As Gladys and Coach Barry were making their locker room exchanges, the Sarah McMillan that wasn't underwear, the one that was wearing Jon as a bra, wandered through the halls of the school, seemingly aimlessly.
"Well I've already made you lose your best friend, and you're just a bra right now, so what else can I do to you, Jon-boy?"
Jon didn't reply.
"Oh, I know." Sarah's voice dripped with sarcasm as she stopped in front of a particular classroom window. "Let's play with your little sister."
"No!" Jon shouted.
"Yes," Sarah said like she was talking to a child. "You see, I know why you really fight with Zoe. Like I said, I know everything that Karyn knew about you, and she was a bit more observant than you might think."
Sarah looked into the classroom as she held the stone in her hand. "I wish that Zoe Gibson would ask to be excused from class." Then she watched as precisely that happened.
Zoe, for her part, wasn't sure why she suddenly felt like she needed some air, but certainly wasn't expecting to find Sarah McMillan in the hallway when she got there. She started to walk in the other direction.
"Zoe," Sarah called.
"I'm not talking to you," the younger girl said sharply as she continued to walk.
"Zoe, did you know that your brother loves you very much?"
She stopped. "What?"
"I just thought you should know. Sometimes it's hard to tell because you fight a lot, but the truth is that Jon is just scared that you'll grow up into the kind of person he doesn't like, someone that doesn't share his basic set of values."
"Sarah," Jon thought at her warily, "what are you doing?" This just caused the girl to grin.
"It's not something he needs to worry about, of course," Sarah continued. "I know it's hard to tell in the thick of things, but any outside observer can see how much you two really do have in common, and it's pretty clear that ten years from now when you're both adults, those basic similarities will most likely lead to a strong familial bond."
Zoe didn't know what to think. What was Sarah up to? "Thanks?"
"Oh, don't thank me yet. I wish that from this point on, Zoe Gibson would start to think of me as her ideal role model."
"What?" Zoe said in surprise.
"What!?" Jon said in shock.
But Sarah was very quickly walking back down the hall, and since Zoe didn't have a wishing stone to get her out of classes, she had to start thinking about returning to her desk. A knot began to tie itself in her stomach as she did so, however, and she found herself unable to concentrate throughout the rest of the lesson.
