Athena shrugged, then continued down the hall and around the corner. Sarah slowly followed her, wondering where she was going.
There was something different about Athena. It was hard for Sarah to figure out what it was, because her mind kept telling her there was nothing odd about any of this. That was rather frustrating.
Athena entered a room around the corner and then turned around. She was wearing a bathrobe and had clearly just came out of the shower. "What?" She asked.
Sarah started. How had she missed it? Athena looked...different. She wasn't a Goth freak, for one. She looked, well, pretty good, although there was something different about her features.
Whatever was going on, Athena was obviously unaware of it. Although Sarah didn't know it, Athena had not been directly affected by the cloud, and thus was totally unaware of the new reality, unlike the many who were.
Sarah asked the first thing that popped into her mind. "I just wanted to talk."
"Oh..." she turned, entered the room, and sat down on the bed. Sarah followed her and looked around. It didn't look like a Goth's room. It looked more like a typical teenager's room, although it was fairly neat.
When Athena noticed Sarah wasn't talking, she started. "Is this about wanting to be a cheerleader again?" Sarah frowned again, and Athena took that as an affirmative. "Look, I'm just looking out for you. I know you haven't found your niche at school, but have you seen the sort of girls who end up as cheerleaders? You're too good for that."
"Why is it any of your business?" Sarah asked her.
Athena looked annoyed at that. "Because you're my little sister. I'm supposed to look out for you."
Little sister? Sarah wondered. She didn't have a sister, and Athena was...She looked at Athena a bit more critically. No wonder she looked so much better. She wasn't the fourteen year old Sarah remembered, from the looks of it.
Athena continued, interrupting her thought. "I'm not saying you have to be like me, sis. But, I don't want you to think that acting like those girls is how you get popular. A few of them are...well, kind of slutty, don't you think?"
Athena put a comforting arm around Sarah. Sarah was surprised at the emotions she was feeling. Jealousy, mixed with...love? She...loved Athena? But that would make sense if Athena was her sister. But how was that even possible?
And what did that make her? She glanced over, catching a glimpse of herself in Athena's mirror...or this version of herself. Instead of what she remembered, the Queen of Lake Point High School, what she saw in the mirror was a much plainer girl, with brown hair, dressed in a nightgown. She looked young, and underdeveloped...at least compared to what she remembered herself to be. Looking at her reflection compared to the mature looking Athena, she felt suddenly self-conscious and uncertain.
She didn't know what was going on. But how was she going to figure it out?
