Laura came down the stairs and found Zoe and Simon sitting on the couch chatting. "Breakfast is almost ready," she said. "What are you two up to?"
"Nothing," Zoe said, looking a little embarrassed still.
"Well, how about you and I do something today?" Laura offered.
"We were just going to hang out," Zoe said.
"In the basement all day?" Laura said, disapprovingly.
"Fine..." Zoe said. "It could be fun."
"You don't have to sound so excited," Laura said. "But I'll take what I can get...this week has been hard." She turned to Simon. "How are you holding up?"
"Fine...Mis...fine, I guess...I was worried my hair was thinning...But not a problem anymore, I guess," she said, trying to make light of things.
"And I seem to have avoided any bald spots..." Laura remarked. "I was thinking about it...we can either keep talking about it or try to just live our best lives no matter what. I mean...we are all healthy...no one grew an extra limb out of their stomach or anything."
"Today I can handle...it is tomorrow when we go back to school I am worried about," Zoe said.
"Why?" Simon asked. "You can just blend into the background. I am the one who is going to get noticed."
"Simone...you graduated from high school...remember?" Laura said.
"I..." he paused. "Sorry, wasn't thinking."
"Well, you probably can still work...but you are going to get some odd looks on the job looking like that."
"And you won't?" Zoe pointed out.
"Let's worry about that later," Laura suggested.
"Maybe you could get a doctor's note," Simon suggested.
"I don't even know what it would say," Laura said. "Honestly, I hope no one will make an issue about it. Now....breakfast?"
They all headed up the stairs. In the kitchen, Mikey and Jon had just finished off all the batter.
As Simon entered, he paused at the sight of the two. Mikey looked like a teenage version of Jon, except with darker hair. He turned and looked at Zoe and Laura...equal resemblance. What about me? he wondered.
