Jen and Karyn sat at one of the tables, sipping on the smoothies that they had purchased a few minutes prior.
"What do you think she wants?" Karyn asked.
"Still couldn't tell you, Karyn." Jen said, taking a sip. "We'll find out in a few minutes."
"Did you bring the stone? I mean, if she tries something..."
"No, I didn't. Too risky. Besides, Sarah doesn't have any power." Jen said. "Without Ms. Holloway, she doesn't have any sort of advantage over us. Besides, the stone told me she isn't going to try anything."
Jen looked her friend over again as she took another sip. Karyn was dressed...really differently from her usual choice of attire. She was wearing a tight white top, which showed off a bit of her magically enhanced cleavage, and a pair of khaki capris. It was a bit jarring. She's definitely being affected as much as we are. Maybe more, mentally.
"Jen, Karyn, hi." the pair heard. Looking up, they saw Jade approaching. "I assume that Sarah messaged you as well?"
"Um, yeah...she did. Guess the whole gang probably got a similar message." Karyn said, looking Jade over. She was wearing a pair of jeans, like Jen, but a pink t-shirt.
"It's likely. I did some research last night and..." Jade paused as she looked between Karyn and Jen. "Are the looks about the shirt?"
"Um, it just seems a little...out of character for you." Jen said.
"This was one of the more...neutral choices in my new wardrobe." Jade said. "In any case, I did not come to discuss fashion. Did either of you happen to look at your social media sites?"
Jen and Karyn shook their heads. "I figured as much. It was a big day, I won't fault you for not extensively researching everything. Though, I feel we should wait for the others to discuss my findings."
"Blab away, nerd." A new voice said. The three looked over as Trinity approached them. She was wearing a baggy pair of black pants with chains hanging off of them and a black tank top. Her long purple hair was pulled back in a pony tail. "I'm pretty curious to find out what you learned."
"I'd rather not repeat myself several times." Jade said, staring Trinity down as she sat at the table. "Besides, our host may be able to answer some of the questions I have."
"I'm a little surprised you showed up, Trinity." Jen said. "Would have figured you'd avoid Sarah at any cost."
"The brain's not the only one with questions that need answering." Trinity said.
"Oh, did Zoe ever get a hold of you?" Jen asked, taking a sip from her smoothie.
"I...saw her texts. I'll get back to her once this cluster fuck is over." Trinity said, leaning back. "Oh, hey, here come the nun and the jock. Almost time to get the party started, I guess."
"Um, hi everyone." Randi said as Nadine waved at everyone. "I guess everyone did get called here."
"What was your first clue?" Trinity asked. "The fact that people who would normally never associate were all sitting together?"
"No need for the snarky response." Nadine said. "We were discussing, as we approached, whether Sarah was trying to...divide and conquer, so to speak."
"A feasible line of thought." Jade said. "But it seems that is not her plan."
"Oh, everyone is here..." another voice said. Everyone looked over and saw Delia approaching. She was wearing a black and white striped long sleeved shirt and a tight black pair of pants. "Um...nice to see everyone?"
"Just sit down, mopey." Trinity said. "No need for the awkward hellos. We've already been through a few."
Delia lowered her head and sat at the table. A few minutes later, Sarah walked up to the table. "You all made it. Great!" she said, taking a seat. "I'm so happy."
"I bet..." Randi said. "What's all this about, Sarah."
"Well, I know that yesterday was...tough for you all." Sarah said. "I wanted to try to get everything on the right foot."
"On the right foot?" Trinity asked. "You got that crazy witch to steal our lives away from us."
"I didn't ask her to change you, specifically." Sarah said. "Ms. Holloway told me that we needed to pick randomly, and fate would do that. And the whole thing was her idea, really."
"But you played a part in it." Jen said. "You can't act like you're innocent in this."
"I...I know." Sarah said, slumping a bit and putting her hands on the table. "I didn't expect any of this. I figured a bunch of random girls would be picked, and she would turn them into great cheer leaders. It would have been much simpler, and no one would have been so strongly affected."
"Either way, it's wrong. She shouldn't go around changing people against their will. Regardless of who it is." Karyn said.
"I...I know."
"And I've got a question." Trinity chimed in. "Why, ever since this change, does your father have his hands in my pops' business?"
"And, looking through each of our Facebooks and Twitters, we seem to have all been friends for a long time..." Jade said. "All of us. You included."
Sarah sighed. "Ms. Holloway said that we would all be strongly connected." she said. "Something about bonds making the team stronger."
"And I'm sure you were okay with that." Trinity said. "What, you get a new team and your daddy's profit margin goes up?"
"No! I had no idea that that would happen." Sarah said. "I didn't know the specifics of any of this whole process."
"Why should we believe that?" Randi asked. "I mean, after your part in this... And the way you were acting."
"Please, just listen. I was...I was desperate. My team mates, my friends...they all ruined their lives and because of that, they...abandoned me." Sarah said. "When Ms. Holloway offered me a way to get some semblance of normalcy back, I...I admit I jumped at it. And as she was doing it, I...I got caught up in it."
"And you didn't care who was affected." Trinity said, standing up. "I've had enough of your excuses. I'm outta here."
"Me too..." Randi said. "I just...I can't deal with this right now."
One by one, each of the girls left the table, until only Delia and a dejected Sarah remained.
Delia and Sarah looked at each other for a moment.
"Well?" Sarah asked. "Are you gonna storm off like the rest of them?"
Delia looked at Sarah for a moment before speaking. "I cam here to ask about why...something had changed because of what Ms. Holloway did, but...you really don't know, do you?"
Sarah shook her head. "I honestly wasn't given many details about any of this..."
Delia sighed. "You're really trying, aren't you. To...to make this work? To make up for yesterday."
Sarah nodded.
Delia stood up, eliciting a confused look from Sarah. "Stay here." Delia said. "I'm gonna go get the others."
"You don't have to. I made my choices, I should be the one to..." Sarah began.
"No." Delia said. "You seem to feel really bad about yesterday, and you're clearly hurting. I'll go get them, they may be more responsive to me."
"Delia...thanks." Sarah said.
"No problem. I mean, what are friends for?" Delia asked, smiling.
Sarah smiled back, as Delia left.
