Paper Wishes (TG/AR/AP)

    “Don’t miss squirt!” Tiffany yelled as she bumped into Josh, causing him to over shoot his toothbrush.

    Josh mumbled to himself. This wasn’t the first time his older sister Tiffany had done that to him. It was one of her favorite tricks to pull on him. Josh had tried to retaliate multiple times, however, being 8 years younger, they rarely ended up successful. He had decided that the smarter approach was to do nothing and just be passive.

    He quickly put toothpaste on his toothbrush and began to brush his teeth. He took the moment to study himself in the mirror, watching the monotonous motion of his toothbrush go up and down. His eyes moved down to look at his shirt, a dark blue t-shirt with a race car on it. He had gotten it for his 10th birthday and it became his favorite shirt to wear. He also wore a pair of red shorts and sneakers, but those weren’t as special to him.

    Josh looked up at his sister, who was a whole foot taller than him. His eyes only came up to her chest, which contained a pair of large C-cups, something she loved to show off. Currently, she was adjusting her pink tank top and combing her curvy, blond hair. She spent so much time on getting herself ready in the morning, why, Josh did not know. Whenever he would ask her about it, she would scoff and either answer with, “Shut up twerp!” or “You’ll understand when you’re my age.” He made a mental note that whenever he was 18 to check if he knew the answer to his question. Maybe it’d go along with the reason why she liked to wear clothing the revealed a lot of skin.

    Now finished with brushing his teeth, he snuck out of the bathroom to his bedroom for some peace and quiet. Suddenly, he noticed something was on his bed. Curiosity swelled within him. Nothing was there before. As he got closer, he saw that it was a piece of paper. He picked it up and began to read the giant bolded words.

    “WHOEVER IS HOLDING THIS PIECE OF PAPER IS GRANTED ONE WISH!”

    “A wish?” Josh thought to himself. “How does something as simple as a piece of paper grant someone of wish?”

    Before he could think about what he could possibly wish for, Tiffany swung the closed bathroom door open and yelled into the air, “Remember that I get the TV in the morning, short stuff!”

    Josh was urked once again. “I wish I was like Tiffany, the older sibling that could constantly annoy the younger one,” he muttered underneath his breath.

    Josh looked down at the piece of paper to see that words he had just spoken were now written on it. And then something strange happened. A tingling sensation started in his hand and slowly spread out throughout his body. It dissipated suddenly and when he looked back down at the paper, it was gone.

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    John felt that something was different. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he felt that something was different.

    Maybe it was due to the tingling sensation that he had felt. Maybe it was due to the piece of paper he had held. Were either of those two things real though? There was no proof of either of those two left in his bedroom. Was that all in his head?

    He decided to go back to the bathroom and check if he looked any different. His wish would definitely make him change physically, right? What was his wish again? Something about Tiffany, he knew that for sure, the rest seemed...foggy, hard to remember. It couldn’t have been too important.

    He arrived at the bathroom mirror and began to observe himself once again. Nothing seemed different though. He had the same brown eyes, the same light brown hair that stopped a few inches before his eyebrows, the same short stature, and even the same t-shirt that he got for his 11th birthday, a blue t-shirt with a rocketship on it. It was his favorite t-shirt to wear. He also wore a pair of black athletic shorts with red highlights to go along with his t-shirt. Nothing had changed.

    Maybe this was all just in his head. No, it couldn’t. It all felt real a few moments ago. Maybe Tiffany was different, maybe that was what was different. That was the only explanation left.

    John hurried downstairs and into the family room to check on Tiffany. As expected, she was sitting on the couch, watching some reality show with teenagers that he cared nothing about. He took a quick glance at her, checking if he could see anything different.

    He saw none. She had the same curvy, blonde hair she had fused about before. She was wearing the same clothes, a pink tank top with short orange shorts. And sadly, she was still bigger and older than him by a whole 6 years. Nothing had changed.

    Before he could dismiss the notion that nothing had happen, that the paper wasn’t real, that there was no tingling sensation, another tingling sensation slowly grew within him. Right before he could figure out that this had happened earlier, the sensation engulfed his whole body and then dissipated.

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    Jones felt like something was off. Maybe he was suffering from fatigue. Something exciting and unusual had happened this morning...or was it last night? He couldn’t quite remember. His head felt cloudy for some reason, making it hard to think.

    “Hello? Earth to Jones?” Tiffany snapped her fingers in his face, breaking him out of his thoughts.

    Jones hadn’t noticed that his sister had gotten up from the couch and walked over to him to see if he was alright. That’s one of the things that he secretly liked about his sister. She cared about him, even if it was annoying when she did it publicly. She could related to the stuff he was going through, as she had experienced similar stuff only 4 years ago. It was a big help, especially since he was now 12 and trying to survive middle school.

    Something was off about that statement, but Jones couldn’t figure out what..

    “Oh, sorry about that Tiffany,” he gave a short laugh to emphasize he was alright. “I kind of zoned out right there.”

    Tiffany giggled. “Okay then, little bro.”

    Jones turned to leave the room, but Tiffany called him to stop.

    “By the way, would you be up for a game of basketball after this show is done?” she asked him when he turned back around.

    “Yeah, sure!” Jones replied. Tiffany smiled and returned to her spot on the couch.

    That was another thing he liked about his sister, she was cool on some many levels. When she got her driver’s license earlier this year, the first thing she did was drive him out to a park for a basketball duel. She could beat him in a lot of sports, but they were pretty even when it came to basketball. While she was a head taller than he was, he had the speed and quickness to make up for it.

    She was also cool when one of his friends would come over. All his friends had told him that they wished their sisters could be like her. Some of his friends had even told him that they thought she was hot, which made him kind of uncomfortable. Although, he had to admit, she did have a lot of curves for a 16 year old girl.

    As he was halfway up the stairs, a weird tingling sensation started to kick in. He stopped at the top of the stairs as the feeling came into full force, and then dissipated.

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    James felt peculiar. Was something the matter with him? He couldn’t think of anything that might be wrong. Nothing strange had happened today. Maybe he should check himself in the mirror, just in case.

    He strolled into the bathroom and observed himself. He was wearing his favorite combo of clothing, his blue, short sleeved, button up shirt with black athletic shorts. It was a strange combination for most people, but James liked to think that he was able to pull it off. His long brown bangs swooshed across his forehead, covering his eyebrows. It was the cool hairstyle in seventh grade right now, and James also liked to think that it was his attention to styles that made him a little bit cooler than the rest of the 13 year old boys out there.

    “Hey James!” James heard Tiffany call up from downstairs. “I’m ready for our basketball game!”

    James scurried downstairs to meet up with his sister. She was waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. She was also wearing one of her favorite outfits. It consisted of a light grey shirt with the number 39 on it that stopped a little bit sooner than a normal shirt to reveal a thin pink tank top underneath. Her athletic shorts and sneakers both had hints of pink to match.

    “You ready to lose, Tiff?” James said with a cocky smirk.

    Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Don’t forget who has won the last two matches…”

    “That was only because you were able to use your height against me,” James replied, dismissing her point.

    “Well, yeah, because I’m older than you by 2 whole years,” Tiffany pointed out. “You should only come up to my nose. And...how has that changed at all since the last time we’ve played?”

    “Because this time I know what your plan is and will be able to counter it!” James shot back.

    Tiffany sighed. “Whatever you say,” she replied. “Just remember that…”

    However, James had stopped listening at this point. He had started to focus on a tingling sensation in his arm. He started to feel it more and more in different body parts until it engulfed his whole body. And then, without any logical pattern, it dissipated.

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    “See you outside Jamie!” Tiffany called as she went out the front door.

    In a daze, Jamie slowly made his way to the front door. For some reason, it was hard to think properly. Had he felt like this before? Part of him told him he had felt like this earlier in the morning, while other parts of him told him that was just crazy.

    He stopped to try and gather his thoughts. Why was something so simple suddenly so difficult? There was no way he had felt like this earlier in the day. He would have remembered it. All that had happened today was that he was watching TV with his twin sister. After the show was done, Jamie managed to convince Tiffany to agree to a quick game of basketball.

    “Yeah, that’s all what happened today,” Jamie thought, reassuring himself. “And I better get out there soon before Tiffany changes her mind about playing!”

    Jamie ran outside to meet up with Tiffany, who was already taking a few practice shots on the basketball hoop. She was wearing her favorite athletic wear, a dull pink shirt with a sequined 39 on it, pink athletic shorts, and red high tops. It could be debated if someone could actually call it athletic wear, though to Tiffany, style was more important than function.

    His sister was an interesting creature. She had been a huge tomboy the majority of her life. In fact, Jamie and Tiffany would just wear the same clothes most of the time as kids. He remembered one day, after Tiffany had gotten a haircut and his hair had grown quite long, that they tried to pass each other off as the other. It would have worked too, if he hadn’t been a couple inches shorter.

    However, recently, she discovered that she was an early bloomer and had started to embrace being a girly girl, despite being the complete opposite all her years prior. She took up knowing all the latest trends and fashions and started shunning sports. She suddenly became one of the most popular girls in the eighth grade class. She had completely flipped in one year.

    “Heehee, guess I’m a tad rusty,” Tiffany stated as she missed another free throw. “You should easily beat me Jamie.”

    Jamie shrugged. “You still have a size advantage on me,” he replied. “That hasn’t changed.”

    Tiffany gave him a quick hug, which was not the response he was expecting. “Don’t worry. bro,” her words were filled with comfort as she released from her hug. “Soon, you’ll hit your growth spurt and bloom into a real stud!”

    Jamie chuckled a little bit. He had always looked a bit girly for a guy, but he was used to it by now. Although it has started to bug him again recently, as others in his class had started to grow, emphasizing his short stature. His liking of having long hair also didn’t help much. The mixing of his mop-like hair and his petite stature had gotten a few flirting remarks by some of the other guys.

    “Whatever, sis,” he replied nonchalantly as he tossed her the basketball. “First to 21. You can start with the ball.”

    And so, the basketball game finally began. Tiffany was right in saying that she was a little rusty, as Jamie got an early lead off some easy shots. Tiffany was quick to catch up though, and as they both neared 21 points, the lead switched between the two of them constantly.

    It was 20-19 and Jamie ended up with the possession of the ball. He started to dribble the ball, but something didn’t feel right. His hand was tingling, almost like it was asleep. As he made his move to the basket, the tingling sensation consumed his whole body. His shot slammed into the rim and ricochet into his chest. He fell to the ground and the tingling sensation dissipated.

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    “Wish you had more padding there, huh sis?”

    Janet groaned. Her sister took every opportunity she got to make jokes about Janet’s body. Tiffany loved the fact that even though she was two years younger than Janet, she was more developed than her. She would strut around in clothing that showed off her bigger breast size (B cup vs. A cup), a bigger butt, and wider hips. Janet never heard the end to those facts from her 13-year-old sister.

    When Janet got back on her feet, she nearly stumbled and fell again. Something felt out of place. Was it something about her? Something about her clothing? She was wearing one her favorite outfits, a zip-up blue shirt and baggy black athletic shorts. It was comfortable and also suggested she had more assets than she really had.

    No, she realized what it was. Why was her little sister out with her playing basketball? She had no interest in playing basketball. She had no interest in playing any sports. She criticized anything she called “unladylike” and deemed it unworthy to participate in. One of her favorite things to criticize was Janet’s haircut. She was appalled when she saw Janet had gotten a pixie cut. Janet adored it though. It was both fashionable, and more importantly, practical. She never had to worry about her hair getting in her way.

    Where did her sister go? Janet had heard Tiffany’s taunt when the basketball had hit her and now there was no sign of her. This question was swiftly answered by the swift slam of the front door.

    “I guess she gave up on keeping me company,” she thought, recalling that she had invited her little sister out here to help motivate her. “Oh well, guess I’ll get a few more shots in before lunch.”

    And after making seven of her next ten shots, she decided to head inside. She placed the women’s sized basketball down and noticed that her hand had started to tingle. Ignoring it, she strutted towards the front door. And with every step, the tingling sensation grew more throughout the body. Finally, the tingling sensation climaxed as she reached the front door, before quickly dissipating.

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    Jane entered her house hungry, thirsty, and slightly confused. She couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was up. That something different had occurred. She eventually settled on the idea that she had this feeling because one of her missed basketball shots had smacked her in the face. She probably should head to a mirror and check if a bruise was left at all.

    She walked into the bathroom and saw that her worry had some merit. There was a small bruise on her left cheek. It was nothing serious, just a result of playing the game she loved. After observing the bruise intently, Jane took a few steps back to admire herself. She fixed a few unorderly brown hairs in her bob haircut. She adjusted her blue v-neck tanktop so it hinted at her b-cups underneath. She smoothed out a few wrinkles from her blue-grey capris.

    Staring down at her pants reminded her off how much she had grown in the last year. She used to be one of the smallest girls in her class, barely breaking the five foot mark. Now, she was the average height for her sophomore class, 5’ 4”. It was a relief to no longer be teased for being short by her other classmates. It also had the double bonus of giving her comfort that her size would no longer be a hindrance when she played basketball.

    Putting that thought aside, she washed her hands and headed into the kitchen. She noticed that Tiffany had already prepared herself a basic lunch and was eating at the table. She turned around in her chair when she noticed Jane walk in. She gasped a little when she saw the bruise.

    “Are you okay sis?” Tiffany asked as she began to get out of her seat to get a closer look.

    Jane waved her off. “I’m fine Tiffany. You know that I can handle a little bruise no problem. It takes a lot more than that to hurt me.”

    Jane also gave her a smile and a laugh to assure her she was fine. Tiffany giggled and returned to eating with a grin on her face. Jane loved it that Tiffany looked up to her as much as she did. Tiffany practically idoled her and tried to do everything that Jane did. Jane knew she was the only reason why Tiffany had started to play basketball. It was easy to tell that Tiffany was not an athlete in any sort of the word. She, however, tried her hardest to become a starter on the sixth grade basketball team and Jane encouraged her every step of the way.

    Jane opened the refrigerator and stared inside to see if she could find anything good to eat. A tingle sparked in her hand when she reached inside to grab some grapes. She double checked that nothing was wrong with her hand as the tingling sensation creeped throughout her body. She slammed the refrigerator door shut with her tingling hand and the tingling dissipated.

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    Jaina took the last sip of her glass of milk and looked down at her crumb-filled plate.

    “I must be really out of it today,” she thought to herself. “I don’t remember making or eating any food at all. Guess my morning exercise routine really did a number on me.”

    She got up and placed her dirty dishes next to the sink. She noticed that the dishwasher was full. She decided that she should probably empty the dishwasher. She would most likely be forced to do it later anyways.

    It took Jaina little time to empty the dishwasher. She was really the only one who ever did it. Tiffany tried to help once in a while, but she was too small to put away dishes in the cupboards. Jaina, being 5’ 7”, had no trouble reaching the higher places and ended up helping Tiffany most of the time. She appreciated her little sister’s help, but wished it actually helped her.

    Speaking of her sister, Tiffany walked into the kitchen holding a DVD. Jaina observed her as she skipped over to where Jaina stood. She was wearing her favorite pink top, a sleeveless shirt with a daisy on it, along with her favorite pink skirt, a short skirt with white edges. She accented this by wearing a pink bow in her long blonde hair. Jaina could hear every step she made, due to the light brown boots she wore strictly for fashion.

    “Hey there sis!” Tiffany spoke in a sing-song voice. “Would you want to watch a movie with me?”

    Jaina was a little surprised by this offer. She and her sister usually didn’t hang out much. This was mostly due to two facts. First, there was a 6 year age gap between the two of them. Jaina was a junior in high school and Tiffany wasn’t even in middle school yet. Second, they basically shared no interests, with Tiffany being a girly-girl and Jaina being a tomboy. There was very little that the two sister could agree on being fun.

    “Umm...sure,” Jaina replied after slight pause. “What movie?”

    Tiffany giggled. “You’ll just have to wait and see!” she replied, hiding the DVD from Jaina as she skipped towards the TV. Jaina hesitated, but ended up following her.

    Jaina got settled on the couch as her little sister slipped the DVD into the DVD player and then hid the DVD case underneath. If Jaina had been paying attention, she might have seen an image of a blood stain on the DVD case, however, she was focused on something else. It felt like her butt had fallen asleep. She adjusted herself to try to make it go away, but instead, the tingling sensation started to grow throughout her. By the time Tiffany gleefully sat next to her, the feeling had reached its max and dissipated.

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    Julia wasn’t concerned about the situation she had found herself in. There was nothing unusual at all about what was happening. It was just your average day for Julia. She had woken up, watched some TV, practiced some basketball, ate lunch, and now her little sister Tiffany was trying to trick her into getting in trouble.

    Julia walked up behind her sister, who was currently holding the DVD case so Julia couldn’t see it, and tapped her sister’s shoulder to get her attention. Tiffany whipped around, allowing the “SAW” DVD case to come right in front of Julia’s face. Julia gave her a curious look. Tiffany laughed awkwardly.

    “Oh...what-what is this?” Tiffany stammered, trying to look surprised. “I wanted to grab a Disney movie, not….not whatever this movie is!”

    Julia rolled her eyes. Tiffany did not have a future in acting.

    “I bet you totally did sis,” Julia replied calmly. “However, I decided that I’m going to hang out in my room until supper. Hopefully, you grab the right DVD next time.”

    Julia left the room, leaving an embarrassed and frustrated Tiffany behind. It wasn’t the first time that her 10 year old sister had tried to trick Julia into watching an “inappropriate” movie. The next step, which Tiffany never got the chance to do, was to record Julia watching it and get her in trouble with their parents. Tiffany had tons of plans like that. Julia believed that Tiffany had found a website of just those types of plans.

    Julia wasn’t sure why Tiffany wanted to get her into trouble with their parents. The only possible reason Julia could think of was jealosity. Her sister was living in Julia’s shadow, whether they liked it or not. The majority of the clothes Tiffany got were Julia’s old clothes. Their parents always compared how well Tiffany was doing, whether it be academic wise or athletic wise, to how well Julia did. Even some of her teachers would call her “Julia’s younger sister” during the first few days of school. Tiffany hated living like this. It was the main reason why Tiffany never picked up a sport. Julia didn’t blame her for doing so. She knew she would automatically be compared to Julia, who had mastered the athletic domain.

    The more Julia thought about it, however, the more she realized that she was a little jealous of Tiffany as well. She was the youngest in the family, the baby of the family, and therefore spoiled like no tomorrow. When she developed an interest in more expensive activities, like fashion and horseback riding, their parents were more than happy to fund them. Julia knew, when she was Tiffany’s age, there was no way her parents would have agreed to do that.

    As Julia walked into the bathroom, she pondered what it was like being only 10 years old. Life was so much simpler. Homework was easy, relationships had little drama, and there was little worrying about the future. There were no social pressures, no expectations. In fact, Tiffany had worn her favorite outfit, a bright pink dress with white accents and dark brown boots twice perior this week. No one her age could get away with that.

    She took a moment to observe herself in the mirror. Her brown hair fell right to where her shoulders started, curling a bit at the tips. She was also wearing one of her favorite outfits. She had a turquoise sleeveless blouse, with some loose fabric adding a bow design. She wore tight dark-blue jeans and black slip-on sneakers. In her opinion, it highlighted her features without looking trashy. It took a lot of work to get that look.

    She took a step back to observed herself again. She was 5'9”, tall for a girl her age, which helped aid her in her basketball play. Speaking of basketball, her constant workouts had produced a pair of long, tone legs and a butt to match. The workouts also kept her cup size in the smaller C-cup range. She was never one herself who cared about looks, but there was always a constant buzz around school about such things. It was like a fly buzzing around one’s head, annoying and impossible to fully ignore.

    “No one cared about what they looked like back in fourth grade,” Julia thought to herself. “There was no one to dress up for, no guy or girl to try a please through looks.”

    She wondered if this how all girls her age felt. She wished she had someone close to her to be able to talk to about this. She had some close friends in school, but she never felt like they were the type that could relate to her. They were close...but they weren’t close like sisters. And even her own sister wasn’t close to her, due to their ages. Maybe if they had switched ages they could have been closer.

    Julia giggled a bit at the thought of a 18 year old Tiffany. The world was not ready for her. Boys wouldn’t be ready for her.

    “Although, I do have to say,” Julia thought to herself. “I wish I was like Tiffany, the younger sibling that could constantly learn from the older one.”