Jon woke up early the next day, even though it was Saturday. He stumbled out of bed and decided to go downstairs for some breakfast.
As he descended the stairs, he was slightly startled to see no one. Usually around this time, his mother would be in the kitchen, drinking a cup of tea, and reading the paper. He called out, "Mom?" a few times, but he recieved no answer. It was then that he noticed a note on the kitchen counter.
The note read: "Dear Jon, Taking Kelly to her Cheerleading Competition a couple counties over. We'll be gone for the weekend. Love, Mom."
Jon sighed. He had forgotten his sister had a cheerleading competition coming up. "Oh well," he said, "It might be nice to have the house to myself for a while. Maybe I can try out the..." His thought was interrupted by the phone ringing. He picked it up, wondering who would be calling so early. "Hello?"
"Hello? Jon?"
"Karyn?"
"Yeah, it's me," Karyn's voice replied. "Listen, can I come over and stay for a while?"
"S... sure... Karyn, what's happened?"
"I'll explain when I get there." She hung up.
Jon put down the phone. "What's gotten into her?" He asked himself. However, he didn't have long to ponder this question, as a few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Jon went to answer the door.
When he opened the door, he briefly saw Karyn's new blonde locks before she lept onto him, hugging him tightly. She was crying.
"J-Jon... My... My mom kicked me out." She wailed. Jon didn't know what to do. He patted her lightly on the back.
"Don't worry, Karyn, you can stay here for now. My mom's out of town for the weekend, and so is my sister." He led her out of the doorway. "Go sit on the couch, I'll get you something to drink, and you can tell me what happened."
Karyn sniffled and nodded. "Thanks, Jon, you're a real friend." She started towards the living room. "Can you grab my bags from the porch, please?"
Jon leaned out the door and looked around until he spotted the bags she must have been talking about. They were a brown backpack and a somewhat large duffel bag. Jon grabbed them and went back inside, to the living room where Karyn was now sitting, still sniffling slightly. He set the bags behind the sofa, leaned slightly over Karyn, and asked, "Would you like something to drink?"
"Yes, please," Karyn replied softly. Her nose sounded slightly stuffed. "Tea. Whatever kind you have is good."
Jon went back to the kitchen to get a teabag from the pantry. He grabbed one of his mother's favorite kinds, which he thought Karyn liked too, as he had seen them drinking it together a few times. He then took out a coffee cup, put the teabag in, filled the cup most of the way with water, and set it on his mother's hot plate. He had seen his mother prepare her tea this way before. When the tea was hot, he took it off the hot plate and brought it back in to Karyn.
"Thanks." She had stopped crying for the most part and was able to smile at Jon as he gave her her tea.
"Now, will you tell me what happened?"
Karyn sighed. "If I must. Sit down." She waited until he was seated before she continued, "My mom flipped out on me. She got in a little late last night, so she didn't notice, but this morning, I came downstairs for breakfast, she saw my hair and boobs, and she thought that I had run off and gotten a dye job and implants. I tried to explain to her that that was impossible, but she wouldn't hear it. Even if she did, I wouldn't be able to give her a reasonable explanation, after all, who could believe that 'a magical rock did this to me?'" She started sniffling again. Jon rushed over to comfort her.
"There, there," he said, stroking her hair. "You can stay here until your mom calms down. You can sleep in Kelly's room for this weekend, once she's home we can work something out."
"Thank you, Jon." She reached over and hugged him gently. Then, they both stood up to bring her bags upstairs. Karyn grabbed her backpack, and Jon picked up the duffel. They trudged upstairs, going past Jon's room, to, his sister, Kelly's room.
Kelly, who was a couple years younger than Jon, was a fairly normal high school freshman cheerleader, and her room reflected that. The walls were white and sparsely covered with cheerleading posters and one poster of the latest teen-heartthrob, the bed was neatly made, with white sheets and a white comforter, and there was a dresser and a closet along the wall opposite the bed. Karyn gently set her backpack on the bed and turned to Jon. "Thanks again," she said.
"It's nothing, I'd do anything to help..." Jon started to say, but his words were cut short by a loud ripping noise. Suddenly, the duffel, which Jon was only carrying by one handle, ripped open spilling its contents onto the floor. Jon looked at the mess. "Karyn," he said, "Why do you have a bag full of..."
