Even if it possibly created new problems, Karyn's wish did solve Jon's immediate problem, for now. As he re-entered the hallway, the thought occurred to him that he probably didn't even have the option to chicken out anymore: Karyn's wish was for every challenge that Sarah gave him that day, which must include the challenge to meet her in the gym, he reasoned. Karyn, he thought to himself, why do you have to be so impulsive?
Of course, it was not Karyn's impulse that was at play here, but Kyla's.
So Jon decided for himself that he wasn't going to worry about something he couldn't change. He'd go through the day like normal, keep his mind clear, and when the time came to face Sarah, he'd face Sarah. Except.
Except that he was in a high school, where word travels fast and hype has no limit. Even when classmates weren't approaching him directly, Jon could hear the whispers circling him all day like vultures. Of course, he would down-play the whole thing whenever anyone asked him, but he knew that for every person he said "it's not a big deal" to, there were a dozen students in other classrooms making an even bigger deal of it.
He even tried, at the last minute, just as he was approaching the gym doors, to challenge his fate. To embrace the chicken and flee. But no sooner had he turned around when a crowd of students ambushed him and asked where he was going.
"T-to the locker room," Jon improvised. "I just realized I probably shouldn't try cheerleading in jeans."
The other students accepted this explanation and let him pass, but they followed him to the locker room door and as he was changing into a gray T-shirt and black gym shorts, he could hear them chanting his name. Were they supporting him? Or making fun of him? He couldn't tell.
Jon stood up and walked to the mirror. He straightened the waistband of his shorts, gave the hem of his shirt a quick tug, and took a deep breath in through his nose. Jon didn't know what was about to happen, but he knew he wasn't going to like it. He let out the air through his mouth, long and slow.
Time to face the music.
