A/N I finally did it. You can all be happy.

Disclaimer: As usual, I don't the character (unless I make them up), don't sue me. There will be a few of my own characters in here and I own all of them. But I did get my inspiration from LM Montgomery, and this applies throughout the story. I got banned from uploading fanfiction for a week for forgetting a disclaimer in February, so just know that this applies for the whole story, incase, as I am prone to doing, I forget to put one is each chapter. There. Now no one can report me for forgetting a disclaimer!

Summary: Mary makes a wish on a star to look like Leslie West and it comes true, but will looking like Leslie bring the tragedy that she had into her life as well?

The Whole Bargain

Chapter One

"The Wish"

Mary closed her copy of Anne's House of Dreams with a sigh. She had been reading her favorite chapter, Red Roses. It made her depressed because there was none of this wonderful thing called Romance (of course Mary spelt it in her mind with a Capital R) left in the world. Reading that chapter always made her go into the world of L. M. Montgomery, a place of Romance and lost innocence, where there was no worry over school and boys and how she was going to pass her dreaded Mars project in science, and things like that. At least not in this chapter; this chapter belonged strictly to romance.

It also made her depressed because she was so ugly in comparison to Leslie West. She was short, fairly fat, with brown hair that had glints of gold in it, and she concluded the only thing pretty about her were her eyes. Her eyes were indeed beautiful, hidden behind glasses and thick, black, long lashes. They were sometimes as blue as the sea; sometimes as green as grass, but usually they were gray, the same color as steel, but they were friendly eyes, not cold or stony. Her whole personality was in those eyes. They were as laughing and bubbly, yet serious as she was.

She was a person of many sides; it would take not forever but a considerable amount of time to get to the core of her being. She was a loyal, friendly, and smart person. But one had to say she was ugly, at least on the outside, for they also had to say she had the loveliest personality if you were her friend. You didn't want her for an enemy, but you didn't always need her for a friend. She was so friendly that she would always help out a person even if they weren't one of her best friends. But mostly people would say she was a little left on the outside.

This evening she was sitting on her bed looking out at the stars from her Minnesotan house window. It was beautiful, and since the house was out in the country one could see the stars without having to go outside or use a telescope. You could see them just from your window.

Suddenly she saw a shooting star; it streaked across the sky. Mary had always heard that you could wish on a shooting star, and it would come true as long as you didn't tell anyone what it was. Mary hadn't ever done it before, but she decided to try. Then she wondered what to wish for. An idea popped into her head. She closed her eyes, and said to the star:

 "I wish I looked like Leslie West".

She didn't know why. Posibily she thought if she looked like Leslie West, the romance that Leslie had would follow. She could be so beautiful that guys would crowd around her; like Dana Gordon, the head cheerleader.

*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning she woke up and trudged into the bathroom, she noticed she didn't feel her legs were that fat and she defiantly felt taller, but she thought nothing of it. Then she put some water on her face so that her eyes could open. Then she looked up into the mirror, and almost screamed.

She had long blond hair and deep blue eyes. She was no longer fat and short, but tall and slender. She took out her book and read the description of Leslie. It was all there. She was exactly as Leslie West was described. She let out a scream. Her Mother, who was washing dishes downstairs, heard it, and dropped the plate she was washing.

"Mary are you alright?" she said, sounding concerned.

"Yes, yes. I 'm fine." Was Mary's shaky reply.

"Ok, but be down soon for breakfast."

"I will"

After this conversation Mary suddenly smiled, wasn't she now beautiful? But some where deep down, she was worried, would people notice? They wouldn't recognize her, they would kick her out, and no body would know her.

 "Um, Mom …..Could you come up here for a second?"

"What is it?" said her mom once she got to Mary's room door.

"Do I look, um, different to you?" Mary blurted out the question.

"No, you look like yourself. Why do you ask?  You know you're beautiful. And you are awfully tall and slender for a twelve year old."

"Twelve…" thought Mary, "No! Leslie West's brother died when she was twelve. I couldn't bear it if Ben died."

Aloud she said, "Mom, where is Ben?"

Ben was Mary's younger brother, and she loved him very much. He was several years younger than her, and now she wasn't sure what his age was. Since she was only twelve, his age must be different too. Mary had been thirteen, and Ben eleven. Her mother answered her next question.

"Your little brother is riding in with your dad on the tractor. Your dad's moving all the extra grass to the barn. If you ask me, an eight year old shouldn't be riding in on a tractor."

Mary's heart, if it was physically possible, stopped beating for a while.

*~*~*~*~*~*

 She ran like a deer over to the barn. This is not happening! Was the thought going through her head. She had to get there in time to save him…She had to. She couldn't have Ben died. If he did she would never forgive herself.

An few minutes later a scream could be heard from the barn at the William's house. It was the sound of ultimate heartbreak; no one who heard it could ever forget it. No one. Nothing more tragic could be heard or imagined.

Caroline Bysent could be seen running to the house. When she came back out she wouldn't talk about it. She sobbed for hours. After finishing with her grief she finally said to her parents:

"Ben Williams is dead. He was crushed by the tractor. Mary took it to heart badly, and she wouldn't let the body go. They called me, as I am Mary's best friend. I had to try to coax her to give up the body. I'll never forget her eyes; they looked as though all the tears that were ever shed and would ever be were held up in them. She didn't cry at all, just that one scream. Oh, it was awful." And started sobbing again.

Then the unfortunate best friend of Mary cried herself to sleep. She wish she hadn't seen the small dead body of Ben, who had a nice young boy in her opinion, in her best friend's arms. Looking at her friend had been worse than if she had been sobbing. It was agony just to see the pain in Mary's eyes.

Mary felt as though she was dead. It was all her fault. Her wish had killed someone, her beloved little brother. She could not bring herself to think that she wouldn't she him again. He would come back. He had to.

She started to sleepwalk. Her mother heard footsteps and got up. What she found was her daughter sleepwalking asking over and over again, "When is Ben getting back?"

It was more than she could stand. She woke up her daughter and told her, though it broke her heart as well, that Ben wasn't coming home. He never would. They both sobbed their hearts out, but it must be said Mary's mother did much more of the sobbing. Mary had the heartache that wouldn't leave for a very long time. Mary could not see how life could go on, it seemed so long since last night when she had wished herself into this, now she was already heartbroken. Life couldn't go on.

But youth makes it. And so, it went on.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N Well, there you are.

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much….