Halloween Teen

Chapter 1
Part 1

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Chapter Description: Damon and his mother go to the drugstore.

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But ~mom~..." Damon whined as they pulled into the parking lot of the corner drug store "I don’t wanna put that ~goo~ on my face.... can’t we skip it? C’mon!"

"Damon... That dermatologist charged 100 dollars to see you. Since I’M the one paying we’re going to see her treatment thru! If you don’t do exactly what she told you then I might as well have thrown that money out the window!" his mother explained.

Damon was 16 and worried about his acne. Although it was very minor it seemed like a huge social probem to him. His mother had told him not to worry about it and that worrying would only make it worse. Damon didn’t agree and felt like it was the end of the world. He saw a story about a new treatment on TV and he was sure that a dermatologist would write him a prescription for it. Unfortunately for Damon, the dermatologist recommended an over the counter face mask to wear at night. He thought that was for "sissies" and wanted no part of it. Margaret, his 39 year old mother, was aggravitated that he was balking at the doctor’s recommendation after she had paid out of her own pocket for the office visit that was his idea in the first place.

"Aren’t you coming in?" she asked as he sat in the car and pouted.

"What? ~No~.... What if someone, like, sees me buying that stuff?" Damon countered.

"Who’s going to see you? And why care? Get out of that car right now!" Margaret ordered as her frustration grew. In truth there was no particular reason for Damon to go in with her, she could pick up the medicine herself, but after all his whining she felt he deserved whatever embarrasment he got out of this. She never thought he needed to see the doctor in the first place!

"Damn" he muttered under his breath as he got out of the car.

"What?" she asked sternly.

"Nothin’!" he repied.

They entered the store and Margaret immediately scanned the signs above the aisles trying to find the skin care section. She spotted the likely area and urged Damon to follow. He reluctantly slinked behind her to the section.

"Help me look!" She ordered as she tried to find the proper product while Damon stared blankly in space.

Damon groaned and began scanning the shelves.

"May I help you?" An older woman asked as she approached the potential customers.

"Yes, Damon’s looking for a face mask that the doctor wanted him to try for his acne" Margaret told the saleswoman.

"~Mom!~" Damon moaned. "Geez!"

"Honey, settle down!" Margaret said.

"Oh... I’m sorry! Did I hit a nerve? I never meant to." The saleswoman said apologetically.

"Damon is being a little difficult today" Margaret explained. "It’s not your fault"

"I’m not being difficult! I just don’t wanna wear some sissy face mask! You shoulda told that Dr that I wanted that new stuff!" Damon argued.

"~I~ should’ve told the doctor? Don’t you have a mouth?" Margaret said as she raised a her voice.

"Yeah, but you were right there!" he answered.

"Hey, you’re old enough to speak for yourself and besides, the doctor mentioned that stuff and didn’t speak too highly of it!" his mother shot back.

"Well, what does she know!?" he complained.

"Teenagers!" Margaret said as she stomped her foot and rolled her eyes to the sky.

"Weren’t you ever a teenager?" the saleslady asked Margaret trying to diffuse the situation.

"I doubt it!" Damon said.

"Yes, but I was never like him!" Margaret answered "Damon, For your information I was a good kid! I made good grades and treated my parents with respect! I never talked back or went behind their back to do things.... like you and those cigarettes I found in your drawer!"

"Right... whatever..." he said.

"Why don’t you show him?" the saleslady asked.

"I ~try~!" Margaret replied "But he doesn’t listen!"

"No, I mean show him what a good teen you were... or could be" the saleslady explained.

Margaret stepped back and tried to decypher just what the older woman was proposing. "What’re you saying... role playing?"

The saleswoman cautiously looked around and reached into the pocket of her smock. "Here, this will do it" she said holding a small red jewel in her hand "Just touch this and tell it you want to be 16 again!"

Margaret was sure the woman was crazy! "Ummmm I don’t want to be 16 again!" she replied trying to think of a quick exit from the situation.

Damon laughed. "She’d probably look the same... just a little bit younger and geekier!" he said in between laughs.

Margaret frowned. "I wasn’t...ummmm ... I’m not ’geeky’!" Margaret raged inside. Damon wasn’t showing her any respect. He has a lot to learn she thought! Without any more thought she touched the jewel and said "I wish I could be 16 again just so you’d see how a kid SHOULD act!"

Damon laughed some more. Margaret looked at her finger where she had touched the jewel. It tingled for a second. The saleswoman laughed. "Very good!" she said.

"There’s what we came for!" Margaret said as she spied the face mask medicine that the doctor had sent them searching for. "I was sure I looked on that shelf before!"

"Mom, you don’t look any different to me! Just old and geeky!" Damon smirked.

"Damon, what did you expect to happen? She was just trying to make a point or something. People don’t get younger! They grow up!" his mother told him.

"Oh... yes.... quite true.... unless you happen to meet a witch on the Halloween eve!" the woman said "I’m afraid you’ll be quickly growing younger until you find yourself sweet sixteen again! I might not be the most powerful witch but at this time of year I’m pretty good if I do say so myself!"

"I see... " Margaret deadpanned not interested in humoring the woman much longer. "Sooooo how do I return to normal ~if~ I happen to end up 16 again? It’s not like I wanna be worrying about homework or prom" she asked sarcastically.

"Well.....a couple ways..... You could do it on your own... just like Damon. In a year you’ll be 17 and then another year and you’ll be 18... and so on.... or you could find me again and just touch the jewel and tell it you want to be 39 again!"

Margaret shook her head "Well... your ~spell~ doesn’t seem to be working and we have to go so ummmmm thanks for your help" she told the woman as she and Damon headed to the front checkout counter.

"It’s still early. My powers grow as the witching hour nears" the woman confidently told them as they walked away.

"That’s nice" Margaret replied without turning around. "How did a crazy woman like that get a job here?" she whispered to Damon as they got to the counter.

She paid for the purchase and thought back to the encounter as they returned to the car. How did she know I was 39 she wondered? Lucky guess she figured although that didn’t make her feel any better. After all, she wanted people to guess her age as younger!

On their return home Margaret found the country radio station a bit boring. She switched the radio over to a classic rock station and that was better but by the time they got home she had let Damon pick the station and liked his choice of a current hits format the best.

Margaret bounded out of the car and went inside. She felt energetic. Damon went to his room to listen to his stereo. Margaret heard the booming of the bass coming from his room but rather than wanting to tell him to turn it down as usual this time she seemed to like it. She fed off the energy and picked up her pace as she went to her room to change into something more comfortable. She grabbed a pair of sweat pants, a T-shirt, and some tennis shoes and noticed that her diet was working. This gave her another boost of energy as she headed to the kitchen to clean the mess that she had left earlier.

In the kitchen, she busily began pre-cleaning dishes before deciding to just put them into the dishwasher as-is. It was getting boring spending so much time on them! As she straightened up the room she noticed her shoes begin to slip. First a little and then worse. Tying them tighter didn’t help much and she finally kicked them off. The room was warm and she tied the bottom of her T-shirt on the side exposing her stomach without thinking about it. She began putting away some items and when she went to put some items on an upper shelf she suddenly noticed that she could barely reach the shelf. She could always reach it before!

Her first thought was that it was because she was barefoot but then that hadn’t mattered this much before! She looked down at her feet and a confused look came over face. She slowly lifted her hands in front of her face and stared at them. Her head and eyes slowly fell on her exposed and flat stomach. Her eyes grew wider and she padded into the bathroom to look at her reflection.

"Ohmigawd! Ohmigawd! Ohmigawd!......" she yelled as she saw the reflection staring back at her.

Damon, barely hearing the yelps over his stereo, muted it and went to see what the ruckus was.

"Ohmigawd! Ohmigawd! Ohmigawd!...." he heard coming from the bathroom. He pushed open the door....

Inside stood a blonde haired frantic 16 year old girl looking like she had just seen a ghost!

"Ohmigawd! Ohmigawd! Ohmigawd!.... I’m a teenager!!! Nooooooooo Ohmigawd! Damon....Ohmigawd!" she said.

"MOM?" he asked in disbelief.

"Damon.... she did it.... Nooooooooooooo!!! Nooooooooo!!!!" the girl said about ready to break into tears.

"Is this a joke? This can’t be....." Damon asked as he looked for any sign of a setup.

"NO....... You’ve got to help me! I don’t want to be a kid!" she said as she sank to the floor and grabbed her knees.

"Well, she did say that all you had to do was ask her to be your ~old~ self again" Damon replied emphasizing the word ’old’.

Margaret’s young face brightened. The old woman had said there were two ways to grow up again and that was one of them. This could only be temporary!

Her mood swung the other direction. Suddenly this didn’t seem so bad anymore. Maybe the old woman could make her 25 instead? Or 21? She stood back up and smiled at her reflection as she brushed her hair from her face.

"Are you ummmm still ~you~?" Damon asked slowly.

"What? Of course I’m still me!???" she replied questioningly.

"It’s just that you’re so uhhhhhhh....." he answered

"Young?" she interrupted.

"No... ummmm ~Hot~.... You’re kinda like a... babe!" Damon replied hesitantly.

Margaret blushed. "Told ya!" she said. "I’m not a geek!"

"So now what?" Damon asked.

"Well, I think we should go back and find that saleslady before she gets off work and have her change me back or something. This is too young!" Margaret said "And I think maybe you better call me Maggie.... all my high school friends called me Maggie. It wouldn’t look right with you calling me ’mom’ and Margaret sounds so ~old~! C’mon... lets go" she said as she took another peek at her teenaged reflection.

Before they could leave the room Maggie felt a chill.

"What’s wrong?" Damon asked when he saw her stop for a moment.

"I dunno.... I felt funny for a second...." she replied "Let’s go"

"Uhh like that?" he asked seeing her shoeless and in sweats with her stomach uncustomarily showing.

"Uhhhh yeah? I’m 16! I’ll fit in fine!" Maggie answered.

Maggie grabbed the car door and then stopped. "Ya know... Maybe you should drive?" she said.

"Why? Have you forgot how to drive????" he replied.

Maggie felt another chill. "Nuh huh... but if we, like, get stopped I don’t think the cops would believe my driver’s license or think much of our story!"

"OK..." agreed Damon and he drove them to the drug store.

Once they got to the drug store Damon hopped out. "You wait here and I’ll get her."

"No way!" Maggie protested "First you don’t wanna go in there today and now you wanna, like, go in by yourself? We’ll both go! Why wouldn’t you want me to go in with you?"

"Uhh What if someone sees us?" Damon asked.

"Sooooo?????" she asked. "Who?"

"Uhhhh maybe a girl...." Damon replied nervously.

"A girl???!!! I don’t get it!?" Maggie replied.

"Just a girl... What if she, ya know, sees me with you?" Damon stammered. "looking like that and all"

The picture cleared for Maggie. "You’ve got a girlfriend? Or you’re TRYING to get a girl? Is THAT it? Is that why you’re so worried about zits all of a sudden?" Maggie snickered.

"~Mom~ eeerrrrrr Maggie. Chill! You’re kinda ya know... a hottie.... and if she’d see us......wellll... you know..." Damon tried to explain.

"Maybe you’d make her jealous? Did you ever think of that? If she knows you were interested and then all of a sudden she sees you with another girl then she’ll want you bad!" Maggie told him.

"I never thought of that... ya think so?" he replied.

"Sure!" she said "C’mon... besides... I’m not gonna be a teenager much longer anyway!"

They went inside with Maggie leading the way. They looked up and down the aisles looking for the woman but didn’t see her. Maggie felt another chill.

"Like, I don’t see her..." she said.

"Ya... me either..." Damon replied as he looked over the top of the aisles as best that he could. "Maybe she’s in the back?"

"Hello... can I help you?" a man asked.

"Uhhhhh.... We were here earlier and uhhhhhhh" Damon said trying to figure out just how much to tell the man.

"Oh!" he said winking "You two need some protection.... they’re over here" he said motioning toward the side wall.

Maggie quickly sensed what the pharmacist was thinking and grabbed Damon’s hand. "I’m not THAT kinda girl!" she said mockingly and give Damon and peck on the cheek "We’re not going to do that until we’re married"

Suddenly Damon realized what the man was talking about as he saw the Trojan display staring back at him. His face turned bright crimson and Maggie giggled.

"Sorry..." the man replied but again winked at the blushing Damon. "So what is it I can help you with?"

"We’re looking for the saleswoman that was here earlier...like a couple hours ago?" Maggie asked as she felt another chill and squeezed Damon’s hand tighter.

"Saleswoman? I’m afraid I’m the only one working today. From open to close" he replied.

"But she had a smock on and everything.... Maybe she was just here?" Damon asked.

"No.... I’m pretty sure none of employees has been in this afternoon. She’s not here now anyway... Sorry" the pharmacist said.

"Uhhhh will she maybe be here tomorrow?" Damon asked.

"Well, there’s just the one woman working here and she won’t get here until after classes... she’s just a college girl...."

"No... this woman was older..." Damon interrupted.

"Sorry, no other women work here" the man told them "I guess I can’t help you"

"Thanks anyway" Maggie said and then stuck her tongue out at the man as he walked away.

"Maybe if we come back at the same time tomorrow as we first came today we’ll find her here? Damon offered.

"Yeah.... good idea... cool" Maggie said.

The two teens left the building and hopped back in the car. Just as they did a girl walked up.

"Ohhh....uhhhhh hi... Joleen" Damon said with a shaking voice.

Maggie looked up to see a brunette staring in at her.

"Mo..errrr Maggie... this is Joleen....." he said stammering nervously.

Maggie held up her hand in a half-hearted wave and barely managed a "hi" as she scooted closer to Damon. Joleen reciprocated with an equally icy greeting. Joleen reminded Maggie of the type of girls that she didn’t like.

"So are you, like, on any teams at school?" Maggie asked.

"Just cheerleading.... Are you new in school?" Joleen replied.

"Uhhh yeah... that’s it... I’m new. Welllll I’m really kinda ~old~ but I guess you could say I’m ~new~" was Maggie’s rather cryptic answer. "Have you known Damon long?"

"Kinda... I guess" Joleen said.

"I hear cheerleaders don’t hafta, like, study much cuz they’re all teacher’s pets... Are you like that?" Maggie said as she dug deeper.

"No..." Joleen replied sounding perturbed at the line of questioning "Sometimes we even have to do the same homework as the regular students even though we’ve gotta, like, practice cheers and stuff"

"Hmmm I bet it’s ~tough~" Maggie said with sarcasm "Damon’s gonna go to college when he graduates.... So are YOU gonna go to college after high school too?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." she answered starting to wonder where this all was headed.

"Do you have a boyfriend.... or do ya have, like, a bunch!? What about marriage and stuff?"

"M ahh eerrrrrrr Maggie! This isn’t final exams!" Damon said after hearing enough of the line of questioning.

"Yeah, what are you....like, his mother or something?"

Maggie’s face turned to disgust and she scrunched down in the seat and quieted. She was simmering inside. Damon was better than a girl like THAT! She was nothing but a fake uppity type Maggie thought.

Damon and Joleen exchanged small talk while Maggie shot laser beams thru the girl. She was just SO fake! Maggie was ready to leave and quickly boring of Joleen. Another chill shot thru her.

"Damon... I’m bored.... can we go?" Maggie finally asked.

"Uh.. yeah... sure... Well, Joleen... We better go" he told her.

"Oh... OK... Well, it was great seeing you" she told Damon "and you too... ummmmm Myrtle was it?"

"Maggie..." she corrected Joleen.

"Oh sorry... ~Maggie~" Joleen oozed "so ~nice~ to meet you"

"Yeah... you too" Maggie replied icily. "See ya!"

"Slut" Maggie growled under her breath as they drove off.

 

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