As he looked around himself he saw Karyn's living room, and Karyn, sitting on her couch dejectedly with her arms crossed over her expanded bust, arguing with her mother.
"I just don't want to go out right now, mom," Karyn half-whined.
"I hear you," her mom responded, "but I don't understand why. What's so bad about going out?"
Great, thought Jon. It was a dream about Karyn being insecure with her new assets. Now that she was thinking about it, Jon could try to change the course of the dream. He stepped forward, tugged gently on Karyn's arm, and said, "Come on, go down to the mall with me. It'll be okay, you'll see."
Karyn and her mother both turned towards Jon as if he was a surprise to them, but the elder Black quickly heaved a sigh of relief. "Yeah honey, go to the mall with Jon. You'll feel better."
Karyn grudgingly pulled herself off the couch and walked out the door with Jon. She closed the door behind them, and the pair walked out onto the empty street, then Karyn said, "I don't know what you think we're going to accomplish. You know everyone's going to treat me differently now that I've got these." She emphasized the last part of her sentence by hefting her boobs slightly.
Jon decided to experiment. "Nonsense!" he announced loudly, "Everyone still respects you for the person you are."
They kept walking, but nothing seemed to happen, so Jon tried again, upping the cheeriness in his voice, "Everyone still respects you for the person you are!" Karyn sort of looked at him sideways, but nothing else happened. When Karyn looked forward again, Jon repeated his statement almost sounding like a game show host this time, "Everyone still respects you for the person you are!"
Karen looked at him again and cocked an eye, but when she looked back towards the road she saw someone else walking the other way. The street had been empty just a moment before, but here was Jay Duncan, one of the dorkier kids from school, walking towards them.
"Karyn! Jon! It's wonderful to see you guys," he said, holding the two in a friendly embrace.
"We were just headed for the mall," Jon said.
"Great, I'll join you," Jay replied.
Jon and Karyn kept walking forward, and Jay filed in behind them. Then someone else appeared in front of them. It was a girl from one of their classes, Emily Oakland. She said hello as well, and then almost the same scenario played out as had with Jay, and the threesome became four.
Jon thought to himself that his plan seemed to be working, when he spotted the person who was soon to be the fifth member of their group. By the time they actually got to the mall, it seemed like half the school was following behind the two friends. The tolerable half, anyway. No cheerleaders or jocks. Just regular kids. With every added companion, Karyn's mood had seemed to lighten, and as she opened the door to the mall, she actually cracked open into a smile.
But then the world seemed to blanch into sepia for Jon, and then it faded to black. He panicked a bit. What did this mean? Had he done something wrong?
