Ignoring the knot of stress that tugged lightly but constantly from within Karyn's body, the rest of the day went mostly as normal. The loss of control that she'd felt during the assembly didn't seem to have any kind of lasting effect, and she could focus on her classes as normal.
However, between 5th and 6th period as she was navigating the hallways, she bumped into Sarah.
"Oh, Karyn," the head cheerleader smiled brightly. "I just wanted to let you know, in the end we decided to assign new cheerleaders to hosts in the order their names were called."
"That's so exciting!" Karyn did not feel excited, but her body acted as though she was. She'd done some weekend volunteer work at the local soup kitchen that year, and learned quickly that her job was to support the homeless folks there, not to dump her problems on them. So even when she wasn't having a good day, she would put on a smile for the benefit of those she was helping. This was the feeling Karyn experienced now. Like she was putting on a smile for Sarah's benefit, like she was just there to support Sarah. But, unlike at the soup kitchen, this feeling was involuntary. "So who am I with?"
"Well, you already know that I promised to host you."
Despite herself, a feeling of warmth worked its way through Karyn. Sarah was keeping her promise. Sarah was invested in Karyn. It shouldn't make her feel good, but it did.
"So it's going to be you, me, Emma, Gladys, Michelle, and Andi!" Each name seemed to draw Sarah's smile out just slightly wider, until her entire face was a mask of contagious glee that Karyn could not help but match.
"Oh, I can't wait!" Karyn squealed as she brought her hands together just under her chin.
"Hugs?" Sarah opened her arms.
"Hugs." Karyn copied the gesture, and the two embraced for a quick moment, before releasing and making their respective ways to their next class.
As soon as Karyn was a good fifteen or twenty feet away from Sarah, her facade dropped. Whatever was making her act like Sarah's friend was gone in an instant, and she felt a sense of nausea building within her.
But aside from that, everything was normal.
