I locked the door to the handicap bathroom by the library. It was the only one with a lock in the entire school, but I needed the privacy. My hair was going crazy, and I couldn't deal with it any more. It was in my face, my nose, my mouth. All around just a big pain in the ass.
I faced my expression in the mirror with some quiet introspection, then sighed, and slipped the headband off. The girl that suddenly stared back at me looked miserable. I could see my true face with my third eye, but so far every reflection I had seen matched my glamour, and the mirror here was no different. She was cute, and she reminded me a lot of Zoe. Pale, messy brown hair wide round eyes. There was something less familiar too. Something about my nose and cheekbones reminded my of the the few Indian girls in my classes. It wasn't obvious. In fact the only reason I could tell is because I could tell where my girl face deviated from what I expected to see. Karyn had not been so transformed. I could only imagine it was because I had already been changed so much, by being turned into a girl.
Breaking eye contact with the girl in the mirror, I brushed my hair back, and tied the headband back in place. Immediately my own reflection came back to me, but I could still see the cute feminine touches creeping in around the edges. The sort of things that Sarah would tease me over.
I was, gratefully to not be in PE this semester. I could only imagine how badly that would have turned out. Being the only girl in a locker full of boys sounded terrifying, even if no one could see through my glamour. Well, almost no one. Maybe Sarah could catch glimpses beyond the veil because of her magic? I shrugged, enjoyed the solitude of my sanctuary a bit longer, and plunged back into the bustling halls, ready to face my last few classes.
I lounged on the steps by the side entrance after school, no longer caring about the students passing me by. Being so anxious was exhausting, and if there was anything good about being exhausted, it was the numbness it brought with it. Still. I'd survived without incident, and that gave me some hope that my glamour really would be a sustainable solution while we figured out how to make the stone work again... If Karyn would get out of her own ass.
I huffed, and crossed my arms as my thoughts turned to her. I'd never been so annoyed with her in my entire life. We'd hit it off from the beginning, and never had an ounce of animosity. Suddenly having this strange tension left me feeling like I was out at sea with no paddle. I wasn't sinking, but I had no idea what to do. Everything relied on Karyn. I couldn't imagine making a plan without her by my side, but she didn't seem to want to be there.
"Hey Jonny boy." The familiar voice called out.
I tilted my head back, and looked at Karyn on the step behind me. "Get it out of your system?" I asked.
She scrunched up her lips and wryly asked. "What?"
"Whatever this attitude is." I shrugged. "You're acting like a Kardashian. Posing for camera's that aren't even there."
She rolled her eyes. "Just because you're moping doesn't mean you have to drag me down."
I grit my teeth. "Ok stop, I'm sorry. I've just had a really rough day. Can we please just act like normal?" I sighed.
"Sure, fine." she sighed. "So you want to figure out if we can use the stone?"
"I mean, yeah, that'd be a good start, but honestly, I've wanted to chop this hair off all day too, if you just want to walk to the mall first, we could do that."
She smirked. "Sure, there's some things I've been thinking about picking up."
"Sounds good," I replied, pushed myself to my feet and dusted my hands off.
We took a side path with a bit more privacy, and started the walk to the mall.
"You know they won't be able to see your hair with your Jon glamour on." She remarked.
"Oh I know," I grumbled.
"I guess it'll be a girls trip then."
"Please don't rub it in. I'm nowhere near comfortable."
I could tell she wanted to make another remark, but opted against it. Instead she just smirked. "Guess you'll just have to get used to it, then."
Before I could react, she plucked my hairband from my head, and immediately, I saw my glamour fade.
"Dammit Karyn, what are you doing?!"
"Oh stop whining, No one saw, and you're going to have to take it off anyway."
I grasped for the cloth, but she held it back. "Believe it or not," She insisted. "It's not that big of a deal to walk around as a girl."
"It is for me, now give it back."
She sighed, and tossed the band to me. "You may as well leave it off. There won't be a place to remove it at the mall... Unless you want to walk in the girls room as a boy, or walk out of the boys room as a girl."
"Fine, you've made your point." I grumbled, stuffing the braided fabric in my pocket. "You didn't have to be such a bitch about it."
She crossed her arms and started walking a step ahead of me. I sighed in exasperation.
All I wanted to do was banter like normal, but everything kept going wrong.
I kept catching my reflection out of the corner of my eyes, in windows, in polished signs, just everywhere. This unfamiliar girl walking beside Karyn. But Kare was right about one thing. Outside of my own discomfort, it was no big deal. No one even gave me a glance, of course that was because anyone who did glance was glancing at Karyn. Scratch that. Staring at Karyn. It seemed a little bit much, actually, but she was completely undeterred, and even seemed to quietly revel in the attention. This wasn't like the Karyn I knew at all. At least we were hanging out again.
