Spring Cleaning

Chapter 4
Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend

Chapter Description: "I can't believe I'm fourteen now! That's practically a woman. I've been a teenager for a whole year now, so I'm getting used to it, but it's still so exciting! I love these earrings, they really bring attention to my face. Maybe I can get Mom to let me wear makeup soon!"

Angela set herself to work gathering several odds and ends into neat little piles. Stuffed animals were placed on the bed, shoes near the closet, and dolls in the far left corner of the room. Things were becoming a bit more orderly, but there was much still to do.

Suddenly Angela noticed a clicking noise. The buried music box, which she recalled had been playing Pomp and Circumstance when she was thinking about the events of "last night", had stopped. She sighed, a little disappointed that she had to put graduation out of mind for now.

A few minutes later, she found herself sorting through a cardboard box which had been tucked away under her bed. Realizing that her mother probably would count "under the bed" as "clean", Angela was about to close the box and put it back. But just then, something in the box caught her eye. She reached in and pulled out a small black case. Wiping the dust off of it, she opened it carefully. When she realized what it was, she smiled.

Oh, these are from --

The obscure music box began to play a tune almost everyone hears every year.

-- my fourteenth birthday!

She looked down tenderly at the contents of the case: a pair of real, diamond stud earrings. Angela’s mother had always told her as a child, "When I was fourteen, my mother finally let me get earrings. You can wait that long too, right?" Well, Angela did wait that long, and she was rewarded for doing so. On her fourteenth birthday, not only did her parents finally take her to get her ears pierced, they also bought her the exact pair of stunning studs she had fallen in love with when reading a jewelry magazine. She was elated, and wore them every day until she was fifteen, when she received the sapphire earrings her great grandmother used to wear, as part of a family tradition. She wore those until she was seventeen, at which point she received parental permission to sell them and add the money to her college fund. After that, she’d looked for the old earrings from her fourteenth, but could never find them.

And now, here they were, right in her hands, just as beautiful as they were when she received them.

This is so cool -- I’ve gotta try them on!

She trudged through the somewhat orderly sea of memories and once again stood in front of the mirror. Taking out and setting aside the fake gold earrings she had been wearing, she removed the diamond studs from their case and admired their shimmer in her hand. She then gingerly set the studs into her ears -- first the left, then the right.

As soon as she finished putting on the studs, a surge of energy raced through Angela’s body -- and wonders began to occur.

On her dresser, the graduation cap which she had worn with pride and fondness only ten minutes before -- along with the diploma, her Senior ring, and indeed the vast majority of the items in her room which alluded to her high school career -- faded into the ether.

But again, this marvel paled in comparison to what was happening to Angela herself.

When she entered the slovenly room at the age of 21, she had been a healthy height of 5’7". The regression to 18 had taken only one inch from her. However, this new rejuvenation stole half a foot from Angela, leaving her roughly five feet tall, if not a tiny bit less.

Her body became considerably less voluptuous in all respects. Legs relinquished their lustiness, becoming much more slender and girlish. Arms which had been enlivened by an entire high school career of volleyball melted away, leaving lithe and powerless appendages in their place. Her bust all but vanished, receding into her chest until only the miniature breasts of a very early teen remained.

The features of her face lost nearly all traces of womanhood, and instead now bore strong signs of childhood. Freckles reappeared on her cheeks in some places. Plastic-framed glasses manifested themselves before her eyes, a precursor to the contact lenses she had been wearing only a minute before. A retainer grew in her mouth, the remnant of her run-in with braces back when she was eleven. Her hair shortened to about shoulder length, and raised itself into a ponytail so that her ears -- which still sported the earrings from which this regressive power seemed to flow -- were in clearer view.

Her clothing was not exempt from this transfiguration. The brassiere that had been housing her substantial cleavage contoured to fit her shrunken assets. The lacy underwear she had worn as a Senior devolved into a pair of plain white panties. Her jeans, which had been long and trendy, retracted into denim shorts, with a floral pattern stitched onto the front left leg. The Senior Spirit shirt she had been wearing out of lingering patriotism to her high school converted itself into a yellow cotton tee, bearing the name and logo of the Youth Group at her family’s church, of which she was a member. And finally her shoes, which had been fashionable and quite expensive, shifted into common, colorful sneakers as a young teen might wear.

And a young teen she now was, as the energy of the earrings subsided: Angela had regressed to her 14th birthday, the very first day she’d worn her diamond studs. And all thoughts of her life beyond that birthday -- be they of friends, boyfriends, sex, or knowledge -- immediately evaporated.

The girl admired herself in the mirror, thinking how pretty she looked with her new earrings.

I can’t believe I’m fourteen now! That’s practically a woman. I’ve been a teenager for a whole year now, so I’m getting used to it, but it’s still so exciting! I love these earrings, they really bring attention to my face. Maybe I can get Mom to let me wear makeup soon!

Angela continued to admire herself in the mirror for a few minutes, complimenting herself several times.

The music box continued to play "Happy Birthday".

The budding teen sighed happily and fell backwards onto her bed. Her thoughts trailed off a bit as she listened to the song of the music box.

How many more birthdays until I’m a woman? It’s a bit of a scary thought, I guess. Am I still a kid in some ways? I guess I must be, since I’ve only been a teenager for a year. Do I still like any kid things?

After a bit more pondering of this sort, Angela sat up and scanned her room. It was kinda messy, she decided, so maybe she should clean it up.

It’s the least I can do to repay my mom for getting me these earrings, right?

She sprung from her bed and looked around. There were lots of things scattered around the room that she hadn’t used in a while, so she figured most of them could go in the closet.

When Mom sees that I’m taking responsibility like this, maybe she will let me start wearing makeup!

So Angela reasoned to herself as she proceeded to gather and organize the items spread across the moderately-messy room.

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Downstairs, Mrs. Thomas was in the kitchen, in the midst of her usual cooking. She looked up at the clock on the wall and grinned knowingly.

"Won’t be long now..." she mused to herself.

The ingredients stewed in the pot, while images of the upcoming evening stewed in Mrs. Thomas’ head.