Sarah learned that night that her parents, while strongly resembling her old parents, were now named Micha and Leon McMillan, that they spoke Dutch in the house even though all three were trilingual, and that they'd moved to the United States when Sarah was seven years old because her father was transferred to his company's American office.
She learned some of this by asking strategic questions, and she learned some of this just by thinking about it, but all in all, Sarah found that she had a somewhat more sophisticated life than she had been used to, and the more she discovered, the more she convinced herself that she liked it.
Sarah went to school the next morning with a large sidebag instead of a backpack, getting out of the house early and deciding to walk the whole way instead of taking the bus.
When she got on campus, the cheerleaders waved at her, and she waved back, smiling the biggest smile she could ever remember. But she kept walking, knowing she'd made a promise to Jon, and all of his friends by extension. The first person she saw in the hallway that she recognized was Jamie Duncan. She ran up to her, excitement in her face and said "Jamie!"
Jamie smiled at the sound of her name and turned around, shouting "Sarah!"
When the two girls were in front of each other, Sarah asked, "So, what happened in chess club?"
Jamie bit her lower lip, but couldn't hide the smile that was showing through. "I'm on the team. I'm on the team!"
The two girls squealed and hugged each other, but Jamie separated quickly and said, "Wait a minute, what about you? Are you okay now? I mean, you weren't doing so well yesterday, but you look fine now."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sarah said. "All my problems sort of got worked out by themselves."
Just saying that made Sarah feel good. She felt like she could do anything today. Her nightmare was over, and it was replaced by a utopia. Nothing could bring her down now.
