A Gem of a Student

by grapehyacinth

(A Potion Place Story)

“Lexi, I need your help.”

Lexi stared down at the caller ID. Why was her friend's nephew's girlfriend calling her? “Everything okay, Carla? Did something happen to Max?”

“He's fine. It's just, well, I need some guidance using the Ultimate Potion. Max is so busy, and when we use it, he usually wants to be stupid things like monsters and dragons. I want more than that. I really want to explore, but I'm afraid to do it alone.”

“Come on over. I'm sure Caroline would be happy to help you too.”

The three girls sat around Lexi's kitchen table. “Okay, did you take any Ultimate Potion?” Lexi asked.

Carla pulled a vial from her pocket. “I have it here. I didn't want to drink it before because I was scared I'd turn into something on the way.”

Lexi and Caroline chuckled. “We know that feeling,” Caroline said, munching at a cookie. “Want one?” she pushed the plate towards their guest.

“I'm fine,” murmured Carla. “Lexi, is your boyfriend around?”

“Julian's at work.”

Relaxing somewhat, the girl continued. “Yeah, that would have been embarrassing if I came in as a turkey or something. Then I'd probably pop back and forth between weird forms. It feels so good that it's hard to focus on what you actually want to be.”

“The more you use the Potion, the better you'll be able to control yourself,” Lexi explained, taking a cookie herself. “Damn, this is my third,” she added.

“Ryan was an apple turnover the other night,” Caroline contributed in a proud non-sequitur.

Lexi and Carla blinked at each other.

“Did you eat him?” Carla finally asked.

“No, this was one of those 'enjoy the form' times. He liked being all crispy and stuff, and I wasn't hungry anyway. He sat on the counter for three hours that way until I turned into a lawnmower.”

“A lawnmower? Why? Is that a nice form to be in?”

“Their other one broke,” Lexi smirked. “Now Ryan uses Caroline instead.”

Carla seemed deep in thought. “What's that like?”

“I feel so useful like that. It's nice to saw away at the grass, and my motor makes me feel so strong...”

“Okay. Off the subject there.” Lexi turned back to Carla. “So, anyway, you'll learn to control your body's urge to transform as you use the Potion more.”

“I hope so. I get crazy the minute I drink it. It's like my whole body gets all tingly and twisty and if I don't change, I feel like I'll explode.”

“Well, let's work on that first. Take a sip, and then try not to change.”

“How?”

“Well, for one, don't think about becoming something.”

“Easier said than done,” Carla muttered, downing the vial. “Ooh,” she rubbed at her stomach, “that feels so good!”

“OK!” Caroline jumped in. “Let's talk about...um...that cruise I'm going on with Ryan!”

“Oh!” Carla's eyes widened. “Did you ever turn into a boat? That sounds awesome!”

“Carla!” Lexi scolded. “Get your mind off of it!”

The younger girl's figure shuddered, and she hugged at herself. “Oh...it's so hard to not think about it, when my body is just all...itching to twist and...oo...” Her hands flattened against her sides and she began to sway back and forth.

“Stop it, Carla! You can control it!”

Carla moaned contently. “I can't, and I don't want to anyway.”

“You can! What are you even becoming? Empty your thoughts! Don't have anything in your mind to become!” cried Lexi.

“Okay. Okay. There's nothing in my mind. It don't...oh, I'm so tingly...” Carla's legs suddenly smacked together, and she tumbled to the floor.

“Stop, Carla! Don't change! You're shrinking! Fight it!”

Caroline leaped up. “Maybe I should merge with her!”

“No! Then you'll be doing the controlling – it wouldn't help her. You'll probably end up turning her and you into the Leaning Tower of Pisa or something, anyway!”

Carla's legs were now gone, as were her arms. She thrashed and twisted, her body shrinking and becoming long and uniform. “I have to be something else...can't fight it...so...wormy...”

Soon the girl was reduced to a quivering, very happy worm-like form. “Oh, Carla,” Lexi said sadly.

“She's loving that form, though. Look at her twisting around. Total ecstasy.”

Lexi rolled her eyes and leaned down to study the new worm. Carla had not become an everyday earthworm. She had a worm-body, but had retained human-like features on her face. Right now the tiny eyes were scrunched closed in bliss.

“Ew. She's like...a worm with a face.”

“I guess that's what happens if you don't plan on what you want to be. If you get all twisty like that, you turn into something twisty...like a worm.”

Lexi blinked at her friend. “Caroline, I don't even know what you just said there. Does that even make sense?”

“Oh, God, yes it does...” the worm gushed up at them.

“Turn back to a person now, Carla!” Lexi ordered sternly.

The worm flipped sideways, then curled into a tight circle. “Oh, why? Look what I can do with a body like this!”

Eating another cookie without thinking about it, Lexi grumbled, “Fine, stay that way for now. But you wanted to learn, so stop moving around and at least listen to us.”

“Fine.” The worm giggled and squirmed nonetheless. “Tell me everything. I want to do it all.”

Caroline smiled in approval, and Lexi delivered her a nasty look.

“Listen, Carla. Using the Potion is fun, but it's also responsibility. Be careful that you don't cause a stir. Pace yourself.”

Caroline jumped in, “But also enjoy it! Don't be afraid. I don't always agree with Lexi, but she's right. Think before you change, and revert back to human form now and then. Don't change constantly or you'll get to a point where you don't enjoy it anymore. It happened to us, believe it or not, with Gena, Max's aunt. One day the three of us were sitting around, and we were simply 'transformed out'. We did so much so fast, that we couldn't think of anything we wanted to be, and we simply ended up going bowling.”

“You could have been the pins!” Carla burst out, as if she had thought of the best transformation idea ever. “Can't you imagine that? A game of bowling using you! You could get all your friends to be the pins! Awesome! Let's bowl for the winner!!”

“Naa. It's been done,” uttered Lexi.

“True,” Caroline nodded quietly. Perking up, she went back into her best teacher-voice. “Like Lexi was saying, if I was goo forever, it wouldn't be a treat anymore.”

“You with the goo, Caroline,” Lexi snorted.

“Why are you so into being goo?” queried the worm.

The phone rang. “Oh, that's Julian. He's going to give me the basics on the party they're having for his job. He doesn't want to go unless he can be the drinks.” With a silly giggle, Lexi raced off to answer.

Caroline shrank down to the worm's height. “Why am I into being goo? Because it's amazing. The other night, Ryan and I...well, you can experience it yourself if you merge with me.”

The worm looked worried. “I should merge with your body and mind?”

“Yup. If we share a form, you can see my thoughts and memories.”

The worm pondered this a moment. “Cool. What should we turn into together?”

Caroline grinned. “The sky's the limit! You choose!”

“Um...a...pony?”

Snickering, Caroline threw her arms in the air. “Come on, that's boring! Throw away the rule book! Come up with something truly wild!”

Pausing only momentarily, the worm cried, “pudding!”

“Chocolate or vanilla?” Caroline exclaimed proudly. “You're an excellent student.” She embraced the wriggling worm.

“Rice!”

“Rice pudding! Awesome! Stay still!”

“Why?”

“I'm merging with you first.”

Carla, excited but nervous, grew motionless as the little Caroline seemed to be absorbed into her. She could see the girl's body literally melt away as it touched her, and she could feel a gentle pressure through her body as it became Caroline's as well.

Hi, honey, came Caroline's voice in her head. Nice in here. Good job transforming.

Oh, wow! I hear you in my mind, Caroline!

Our mind, Carla. Now make us into some goopy rice pudding!

How?

It's no different than usual. Just change.

Yay! Weeeeee! Their worm body slowly softened, and Carla gasped as they oozed to the floor. She could feel herself losing all shape, while her substance thickened quite satisfyingly. This is so different than being a puddle of water. Now I'm...we're...lumpy!

Mmm...I love being lumpy, murmured Caroline.

Suddenly strange faces and events poured into Carla's mind, and she wobbled. Oh, Caroline...I feel horrible! I'm seeing all your most private secrets...

Caroline laughed. Oh, don't worry. It's all in good fun. I don't have anything to hide from you.

You and Ryan...that's you in the museum? You're a very...naked...statue?

Oh, God, do we have fun like that. I love being on display. Being something beautiful and having everyone gaze at you...You have to try it.

I can...I actually am experiencing the memory of it through you...oh, God, that man is dusting me...you...and it's almost...God, it feels amazing! Especially over there...The pudding gave a little lurch.

Yup. But you asked me why I like being goo? Before Lexi comes back, experience this...

Caroline's boyfriend Ryan returned home from his job. The minute the door closed behind him, Caroline launched herself at him. She wrapped her arms and legs around the happy man and quickly was absorbed into his body. Carla could feel everything Caroline was experiencing, and she realized that her friend had not merely merged with Ryan. Instead, she was somehow coursing through him, becoming certain parts of him, stimulating him and making him moan...

And Carla was ashamed at how much she was enjoying coming along for the ride.

“Oh, God, what a way to end the work day!” Ryan purred, lying down on the floor and letting his girlfriend work her magic. When she was finished with her ministrations, she oozed forth from his pores as some kind of bubbling goo. Expanding more and more, she soon was flowing over him and across the floor.

We're flat, growing goo. How amazing this is! thought Carla to herself. She wasn't sure if Caroline heard, or she was too deeply buried in her own memories. But it didn't matter. Caroline was a hell of a tour guide.

Caroline had completely enveloped Ryan, and the shape of his body was evident through her flatness. He poked at the layer of goo with his fingers. It felt wonderful, and in turn, encouraged Caroline to creep over the rest of the room.

She now covered the floor, the walls, the ceiling with her bubbling, gooey form. “I am Caroline, the house of goo,” she tittered from the wall, her face grinning from corner to corner.

“You sure as hell are.” Ryan's words were slurred from the goo.

“Join me,” the goo demanded.

“Happily.”

Carla could feel pressure and a wonderful tingle as Ryan merged with Caroline's form. Hi, lover, she heard him say in Caroline's mind, which made her feel guilty. She still felt like she was imposing in their private moments.

Now let's finish this the right way. They were hardening, and amazing pleasure resonated all through them. It was as if Ryan were turning them into a box made of solid...chocolate?

“Ryan what are we? That crap you put on ice cream?” Caroline shouted.

“Magic Shell! Doesn't it feel nice getting all brittle? I love that stuff.”

“I hate it. I'd rather be hot fudge.” They grew soft and warm.

“Nah, maybe chocolate sauce as a compromise...” Now they thinned and began to drip off the walls and ceiling...

“Why the hell are you rice pudding?” shrieked Lexi.

Carla was jarred from Caroline's mind, and Caroline pulled herself from the pudding mass, becoming human again. “Sorry! I'm just explaining why I like being goo,” she said, straightening her clothes while apparently trying to reorient herself.

Lexi looked down at the remaining bobbing pudding, which now was much smaller. “Oh, Carla, I can't talk to pudding. Turn back. Please?”

Grudgingly, the pudding grew to human form, but took several long minutes to actually convert to flesh and blood.

“A slow change-back, especially from something ooze-like, is relaxing,” said Caroline.

“Yes, but again, don't be ooze every moment. Take 'normal breaks' so you can appreciate changing,” Lexi stressed with an angry glance at her friend.

“But the Ultimate Potion can help you calm down too. You want to take a bath and wash up? Be the bath! You want to go to sleep? Turn into the bed! Or a blanket!”

Nodding in agreement, Lexi added, “Merge with an object, or just turn into it. When I was really depressed, I'd turn into weird stuff...”

“She was a boat,” Caroline inserted.

Throwing her hands up in the air, Carla burst out, “I asked you guys if you ever did that! You didn't say!”

“Being big things is awesome,” replied Caroline. “I'm still impressed that Lexi did that. She's gotten much more daring. Especially now that Mr. Wintergreen gave her a better Ultimate Potion.”

“What does it do?”

“Well, the biggest thing is the food thing. If Lexi turns into food and is eaten, she turns back before she gets...well, too digested.”

Lexi cleared her throat. “Sorry. I'm not into anything past that. And just being food without being eaten is perfectly fine. It's the whole 'being' thing. Sometimes it's fun to just be any old object. Get into it...be the...hairbrush, enjoy being used and fulfilling your purpose.”

“Is it true you were a space heater, Caroline?”

“Yup,” Caroline answered proudly.

“Awesome!”

Lexi rolled her eyes. “Let's try to do some changing. Calmly.” She walked over to a bookshelf and pulled out a tattered dictionary. “Here's a fun transformation game. Close your eyes, open to a page, put your finger on it. Whatever word it's on, you become.”

Carla clapped her hands in delight, and Lexi and Caroline smiled at each other.

“What if it's a verb?”

“You get another try. Unless it's a verb like...melt or something. Then Caroline will be happy.”

“Yes, I'm great at melting.”

“Just one thing, Lexi and Caroline. Can you be two parts of the same thing?”

Lexi looked confused. “Like?”

“Oh, I know what Carla means. I did it with Ryan the other day. Here. I'll demonstrate. Get all rubbery, Lexi.”

“Rubbery?” but Lexi's body softened, and Caroline launched at it, twisting herself around it like a candy cane.

“Like?” she giggled from where her head bobbed at a right angle to Lexi's. Lexi just appeared even more confused.

“So we're twisted together and you're choking me. So what?”

“Oh, you're like licorice!” cried Carla. “Be licorice!”

“I like that idea. You okay with that, Lexi?”

Lexi shrugged.

“Are you still on the tweaked Ultimate Potion?”

Her 'other half' nodded. “Yup.”

“Good. Change.”

Both girls took on a brilliant red sheen as they shrank. They quickly fell to the floor, twisted together as a simple stick of licorice.

Carla clapped excitedly. “Oh, I love you like this!” She fetched up the confection and turned it around in her hand. “I'd never know this little stick of candy is really two people twisted together! Can I taste you?”

“Lexi? You okay with that?”

“Go for it!”

Carla licked at one part of the twist, then the other. One girl's flavor was strawberry, the other was raspberry, but other than that, the two were indistinguishable from each other. But they were delicious. Carla sucked on them, running her tongue up and down the twists. She then began to gnaw at them. “Is this nice for you guys?” she asked nervously.

“Mmmmmm....” Caroline moaned.

“Very pleasant,” came Lexi's voice.

When the candy was halfway gone, Carla sat back, twirling the remainder in her hand. “Funny, I don't even like licorice, but you guys were soooo delicious! Thanks so much! Are you also in my stomach?”

A flutter inside her was her answer, and it was rather disarming. “Oh, you know, that must be weird. I can understand how you feel about that, Lexi.”

“It's what's after it that freaks me out more,” said the candy in her hand.

“I love it in here. Eat us more,” demanded Caroline from the back twist of the licorice.

“Caroline, we're going to do the dictionary game now. Come on.” Lexi seemed to burst from the candy as a sheet of light, and Carla was left holding what looked like a twisted red wire.

“Damn, I'm only half the licorice I used to be,” Caroline groaned. “I liked being Caroline-candy.” The red confection grew longer and longer until it snaked out of Carla's hand to the floor. It sprouted limbs and a head, but remained made of licorice. “How's this?” she said, standing up and studying her new form.

Carla started to giggle. “Caroline-candy? Really?”

“Probably some sicko game she does with Ryan,” Lexi mumbled.

“Sure is!” Caroline exclaimed with pride. “The other night I was one of those taffy candies on a stick? Oh, let me tell you, it took so long for Ryan to finish me. He went between sucking then biting, then licking...”

“Too much info, Caroline.”

“And I was getting thinner as he–”

“Caroline, enough!” Lexi exclaimed. “We don't want to hear it. And why are you still food?”

“I like it.”

“I don't mind, Lexi,” said Carla. “I think it's cool to see and hear what's possible with this Potion. That's why I want to explore it so much. Max is kind of past that. He has no wish to be a sock or a... piece of toast.”

“Oh, turn yourself into a sock and let him wear you, Lexi. It feels nice to be wrapped around his foot!”

“Make sure he washes it first,” added Lexi. She exhaled impatiently and patted the book that lay before them on the table. “Okay. Back to the dictionary. I'll go first.” She flipped it open to a page and stopped her finger halfway down. “Lace?” she uttered. “Uh, okay. That's a weird one.”

“That should be nice,” cried Carla. Her body started to shudder. “Oh, I think I'm jealous! I need to be something...”

“Cut it out, Carla. It's Lexi's turn,” Caroline scolded. Whether Carla was hurt by this slight or not, it did help to keep her in human form.

“I'm doing a slow change so you can see,” Lexi explained. She kicked off her shoes as her body began to grow white.

“Oh, take off your clothes so she can see it happening better.” Caroline pulled at Lexi's shirt.

With misgiving, Lexi stripped off her shirt and pants. Bra and panties remained on, but the spectacle was nonetheless quite intriguing. Her body was softening and a pattern was starting to appear on her skin. She smiled to herself. “I'm going to be a beautiful yard of floral lace.” With that, her legs melded together and what had been her knees gave way, sending her cascading to the floor. Her arms disappeared into her sides as she flattened and shrank. Soon her form grew rectangular, and what had at first been patterns now were part of her very body, with twisted rosy scrollwork running up and down the brand-new yard of delicate lace.

“She has holes all in her,” Carla said in awe. “Can I touch you, Lexi?”

“Please do.”

Gingerly, Carla gathered the soft material in her hands. “Oh, you're lovely! Is it nice?” She traced the floral pattern with her finger and giggled as the material shuddered happily.

“It's so nice, that...well, come to think of it, I'm going to stay this way a bit. Caroline, you want to go next?”

Caroline was already flipping through the book. When she opened her eyes, she tilted her head to the side in curiosity. “I have to say, I've never been this.”

“What? A space shuttle?” said the lace.

“Stairs.”

“Stairs? But there's only one level of this building,” Carla pointed out.

“So, why would that stop Caroline from turning into something?”

Chuckling, Caroline pushed her back against the wall. She stretched out her legs before her until her feet melded with the floor. Then, bizarrely, her legs began to grow up a few inches, then over the same amount, forming a step. This pattern repeated itself all the way up through Caroline's laughing body until she had become a flight of stairs. The stairs were far from featureless, however. They had retained all that was Caroline- it merely looked as if she had been flattened and folded into a staircase.

Carla found this quite amusing. “I see every part of you, Caroline! It's like someone steamrolled you and made you into stairs!”

The top step smiled. “Yes, but I'm one-hundred percent durable! Walk on me!”

Carla placed one foot on the first Caroline-step, testing it. It was hard and flat – she seemed to be made of wood or laminate material.

“I'm sturdy, Carla. You won't fall through me. Give me a try!”

Very cautiously, Carla mounted the stairs to nowhere. “You're not very helpful like this, though, Caroline. There's really no point to having stairs that reach the – OW!” She rubbed at her head where it had crashed into the ceiling.

“Who cares if it's pointless? It's fun! Now it's your turn, Carla!”

The transformed girls watched her with interest. After smoothing her hair, she descended the shaking stairs and shuffled back over to the kitchen table. Carefully, she flipped towards the back part of the dictionary. Scrunching her eyes shut, she scrolled her finger down the page, finally ending up near the bottom.

The lace slithered nearer and raised itself partially up, attempting to view the book. “Well?”

Carla's eyes grew wide. “Oh! I got so lucky! It's perfect!”

“What are you going to be?” called the stairs.

“A sapphire!” Carla's skin was already growing bluish as she spoke. “And you know what? I'll be a star sapphire! You know, the ones that look like they have a star in them? Oh!” she fell to her knees, grabbing them and rolling herself into a ball. “Oh, good...yes...mmm...”

“If you hold back a bit, you can control the speed of your change,” Lexi explained to her.

“Oh, God, who wants to? I...want...to change!” There was almost no trace left of the girl; now she was a smooth, dark blue gem with a criss-cross shaped 'star' radiating through it. “I want to be bigger,” it moaned, and it doubled in size almost instantly. It rocked back and forth several times before growing still.

“Oh, she's beautiful!” Lexi cried, becoming herself and going over to examine the new rock. She ran her hand over it and it shuddered in ecstasy. “You like it, huh, Carla?”

“I love it...the transforming was so awesome, and I love how I feel! I've never been so perfect, so beautiful, so precious...I'm priceless!”

Caroline shrank down and became human. “Well, you'd fetch millions, I'd say. Damn, you are gorgeous.”

The gem basked in the adoration. “I love that I'm being appreciated, that I'm the center of attention...”

“As a gem, it's what you're created to do. It's the whole 'fulfilling your purpose' idea,” Lexi stated with a smile.

“That's why Ryan and I turn into statues and get put on display in museums,” said Caroline.

The gem was silent, then it shook slightly. “That's what I want!”

“What?”

“Put me on display in the museum!”

Lexi and Caroline glanced at each other. “How should we do that? You can't be a permanent display. And they'll wonder where such a large gem came from, and...”

“I'll ask Mr. Wintergreen. I'm sure he'll help.”

A call to Lance Wintergreen, owner of the Potion Place and purveyor of the Ultimate Potion, gave Carla her answer.

“The Museum of Local Geology in town has a massive amethyst. Have you ever seen it?”

“Yes! On a school field trip!”

“Want to be it?”

“Oh, my God, yes! Please!!”

She met Mr. Wintergreen outside the museum fifteen minutes before closing time. “We could simply merge you with it, you know.”

“No, I want to turn into it! I want to feel every bit of myself crystallize!”

He smiled. “Okay, well, first we're going to have to get in there and keep out of the way of the alarms so we can switch you with the real thing. Turn into a gnat and follow me!”

When the lights went out and the museum was silent, the two gnats stood on the pedestal that displayed the most giant amethyst they had ever seen. Even as they were waiting for the museum to close, a small crowd of people had remained around the large stone, gazing at its perfection. “I want to be it,” Carla had begged.

“You will. Very soon.”

Mr. Wintergreen had somehow made them invisible to any surveillance, so they were able to take human form beside the pedestal. All that separated them from it was a stanchion that read “please do not touch”.

“I love that I won't be behind glass. That way my beauty won't be affected by any glare.”

Mr. Wintergreen chuckled. “I figured you'd want to be in the open. That's why I suggested this. Okay, you ready?”

“I'm so ready that if I had a little more Potion in me, I'd turn into another wormy-thing.”

“Yes, I heard about that. Okay. So, all you need to do is drink up this vial. I'll do the rest.” He handed it to her. “You'll love the changes too.”

She drank it down swiftly, and her figure began to blur just slightly. Very quickly, Mr. Wintergreen touched the real amethyst with a golden cloth, then rubbed the cloth against Carla's shoulder. “Become it,” he murmured, then stood back.

The rock flickered and disintegrated into an orb of purple smoke. It drew towards Carla, surrounding her and giving her a purple aura. She moaned in contentment, scrunching her eyes shut as the very essence of the stone became one with her. It sculpted and shaped her, forcing her body into an spherical shape and erasing her features. Her skin was purple and glassy, and she was growing increasingly more transparent. As she hardened, her surface sprouted many perfect crystals, and she grunted as they lengthened. The transformation was pure bliss, and now that she was cementing into her new form, she never wanted to return to her original one.

“I do hope you enjoyed that,” Mr. Wintergreen gazed down at her. “You are a perfect, beautiful stone. Let me just lift you onto your pedestal–” He tried to lift the new gem but needed to use a bit of magic to get it where it belonged.

“All set. Wow 'em, Carla. Enjoy.”

“Thanks,” her voice echoed in Lance Wintergreen's mind.

“I swear that amethyst got even more beautiful than yesterday,” said a woman as she watched a museum worker polishing the quartz crystals across the room.

Carla smiled to herself. This was one of her favorite parts of the day – being cleaned. Every swipe of the duster against her crystals was so titillating, she almost couldn't stand it. Of course, she didn't have much choice. For, after all, she was only a rock. She couldn't move or talk. She could only remain on her pedestal, perfect and beautiful, observing the world go by.

How she loved being on display! She had never had many admirers in her life, and the expression on her visitors' faces was also so full of awe! How could nature create such a perfect specimen? She basked in their admiration, and it fed her ego greatly. She almost felt like a peacock displaying its feathers. Maybe she'd try that one day.

The lights shone on her in just the right way, and she could feel a very slight tingly warmth from them. She dreaded the end of her week – she would have to be imperfect and human again so she could finish out school.

But she knew exactly what she would be doing on summer break.