"Sure I am," replied Jonnie.
Sarah gave them all a drive and they stopped off at the end opposite the food court. They entered the mall and walked past the Hot Topic as Sarah explained. "Okay, we're here for two reasons. Help Nicole and know Jonnie." She glanced at Jonnie, who just looked embarrassed.
"What?" replied Jonnie.
"Those jeans just don't go with that blouse," said Sarah, affecting a fake snooty accent. "If that was a blouse, which it's not."
"Wait a minute," said Jonnie. "You just criticize perfectly normal jeans and then..."
"What?" Sarah then realized what had happened. "It's a joke, Jonnie."
"Seriously?"
"How could I talk like that seriously, unless I was in a sitcom? It's as if you've never been in a mall with anyone."
"I'll tell you what. Pretend I'm a guy who's been transformed into a girl. It'll make things much easier."
Sarah eyed Jonnie quizzically.
"Better than your jokes," said Nicole.
Sarah muttered something but let the matter slide. They went into Bloomingdales and Jonnie found herself having to give advice to Nicole. She decided that the best way to pretend to know fashion was to make it up as they went along, since it probably was like that anyway. It worked. At least, the girls didn't think there was anything more than mildly odd about Jonnie's fashion tips.
And they didn't expect Jonnie to buy anything. The whole trip was more just an excuse to hang out, it seemed. Jonnie knew her bra size, but was glad she didn't have to worry about it yet.
"So anyway, where are you from?" asked Nicole, as they left the store, Nicole with a bag of clothes.
Jonnie replied by giving the name of the town in the mountains where Karyn's family lived. She had been there once, and fortunately robots had good memory. "If you want to know if I did cheerleading there, no. Though I'm more athletic than you'd think. Anyway, my Mom moved here. It's something complicated having to do with grant money." It was hard to lie, Jonnie had to keep her story straight, but she hoped she wouldn't be questioned too much.
"Well, this isn't the mountains," said Nicole. "Lots more guys, near the big city, and we've got a killer cheerleading team. The National Cheerleading Association..."
"There is a National Cheerleading Association?"
"Um, of course there is."
Meanwhile, Jonnie was looking at the Hot Topic.
"What is it?" asked Sarah. "Don't tell me you shop at Hot Topic. You don't strike me as..."
"No, that's not it. I thought I saw Zoe in there."
"The goth?"
"Yeah. I suppose it doesn't matter. She doesn't know me anyway." But Jonnie couldn't resist yelling out "Hello, Zoe." Zoe turned and looked at Jonnie. "Hello?" she said.
