Things had been going well for Karyn's plan until they weren't. She'd encouraged Jon to embrace some Sarah mannerisms because she wanted her to be comfortable in her new body, and she'd shifted their focus to impersonating each other because, though they didn't know it, they would never be going back to their old lives. Jon was Sarah now and Sarah was Jon. However, what she did not want was Jon to turn into a mean girl carbon copy of the original Sarah; that would defeat the entire point! Besides, she absolutely didn't want Jon to be a prisoner in her new skin. It looked like she was going to have to make a few little nudges.
"Hey Jon," she said, looking at Sarah in Jon's body. It took Sarah a moment to realize he was being addressed but then he nodded, still looking put out, "you're also going to need to impersonate Jon, right? Well, when Jon and I hang out on Saturdays, he usually steps out around now to pick up lunch for us from the diner, so I guess you need to do that today." It was a total lie; the friends had no set lunch plans and if they did, Karyn wasn't going to make him leave and get it himself, but Sarah didn't know that.
Sarah grimaced, "seriously," but took out Jon's phone nonetheless and said, "tell me what the orders are and give me some cash. I checked his wallet and Gibson is totally poor."
Karyn rattled off some items served at the 24 hour diner a short hike away, and handed over two folded 20s to Sarah, while Jon sat there looking confused but holding her tongue. After Sarah left, the new blonde asked, "uh, since when do I get you lunch every weekend?"
The secret wisher crossed back over to sit next to Jon on the bed, "I just wanted to get a moment of privacy, it seemed like he was throwing a lot at you."
Jon sighed and flopped back on the bed, "tell me about it. I mean, her body's not too bad, but acting like she does is going to be awful. Do you realize I'm the one dating Biff now, and as far as the rumor goes I was the one who wrote that mean shit about Zoe in the girl's bathroom. Am I going to have to bully my own sister, or bully you?" The new girl sounded genuinely distressed and Karyn's hear leapt out towards her, feeling terrible her wish had caused this kind of anguish. Well, she'd just have to fix it, wouldn't she."
"I actually had some advice about that," Karyn said, making Jon sit back up and listen attentively. She tried to choose her words carefully, "I think you should continue to embrace Sarah's physical mannerisms, the way she walks, the way she holds herself. You should learn her cheer routines, get comfortable using that body as your own, and practice moving and acting femininely. Try and get a bit of how she speaks too, but that's not as important. However, for the other stuff, well, haven't we always talked about how it would be nicer if Sarah wasn't so mean."
Jon nodded slowly, "we have said it would make school a lot nicer for everyone."
"Right," Karyn continued, "and I think this is our golden opportunity to make that happen. You could be that nicer Sarah, use her charisma, looks and money for good instead of evil."
A look of consternation crossed Jon's features as she tried to reconcile the different suggestions, "but I also need to focus on being Sarah in public..."
"You should focus on keeping up appearances, dress like her, talk like her, move like her," Karyn suggested, secretly somewhat spelling out her own fantasies, "but your mind should be your own. Be charismatic and commanding, but don't be cruel. You need to maintain her reputation somewhat, but I think people would react to a kinder Sarah a lot better than he seems to think."
Jon tilted her head to the side in thought, before a smile grew across her face, flashing her perfect pearly whites, "that totally makes sense!" The new cheerleader sprung to her feet in excitement, "I'll take all the good parts of Sarah, but leave behind the bad." She stopped and pouted, looking much more natural and adorable on her face than it had on Sarah's a few minutes ago, "but will people suspect something's going on if I do?"
Karyn shook her head, "like we said earlier, as far as everyone knows there's no such thing as body swapping. You're in Sarah's body so as far as everyone is concerned, you are Sarah McMillan. They'll just think you're turning over a new leaf or something."
Jon put her hands on her hips and tried to project some confidence, "Okay... I can give it a try at least. Sarah might throw a fit, but it's not like he can do anything about it" A look of slight worry crossed her face and she sheepishly added, "er, I think I have to use the restroom..."
Karyn smiled comfortingly, "you know where it is. Give it a try yourself but if you need help come get me; I think you're body will know what to do, just remember to wipe." Jon nodded quickly and dashed out of the room, needing to heed the call of nature she'd been ignoring since the transfer. Once she was out of the room, Karyn rolled over to her desk drawer and removed a certain stone. She'd hated having to give Jon so many magically compelled directions, but told herself it was just training wheels until she was used to her new life, and really, the whole conversation made her realize she needed to make another tweak.
She was trying to avoid changing people's minds with magic more than she had to, but Sarah inadvertently pointed out how the vicious the popular clique could be, at least according to her. If Karyn wanted to be with the new Sarah, she couldn't have all of the blonde's friends and teammates reacting poorly to the new Sarah, and she wanted Jon to be a new Sarah. Grasping the stone she wished, "I wish Sarah's parents, Sarah's close friends, and the cheerleading squad would accept and support any changes the new Sarah makes in the way she acts, and wouldn't find it out of the ordinary. For that matter I wish the whole squad would be supportive and good friends to the new Sarah, helping her acclimate to her new life." The stone hummed and flashed before she quickly hid it away again. That shouldn't be a too big change to the affected people's minds, right?
