Lizzie sat on her bed, sunshine spilling across her lap. She cradled the crystal in her hands thoughtfully. After a long stretch of consideration, she finally nodded to herself.

“Okay, crystal, do your thing.”

To no one’s surprise, the crystal did nothing. It was too bad this thing didn’t come with an instruction manual. She stood up, staring down at it questioningly.

“Hello?” Lizzie shook it gently. “Hello?” A little less gently. “Is this thing on?” 

A faint glow started to come from the crystal, and Lizzie could feel the buzz of magic against her palm.

“Hello.”

Lizzie nearly tumbled backwards onto her bed when Josie - no, SimuJosie - spoke. 

After she had collected herself, Lizzie took in the projection. “You look … very realistic.”

“Thank you!” SimuJosie smiled away.

“So … you’re my subconscious?” Lizzie raised her eyebrows, a little skeptical that this would all work as nicely as Emma had said. “Well, go ahead. Tell me what I need to hear.”

“That’s not how this works,” SimuJosie said, her hands folded in front of her. “You do all the talking. I jump in when you need a push.” 

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Of course the therapy crystal makes me do all the work.” Sighing, she tried to come up with the talking she needed to do. She couldn’t think of anything. “What do I even say?”

“Well, I’m here.” SimuJosie looked down at her body. “It must have something to do with me.”

Lizzie swallowed heavily. That sinking feeling in her stomach wasn’t a good one.

SimuJosie caught on. “And judging by that look on your face, you know what it is.”

Lizzie sat down on the edge of her bed. The crystal was growing too warm in her hands as she stared at it. “Shouldn’t I be saying this to the real Josie?”

“Consider this practice.”

Lizzie let out a loud sigh, straightening her shoulders and adjusting in her spot. “Sometimes … I get jealous.” She glanced up. “Of you. Like today. I really like Andrea, and it … it feels like you stole her away - which is ridiculous, I know, because she can be friends with both of us. But it also feels like a pattern. Like when you read my diary and found out about my crush on Jed. And then you dated him for a week. Or when I had a crush on Penelope, so you became her best friend and started flirting with her.”

SimuJosie finally spoke up, “We both know how you and Penelope turned out.”

Lizzie’s eyes pleaded with her silently.

“You’re also forgetting when you wanted to ask Rafael out, and I kissed him.” SimuJosie pursed her lips and crossed her arms, staring at the floor. “So your point is taken.”

Lizzie held the crystal up. “How do I turn this off?”