Sarah made it to Mrs. Fleischer's class in good time, and sat down next to Jamie and Renee. Sarah found this class interesting, because her classmates all knew North American culture much better than she did, but she knew European culture better than even the teacher. Renee, on the other hand, had intimate knowledge on every island in the Caribbean. Because of her natural intelligence, and because she studied with the two foreigners, Jaime was by far the best student in the class. Mrs. Fleischer always took special interest in the three of them, and even allowed them to sit together while the rest of the class was in assigned seats.
Sarah found herself still slightly embarrassed about what had happened with Gordon, and she half-hoped he didn't ask her out. She found it hard to focus on what the teacher was saying, both because of the English and because her mind was focused on Gordon, and dating in general.
Sarah knew she'd gone out on dates before, back in the old reality, but she couldn't remember how to act during one. Her new self had never been asked out. She knew how to present herself normally, and she knew how to act around her close friends, but outside of "the familiar," she felt uneasy.
The headache brought Sarah back to reality. She still had to worry about those, she realized. Forgetting about Gordon, she saw that Mrs. Fleischer's face looked more professional than it had before. Although she was in her late 40's, she could easily be mistaken for a woman in her 30's with the job she'd done smoothing wrinkles and shifting her coloring. It was almost as if she knew everything there was about makeup.
Which would make her the second teacher Sarah had lost her beautician abilities to. Fortunately for Sarah, the original Mrs. Fleischer knew a lot more about makeup than Nurse Evans had. Sarah snuck a peek at her compact, which was now a simple plastic object, as opposed to the polished metal of the one she'd had all day. She still had makeup on, but she definitely didn't look as nice as she had a moment ago. A thought occurred to her: would Gordon still want to ask her out?
Sarah closed the compact and put it away, as another headache struck her. Were these things happening more frequently? Sarah felt like she was going insane. Especially when she looked down at herself to see a baby blue polo over jeans and ballet slippers. That's what Jamie had been wearing!
Sarah's eyes shot towards Jamie, who was answering a question in a low-cut canary yellow blouse with frills down the sleeves, over a black skirt that came to just below her knees and a black pair of short heels. Precisely what Sarah had been wearing all day.
Sarah supposed the chess team had just gotten that much more popular. Maybe meets were even attended now, if only to see the well put-together Jamie. The thought of whether Gordon would still like her came to mind, but Sarah shut it out, reminding herself that she'd decided to not let losses get to her. She was still smart, she still had friends, and, most importantly, she was still a girl.
