Jonchelle was busy watching a makeup tutorial on her computer when her mother knocked on the door.
“Honey, we’re going to get takeout tonight from the Chinese place. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, sounds great.” Rose handed her the menu. Jon would have simply asked for his usual, but since Jonchelle was a brand new person and on a diet, she needed to study the menu for a new favorite.
Selecting her order, she handed Rose the menu back.
“I just need to get your brother’s choice and then I’ll place the order. It’ll be ready in about half an hour.”
“OK.” Jonchelle turned back to the video.
“That color looks great on you, by the way.” Jonchelle smiled as her Mom left the room.
Half an hour later, Rose called Jonchelle to help set the table.
“It should be here any minute,” she explained as Jonchelle entered the kitchen. Normally, setting the table was Zoe’s job, but now that task fell to Jonchelle.
The doorbell rang just as Jonchelle finished placing the last fork. Mom went to collect it, calling everybody down as she did so.
“That’ll be, uh, $45.29, uh, ma’am,” Jonchelle heard the delivery boy stammer. Curious, she poked her head around the kitchen door. To her amusement, she saw what was clearly a girl dressed in boy’s clothes staring openly at her mom’s chest.
“Oh, thank you, honey,” Rose purred as she took some money out of her new purse. The boy handed over the food, and Rose closed the door. Turning to head back to the kitchen, Jonchelle could see why the boy was staring: her breasts were practically on display through the red dress. How come she hadn’t noticed it before?
Once the family had all gathered at the table, Rose placed the bag in the center and started handing out the dishes. Everyone was silent as they tucked in but eventually the conversation turned to their rooms.
“Mom!!” Jonchelle whined. “Zoe’s room is so dark and Zachary won’t let me have my old room back. I need something that reflects the girl that I am. Something that’s not black,” she emphasized, glaring at Zachary.
Zachary shrugged his shoulders, looking innocent.
“What? You’re the one who insisted on taking that room last night. Maybe you should have thought about that before you declared that room as yours.”
Zachary did have a point, but Jonchelle wasn’t going to admit that. She was going to continue playing the victim until she got what she wanted—namely, a purple bedroom.
“And I want something pink!” Kiera piped up. “If I’m going to be like those girls that I’ve seen on TV, then I need a really pink room with lots of dolls in it.”
Rose and Liam looked at each other. They were perfectly happy with their room since Rose and Linda had pretty similar tastes when it came to decorating. Their room was nice and light and definitely had more of a woman’s touch than a man’s, something which Rose was pleased with.
“Alright, if it’ll make you guys happy, we’ll go shopping again tomorrow and get all the stuff for your rooms.” Liam said. “I’m just glad that we got the money from the government last week, otherwise we’d never be able to afford all of this.”
“Really!?” Jonchelle screamed. She got out of her seat and rushed over to hug her father. “Oh, thank you, Daddy.” It seemed that Jonchelle was a bit of a hugger.
After dinner, Jonchelle headed back up to her room. Picking up her phone she saw that she had a missed call from Karyn so she rang her back.
“What the hell, Jon!?” Karyn nearly shouted as soon as she picked up.
“What do you mean?” Jonchelle asked, irritated. “And it’s Jonchelle, not Jon.”
“Whatever, I just saw your Instagram post. You’re really going to go through with this, aren’t you?”
Jonchelle nodded, even though Karyn couldn’t see. “Uh-huh and you know what? It turns out that I’m not the only one doing this. Practically everyone in town is taking part. I even met someone today who helped me pick out all of my clothes.”
“You don’t have to tell me, Jon,” Karyn continued, her voice rising to a boil of indignation. “My parents practically begged me to come with them to the mall and then when they came home I found my dad all dolled up like some blonde bimbo while my mom looked like a stereotypical trucker.”
“Hey!” Jonchelle shot back. “I’m not a bimbo!” She absentmindedly touched her blonde wig.
“No, I didn’t say that you were, Jon. I just meant my dad. You should see him. He looks like a hooker.”
Jonchelle shook her head. She was becoming more and more frustrated with Karyn each time she called her Jon. Why couldn’t she get with the program?
“Look,” Jonchelle started. “If you’re not going to be supportive of this, then I’m not sure if we can be friends anymore. I’ve already made a friend at the mall who’s been much more supportive than you, and I barely even know her.”
“Jon! Wait!”
“It’s Jon_chelle_!” she protested one last time before she hung up. Frustrated, she threw her phone onto the bed. Stomping her foot, she went over to her computer, opened up Messenger and decided to video call Vanessa.
“Hey girl!” Vanessa answered after a few minutes.
“What’s up?” she asked after seeing the look on Jonchelle’s face.
“It’s Karyn,” Jonchelle mumbled.
“This the girl that you told me about earlier?”
Jonchelle nodded before telling Vanessa all about their conversation on the phone.
