"Zoe!? Is that you?" Athena couldn't believe her eyes. She'd known Zoe Gibson her whole life and never once had she worn something as... she didn't even have the words, it was like Zoe had become a fashion model overnight!
"Yeah, it's me," Zoe smiled as she approached her friend. She gestured towards herself, "This is why I couldn't meet up yesterday. Sarah McMillan," Zoe paused for emphasis, "offered to buy me a whole bunch of new clothes yesterday."
Athena let this new information filter in. "So wait, you picked out that outfit, and she paid for it?"
"No, she picked everything out."
"So what, you're like her dress-up doll?"
Just then Sarah herself clattered up to the two girls, rushing as fast as her tight skirt and wedge heels would let her.
"Ooooh, I'm sorry Zoe, I changed my mind. I needed to see how all the rest of the kids in this dump were reacting to my new protégé." Sarah squeezed Zoe's shoulder and turned to her friend. "You must be Athena. Soooo... what do you think?"
Athena was just slightly overwhelmed. "You match."
"We match!" Sarah squealed, drawing herself closer to Zoe. Despite herself, the younger girl found herself smiling in the embrace.
"Anyway, I'm sorry, I know I'm interrupting," Sarah admonished herself, taking a delicate step away from the underclassmen. "I'll leave you two alone now."
Sarah clasped her hands to her chest and gave a single giddy bounce as she gave Zoe one last glance, then one look at Athena, and then her smile somehow got wider than ever for a split second before she disappeared.
"You are her dress-up doll!" Athena hissed once the cheerleader was gone.
"It's just to mess with my brother" Zoe assured her. "She told me this is how to get under his skin, and let me tell you, so far it is working marvelously."
"Why would you want to get under Mikey's skin?"
Zoe gave her friend a strange look.
"Oh!" Athena corrected herself. "Jon! You want to get under Jon's skin!"
"Yes," Zoe confirmed, "I'm tired of Jon acting all superior just because he's older. So Sarah is teaching me how to act like I'm the older one."
"So this isn't a permanent change." Athena squinted.
"I'm still the same Zoe. I'm just, I don't know, wearing a Sarah McMillan costume for a bit."
This reassured Athena greatly, just in time for the warning bell to ring.
The two split off to their first period classes, but as she headed to class Athena saw something that looked familiar. There was a girl with close-cropped hair wearing a dress she could have sworn was Zoe's, over a pair of jeans. The girl turned her head, and Athena suddenly realized that it wasn't a girl at all.
"Jon!?"
The boy fully turned around. "Oh. Hi, Athena."
"Are you trying out a new look?" she asked.
"Yeah." Jon didn't protest like he had with his father. "This is just something I got from Zoe."
A devious thought ran through Athena's mind. If Zoe wanted Jon to think of her as the older one... "You're so lucky! I wish I had a big sister who gave me clothes."
And with that, Athena turned and continued on her way before Jon could respond.
For his part, Jon stood stock-still for just a moment. A part of him wanted to correct Athena, but she was gone. But there was another part of him that wasn't so sure Athena's statement needed correcting.
It was nice to have a big sister who gave you clothes, wasn't it?
Jon tugged at his sleeve. When had his dress gotten so loose? It was stretchy, sure, but it felt worn-out, like someone who was too big for it had put it on and now the elastic wouldn't snap back to its original shape.
Jon took off his scarf and gave the sleeve another tug, and the collar slipped easily down his arm, exposing his shoulder. He looked at his reflection in a window.
"You know what? It looks good this way, too."
Then he, himself, went off to class.
