Jon followed Karyn out of the shop, still a little worried about her eagerness to use the Assimilator. "You do realize that we forgot to buy Halloween costumes, right?" he asked.
"Oh, I haven't forgotten. I just didn't want to buy a costume from a real magic shop, you probably would have ended up as a French Maid or something," Karyn replied.
Jon blinked. "Wait, why would I end up as a French Maid?"
"Just seems like what would happen. Oh look who just came out Victoria's Secret."
Jon followed her gaze to see a small flock of girls exiting the lingerie store and at the rear of the pack was Sarah McMillan. The snobby cheerleader often went out of her way to make fun of Jon. He seemed to remember Karyn getting the same treatment, even though Sarah had mostly left her alone recently. From the look on her face Karyn felt the same way.
"Wouldn't it be something if Sarah was genuinely nice to you for once?" Karyn said while taking aim. Jon did not get the chance to reply before a cheesy ZZZAPPP rang out and a flash lit up the mall hallway.
Karyn smiled as she saw the transformed cheerleader. Sarah's baby pink shirt and skirt had shifted to match Karyn's darker top and jeans. Her entire posture had shifted leaving Sarah looking more relaxed and less perky. The gaggle of other cheerleaders broke into a fit of giggles at some unknown joke, and Karyn smiled as she saw Sarah throw them a slightly disgusted look.
Then Karyn noticed an odd sensation on her hip. She looked down to see Jon's hand resting there. "Um, that guy did say that anyone not holding the gun would think that the Assimilated were normal," Jon explained with a bit of a shy grin. "You didn't give me much warning there, so I tried to just make contact with you and hoped it would work."
"Good point, sorry about that. So do you remember Sarah being a super bitchy cheerleader?"
"I sure do," Jon answered.
"Great, so you can move your hand now," Karyn replied, amused but stern.
Jon pulled his hand away. "Right, sorry. Now what?"
Karyn smiled and thought a moment. Jon's hand had felt pretty good. She never really considered him as anything other than a friend, but in the past few months there had been a few times she'd caught herself looking at him a little differently. Maybe he had similar feelings. "Jon-Boy, I think you should go talk to her."
