It was the book. It had to be. This was some kind of punishment for looking at something I wasn’t supposed to, and trying to use that knowledge for my own gain. I should never have chased that girl down… She was probably a guardian angel or some weird thing like that.

Or… Even if it wasn’t the book’s fault, it had to have the answer as to what actually -did- do it. Right? And some way to change me back. Assuming, of course, that I ever could do that… Then again, if the book was somehow the cause of this in the first place, would trying to solve it with the book just make things worse? Or maybe using the book like that was something she wasn’t supposed to do, so there wouldn’t be anything in it about this at all.

Of course, it was possible the book had no connection to this whatsoever. But people didn’t just become younger, no more than they just found books about their own lives. Having both things happen to you, in so small a span of time, seemed like much too big a coincidence to ignore.

But really, I reasoned, people -didn’t- get younger. That was impossible on a whole other level than the book, since I’m pretty sure it broke a few laws of physics or something. I was dreaming, most likely, or I’d done some weird sort of drug while I was at Keith’s – which probably meant we had patched things up, at least. A quick and painful pinch ruled out the first.

Common sense should have ruled out the second, since, as far as I know, Keith wasn’t into any crazy, illicit substances, nor would I normally have partaken in them if he’d offered. If he was, though, and we’d just made up, then I guess I might have been a little more willing to try. I must have been…

But that didn’t help me at the moment. What was I supposed to do? Should I go home, not knowing what I was going to wind up seeing next? If this stuff was powerful enough to make me actually -feel- like my body had changed – I tried to ignore that I’d never heard of anything that powerful, consoling myself when I failed by reminding myself I didn’t have an extensive knowledge of such things – who knew what would happen? My parents were going to know something was up if I started seeing my food get up and dance on my plate or something, because I doubted I could just pretend that I -wasn’t- seeing something like that.

I’d just go back to Keith’s, then. I’d call my parents, tell them I was going to eat at Lela’s, maybe even spend the night, then head over there. I could get an explanation of just what the hell he’d given me at the same time. It was as good a plan as I was going to come up with, so I reached into my pocket for my phone.

But what I found there wasn’t my phone. Sure, it was -a- phone, and it probably worked, but it was much clunkier, and cheaper looking. My real phone was probably made mostly of plastic, too, but it wasn’t nearly as obvious as it was on this one. I flipped it open, and was greeted by a couple frames of an animated sun smiling and waving at me.

My stomach began to tighten up into a knot. “I’m going crazy,” I mumbled out loud. Maybe I should have Keith come get me instead of trying to make it to his house… If he wasn’t fried, too.

His number wasn’t listed in my contact list, though, nor were the vast majority of my friends’ numbers. Home was right on top of the list, with my parent’s cells under that. My grandparents were in there, too, but other than that, the only other number was Lela’s.

I tried to remember Keith’s number, but all I could come up with was the area code, and the first four numbers, which didn’t do me a lot of good. I looked through the phone numbers again, and finally I bit the bullet and pressed dial.

“It took you long enough,” Lela answered her phone, sounding a little annoyed. “I was wondering how many times I was going to have to call and apologize to your voice mail…”

“Lela, you have to come and get me!” I blurted out, surprised to find myself sniffling. “I don’t know what happened, but I’m freaking out!”

“Calm down,” she ordered, going into the voice she used when she was babysitting. Any other time, I’d have found it annoying, but it actually was a little soothing. “Where are you?”

I glanced up and down the street, trying to figure out the answer. “I-I think this is Oak Street.”

“I’ll borrow my mom’s car,” she said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Thank you,” I sighed in relief. “Thank you so much.”

“No problem,” she assured me. “See you in…”

“Oh!” I interrupted. “Can you call my parents and tell them I’m eating at your house tonight?”

She paused for a moment before answering. “Are you?”

“Yes?”

“Then I guess I can. Just sit tight.”