Jon looked around nervously; the crowd was already starting to take notice. She narrowed her eyes. "Zoe, what the hell," she said through gritted teeth, unintentionally curling the corner of her lip slightly so that her fangs peeked out.
Her sister somehow managed to look slightly apologetic and not actually at all sorry at the same time. "I had to show them, Jon," she said, leaning down close to the new sphinx's face, trying to supress a grin. "I know you probably don't think so, but you got to become the most amazing thing. Your new body...it's just this..." She waved her hands to indicate that she was searching for the right words. "...this kind of combination of dangerous and elegant, and it's exactly the kind of thing my friends think is cool as hell, and they'd never forgive me if I didn't show them!"
Jon was unnerved, and not just because she could hear whispering starting up around them; she couldn't recall seeing Zoe this animated since she was a little girl, certainly not since she'd become a teenager and gone Goth. This was the kind of reaction Jon might've expected from an eight-year-old girly-girl who just discovered that unicorns are real, not from her antisocial teenage sister. She felt her tail lashing behind her, betraying her increasing agitation to anybody who knew to look.
"Gods, look at her," Athena said. "She's straight out of a painting." Zelda nodded appreciatively.
Jon sighed, this time not needing to play it up. "Look," she said, feeling the fur around the base of her neck start to bristle, "I'm glad this is such a kick for you three, but right now I'm facing the prospect of getting through the rest of the school day without hands and going around on all fours with my face at everyone else's ass level, and you've damn near announced this to my entire class, and don't tell me fringe types like yourselves don't know what happens when a crowd gets wind of something like this. Now if you'll excuse me, Karyn and I have to get to class."
One further shortcoming of being quadrupedal, Jon discovered, is that it's impossible to turn on one's heel and stalk off dramatically. It might have been possible to achieve a similar effect with a dramatic wing-flourish, but she settled for curving around as best as she could and slunk into the classroom, followed by her catgirl best friend.
"That was maybe a little harsh, Jon," Karyn whispered under her breath as they moved through the classroom toward their seats. "They didn't mean any harm."
Jon sighed. "Yeah, I know," she said. "It's just...as if I wasn't going to attract enough attention already..."
Karyn shrugged. "Yeah, but I'm not sure there was any way around it to begin with."
"Well it certainly isn't going to help matters." Jon regarded her desk. Why do they give you tinier desks the older you get? she thought to herself. She considered trying to seat herself in the little chair and set her forepaws up on the undersized writing surface, but dismissed that idea as soon as she thought of it; she couldn't picture anything with the body of even a midget lion(ess) doing that and not looking like some kind of circus act. Besides, it was only the second day back; it wasn't like she was going to need to be taking copious notes yet. She settled for sitting as close to upright as she could manage, with her haunches planted on the floor beside her desk and her forelegs propping her front end up. It didn't really give her much of a view, and it did kind of make her fur-covered bust more noticeable, but it was that or lie down and take a nap, and she didn't think that would go over well.
"They were right, y'know," the cat-girl said.
Jon groaned. "Oh come on, Karyn, not you too."
"No, I'm serious," Karyn replied. "Look, I know you're not keen on trying this out longer than you have to, and I understand why, but you might as well appreciate it for what it is while you are this way. And the fact is, you did turn out kinda cool."
The sphinx sighed. "Maybe. I'm still trying to get past the inconveniences, myself."
"It's only for a day," Karyn said. "You said so yourself."
Jon just shrugged, her wings flexing slightly along with her shoulders. The teacher was taking his place, anyway; things should be fine from there, she hoped. At least, the whispering was dying down.
