Karyn arrived home that afternoon with one immediate goal in mind, getting a better wardrobe. After spending lunch with the popular girls, something that hadn't been nearly as awful as she'd always imagined it (it was rather helpful that one of her earlier wishes made the whole squad a good deal sweeter and less prone to backstabbing than they'd been before she'd started reshaping reality), but even having picked some of the most flattering garments she had in her closet, she felt under dressed with the new Sarah's new friends. She wanted to be able to stand side by side with the Sarah she was making, and that meant looking the part. Stepping into the foyer, she caught sight of her pretty face in a hanging mirror, then again, I'm already halfway there.
While she'd made the wish to be more attractive to try and stay in the same relative league as Jon, who was now living in the body of the hottest girl in school, the side benefits today had been nice. Karyn wasn't a vain person, of course not, but realizing all the little ways life was different after she'd made herself hotter had driven home two facts. Pretty privilege was definitely a thing, and it was nice to suddenly have it in spades. It wasn't like people were suddenly swearing their undying love in the halls, but most people seemed just a bit friendlier, a bit happier to see her, and the handful of times she'd caught someone checking her new bubble butt out were novel enough to be an ego boost rather than annoying.
She'd planned to put down her backpack, find her mom, and finally take her up on the older woman's countless offers to take her shopping. However, when she walked into the living room, she discovered her mother had company, and very surprising company at that. It was a doe eyed olive skinned woman curled up on the other side of the couch from Karyn's mom, Bethany, holding a glass of sparkling water in one hand while flicking through an Ipad with the other. She wore casual but revealing clothes, tight hot pink yoga pants and a black spaghetti strap crop tank top that bared her sculpted shoulders and smooth stomach; a pair of black flip flops were discarded on the ground nearby. The woman, who Karyn could swear she recognized but couldn't quite place, looked up, startled when Karyn stepped in the room, but Bethany, whose back was towards her continued to talk for a moment.
"-and you'll need to get comfortable driving her, or I guess for the moment, your Audi so-" Bethany trailed off as she realized someone had come in the room. She turned and her lovely emerald eyes widened at the sight of her daughter. "Karyn!" She glanced over at the grandfather clock, "jesus the time really got away from us."
"No worries mom," Karyn said slowly as she dropped her bag in an armchair, confused by the awkward atmosphere. "I just got back. Who's your friend?"
"Oh, uh, this is Vivian Trace," Bethany hastily explained. "She works with me on some of my books."
The name was the key for Karyn to realize who the other woman was, the snotty model who her mom loved to complain about (granted Bethany never shared all the details with her daughter). Now though, her confusion has shifted from wondering who the woman was to wondering why in the hell her mom had invited her over to the house for, by all appearances, a friendly hang.
"Right!" Vivian suddenly chirped, filling the awkward silence, "we've been working together and Mrs. Black," Bethany subtly swatted her leg, "I mean Bethany invited me over socially today." It was a very awkward turn of phrase but she said it very earnestly.
"We were just talking about her new car and how it drives a bit different from her old one," Bethany hastily added, covering for what she'd been saying when Karyn came in. (In actuality, after the real Vivian had needed to return to the Duncan house to avoid getting in trouble with his new family, she'd driven Jay over to the Trace condo to get her dressed in something more appropriate than negligee and a trenchcoat, before returning to start drilling the new woman on the most urgent things she needed to learn,)
In another world, a week ago, Karyn would have picked up on all the signs that something was wrong. She would have clued into the fact that there was a mystery afoot and stopped to ask more questions, but the world was quickly changing. This Karyn was becoming almost single minded in her pursuit of her once impossible dream as it inched closer to fruition, and so she dismissed all the weirdness and assumed her mom was trying to bury the hatchet and would give her details later once Vivian left. So instead, she smiled her no-longer slightly crooked smile and asked, "okay, when you guys are done do you think you could drive me to the mall? I decided you were right last month; my wardrobe needs a refresh."
