It looked like what he was used to, at least from afar. There were students getting off the bus, cars in the drop-off lane, kids hanging out outside.
Well, except for the fact that the Lake Point High School mascot had suddenly become the Pussycats.
“Oh my,” Jon softly muttered to himself. The same femininity that he had seen in action in his own home was everywhere here.
Boys were giggling, purses slung over their shoulders. They were wearing flowery dresses, cute tops, and noticeable makeup. If not for their flat chests, it would have been impossible to distinguish many of them from the girls, and some outfits even gave the impression of breasts to lessen that gap.
Zoe had already run off to find her friends, so Jonni was alone, wandering the halls in the general direction of the dance studio. There were signs for sporting events, so it seemed sports weren’t entirely gone altogether. Aside from the typical club announcements, he did see a couple for dance meets. Is that, like, the competitive dance my schedule mentioned?
“Hey Jonni-boy,” someone called out. He immediately recognized the voice.
“Hey K-Corinne,” he quickly corrected. That is going to take some getting used to. “What’s up?”
“Not a lot…” Corinne must have been, much like her name, more feminine than the Karyn Jon knew. She was wearing a flowy outfit, more makeup than Jon had ever seen on Karyn, and even earrings. “Though I gotta ask… What’s with the black lipstick? Ms. Conway won’t be happy if he sees you like that. Let’s fix that,” Corinne said, motioning Jonni to follow her to the bathroom.
“Whaddya mean? Yeah, I grabbed the wrong lipstick tube by mistake, but…”
“You know how picky he is. Gimme your purse,” Corinne asked as the two entered the restroom. It was the only restroom, Jonni noticed, with no “boys” and “girls” signs, and it didn’t even have urinals. Luckily, it had full-length and makeup mirrors. Guess they care about that a lot. Corinne rummaged through Jonni’s purse and found a tube of purple lipstick. “This is more like it,” she added, handing him a pad of makeup remover. From there, Jonni went to work, removing the black color and applying the new purple.
“Would red look good on me?”
“Sure it would, but you’ve always been a purple boy. From the time I’ve known you. Remember when you wanted to change your name to Lilac?”
“Wow,” Jonni fibbed. “That seems so long ago.” And I actually wanted to do that? Wow, this world runs deep.
“I think you look good, boy,” Corinne smiled back. The two walked out of the restroom, Jonni taking one last look at the unfamiliar space, and toward the dance room as the first bell rang.
