Friday morning dawned a bit overcast and rainy, but it did little to dampen Mackenzie's mood as she got ready for school. From one perspective, her first week attending school in the States had gone better than she'd dared to hope when they first moved, and from another it was maybe the best week of her entire life compared to how things had been as Jon. It wasn't like Jon had been constantly miserable, but as Mackenzie she felt like things had improved in nearly every dimension. Even though the bulk of her week was spent doing the same thing in either timeline, attending school, doing at as Mackenzie made it seem so different. Her body felt more natural, her thoughts came quicker, and people smiled at her like they'd never done when she was Jon. It was like she'd been living in black and white and just switched to color.
She carefully did up the golden buttons of her ruffled cream colored long sleeve blouse, enjoying the feel of the soft fabric on her skin. Then she shimmied a darker brown mini skirt over her dark stocking clad legs, tucking her blouse into it before reaching around to zip herself up. Stepping into a pair of matte black 3' heels she examined herself in her vanity mirror, smiling in satisfaction. She'd surprised herself by how much she preferred a heeled shoe to a flat, but ended up liking the bit of height it gave back to her. Humming a tune absent mindedly, she began applying her regular makeup.
Humming or whistling was another new habit she'd discovered about herself; she was constantly coming up with little ditties and tunes, something she'd likely picked up from her dad. That connection, like pretty much everything to do with her new parents post rewrite, made her feel a little giddy inside. As grateful as she was for her new stunning body, a personality matrix that didn't stifle her underlying program, and the chance for a fresh start in Lakeview, low key the best thing about the rewrite had been the change in her family life. She'd gone form having a mom who barely ever checked in, seemingly profoundly disinterested in Jon, and a dad who'd literally abandoned her, to having a mum and dad she never had to second guess cared for her. She felt a little bad in the back of her mind for kind of leaving Zoe and Mikey behind, but she felt so much better being a Choi instead of a Gibson. Besides, the programmers would have reassigned them somewhere they'd be happy too, right?
She slipped a pair of dangling champagne pearl earrings into her lobes and a simple gold rod earring into her upper cartilage piercings. She skipped a necklace today since it didn't really work with her outfit, but did slip on three rings, a slim ruby and gold band on her right middle finger and a plain silver band on each pointer. She was going for a feminine, pretty but approachable look today and had spent a lot more time than usual planning her outfit. That was because today was the day she was planning to ask Kimberly out and she wanted to put her absolute best foot forward.
Mackenzie was 95% confident Kimber was into her too, but she had the same insecurities of any teenager asking their crush out for the first time. She was far more confident than she'd ever been as Jon, of course, but she still had butterflies in her stomach, and not just as a tattoo. The pair had been texting constantly all week and distracting each other regularly in Psych class; she just felt so in sync with the older girl. She'd never really gotten to just talk to Kimberly when she'd been Jon, what with the Karyn buffer in their relationship, making the older Black sister seem like this impossible beauty on a pedestal, but the more they talked now, the more she moved from being this distant daydream to a lovable dork Mackenzie would really like to get to know better.
Which meant biting the bullet and asking her out. Finishing her dark matte burgundy lipstick she popped her lips and then smiled widely, satisfied with her look. "Time to knock her dead," she told herself confidently as she turned to grab her bag and head to school. With the rain she didn't want to take her bike and mess up her outfit, so it was lucky Vivian had offered to give her a lift. She was planning to go to the mall with the debate captain later that afternoon anyway, when no doubt her new friends would be eagerly pestering her for details about Kimberly. She'd found herself bonding pretty quickly with Viv, Elizabeth and Melissa, and collecting more casual friends without really trying, which was slightly surreal compared to her experience before the Rewrite.
Kenzie frowned just a little as she slung her Coach purse over her shoulder. She was really enjoying having new friends but she couldn't help but feel a little sad for her lost relationship with her first one, Karyn. She hadn't really talked with the younger Black sister since the program reinitialized, but she'd observed from afar. She seemed to be doing all right as far as she could tell, hanging out with Yuki and the Hawkes twins, at least at lunch. It was going to be weird; if everything went well she would eventually get to know Karyn again, but it would always be as Kimberly's friend or, she hoped, girlfriend. They weren't likely to have that same bond they'd once shared and while Mackenzie thought her new life was definitely worth it, that connection would be one of the few parts of Jon Gibson she truly mourned.
Mackenzie's Outfit:
