Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Her mother's trembling voice carried through the thin wood. "Honey," she said, "do you feel like some dinner?"
"Uh... Yeah mom. I'll be right down," Karyn said, startled.
As the sound of her mother's steps faded away, she plunged into a pile of clothes, looking for something that would fit comfortably. Finally she came up with a loose T-shirt and skirt. Pants, she decided, were going to have to wait until she got all this hair off. None of her skirts had pockets, so she slipped the stone into one of the cups of her new, larger bra.
As she descended the stairs to the kitchen, she giggled to see her little fluffy feet sticking out of the bottom of the skirt. She knew she could modify herself back to the look she wanted, so the whole experience was extremely comical.
Resuming her real form, she decided, would have to wait until she was going to give the stone back to Jon. Even if he couldn't believe that SHE had the stone, she really didn't want to answer any questions about how she returned to normal.
Life didn't become any less surreal during dinner. Everyone in her family tried to avoid looking at her, though she caught her mom looking at her with concern a few times out of the corner of her eye. Finally, her mom broke the silence.
"Look, honey, we'll understand if you want to be homeschooled. I know how cruel kids your age are, and it can't be any easier with your... condition"
Karyn hadn't thought about that yet. The kids at school probably would harass her. It might be funny, she thought, to see which ones really were her friends.
"No mom, that's okay. I'll go to school."
"You don't need to be brave," her father argued, "we know how well you've handled this. But why bring that on yourself?"
"Yes honey," her mom added, "I don't mind cutting back my hours to help you."
"Guys, I'll be fine!" Karyn said, "I wish you wouldn't worry so much. I can deal with it."
"You know, she's right. She's old enough to take care of herself now Linda," her father said.
"Well, if you think you'll be okay, I believe you," her mom said.
With that, the matter was closed. It wasn't until the next day that Karyn began to have second thoughts about school.
