The Ahn'Ger Stone: Chapter 4 (Patreon)

((For the record, we are in completely new territory. None of this happened in the original Interactive CYOA on Writing.com, so you guys truly are deciding what comes next. Also, I'm still learning how to do consistent images in Midjourney, so not every chapter is gonna have a baller image))

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“Just shut up and help me look!” The far more attractive of the two girls hissed as she scoured the porch, looking for the tell-tale glimmer of green and gold that had drawn her eyes towards it just moments before.

“O-okay…” Willow, the thin, gangly nerd stammered as she scanned her eyes for, well, she wasn’t quite sure what she was looking for. This morning was just SO WEIRD and the anxious seventeen year old was ready to just run back inside and hide from the world in her mountain of plushies.

Willow Strasserman, formerly Bill, had no memory of ever being the somewhat overconfident geeky boy she had been just moments before. She had always been a scrawny, anxious twig of a girl that had been over-protected by her mother and doted on by her father in a sheltered upbringing that had left her socially awkward and unprepared for the cruel world outside her bedroom. She was also younger than Bill had been, now two years behind her former classmates as a Sophmore, rather than the Senior she had just existed as. And Willow, being sheltered, insecure, naïve and more nerd than geek had very few friends and existed at the bottom of Shermer High’s totem pole. The bigger bullies like Rob Bolstrum and Jonathan Ingerman left her alone and barely registered her existence…But she was a prime target for other bullies of the female variety.

Gloria had been that bully. But whereas Bill had to endure the physical threats against him, Willow was subjected to the catty, piercing bullying that only girls could do. Compliments that came with insults, little embarrassing things on her locker and cruel rumors were what the new girl had to deal with. But while all signs did point to Gloria…Gloria was always a little nicer to her than the other girls. Especially Vanessa Chandler, the school superintendant’s daughter. Gloria would always give Willow that little glimmer of hope that maybe one day she could hang out with them and be popular! And one day that hope came true! Gloria had offered Willow a seat at the G-Squad’s table in the cafeteria! All that Willow had to do was the entire group’s homework! And…stop hanging out with her best friend, Paige Walters. Willow couldn’t pass up that deal, and she tried very, very hard every day to not think about Paige bawling in the girl’s bathroom next to their lockers when Willow told her that they couldn’t be friends anymore. The sight of tears running down the porcine girl’s blubbery face and her croaking wails made Willow tear up just thinking about it…But she had to take the one chance she would ever have! And true to her word, Gloria was ‘mostly’ nice to her, and let her sit at the G-Squad’s table and kept the other girls from being super mean back to her! So long as their homework kept getting good grades and Willow didn’t talk to any ‘losers’ like she used to be, no one would ever pick on her again!

Aside from the girls from the Shermer Fields trailer court, but they picked on everyone regardless of social standing.

But this morning was throwing the frizzy haired young teen for a loop. She hadn’t meant to fall asleep waiting for Gloria, but then waking up to see her idol staring at her with that look of shock? Willow couldn’t understand why Gloria was being so mean to her again! She had done all the homework for the G-Squad (Gloria’s group of the super popular girls) like she’d been told! But here Gloria was, screaming n her face and calling her some…some boy name! And Gloria hadn’t even mentioned how hard Willow had worked on trying to mimic the fashion styles of all the cool girls! All Willow wanted was, not that she was part of the ‘popular girls’ clique was to just not be bullied so much but now it was like nothing had changed! And why was Gloria talking about magic? Magic wasn’t real…A fact that Willow had finally given up on after far too many years of believing that real magic like in the fairy tales was somewhere out there, just waiting to be discovered. So why was Gloria, someone who had picked on Willow all her life for believing in magic suddenly so obsessed with it?

“Umm, w-what am I l-looking for?” Willow stammered again as her eyes scoured the porch.

“It’s a green rock!” Came the snarled reply as Gloria stomped across the planks, her face contorted in desperate fury.

‘Like an aquarium rock?’ Willow thought, and she opened her mouth to ask why Gloria was looking for a rock from the family fish tank when a flash of light caught her eye. There, near the railing, teetering dangerously close to falling down into the bushes that surrounded the perimeter of the Strasserman abode was a glittering emerald gemstone. It was gorgeous! Willow crouched down to get a better look at it for a moment, marveling at how there seemed to be gold floating around on the inside!

“ARGH! I JUST HAD IT!” Gloria shrieked as she grabbed at her long black hair. The harpy-like cry shook Willow out of her reverie.

“U-umm, I-is that it?” Willow said, reaching out with the awkward nails she was trying to grow in order to impress Gloria. She never saw the other girl spin on her heel, her eyes wide and angry as they glared at Willow.

“DON’T TOUCH IT!” Gloria screamed as she lunged forward, her manicured fingers outstretched like talons, but it was too late as Willow’s thin fingers plucked the gemstone from the porch boards. But Gloria was too late as the nerd’s delicate fingers plucked the gemstone from it’s precarious perch and held it up into the sunlight, her large brown eyes flickering with golden light refracted from the rising sun.

“Oh wow…” Willow said, utterly entranced at how the golden interior seemed to flow like a waterfall. And then she felt a small ember flare to life in her stomach. Where had Gloria gotten this? Should she even be touching it? What if this was some sort of elaborate prank to make a fool out of Willow? The G-Squad may have stopped being outright mean, but they still pulled little pranks on her all the time. Like closing the doors in her face at school or closing her locker right as she opened it, or that one time where they put water in her seat and didn’t tell her…

“GIVE IT!” Gloria hissed, getting up in Willow’s face as a perfectly manicured hand swiped at the gemstone. But years of being a doormat and punching bag (and those years of ballet before she had talked her mom into letting her quit) meant that her reaction time ws very, very fast.

“Eeep!” Willow squeaked and ducked beneath the incoming hand, spinning away to the other side of the porch swing. What was Gloria doing!?

“I said GIVE IT HERE, NERD!” Gloria screamed and lunged for the gemstone over the swing. Willow dived out of the way while Gloria was sent tumbling to the planks in a rather painful sounded thud.

Willow was torn. She COULD give it to Gloria and make her new friend happy…But there was a gnawing little thought in the back of her mind. If this thing was magic, why should she give it to Gloria? After all, she was being a total…a total…B-Word right now! Maybe Willow should hold onto it and maybe try to make Gloria be nice to her again! So Willow did the only thing that made sense to her in that moment. She ran. The gangly girl made a surprisingly majestic leap over the porch railing, hitting the ground with an “Oof!” before pulling herself to her discount sandaled heeled feet and backing up towards her mom’s car still parked in the driveway.

“UGH THIS ISN’T WHAT I WISHED FOR!” Gloria screeched as she hurried after Willow, eyes almost literally glowing with hatred, “You’re supposed to do what I say!” She had to get that wweird ass rock before Bill changed himself back to normal…Or changed HER into something! Gloria’s designer sandals padded across the still-damp grass as she charged towards the terrified looking little loser.

“W-wish?” Willow looked down at the gemstone in her hand. Was this like Aladdin’s lamp? OH! If it was, she could just wish Gloria to be nice to her! Willow clasped the gemstone tightly and closed her eyes as she summoned all of her courage and said “I wish Gloria was the nicest person ever and wasn’t mean anymore!”

“NO!” Gloria screamed, skidding to a stop and bringing up her arms to protect herself. She didn’t want to turn into someone else! She clenched her eyes tight and a vision of her mom, Ariadne, flashed in the forefront of her mind as she prepared to be changed against her will…But there was no burst of light, heat or wind. Gloria opened and eye and peeked through her cardigan-covered arms at herself, feeling a enormous wave of relief that she was still Gloria Vanapolous, queen of Shermer High. And then she cast a murderous glare at the little nerd holding HER gemstone, her bespectacled eyes clenched tight as if that was all part of making the magic work. Gloria took the opening and stomped forward through the front lawn until she towered over the younger teen, who finally seemed to take notice that her wish hadn’t worked as she peeked upwards at Gloria with one large brown eye.

“Give. Me. The. Gem.” Gloria growled, holding out a hand, “Or else I’ll get the ENTIRE school to treat you like the garbage you are”

Willow’s brief bloom of confidence wilted and died as her knees started shaking uncontrollably. Gloria only used that voice when she truly HATED someone! And she was using it on her! Hot tears welled up in Willow’s eyes as she began whimpering, unable to stop the coming sobs as she slowly began to hand the gemstone back to it’s rightful owner as…

What happens next?