While unconscious, Lauren Levine dreamed of some cheerleader. She was tempted to say it was her sister, but she was an only child, and no sister of hers would be a freckled Irish redhead with blue eyes wearing a cross. This carrot-topped performer wore a brightly colored uniform that no Whitelace athlete would ever don. So vulgar. So public school ... which is what this other girl attended, some run-down place unimaginatively named Lake Point High School. The kind of dump Lauren would have gone to if her mother hadn't worked at Whitelace. The colleen hung out with a bunch of girls that Lauren remembered: her BFF Tiffany, speaking with her original American accent, Sarah at her original height without a drawl or an extra syllable in her name, even little Lucy the flyer ...
"Lauren, wake up."
Lauren recognized the voice ... but it sounded too old. "Lucy! No!"
School nurse Lucy Corinth had seen a lot of homesick girls over the years. Girls whose psyches had shattered so far from their native lands. Yet Lauren was a native of Lake Point. What could possibly be the matter with her?
Lauren shook her head violently. "Y-you can't be Lucy!"
"Why are you calling me by my first name?" asked Nurse Corinth. "I'm Nurse Corinth." She pointed at a tag on her chest. "How do you know my first name?"
"Because you and I ..." Lauren couldn't remember what she meant to say. "We were ..."
Lucy stared blankly at Lauren. She had never seen any student act like that before. This was out of her limited experience and therefore totally incomprehensible. She didn't know what to do without a script. She had been clueless in the lab earlier that afternoon and she was still clueless as an adult. She had gained a lot of weight, but not more than a couple of inches. A obese nurse was hardly credible, and her dullness made her barely competent at best.
Lucy's heart pounded. She could get fired if she erred one more time. Then again, Lauren wasn't the daughter of anyone important, not like Kelly Robertson, the daughter of some politician from Chicago. Lucy could afford to make a mistake with Lauren, but she didn't want to. Lauren deserved better. She wasn't some snob who thought the nurses were maids with medical education. And Mrs. Levine was a nice lady ... and the headmistress' secretary, so if anything happened to Lauren, the headmistress would hear about it, and she'd be out of a job.
Lucy's eyes scanned the room. What am I gonna do, she asked herself. Her once blue eyes, now a dull brown, focused on a sink. "Would you like some water?"
"Y-yes, p-please." Lauren shuddered. This "cow" as the new Tiffany might call her had Lucy's face on a bloated body a little taller than Lucy's original petite frame. Lucy's perky energy was long gone, replaced by the strain of moving thick layers of fat around. Lucy's flaxen curls had become a badly highlighted brown perm. Maybe I'm lucky, thought Lauren. Not as lucky as Tiffany, who's still more or less herself, weird accent aside, but better off than poor Lucy ... Nurse Corinth.
Lucy handed Lauren a paper cup filled with water. Lauren squinted with disgust at the sight of Lucy's new stubby fingers. No wedding ring, of course. Is that what Gladys is gonna look like when she grows up? thought Lauren. Probably not anymore. I wonder what Gladys turned into. Something uglier? Why'd I think that? That's not very nice, especially considering what I look like now.
Lauren could feel unfamiliar flab hanging from her right arm as she gulped down the water. She wouldn't have done that when she was an O'Brien. She used to care about what other people thought. Now she just wanted answers. But she needed to replenish her fluids first.
Lucy was relieved to see Lauren drink the last of the water. I did something right for once, she told herself. But what next? What could have caused her to faint like that? Can I prevent it from happening again?
