"Jon-boy!"
No sooner had I arrived than I was tackled in a pink rush. The hug felt nice, though a bit disorienting. The soft, light blonde hair in my face, the girly strawberry perfumed aroma...they were all Karyn's now. I gulped loudly. Feeling her new breasts pressing into my chest was starting to trigger an entirely non-platonic reaction. Finally, Karyn released the embrace. I only hoped it wasn't because she'd noticed.
"Sorry," she said, blushing prettily under blushed cheeks. "Just...Oh Em Gee! I'm soooo glad to see you!" Strange. Texting shorthand in real life wasn't exactly her style. But a lot of things about her weren't her style these days.
"Heh. Could have fooled me before."
Karyn's eyes turned downcast. Had they always been that blue? "I'm sorry. It's just that, like, after all that's happened...I couldn't be too friendly, y'know?"
I looked her over. She'd changed out of her cheerleading uniform into a pink lacy outfit that was entirely unsuitable for tromping through the woods. Particularly the heels. "Are you ok, Karyn? You sound like someone beat you with a valley-girl stick, and you look..."
"Like a barbie doll?" She cocked a carefully arched eyebrow at me. Actually, she looked good. Fantastic, even. I'd always thought she was cute. I hadn't realized quite how much before events had swept away her curly red hair and mischievous, freckled grin. But looking at her now, it was hard to believe I'd actually thought the blonde hair didn't suit her.
"I guess Sarah sort of like...I mean. Ahem," She giggled nervously, catching herself at another 'like'. "Talking to the other Sarahs has started to rub off on me, I guess. Bad habit. As for the outfit..." She looked down sheepishly. "Well, when in Rome right?" She gave me a searching look. 'The other Sarahs'. I didn't like that phrase at all.
"Karyn, about your uh...template-"
"Yeah that's kinda why I asked you to come here." She took a deep breath, picking a bit of leaf litter off her skirt. "I can't stay long. I've got somewhere I have to be. And I probably will have places to be, a lot. It's just like...we've tried everything right? I've tried everything. Fighting it, arguing, ignoring, hiding. None of it's worked. Before break-" She shuddered. "I just think that maybe I should go along with it. At least for awhile. Until something changes."
"Karyn, what happened during break? After you called me, I didn't know what to do. You sounded..." She'd sounded like she was about to lose her mind. But I couldn't just say that.
"Long story and like I said, I don't have a lot of time. I just wanted you here, needed you here, to tell you... All this stuff, how I'm going to have to look, act, around everyone...towards you. It's not real ok? Remember that."
"Karyn I really think we should talk about this. There's other things we can try. I mean shit Karyn, no other schools can get away with treating their students like this. We could start a...I dunno, a protest? Lawsuit? Riot?" I tried to smile. Karyn didn't.
"No time. I've got to go. Meeting someone."
I frowned. "Sarah?"
Karyn coughed. "Actually, no."
"Tom?" he was a Biff. Briefly, thanks to this fucked up situation, she'd been dating him.
Karyn's face went dead. "Just leave it, Jon. I've got no choice." She turned and for the second time today, I was watching her walk away.
"Karyn!" I called. She stopped, not turning.
"Yeah?"
"I missed you."
This time, she turned. Were her eyes wet? "Missed you too, Jon-boy."
