"Um, hi." Jon had no idea how to start this conversation, and she had no idea what to expect from it. What she got was a glare from the necklaced Sarah, and a disapproving glance from a few of her neighbor Sarahs.
"Yes?"
A panic rose up in Jon's chest before she managed to quell it. For all the downsides of living in a city of clones, it also meant that she wasn't the nondescript, cowed, social outcast that she had been only a few days before. Now the playing field was leveled. Jon was just as good as anyone else on this beach, and the only thing that might stop people from realizing that would be if she did something to arouse suspicion. Jon was in control of how she was viewed. It was like, in the body of Sarah McMillan, Jon now had a fresh start.
So Jon chose to giggle. "I love your necklace. It is just so pretty."
"Well, of course it is," the other Sarah smirked. "I picked it out."
But then the smirk faltered. The other Sarah narrowed her eyes. "Nobody else has noticed my necklace before. Not since... well, not since things started changing. Why do you care about it all of a sudden?"
Jon almost lost her composure, but regained it before opening her mouth. "So you've noticed the changes." It was a statement, not a question. "Who are you?"
With a swiftness and determination only so characteristic of Sarah McMillan, the girl rose from her blanket and grabbed Jon's wrist. "Come with me." She dragged her back out of the sea of girls and into the parking lot.
