sapphire's Place - Genni Smith's "My Sister, Myself"

My Sister, Myself

by: Genni Smith
© 1998

Jason Andrews was pissed off. It wasn’t bad enough that he was stuck at Home baby sitting his 7-year-old sister on a Saturday morning, now she’d disappeared and his parents would kill him. He was watching television when Katie wandered in and changed the channel to some girly cartoon series and said she was bored. Jason had one of his brain waves and suggested a game of hide and seek which Katie jumped at. He closed his eyes, started counting and then opened his eyes and went right on watching television.

But now mum was due home any second and Katie was still missing, and Jason was pissed off. The only place he hadn’t looked for her was his Dad’s shed, but even she wouldn’t be stupid enough to go out there. Hang on, he thought, she’s seven and a girl. Of course, she was stupid enough. Checking his watch he saw he only had about 10 or 15 minutes before his mum came home so he went to the shed and gingerly opened the door.

The shed was off limits to both of them because it was where their dad did much of his tinkering. Steven Andrews fixed computers for a living and tinkered with different gear for fun, and he kept the shed as his own private sanctuary. Katie would really cop it if she were found in here, it meant she had taken the key from the kitchen. If she were in the poop then Jason would be in even deeper. Why? He was eldest; oldest kids are always the ones who "should have known better" and "Should have been looking after your little sister/brother." Sometimes he wished he was the youngest so he could be babied as Katie was. She got away with murder.

Jason’s eyes slowly grew accustomed to the darkness in the large shed and he looked around for Katie. Something moved in the corner the furthest from him, and he carefully picked a course through the junk. "I will kill you shrimp." He said as he grabbed her and groped for the light switch. He didn’t see one of his dad’s machine’s spring into life.

"Ow," Katie cried. "You’re hurting me Jason."

"I’ll do more than hurt you if mum finds us out here." He grunted as he got her in a headlock. "Now we will get out of here, lock the shed, go inside and act innocent when mum rocks up. Got it?"

"Yes, just leave me alone." Katie’s struggling caused Jason to lose his balance and they both fell back onto a pile of cables and connections.

Everything seemed to spin for a few seconds, and then Jason felt something strange. When he fell, he hit the floor, but now he seemed to be sitting on something the moved.

"Get off me," A familiar voice said to him and then he was pushed, hard.

"Ow." Two small hands rushed up to cover his mouth in surprise at the small voice he now had. It was Katie’s voice. He turned and looked straight into his own eyes.

He barely saw those eyes look at him in the same shock he was feeling when the door was thrown open, and Jane Andrews stood there glaring at them.

"What on earth?" She shouted. "You two, go to your rooms and wait there ‘til I can talk this over with your father."

"But......" Jason started before his mother cut him off.

"Save it young lady. I am so mad at the two of you now that I don’t even want to see you. Go."

Katie looked to Jason who looked up at her not knowing what to do. They had both seen their mum like this before and both of them knew not to get even more off side with her when she was in one of her moods.

"Move it." Jane Andrews shouted again.

oOOo-

An hour later Jason sat in his sister’s body in his sister’s room. This was not the way he wanted to spend this or any other Saturday. He should be out with his mates like any other normal 12-year-old boy. Only now he was a 7-year-old girl. He looked down at the "My little Pony" watch in his tiny wrists. It was already 11:30 and he was still dressed in the nightie his sister had worn to bed the night before.

The door opened, and his father stood there. He looked huge now and angry. Jason felt scared. He knew he wasn’t in any physical danger, but he was still scared in a way kids get when they know they are in for a yell, a lecture, the silent treatment and any number of other punishments parents seem to love to dream up. He didn’t know whether he could tell him that he was now his sister, and she was now he. Hell, he didn’t know whether his parents would believe him. "You’d better come out to the kitchen then." His dad said.

Jason knew this was stage two of the punishment. Whenever he’d done anything really bad his mum or dad would send him to his room until they could discuss things with the other one. After they had cooled down and talked about it a bit Jason was always brought into the kitchen and told his part of the story.

Only this time, sitting with his mother, was Katie in his body. He was so short he almost had to climb onto the kitchen chair.

"Right," Their dad started. "What were you two doing in the shed?"

Both of them talked immediately, and it got confusing so a large that arm was raised until Jason and Katie fell silent. "Who went in there first?"

"She did," Jason said pointing at Katie.

"We were just playing hide and seek Daddy and I was sick of getting found so I just thought......"

"So I went in to find her, but we fell and swapped and mum came in. I tried to tell her."

"Hang on a second? Go back a bit. Why do you keep calling your brother ‘her’ young lady?"

"Because she’s Katie and I am Jason," Jason said as he pushed some of Katie’s long hair out of his face. "We swapped bodies when we fell."

Both parents looked at each other, and then his dad said. "This is very important, where were you when you fell?"

"In the far corner..."

"There was many wires," Katie interrupted her older brother. "They were like snakes."

Steven Andrews looked at his wife. "I Better go check the machine."

"I’ll make some lunch." She nodded and got up to start some sandwiches.

"You two can go back to your rooms for now. I will call you in awhile."

oOOo-

A Half an hour later Jason gently opened his door and sneaked to the toilet. He had to reach up to open the door and then again on the other side to lock it. He lifted the seat, and the hem of the girly nightly he still wore. Balking a little at the lacy white panties that now encased his tiny bum he pulled them down and reached for his penis. Nothing. Of course, he shuddered as he thought, I am a girl down there now. He pulled the elastic of the panties out away from his body and looked at the puffy lips that now sat at the junction of his little girly legs. The urge to pee bought his attention to the task, and he started rethinking the job. Never having been a girl before Jason wasn’t exactly sure how to go about this new challenge. He knew he had to sit now and quickly did so but how did you let go? He said there trying out muscles he used to have and new ones, but still nothing came out. Finally, he just relaxed and the urine began to flow. "Erk." He cried in his new tiny voice as he tried in vain to stop the flow. He spread his legs. A little and the pee finally started going into the toilet. It surely felt different peeing this way Jason thought as he reached for some paper to dry his thighs. When he stood up he realized there was one other place he needed to dry. "That was disgusting," He grumbled as he headed back to Katie’s room. The back of the nightie was wet too and it slapped against his legs as he walked.

He’d only just sat on the bed when the door opened again, and his mother looked down at him. "Come on then," she said. "Lunch is ready."

oOOo-

Jason ate his sandwich in silence but constantly glared at Katie who stuck her tongue out at him when their parents weren’t watching. This was stage 3, the silent treatment. They both sat there glaring at the kids and saying very little to each other. Jason ate slowly because when he was finished eating stage 4 started.

It started as soon as he was done eating. "Your father has had a look at the machine, and we believe your story about the swap."

"But," Steve said. "It doesn’t explain why you were out there in the first place." Katie in Jason’s body started to say something but her dad cut her off. "No, let me finish. You were both told to stay out of the shed and both of you, for whatever reason, went out to the shed and fooled around with equipment you know nothing about." He turned to his daughter in his 12-year-old sons body. "You young lady may only be 7, but you knew you it was wrong to get the key and go into the shed didn’t you?"

"Yes, but......"

"Yes or no?"

"I’m sorry daddy." She cried, but it looked funny to see a 12-year-old boy sob like a baby.

"Yes or no Katherine Jade?"

"Yes," She bawled.

Jane turned her attention to her son. "And you, you were supposed to be watching your little sister. You know your father, and I have to work on Saturday mornings. It pays for the little things like this house and the food you eat and the clothes you wear. At twelve we thought you would be able to handle a few hours on a Saturday morning on your own. All you had to do was wake up, make your beds, make breakfast and then watch television together until I got home. All you had to do was keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t do anything silly like go into your dad’s shed. It seems your not ready for responsibility yet."

"We were playing hide and seek," Jason said, sounding like a whining little girl much to his shame. "How was I supposed to know she’d go in the shed?"

"Hide and seek huh? More like hide and stay watching the t.v. if I know you. The problem with 12-year-olds is they think they know everything and they think the world revolves around them. I’d expect it from your sister because she’s a baby, but I had hoped you wouldn’t be so selfish." Jason looked down at his little hands sitting in his soft satiny nightie covered lap.

Time to turn to Katie again. "And I think we have underestimated you Missy. Here, we are babying you and thinking everything that goes wrong in this house is your brothers fault. Seems to me if you are grown up enough to get keys and open locks your not supposed to open then you are old enough for a few new responsibilities. So here’s the deal kiddies. Your mother and I have talked about this and we think the best punishment is to leave you as you are." Jason was stunned. "There is one week of school left for the year, and then the Christmas holidays start. When you go back to school next year, we will swap you back. Until then you will stay as you are."

Jane nodded. "You’ve proven you can’t handle responsibility Jason, and now you won’t have to. You can just be a 7-year-old girl who does little girl things."

"Don’t you laugh miss?" Steve shouted. "You will be doing all of his chores and his paper round. If you have any spare time after that I will fill it up with more jobs. It will be easy now that you are big and strong. You can start by cleaning up that pigsty of a room. Now thank you."

Katie was crying as she dragged her bum out of the kitchen.

"And you, you’re not even out of your pajamas." His mum said to him. "Go wait for me in your room and we’ll get you showered."

Jason was still in shock. They were serious. He would be a 7-year-old girl for 3 whole months. He thought back to the toilet awhile ago and shuddered. "Imagine having to pee like that every day for 3 months." He mumbled as he walked to the bathroom.

"Shouldn’t we tell them the truth?" Jane said when Jason was out of hearing range.

"What? That It’ll only be ‘til Christmas day?" Steve said. "Nah that will be their gift. Come on Jane, we both agreed we were doing the right thing. Katie is such a baby that it could put her into danger unless we toughen her up a bit. Put it this way, didn’t you say she almost got into a car a few months back?"

"Yes, I did." Jane shivered at the thought of her little girl getting into a stranger’s car.

"She’s so dependent on adults she sees every adult as an authority figure. If any adult tells her to do something she does it. You know I am right."

"I know," she nodded. "And Jason can certainly use taking down a peg or two."

"Ah ha, we were just saying last night he was getting too big for his boots and what better way to cure that than to make him be a little girl?"

"You’re right there."

"Okay, so I’ll handle Katie. She’ll be so busy doing Jason’s jobs she’ll be perfectly happy to go back to being a little girl. Hopefully, a little tougher too" Steve said.

"And I’ll have fun making Jason a pretty young Miss." Jane smiled. "By Christmas he’ll be practically begging for more responsibility."

oOOo-

"This is like a yo-yo," Jason grumbled as he again sat on Katie’s Bed.

"Get in your room, come out of your room. Make up your mind."

His gaze drifted around the room, and he snorted at the femininity of it. Little pink rose buds on a white background for the wall paper, a Little Mermaid bedspread, numerous stuffed toys, lots of little girl jewelry and hair clips and worst of all, a huge poster of two kittens playing with some balls of wool. He missed the Pamela Anderson pin up in his own room.

"Okay miss," His mum said from the doorway. "Time to get you showered and dressed. We’re going shopping."

Even his mother seemed to tower over him now, and Jason was getting pretty sick of looking up at people. "all right." He sighed. "Let’s get it over with."

"That’s the spirit Princess." Jane Smiled.

oOOo-

After an embarrassing shower where his mum told him to soap between his legs, Jason emerged from the shower looking like a drowned rat. Ringlets of his sisters dark brown hair spilled over his shoulders and back. The water had made the hair surprisingly heavy, and the towel his mother had wrapped around his head made his neck sore from the weight.

Another seemingly huge towel was wrapped around his body, and he started to dry himself.

"No baby, we girls have much softer skin. You’d better pat yourself dry."

"Pat?" Jason quizzed.

" Like this honey." Jane proceeded to dry her son for the first time in about 4 years. Of course last time his little naked body looked quite different from the delicate little girl who stood before her.

oOOo-

Jane carefully watched Jason’s reactions as she opened his new wardrobe. There seemed to be no reaction at all, he obviously didn’t see anything wrong. While he was in the shower, she came back into the room and took all the pants and shorts. He’ll find it hard to forget he’s now a little girl if he’s always dressed in skirts and dresses. Jane would show him who wore the pants in the family, and it wouldn’t be the pretty little 7 year old girl. She took awhile to choose what he would wear that day. It was lucky that Katie was quite feminine and even after she’d taken anything remotely male out of the wardrobe she still had plenty to choose from. She got some undies out first. " Here, put these on."

Jason took the tiny article of clothing and looked at it with disdain. The panties were white cotton with little pink love hearts about a centimeter wide all over them and there was lace on the legs and waist openings. Slowly he pulled them on and again he saw the lips between his legs. When the panties were all, they way up he turned back to his mother; she had pulled out a dress from the wardrobe.

It was a little sleeveless pink cotton sundress with a Peter Pan collar. "Arms up sweetie." Jane instructed then slipped the dress over his head, pushed the long hair out of the way and buttoned up the three tiny buttons at the back. "Very pretty. Now go and sit in front of the mirror and we’ll do your hair."

Jason stared glumly at his reflection, or rather at his sister’s reflection. Wide brown eyes, cute button nose, dimples and slightly chubby cheeks all framed by slightly damp chestnut colored hair that fell to the bottom of his small shoulder blades. His mothers image appeared behind his tiny one, and he felt the tickle as she blow-dried his hair and combed out the tangles. Then his mum took some hair from the right side of his face and some from the left and bought them together at the back of his head. A quick twist of a pink scrunchie and two bobby pins later and the hair was done, out of his eyes at least, he thought, but the jewelry had yet to begin.

"Stay still bub and I’ll put some earrings in."

"In my ears?" He shrieked covering both ears and closing his eyes.

Jane smiled. "Of course princess, that’s where earrings usually go." Gently taking his right ear she pushed the earring into place and put the back onto it and then she repeated it with the left one. "there you go, oh open your eyes you big baby, it’s all over. It didn’t hurt did it?"

Looking again at the scary little reflection he saw the twinkle of two little diamond studs. Quickly a gold necklace was put around his neck and Jason screamed as his long hair got caught in the chain. A charm bracelet followed along with a little ring.

"Now miss." Jane instructed as she pulled out a pair of little white sandals. "Sit down and put these on then we can go."

He sat and let his mum do up the straps. It was incredible how quick he had gotten used to having her do everything for him. He should be pissed off at her. "Where are we going?" He asked.

"I told you, shopping. We’ll catch the bus into town and have a girl’s day out huh?"

"Great."

"And I will buy you a new party dress for Jessica Sanders’ 7^th birthday party tomorrow. And a present for her too."

"I’m not going to that party." Jason spluttered. "No way."

"Way." Jane nodded pulling him to his feet. "For the next three months you are Katie. You will do what Katie does. That includes Ballet and tap lessons, Brownies and singing lessons. What you want doesn’t matter any more. I’ve been watching you for a while waiting for the day you really hurt your sister. Your Uncle John used to do the same to me, and I hated him. You just keep riding her though and when you get too rough you blame her. Well, from now on She can pick on you and see how you like it. Now, lets go."

oOOo-

Jason was embarrassed. He was sitting on his mother’s lap on a bus heading for town. In one day he had gone from being a 12-year-old boy who could do pretty much what he wanted to being a 7 year old girl who never seemed to be alone. And to top it all off a few of his friends from school were a couple of seats behind them, and he was sure each laugh he heard was aimed at their mate who is now a little girl. He knew he was being paranoid, but it didn’t help matters.

When they hit the town, he was dragged from shop to shop trying on and buying the most feminine dresses his mother could find along with all sorts of underwear and a new one-piece pair of bathers in hot pink. He was glad when they stopped for lunch only lunch sucked too. He wanted a Big Mac and a shake, but his mum told him he would never finish it now he had his sister’s stomach. He ended up getting a McHappy meal but his mum drank all but a quarter of the coke. Jason could only eat about three quarters of the junior burger which surprised him, normally he could knock off three or four of them. To add insult to injury he needed to pee again. This was not fun.

oOOo-

Jason whined as his mother led him to the Ladies room. "I can go to the bathroom on my own." He franticly tried to pull his tiny hand out of hers, but her strength held him firmly in place.

"I’ve had just about enough of you young lady," his mother Jane suddenly snapped. "You’ve done nothing to make this day any easier on yourself." She dragged him back into one of the shops.

"Not that," Jason said in his little girl’s voice. "Please Mum, not that."

"Mummy, you will call me mummy," Jane quickly whispered as she paid for her purchase, and then said, in a louder voice. "I’m sorry baby, but this is a big town, and there are plenty of sick people around here. I can’t take the chance you’ll get lost."

Placing her hand bag on the ground Jane bent down and adjusted the straps of the strange looking device until she thought it would fit her daughter’s body. "There you go."

Jason looked down, too mortified to look around and see people looking at him. He was now strapped into a device that linked him straight to his mothers hand. In one day he’d gone from 12-year-old boy to 7 year old girl to family dog. A damned baby leash.

"Now honey, didn’t you need a wee wee?" His mother smiled down at him.

"Yes mummy."

oOOo-

As he and his mother came up the driveway of their house, they could see the improvement in the garden. The lawn had been cut, the weeds had been pulled out, trees had been pruned and the edges all clipped.

"Well, it looks like your sister and father had been busy," Jane said heaving all the new dresses she’d bought for her son, including a fluffy little party dress for the following day.

"Katie did all this?" Jason asked in amazement. "Good, if she hadn’t been messing around in the shed none of this would have happened."

"Ah ha, and if you looked after her as you were supposed to you’d still be 12 years old and male. Come on, let s go give your daddy a fashion show."

And that’s just what he had to do. He put on every new outfit, including the bathing suit, and paraded in front of his father and had to listen to every remark about how pretty it made him appear. But the loudest oohhs and aahhhhs were saved for the pink lacy party dress. He endured it all but made a promise to make his sister pay for this accident also for laughing at him as he modeled the new white ballet leotard and tights.

oOOo-

The rest of the night was pretty much a non-event. Jason was too ashamed to get up to any mischief and Katie was just too tired after all of her work in the garden. Both stayed in the lounge room watching television most of the time, only moving off the couch to eat and make a few uncomfortable and unusual calls to the bathroom.

That was until seven o’clock when his mother came into the room. "Shower time Katie and then off to beddy byes."

Jason simply looked over at his old body, expecting her to get up and go to bed just as she did every night.

"Not her buddy. You."

"Sleep?" Jason protested while his sister started laughing. "It’s still light out there."

"7:30 was Katie’s bedtime so now it’s yours. She can stay up until 9:30."

"Suffer." Katie giggled. Well, what passed for a giggle with her new male voice.

"We can do this the hard way," Jane started as she put her hands on her hips. "or the easy way. It’s your choice."

He knew the fight was over. It always was when his mum used that tone of voice. "I need the extra sleep anyway," he sulked.

"Good night KATIE," Katie said. "Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite."

oOOo-

After A bubble bath which Jason reluctantly agreed was nice, he put on a fresh pair of panties and a red baby doll nightie and sat while his mother brushed out his long brown hair a hundred times. He was tired when he finally lay in bed and asleep not long after.

oOOo-

Steven Andrews bought his wife breakfast in bed, a Sunday morning ritual since their marriage. "It’s pretty quiet out there Jane. How do you think it’s going?"

"A bit too quiet for my liking. Maybe we’re being a bit mean about this.

I don’t think I can hold off until Christmas."

"I don’t think three weeks will kill them sweetheart." Steve shrugged and poured them both a cup of tea.

"I just get this feeling we’ll be surrounded by a bunch of reporters one day, all of them asking why our son went on a rampage with a machine gun."

"Lets face it Jane, with our son that was on the cards before now."

"That’s true......" Jane’s attention turned to the shouting from another part of the house. "Oops, looks like the kids are up. Better see what’s going on before she really hurts him."

They got up and walked to the bathroom, only to find Jason, panties around ankles, being held in a headlock by Katie.

"What the hell is going on here?" Steve demanded.

"I was in here already," Jason started in his whiny little girl’s voice. "She burst in and told me to get out. Easy for her to say, I was in the middle of.... you know."

"Put your brother down and tell me what the rush was." Jane asked Katie.

"What have you got behind your back?"

"Nothing."

"Katherine Jade Andrews. Give it to me now."

Slowly her 7-year-old daughter pulled her hand into view. She was holding a copy of Playboy magazine.

Steven shuffled nervously and coughed and Jason’s eyes bugged out of his head. Jane however looked at her daughter quizzically. "I don’t underst.... Oh my God." Katie’s guilty face told her she was right.

"Erm. . I think the less said about this the better." Steve said quietly. "Now, Katie, get dressed and take this money to the corner shop. We’re out of milk, and I need a coffee with breakfast."

"We don’t need milk," Jane whispered in her husband’s ears.

"I know, but it breaks up this awkward moment. Jason, finished what you were doing here and then go and wait in your room until we call you down for breakfast.

oOOo-

The reflection that seemed to taunt him from the mirror looked all the sillier to Jason as he stood dressed for the party. His mother tuggedthe skirt down over the mass of petticoats and she even pulled up the little pair of white tights he was wearing. "Very pretty." Jane smiled.

"All you need now is a purse, a hat and Jessica’s present and we can go."

"I feel ridiculous." Jason protested.

"I know baby but you look adorable. You’ll be the prettiest girl there." Jane placed a little straw hat on his head and handed him a little pink purse that matched the dress. "I’ll get the present on the way out of the house. Come on princess, we’ll be late."

oOOo-

There were only two other boys at the party. Jessica’s five-year old brother and a friend of his, but they weren’t interested in a dumb girl in a stupid party dress. He spent most of his time playing games like pass the parcel and pin the tale on the donkey as well as a few girls games like hopscotch, skipping and jacks. He had too really; Jane had threatened him with dire consequences if she got one bad report back from Jessica’s mother.

The only thing that made it seem worth is was the little fact that Katie was at home painting the house.

Not that the party was all bad. Jason had fun with some of the games, and the food was great but he was one of the smallest kids at the party and he felt very vulnerable and weak in some of the rougher games like musical chairs. He got some dirt on his dress when he got pushed out of the way in that game. What really irritated him was the slap of his pony tail on his face as he ran. "I’ve got to get out of this body," he grumbled to himself.

oOOo-

Jason was freezing when he entered his house. The sun had slipped below the horizon about an hour before the party ended, and Jason shivered with a kind of cold he had never felt before. It ate through the pink cardigan he wore, the dress, the slip and right through his skin. He headed straight for the heater in the lounge room.

Jane smiled to herself. It was a bit cruel to send him out in such a lightweight dress when she knew it would come in cold, but it was the only way he’d wear the precious pink cardigan with butterflies stitched to the pockets.

She placed the little bag of party favors Jason had been given by Jessica, and a piece of cake Mrs. Sanders had sent home for "her son" on the kitchen table. "Hi love," she said to her husband, giving him a long kiss. "How was your day?"

"She got the back of the house painted and is now asleep in front of the telly."

"Good. Jason, go and have a wee but leave your tights and panties off, might as well get you into the bath."

"Yes Mummy," He said quietly. This just couldn’t get any worse, he thought. It just couldn’t.

"Good girl. You have school tomorrow."

Jason was wrong. It just got worse.

oOOo-

Jason stood naked in Katie’s bed room, waiting for his mother Jane to pick out his clothes for the day. "Here you go young lady." Jane said as she passed him a tiny pair of lavender colored panties. "Put them on."

Jason did so with a smile. He had a plan to get back to his normal body. It came to him in the night while he lay there with his tiny hand on his new, empty crotch. The problem as Jason saw it was he needed Katie onside to start his plan but she was enjoying it; the little bitch was actually enjoying this. She liked being taller and stronger than he was, and she liked the fact that he was now wearing her clothes. He had to convince her that his life wasn’t all beer and skittles but he had to do it in a way that wouldn’t leave long term damage. It would be easy to walk into his old school and tell everyone there that Katie, in Jason’s body did ballet. But then he’d have to suffer the ribbing from his mates when he got back to normal. It was the same deal with a plan he devised to get his original friends on side by letting them in on the secret.

But now he knew how. He almost happily turned so his mum could do up the buttons on his lacy little blouse. "Now for the dress," Jane said, unsure why Jason was smiling. She hoped he wasn’t actually enjoying this. She walked over to the bed and lifted the Lilac colored jumper. "You’ll look lovely in this. We’d better hurry; you’ll be late for school."

A pair of ankle socks with lacy tops and black Mary Janes finished off the outfit and Jason was led by the hand out of Katie’s room.

oOOo-

Katie walked around Jason’s school feeling a little bit scared. It was so big compared to her own school, and she felt a little lost. Sure she was a lot bigger than she used to be, but she was just a little girl and didn’t know how she’d cope with the rough and tumble of the day. The easiest way to survive the day was to follow Jason’s best Friend Eddy around. Eddy usually ignored her or teased her when he was at her house but now she was Jason he was actually kind of fun. She giggled when she looked at Jason’s watch on her impossibly large wrist, Jason would be doing Phys. Ed. soon. She wondered how he’d like learning square dancing with that pain Philip Jenkins. "I hope Philip still sweats a lot," she said to herself and then followed Eddy into Math.

oOOo-

"You did what?" Allyson shrieked.

"Left them that way." Jane mumbled as she played with the mostly untouched salad.

"If I didn’t know Steve and his tinkering in the shed, I’d never believe you." Allyson said. "Now I know why you’ve been so strange this morning."

"Yeah, sorry." Jane finished all she could have the salad and opened a bottle of spring water as she, and her best friend Allyson sat in the park across from her office. "I just don’t know whether we’re doing the right thing."

"What does Steve say?"

"He can’t see the harm. It’s only for three weeks."

"Is it working?" Allyson asked, breaking open a bread roll.

"Well, Jason is behaving himself, and Katie is doing a lot of work around the house I’d never dream she could do, even in Jason’s bigger stronger body."

Allyson thought about it for little while. "Three days isn’t all that long Jane. If I were you I’d let it run its course, at least for another week. By that time you will know a bit more about how it’s affecting them. If you want then, pull the plug and let them get back to normal."

"I hope you’re right." Jane nodded, not wholly convinced.

"I’m sure I am. If it works out okay I might see Steve about doing the same to my two. Kevin would look wonderful in some of Lisa’s clothes.

The two women broke out in peals of laughter at the thought of Kevin;

Allyson’s husband dressed in their five-year old daughter’s dresses.

oOOo-

Jason headed straight for the little girl’s room and washed his hands. That little snot nosed kid he’d been forced to dance with sweated like Jason couldn’t believe that and a penchant for pulling up girl’s dresses to expose their panties. Jason had spent the whole class with one hand covered in sweat and the other desperately trying to hold down his skirt.

He was just on the way out of the rest room when he realized he needed to pee again, but the opportunity to put his plan into action interrupted his trek back to a cubicle. He had to look twice to make sure she was who he thought she was. Amanda Kerrigan was taller than he was now, same as everyone else, and Jason looked at the 9-year-old girl with a little bit of fear.

He waited until Amanda had finished peeing and was washing her hands.

"Hi," he said, joining her at the sink.

"Hello." It was obvious to Jason that he was now too young even for a nine-year old girl to take him seriously. Amanda barely glanced at him and then went back to washing her hands.

"Isn’t your brother Keg Kerrigan?" Jason tried again knowing full well that she was indeed the younger sister of the toughest person in his old school.

"Ah ha, what’s it got to do with you?"

"Oh nothing. It’s just that my brother said he could beat up your brother."

Amanda stopped washing her hands and now glared down at the little girl in the purple dress. "What else did your brother say?"

"He said your brother was a wimp who had an ugly girlfriend. Oh yeah and the fact that your brother kicks a football like a girl."

"Wait a minute," Amanda started. "I know you. You’re Katie Andrews. Your Brother Jason is in some classes with Keg."

Jason knew all this, of course. Just as he knew Darryl Kerrigan was called Keg because he was built like a beer barrel and that he was the biggest bully in Jason’s high school just up the road. "Well, Jason said Keg was only in his classes because the teachers were too scared to keep him back. He said Keg was so dumb the only thing stopping his head from caving in is the hot air between his ears."

"Wait ‘til I tell Darryl this," Amanda smiled. "He’ll murder your brother." She stormed out of the toilets leaving Jason standing looking at himself in the mirror.

"I hope so," he giggled and went into a cubicle and lifted his dress. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

oOOo-

Jane sat waiting in the car. Jason was due out of school soon, and she wanted to make sure he got to the next port of call on time. Turning as a bunch of little kids came through the gate and headed for various cars and buses, Jane saw the petite frame of her son, and the little dress he wore. "Over here Katie," she yelled.

"Hi mum, what are you doing here?"

"Taking you to ballet of course, honey. It’s Monday after all. I’ve got your leotard, tights and tutu in the bag, you’ll have to get changed when we get there."

"I can’t do ballet." Jason protested.

"You can, and you will. Unless you’d rather be dropped off at the baby sitter’s."

"Baby sitter?"

"Ah ha," Jane grinned. "I rang Kelly Lester’s mum and asked whether Kelly could baby sit you this afternoon if I needed her."

Jason literally climbed into the car and shook his head. "Ballet sounds good." Well, better than being baby-sat by a girl he has a crush on.

oOOo-

Jason was busily prancing around on stage when he saw his mum answer her mobile phone. He was dressed as your typical ballerina; right down to the tutu and toe shoes and he desperately tried to fit in and blend in with the 15 or so other little girls who danced around him but he kept a close eye on his mother, who sat in the audience with other mums.

The color seemed to drain from Jane’s face as she listened to the call. She stood up, grabbed her purse and carry bag containing her son’s school clothes and walked to the stage. "Excuse me Miss. Smith," she said to the young ballet teacher. "I’m afraid something has come up. Katie, we have to go."

Miss. Smith turned to look at Jason and then she shrugged. "See you on Wednesday for tap dancing Katie."

Jason nodded and headed for the small changing room that led off the main hall. "We don’t have time to get changed sweetie," Jane told him. "You’ll just have to come dressed in your ballet costume."

"Where are going Mummy?"

"Your brother has been in a fight at school." His mum told him, automatically taking his delicate hand in hers and walking towards the door.

"What a pity," Jason smiled.

"Don’t look so smug young lady. That was the hospital on the phone; your brother is in a coma."

oOOo-

Sitting on a toilet in the ladies bathroom at the local hospital Jason felt lower than he ever had before, lower and smaller. He looked down upon his little body and saw his leotard, tights and panties all gathered around his tiny ankles and then lifted his gaze to his lap. The pair of puffy little lips that sat in the junction of his legs was the reason he was forced to sit on the toilet now and Jason missed being able to stand, and wiping sucked but his mother had insisted; saying he wouldn’t like an infection down there. Jason didn’t even want a "down there" well at least not that one.

"You finished in there sweetie?" Jane asked from outside the stall.

"Almost," He replied, needing the time alone to think. It turned out that Katie wasn’t in a coma but had been knocked out. From what Jason had over heard of the adult’s conversation, no one talked to him anymore apart from telling him what to do, wear or how pretty he was, Katie had been pushed down some stairs by Keg Kerrigan and had bad head injuries.

Reaching for some toilet paper Jason felt guilty. After all, he was the reason his little sister was in hospital, it was he that had set it all up. He wiped his little vagina and flushed the toilet and felt more guilty. He realized he was more anxious about what his mother would do if she found out than he was about Katie’s health. Although it was his body in the room attached to all the wires and machines Jason thought of it as Katie and the thought scared him. If he saw his own body as his sister now then it was obvious he would simply be seen as Katie until they could get back to normal. To everyone but his mother and father Jason was now a 7-year-old girl. "I’m ready mummy," He said in his small voice. "Can you help me with my clothes please?"

He reached up to open the door and Jane looked at her son with a worried look on her face. He was so cute standing there struggling to get the tights back up but Jane was feeling guilty. What had started as a little bizarre punishment had gone from bad to worse. She now had a 12-year-old boy in a little girl’s body and her baby Katie was lying in a hospital bed down the hall. She helped the small brunette put her ballet clothes back on and led her by the hand out into the waiting room.

oOOo-

He awoke some time later curled up in his mother’s arms. "What time is it?" He asked as he stretched his tiny arms skyward in a large yawn.

"Almost 9 p.m. Baby." Jane replied, glad to be able to move her arm for the first time in an hour.

"Where’s Daddy?"

"He’s gone to the bathroom honey. We’re just waiting to see Katie’s doctor, and then we’ll get you home to your own bed."

Jason was satisfied with the answer and sat until his father got back and then he was passed over to sit on his lap.

Not long after an old looking man in a white coat came into the waiting room. "Mr. Andrews?" The man said with a somber look on his face.

Jason’s father jumped a little. "Yes," was all he said.

"I’m Doctor Adams, your son’s doctor."

"Steven Andrews. This is my wife Jane."

Looking over at him she nodded a greeting and, Jason noticed, she look very worried.

"A waiting room isn’t a the right place to discuss your son’s health.

Perhaps my office might be best."

Jason, now standing next to his huge father, didn’t see the nurse coming until she was right next to him. "Hi Sweetie," The cute young nurse said, kneeling down so she was looking him in the eyes. "My name is Kirsty, what’s yours?"

"J..... uhm, just Katie."

"Not just, surely. Katie is a very pretty name, and you a pretty little girl."

Getting littler as you speak, Jason thought. Well, feeling smaller anyway.

"Now," Kirsty continued talking to him in a strange voice many adults used around him now. "Your mummy and daddy are just going to talk to the doctor, and I will look after you. Would you like that?"

Jason would have loved to tell her what he’d like, but a withering glance from his mother told him to do it the nice way. "I want to stay with Mummy," he said, sounding like a whiny little girl, which is pretty much what he was.

"No you don’t they’re just going to talk about things you wouldn’t understand anyway. I know where there’s a toy box, and I just happen to remember seeing a ballerina doll in there that’s dressed just like you."

"You go with Kirsty honey," Jane said, bending over to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Play nicely now," She whispered.

"Damn it mum, that’s my body in there," Jason replied at a similar decibel.

But Jane just stood and walked off with his father and the doctor.

oOOo-

Jason tried to play with the doll like Katie would have but his heart wasn’t in it. He’d never been one for dolls, or action toys as He-man, Skeletor and G.I. Joe were called, he preferred a bit more rough and tumble like football or cricket or basketball.

"What’s the matter honey?" Kirsty the nurse asked. "Worried about your big brother?"

"Yeah," he replied, well that and the fact that the next penis he had between his legs might well be attached to some pimple faced guy who gives him his first taste of champagne.

Kirsty looked at her watch. "I guess it’s been a long day huh?"

"Ah ha," long and humiliating.

Just then the door opened, and Jane and Steven Andrews walked in. Jason was worried by the look on their face, they looked almost guilty and that didn’t augur well for him. Jane scooped the little girl up and asked the nurse if he had behaved himself. "Sure, she was a perfect angel," Kirsty replied pinching Jason’s cheeks. "You cheer up now ok Katie? Your brother will be ok; it will just take time."

"Time to get you home to bed Miss." Steve yawned. "Thanks for baby sitting."

"No problems," Kirsty replied with a smile. "It’s a busy night, and I was glad of the distraction."

oOOo-

Jane and Steven both talked to Jason as he changed into a little nightie and a clean pair of panties. "She’s still unconscious, and her brain is swollen. The Doctor told us it was too soon to tell how much damage has been done, but it’s a fair bet she’ll need to relearn some things. She might have amnesia and not remember being Katie, or she might have forgotten about the switch and go into shock at suddenly waking up in hospital in your body."

"So where does that leave me?" Jason asked as he hopped into Katie’s bed and was tucked in by Jane.

"Stuck for the moment," Steve Shrugged. "I managed to get a quick reading on her brain waves, and they’ve altered because of the accident. So, I can’t switch you back until she gets back to normal."

"And no one knows how long that will take." Jane added. "Look Jason, we’re really sorry about this. We were wrong and should have switched you both back straight away. Parents can be wrong too you know."

Steve nodded and looked down at the cute little girl who was snuggled up in her pink quilt. "All we can do now is deal with the hand we’ve been given and get your sister back to normal. As soon as she is you get your own body back, and I’ll destroy the machine."

"Can’t you swap me with some one else?"

"The machine doesn’t work like that. You need to be back to your normal body before we can swap you again."

"And there’s been too much of it already." Jane said shaking her head. "One more swap, and then the machine goes to the dump in a thousand pieces."

She looked down at her son and noticed, thankfully, that he was asleep. Steve took her arm and led her out of the room. They both went to bed and clung to each other, ashamed and guilty about what they’d done to their children.

Some of that guilt left the next morning when Jane got a phone call from Mrs. Kerrigan, the mother of the boy who’d pushed Katie. Jane and Steve were both very interested in what she had to say and, they put two and two together rather quickly.

oOOo-

Jason woke with the same feeling of confusion he’d had the past few days until he remembered what had happened. "Damn." He grumbled as he got up and went to the toilet.

When he walked into the kitchen looking for something to fill his tiny stomach his mother was on the phone. "No mum," Jane sighed. "Mum, look there’s no point your coming down. I’ve talked to my boss this morning and got long service leave to take care of Jason." She stopped talking to listen and then added. "No, honestly, you’d just be wasting your money paying to fly down. I do have a favor to ask though...."

Jason got himself a bowl of cereal and headed for the television to watch the cartoons. It was already past school time so he assumed he had been saved from another day of playing schoolgirl. One good thing to come out of the accident at least.

oOOo-

"Time to get showered and dressed honey," His mum said to him about half an hour later.

After the shower he was taken into Katie’s room and waited while his mum picked out the clothes for the day. She picked a little yellow sundress with matching shoes and white ankle socks. His hair was put into a bouncy ponytail and then the jewelry was added.

Glancing at her watch Jane said, "We’d better hurry or we’ll be late."

"Late for what?"

"The plane silly, you’re going to your Grandmother’s house for the summer."

oOOo-

Jason Andrews had a lot of time to think on that embarrassing flight and mostly he thought about embarrassing it was.

He had been in shock at first when he heard his parents were sending him, stuck in his little sister’s body, up to live with his grandmother who was a whole two states away from the machine that could get him back to his comfortable, respected 13-year-old male body.

He felt like it was his first day of pre-school when his mother placed his suitcase on the scales and passed him a little Barbie Doll back pack. She smiled down at him and handed him over to a sexy stewardess. He was just as frightened as he had been when he was separated from his mother the very first day of kindergarten.

"Hi there sweetie," the stewardess knelt down so she was at his new eye level. "I’m Sarah, what’s your name?"

"Miss. Katie Andrews and I am 7 years old ma’am." Jason tried not to cringe when he repeated his mother’s words.

"Well Miss Katie Andrews the 7 year old. I think you can call me Sarah now that you’re a member of our junior flyer program." Sarah giggled and pinned a little broach with gold pilot’s wings and a silver sequin that was supposed to look like a diamond, on to his little yellow sundress. "Now, your mother tells me you’re a little scared to fly but the last time I was up in the clouds I heard something knocking on the airplanes window. Do you know who it was?"

Jason wasn’t about to respond but then his mother nudged him. "No. I don’t Sarah ma’am."

"It was a fairy."

Jeeeeesh, Jason groaned as quietly as he could.

"And that fairy gave me some magic brave dust for little girls just like you." Sarah continued. "She told me that if I sprinkle some fairy dust on some one it would scare away all the ‘fraidy cats. Do you want a little help to feel brave?"

Now they offer fairy dust to make me brave and then ban steroids at the Olympics? Jason thought. The sure know how to confuse a kid.

"Yes please," he said trying his best to smile after another nudge from his mother.

Sarah then proceeded to stand up and sprinkle some gold glitter in his newly long hair. Then to add insult to injury she scooped his small frame into her arms and told him to wave to his mommy now he was the bravest girl in the country.

As he looked over Sarah’s shoulder and got a kiss from his mother he was shocked to feel cool air on his pantied bottom. The hem of his dress was caught in the crook of the stewardesses arm and his lacy little panties were showing to one and all. He was carried all the way to his seat on the airplane that way, much to the amusement of the other passengers.

At least one good thing about this stupid body was he had a lot more room to move around Jason though as he colored in a picture of a butterfly Sarah had given him along with the colored pencils (he was a little angry that a four year old boy in the seat next to him had been given a picture of the space shuttle to color in.)

The more he thought about his grandmother the more he saw the advantages of it. The last time he saw her he was eleven years old and Katie was four she was quite a cool old lady. She also had a nag rating that could blow most women off the scale. If he could convince her that he was really Jason and not Katie he was sure that they’d both be on the next plane home and she’d nag his parents into getting him back to normal. Even if they couldn’t his grandmother would make sure he was treated more like his old age and not a little girl.

Looking at his tiny digital watch Jason could see he was around three quarters of the way through his flight so he pulled a face to get back at the little boy sitting next to him who had poked his tongue out at him and then turned to face the other way. His mind drifted back to the last time he was on a plane. Katie had been scared but he wasn’t. He was thrilled to be on a plane and heading for the Sunshine coast in Queensland for 2 weeks of sun, surf and his grandmother’s cooking. He was just giggling to himself when he remembered his mother’s dash to the ladies room in the airport because she stupidly refused to use the toilets on the airplane when he felt the call of nature himself.

The light above the toilet turned off and he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him up the aisle because he was close to wetting himself. He had just got the door locked, his panties down and was sitting on the toilet when some one knocked on the door. Jason froze and couldn’t relax enough to release the flow or urine from within his new body. He literally couldn’t pee so he sat there for at least ten minutes almost exploding before the plane was hit by some turbulence. He was thrown around a fair bit and it scared him enough to finally pee.

"It all rests on you Nanna," Jason whispered to his ultra cute reflection as he washed his hands. "It all rests on you."

oOOo-

Julia Cameron walked into the airport crche and nervously looked around for her granddaughter. A traffic jam on the main airport access road made her late and Katie’s plane was early so the girl had been brought to the baby sitting service by the stewardess who had flown up with Katie. After all that worry about her brother and what must be a stressful separation from her parents Julia would rather have spared her of this added trauma but it was not to be. She spotted the seven-year old sitting quietly in the far corner of the room.

Walking over to the girl she picked her up and gave her a big hug. "Hello Katie love, you know me don’t you?" The little girl shook her head. "I’m your Nanna Cameron."

oOOo-

Jason saw his nanna enter and walk over to some other girl. He stood up and moved away from the tea party he was nagged into joining by a girl called Victoria who was there because her parents were meeting a business associate who was flying in from overseas.

"Erm, Nanna," he said looking up at his grandmother. "I’m Katie."

"Oh," Julia laughed. "Well she does look a lot like you." She put the other girl down and apologized to her and then hugged her real granddaughter. "Lets get you home shall we?"

oOOo-

That night Jason finally plucked up the courage to talk to her about this whole thing. It took more than twenty questions before she’d believe it but slowly she began to come around. He was so pleased when she hugged him and told him that she would sort her parents out.

Waking up the next morning he found yet another strange room and it took him awhile to remember about the trip and his grandmothers promise. Strangely enough he wasn’t shocked anymore to wake in his sisters body.

He went to the toilet first and then went to look around the house and get something to eat. "Good morning sleepy head," His grandmother said as he walked into the kitchen. "Sit down and I’ll get you some breakfast."

"Thanks Nanna, I feel a lot better now you believe me about dad’s machine."

"What about your father’s machine young lady?"

"You know," Jason replied trying not to worry. "The one that swapped me and Katie. I’m Jason."

"I don’t think that’s very funny miss. Your brother is lying in a hospital bed." Julia took the girl over her knee and gave her a few wacks on her bare behind and sent her to her room.

oOOo-

A few hours later his grandmother entered his mother’s old bedroom and looked puzzled. "What are you doing in your room on a bright sunny day like today Jane?"

That’s when reality hit home as hard as the smacks on the butt he received earlier. Jane was his mother’s name. Nanna Cameron couldn’t remember a thing. Once again he was on his own.

oOOo-

Things settled into a rut for all but one of Jason’s family. His parents worked with Doctors to get Katie, in Jason’s old body, back to normal. Katie had been shocked when she woke up but the fall seemed to do the most damage to the part of the brain that controlled speech and languages. Steve and Jane waited until they were alone with their daughter and as calmly as possible, under the circumstances, told her what had happened. They started from the machine in the shed that caused the swap with her brother, through to the fall down the stairs. They explained to her that it looked like she had some brain damage, not a huge amount but any brain injury is a bad one. Steven told his daughter that until they could get her back to normal brain patterns she was stuck as Jason and he was stuck as her.

Jason spent the next few weeks doing the only thing he could do, he lived the life of a 7 year old girl. He’d made friends with the girls who lived next door to his Grandmother. Emma was only 5 but she was as big as Jason was, and her older sister Vicki, who was seven, was quiet a bit taller than he was.

He spent the days with them and their mother Sharon. The three girls all dressed up to get their photos taken as they sat on Santa’s lap. He went with them to a fancy dress party dressed as a fairy. He played their games and even joined a gymnastics class with them. He wouldn’t tell anyone this but it wasn’t all that bad. He felt wonderful the first time he did a running double summersault and landed properly on the practice mat in Gymnastics. Hell, he could spend hours doing the splits. The clothes were still a pain but he was getting used to them.

Even when it came to the toilet, sitting and wiping was almost second nature to him now.

Sure he missed being able to stand to pee, and he missed a thousand and one little things he never thought of before he became his little sister. But what he missed most was that way people spoke to him. Kids spoke to him like he was another kid, and his conversations with other girls were usually about boys and how stupid they were, Barbie Dolls, spice girls and everything feminine. When he’d tried talking to boys they told him exactly where he could go. You should have seen the hell they raised when Jason asked to play in a football game. No self-respecting boy would lower himself to play with a girl.

It was funny though. What he really missed was they way he was perceived by adults. Even at twelve he was treated more like a kid than as an adult but since his little trip across the age and gender barrier it seemed more Adults put him in the "Should be seen and no heard" Basket. None of them really listened to him anymore. And apart from telling what to do, what not to do, what to wear or how pretty he looked in that red dress they didn’t speak to him much either.

A Shining example of that came when he arrived home with Emma,Vicki and their mother after a day at the beach early in the New Year. There he was, long hair still a little wet and a white shirt slipped over the hot pink bathing suit he wore. And there, in front of him, was the dreaded Auntie Sandra.

"Hello Katie Love. Do you remember me?" The woman asked.

"Ah ha." Jason tried to sound happy to see her but he wasn’t, for two reasons. The first was that it was obviously bad news for his grandmother and the second was, if things were that bad it meant he would probably have to go and stay with Auntie Sandra and her painful kids.

"Nana’s not very well love. I’ve got your clothes all packed."

And that was that. Yet another decision he didn’t have a say in. "What’s wrong with her?" He asked in his girl’s voice.

"She’s just having a little rest sweetie so you’re coming to live with me for awhile."

Jason was shocked when he arrived in Queensland in late November and found his grandmother was forgetting things. At first he thought she might be joking. He had been hoping his mother had let her in on his secret and she just adding to his punishment but she got worse and all of his begging wouldn’t get her to go to see a doctor. After all, what does a 7-year-old girl know about medicine?

Christmas had been and gone. Jason was not impressed with his presents, most of which were clothes but there was a couple of dolls as well as Barbie’s dream-house. One gift he’d got turned out to be the best one by far. It was a girly diary. Covered in pink material and embroidered flowers, the one thing it had going for it was the lock. He ignored it at first but then as his Nanna got worse he started writing in it. He told his whole story, he wrote down his thoughts and feelings. It was actually good for him. It was about the only time he could be Jason. Being 7 could be very boring when you’re really 12. He had to dumb himself down a bit when he was around others because he didn’t want anyone to take too close a look at him. The diary was another matter and he kept the key on a necklace he wore all of the time.

He hugged Emma, Vicki and even Sharon Goodbye and piled into the back of Auntie Sandra’s Car.

His Auntie Sandra and Uncle Doug were both very well off financially and looked at Jason’s family as the poor relations. They had two kids, Zach, who was 10 and Brooke who was 8 and they were both spoiled brats. Jason remembered the last time that he stayed with them. He was a lot bigger than Zach then and used to hit him just for the fun of it. Brooke was a little princess who had her own pony and she could get anything she wanted from her parents.

"I’ll just put your clothes and things in Brooke’s room." His Auntie Sandra said looking down at his small frame. "Why don’t you get to know your cousins a bit. You were quite a bit younger last time you were here."

Zach didn’t even look at the 7-year-old girl. He just grunted something and looked wholly menacing now he had the size advantage.

Brooke on the other hand spoke too much. "Now, just because you’re sharing my room it doesn’t mean you get to touch my stuff ok Shrimp? I don’t want you here but as long as I am stuck with you I am the boss. Got it?"

Jason just nodded and thought about the summer he was supposed to be having. He had it all planned. He and his friends were going to be playing Cricket, hang out at the mall looking for girls, hit the beach and look for girls and then if they had some time left they were gonna go into town and check out girls. Adelaide, being a small and fairly safe town even at 12 years of age, he as allowed to go pretty well all over the place without adults. He always had to be with some one else, a friend, and he always had to tell his parents where he was going and what time he’d be home but he had pretty much a free reign. Since he because a little girl he realized how little time he had without an adult around. There was always some one there keeping an eye on him, making sure he was safe, stopping any chance of mischief.

oOOo-

At least now he got to speak to his parents more often, they spent less time at the hospital with Katie and he made sure there was a regular time every week that he could talk to them. The news helped cheer him a bit, and he needed cheering. Katie was on the mend and it looked more and more like her brain patterns could return to normal but time was the key. Steve worked out it would take another few months but at least Jason wouldn’t be stuck as a girl. "When can I come home?" He pleaded in his small voice.

"Not yet sweetie," Jane told him. "We still have to work and look after your sister so there’s no one home to look after you." He also found out what exactly was wrong with his Grandmother. It turns out she had a benign brain tumor that had been growing inside her skull. It was the reason she seemed to be forgetting things and acting strange. She’d been operated on and things were looking much better for her.

He accepted the longer stay in the small girl’s body but he didn’t like it. Zach and Brooke were both jerks that liked to boss him around and generally feel uncomfortable.

Then, one day, their attitude to him totally changed. Zach was all sweetness and light and Brooke was a total angel. Just after lunch one day, when his Auntie Sandra and Uncle Doug were out they both came up to him with a smile on their faces and Zach said, "How are you today Katie?"

"I’m ok," Jason replied, somewhat taken aback that Zach cared.

"You look really pretty today" Brooke continued. "Maybe I can plait your hair later?"

"Ok."

"Do you like to read Katie?" Zach asked.

"Sometimes, I guess."

"Brooke and I like to read too. Don’t we Brooke?"

The blonde girl nodded.

"Show Katie the book we’re reading at the moment."

Next thing he knew Brooke was holding his diary. The lock had been snapped off. "Hey," Jason demanded. "That’s mine. Give it back."

Brooke threw the diary to Zach who held it high above Jason’s reach. "What’s the matter Jason?" Brooke taunted. "Too small to play with us big kids now?"

To be continued