Edits - Ch 6.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1

Chapter 6.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 - Tim says he thought she would be easier to approach if she were his age.

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Tim figured that it might seem inappropriate to admit that he thought Bonnie looked cute when she was younger. Instead, he decided to give a more practical answer, which had just occurred to him.

“Well,” Tim said. “I thought I might want to talk to you after making you older, so it made sense to make you the same age as me. If I had made you older than me, then you’d probably just have treated me like a silly little kid. If I had made you younger than me, then I might have come off as some scary older guy. Being the same age means we’re on the same level. That’s all it was. I just wanted to avoid an age gap.”

Bonnie considered his response for a long while as Tim watched her closely, but her expression was hard to read. He suspected that she doubted his intentions. However, she was keeping her thoughts and feelings hidden. She walked over to a railing to get a view of the play area on the floor below them, and Tim followed her. They could see Chris and Ryan down there, having fun.

“I have another question,” she said after taking some time to think.

“Okay.”

“Are you going to turn me back to normal soon?”

“Um,” Tim said, unsure how to respond except to be honest. “I wasn’t planning on it.”

“Good,” she replied, revealing a faint smile.

“So, you like it, then?” Tim asked. “Being older?”

She glared at him as if he were an idiot. “Would you like it if I turned you into a dumb little kid, like you did to my brother?”

“Probably not,” Tim admitted.

“Why would you think that I’d want to go back to being a dumb 8-year-old?”

“I dunno,” Tim said, leaning on the railing. “I thought that you might find being older to be kinda scary, maybe?”

“It is,” Bonnie replied, leaning on the railing beside him. She stared down at her childish brother, having fun without a worry in his head. “I don’t know who I am anymore. Like, I remember who I was, but now I have all these new thoughts in my head. I know words that I never learned. I know about more grown up stuff.”

“Like what?” Tim asked out of genuine curiosity.

“Well, for one thing,” she said. “I understand percentages. I was looking at a sale sign, and I understood immediately why someone would be interested in it. I know what Algebra is. I bet I could even solve an equation.”

“So, you know math?”

She looked at him. “I know other things as well. Like, I know that you might want to kiss me.”

Tim was too shocked to respond.

“It’s a thing teenagers do, right?” she added. Then, she stared off into the distance. “There’s other things teenagers do together…” Her eyes went wide. “Oh! There’s sex. That’s a thing.” She turned to look at him with an expression of amazement on her face. “I know what sex is now. That’s kinda crazy.”

“Yeah,” Tim said. “‘Crazy.’”

Blushing, she added, “I don’t think I’ve actually done it… not in this reality. You know?”

“Me neither,” Tim confessed.

Again, her eyes stared off into the distance. “How am I supposed to go back to primary school with that in my head?”

“You don’t have to,” Tim said. “I mean, I can clear that away when you go back to your normal age.”

“Now, that’s something that scares me,” she said, frowning. “The thought that you have the power to just erase my mind, like cleaning marks off of a white board. I don’t want to lose what I have now. I don’t want to lose Algebra and sex and all the rest. I don’t want to be a dumb kid.”

“I understand.”

“So,” she said, looking him in the eyes. “Can you promise to not change my age again until I ask you to do it?”

“Sure,” Tim said. “Sorry about doing that before.”

“I’m not complaining,” Bonnie said, smiling. “I’m excited to see what else I have going on as a teenager.”

“So, what do we do now?”

She looked down at the play area and said, “Looks like our brothers are going to get their ice cream. Let’s go meet them there. After that… We’ll see.”

She walked to a nearby escalator and waited to get on it. “Hold my hand,” she said, extending her hand to him.

“What?” he asked, feeling himself getting sweaty.

“I’m scared of these things, escalators. I know it’s childish, but I am. I can ride one if I’m holding someone’s hand. Okay?”

“Okay,” Tim said and took her hand, hoping his palm was still dry.

They stepped onto the escalator together and rode it down, nervously turning their eyes away from each other as they went.

When they were nearly at the bottom, Bonnie said, “Anyone looking at us right now would probably think we’re a couple.”

“Yeah,” Tim said, wondering if it was her hand or his hand that was sweating.

They stepped off the bottom of the escalator, but she kept holding his hand as they walked to the ice cream shop. Neither of them commented on it, however. They only released each other when they reached the boys.

Where do they all go next?

Bonnie gives Tim and Chris a ride home in her car. (6.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1)

Bonnie convinces Tim to make Ryan his normal age again.

Bonnie decides that she wants to reverse their changes, except for her mind.

Bonnie decides that she wants to reverse all of their changes.