Wishing and hoping

Our blog project group has once again changed by one member, but I'm still calling it Blog Project 3.0. The newest member is Darwin Shrugged, a friend of Froggie's. I recently got to know her better through "52 Stories" and I look forward to what she has to say on the upcoming topics.

This week Darwin Shrugged chose the topic: Be careful what you wish for.

First, read what everyone else had to share on this topic:
Darwin Shrugged
Froggie
Moma Rock

Since I couldn't think of anything to talk about, I decided to do my short fiction piece for the month. (By the way, I realize I didn't do a fiction piece for February, unless the one about switching with Moma Rock for a day counts. I just had a rough month between falling on my face and dealing with a nasty cough for a while.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Wishing Web

Could this afternoon be any more boring?!? Violet Murray tapped her fingers on her desk impatiently while scanning the latest updates in her Facebook newsfeed. Everyone was talking about the weather and wondering how much more snow was going to hit NYC. She probably could get some filing or copying done, but she really didn’t care at this point in the day. Almost everyone had left for the holiday weekend and she was stuck until her shift ended at five. Anything would be more exciting than this right now. I wish...

Before she could complete her thought, something flashed in bright pink and purple on her newsfeed. Not another useless ad, Violet thought.

“Are you sick of being miserable? Do you have a wish that’s in need of coming true? Then click HERE!”

The word “HERE” kept flashing in alternating pink and purple colors. Violet clicked on it just to make the flashing stop.

Welcome to WishesComeTrue.com! Type your wish below and read the waiver before clicking “Go.”

Yeah, right. This is probably a scam.

As if the website could read her thoughts, an extra window popped up with a chat screen inside. “This is not a scam. You get to make one wish, courtesy of a generous and anonymous donation. Once you make the wish, you can’t take it back, so think really hard first!”

Violet glanced at the clock at the bottom of her screen. It was practically five o’clock now. She typed “Thanks. I’ll be back later.” Before she could log off, another chat window popped up. “Once you leave this site, it will disappear and you won’t be able to come back.”

Great, I’m stuck here when I’d just like to go home and kick off President’s Day weekend early. Then again, it’s not like I’m doing anything for Valentine’s Day tonight anyway.

“Don’t waste your wish on finding a boyfriend. Just like the Genie from Aladdin, we can’t make anyone fall in love with anyone else.”

Okay…this is getting creepy. Intriguing, but creepy.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving by now, Vivian? You don’t get paid for overtime. What? No hot date tonight? Too bad.”

Violet’s thoughts were interrupted by her boss, Allison. The same Allison who was the most popular girl throughout their junior high and high school years. She still didn’t recognize Violet, even though their desks were always next to each other and their lockers were even closer.  Not many last names could fit between Murphy and Murray at their school. Even so, she liked to rub her social status in Violet’s face whenever she could. She also never got her name right. If only she could have been part of Allison’s crowd all those years. Maybe then she’d have some respect and wouldn’t be fetching Allison’s coffee (grande skinny mocha latte, no cream or sugar) every day.  She’d have the confidence to get a more exciting job too.

That’s it! I will use the wishing website to go back in time and become part of the popular crowd.

“Yes, I’m just shutting down. I do have plans to go to a concert tonight. Jewel is performing.” Violet crossed her fingers behind her back in hopes to get a little information out of Allison.

“Really?!?” Allison smirked. “I never liked Jewel. She was nowhere near as cool as The Dave Matthews Band.”

“To each their own, right? Well, have fun on your date. See you on Tuesday.”

“Night, Veronica.”

Violet clicked back over to the wishing website and typed in the box “I want to go back to 8^th grade and become popular.”  Then she shut down her computer and headed out to live out the rest of what she hoped would be her last boring day.

***

The next morning, Violet woke up to the smell of eggs cooking and the sounds of her favorite late 90s music playing on the radio. Her CDs of her favorite female singers like Tori Amos , Jewel, Ani DiFranco, and Fiona Apple were stacked on her nightstand, next to her CD Walkman. She was definitely in her childhood bedroom. YES! The website worked! Just to double check, she went online and typed in the Facebook address. Of course, it came up with an error. Her computer calendar showed 2/13/98. Looking in the mirror, she saw her 13 year-old self.

“Violet Grace Murray! You have to leave for school in 20 minutes! Are you coming down for breakfast?” Her mom shouted her usual morning script. Normally, Violet would dread going to school, but today she was going to win over Allison and become part of her crowd. It was part of the wish agreement. That whatever she wished would come true.

***

When Violet got to school, she sat by her locker in hopes that Allison would come by. Her best friend, Irene Kiriakis, came over instead. “Hey Vi. How was your evening?”

“You ask that every day. I just did homework and went to bed. What about you?”

“I stayed up a bit too late watching a Party of Five marathon. I probably shouldn’t have done that, but it’s just so good!”

“That’s cool. I wish you’d watch The X-Files already. Best show ever!”

“Bailey is way hotter than Mulder.”

“Whatever.”

“Anyway, there’s a new show that came out called Dawson’s Creek. Want to have a marathon this weekend? My parents taped the first few episodes since the time conflicts with Greek school.”

“I guess.”

“Well, I’ll save them until tomorrow night, but that's it. I’m dying to watch it already!”

Just then, Allison and a few other girls from the popular crowd showed up, giggling and talking about the Valentine’s Day dance they were planning to attend tonight.

“Hey, Allison!”

“Um, do I know you?”

“You copy off my homework all the time, so I hope you do. Anyway, I managed to score tickets to the Dave Matthews concert tomorrow night. Want to join me?”

“Seriously?!? How did you get those? The concert has been sold out for weeks!”

“I have my secret ways…”

“Well, you’re my new best friend now. Want to go shopping before the concert? And then go to Pizza Hut? My brother could drive us.”

“Sounds good.”

Violet felt Irene tug on her sleeve. “I thought we were watching Dawson’s Creek this Saturday?”

“What’s that?” Allison wrinkled up her nose at Irene.

“Just some show Irene wants me to watch with her. It can wait. The concert isn’t something we can tape and watch the next day.”

“Gee, thanks Vi.” Irene walked off looking dejected.

“What’s, like, her problem?”

“She’s probably just jealous. Not that she even likes Dave Matthews anyway.”

“So, should my brother and I pick you up at three tomorrow to hit the mall?”

“Can’t wait!”

“Do you want to sit with Julie, Mags, and me at lunch today?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Great. Let’s walk over to Mr. Gregory’s class. The bell’s about to ring and if I get another tardy, I might as well kiss the concert good-bye.”

***

Violet woke up the next morning with a pounding head. She was in a room that was neither from her childhood nor from where she was living before the wish came true. Stumbling to the bathroom in the early morning darkness, she nearly tripped over several people camped out on the floor.

When she finally made it into the bathroom, she squinted after turning on the light, only to see a complete stranger staring back at her. And this “stranger” was, dare she say it, hot!  After taking in her new appearance, including a decent set of abs and a larger chest area than she remembered having before, she went online to check Facebook. Maybe that would help her figure out some of the pieces of her life since her wish came true. All she knew was that it had to be more exciting than her previous one was. 

She must have a different login and password than she remembered from before, as she was having trouble getting in. She googled herself and didn’t find any mentions of Violet Murray. Typing in just “Violet,” the first few links that popped up were pop culture links, such as Perez Hilton. They all showed pictures of the gorgeous “stranger” from her mirror. Except she looked more and more drunk in each picture she saw. One of the headlines read “Violet Grace: Train Wreck or Lost Cause?”

Well, this isn’t good.

Just then, her phone rang. Someone laying on the floor groaned, indicating she should probably get it before everyone started waking up.

“Violet! Where are you?”

“Mom?”

“What? This is Cassie. Your agent? Or are you too drunk to remember? You’re supposed to be in hair and makeup right now for your appearance on The View.”

“So I really am a celebrity then?”

“Just wake up already and head over to the studio. You were needed there 20 minutes ago.”

***

On her way over to the studio, Violet checked her iPhone for more information about herself on the Internet. Putting some pieces together, she learned that she was a former Bachelorette who ended up breaking up with the guy who supposedly won her heart.  There were several articles about her in People and US Weekly.

When she arrived at the dressing room for guests of The View, Cassie ushered her inside, handing her some Tylenol and a large glass of some disgusting green drink. “Your usual hangover remedy. Drink up! You’re on in five minutes. Good thing you always look fabulous. No time for hair and makeup now.”

Violet pinched her nose and drank as much of the stuff as she could tolerate without throwing up. Then she felt Cassie guide her to the set.

One of the women on The View started talking. “Today, we’re featuring women who were friends with celebrities before they became famous. Our first guest is Dr. Irene Frost, who says she was once best friends with celeb-reality star, Violet Grace. Irene, do you have anything to say to Violet?”

Irene, who looked a lot different than the plain girl whose greasy hair always hung in her face, walked tentatively over to her. “I don’t even know why I’m doing this. I guess I just wanted to see for myself what a joke you’ve become. To validate why I was able to get over us parting ways. No, wait. Not us parting ways. You ditching out on our plans in order to hang out with Allison Murphy.” She practically sneered while saying Allison's name. “Where is Allison now? Probably resenting that you became even more popular than she was. I bet she made nothing of herself. In the meantime, I’ve gone on to become a world-renowned cardiologist and I’m now married with two kids. And what do you have now? Maybe you were at the top of your game for a while, but all the drinking and sleeping around is noticed by the whole world and no one really likes you right now. Especially me.”

“Irene…”

“I’m not done yet. I’m actually glad you ditched me. I wouldn’t have wanted to be sucked into your crazy life. I just hope becoming popular was worth it for you.”

“Look, I don’t even know what happened between that morning in 1998 and right now.”

“Yeah, right. Did you get amnesia from drinking too much?”

“I hope you can forgive me.”

“Even if I could, I still wouldn’t want to be part of your life now.”

Violet felt tears of guilt and remorse pooling in her eyes and ran off the stage at that moment. She was sure that interaction would be played over the Internet for days, weeks, or even months. She couldn’t escape what she so carelessly did to her best friend. She also couldn’t make any more wishes on that website. However, she could reinvent herself, even if it meant a few months in rehab and staying off the celebrity grid for a while, if that was even possible. Hopefully the world would accept a more toned-down Violet Grace Murray. Either way, she wanted to be someone she could live with. That’s all she could really wish for at this point.

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