Jon made it back to his room just in time before the clocks started moving again. He needed to come up with a way to contact Dr. Schreber so that he could start to fill in some of the gaps in what he knew. Dr. Schreber did not know who was behind the changes, but he might know how. He might even know of a way to get Karyn back if that were possible. Jon was still mulling this over in his head when Melissa Madison walked into his room after knocking.
“Jon, what are you doing awake at this time?” she asked her son.
“I couldn’t sleep,” Jon answered.
“I will make you some hot chocolate, honey that used to help you sleep when you were little,” Melissa said in reply.
“Thanks ...Mom,” Jon said with a smile on his face. He had only just remembered to add the Mom to his sentence. He knew that Melissa was acting in the way that Jon’s own Mom would, but she wasn’t. It wasn’t her fault; she was only doing what she thought was right. He had seen earlier how deep these changes went. First with Sarah, then with Yuki, and of course with Karyn. So Melissa was just the latest casualty of whoever was responsible for all of this.
Melissa came back a few minutes later with the hot chocolate as promised, and Jon took it from her.
“I am off to bed, honey. You try and get back to sleep now.” Melissa said as she left the room.
Jon checked the time and realised that he would need to be up in a few hours to go to school and hopefully get a chance to speak to Tina. He knew that she wasn’t his best friend, but she was the nearest thing he had. Besides that, he could also try to see if he could see if anyone else had been replaced at the same time.
A few hours later, Jon stood outside the gates of Lakeview High School. He had waited for Tina for around ten minutes, but she didn’t show. What was wrong? What had he done? They shared a class later on. The same class that he had shared with Karyn, so he would see her there and hopefully find out what was wrong. As he thought of Karyn, he saw her well, Ms Katherine Gutfreund, as she was currently looking every inch the teacher as she walked inside.
“Move it, loser,” Adele said as she and the rest of the cheerleaders shoved past him. Their ranks are now joined by the newly minted Nadine Smith. Even though he had seen Nadine arrive in her new home, it was still a shock to see this new version of her. He didn’t know her that well, but he had seen her around school, especially when she had called Zoe and her friends devil worshipers for their gothic appearance. Well, that’s something she wouldn’t be doing anytime soon.
He looked one more time around to see if he could see Tina; maybe she would be able to work out a way to contact Dr. Schreber. He spotted a senior walking towards the school gates. This was someone Jon didn’t recognise at first. She had medium-dark skin and short, wavy dark brown hair. She is captured from the knees up, standing upright and facing the camera directly, with a bright, genuine smile revealing white teeth. Her eyes are dark and expressive. She is wearing a white off-the-shoulder long-sleeved crop top with ruffles and a delicate lacy or embroidered detail along the edge of the ruffle. The top showed off a sliver of her midriff. She was also wearing a pair of form-fitting blue denim jeans, which were slightly rolled up at the ankles, showcasing her white flat-soled sneakers with white laces.
Jon knew that there weren’t many black students at Lakeview. The only one that he could think of at that moment was Melony Tyne, but she wasn’t a senior. So it couldn’t be her.
“Amber,” Jon heard someone shout.
He turned to see that the voice had come from Carl James, one of the band geeks. Jon had nothing against the members of the band, but it just seemed like too much like hard work to him. Carl and the others spent the same amount of time at school as he did, but then gave up their free time to do more “school work.” No thanks, he thought.
“Oh, hi Carl, I didn’t see you there.” The girl whose name Jon now knew was Amber.
“Not to worry, I was wondering if you were coming to practice after school. You know how much Ms Barry enjoys your singing.” Carl asked.
“You try and stop me. There is nothing that I like more. One of these days, you will see my name in lights as I sell out stadiums. Amber Tyne.” Amber replied as she waved her hand in front of both of them.
“I want to be on your guest list for a ticket at every show,” Carl said as they started to head inside.
Amber Tyne, Melony was an only child, Jon thought. He remembered her telling him that a few months back, in one of their rare conversations. Wait, when he had seen all of the cheerleaders walk in, he hadn’t seen Amber Levine with him. Had Amber Tyne once been Amber Levine, he remembered seeing Amber with Adele and the others on Friday, but not today. He had only a few minutes before the first bell, so he wanted to catch up with Amber before then, which would give him a chance to use the app to check.
He slowly opened up his phone and took the picture.
Opening up the picture in the app, it read Amber Tyne. Age 18. For more information, click next.
Jon clicked the link, and another picture opened up.
The picture showed a young woman with a warm, medium-toned complexion. Thanks to the suntan she was sporting. Her long dark brown hair and was styled in a high ponytail with strands falling over her right shoulder. She had dark, expressive eyes, well-defined eyebrows, and a small nose. Her mouth is open in a wide, friendly smile, revealing white teeth. She has a slender body build, with visible definition in her arms. She is wearing an athletic outfit consisting of a sleeveless top and a skirt, which Jon recognized as one of the cheerleader's practice outfits.
It read Amber Levine. Age 17
So it was Amber and not Melony’s long-lost sister he thought. Why bring Amber into this? She was the nicest and kindest of the squad, but what had she done to be part of this thing? Mind you, you could say that about almost all of the people he knew who were involved so far, well, almost all apart from his current sister, perhaps.
Amber Tyne, as she now was, walked into the school building next to Carl James, singing away to anyone nearby the two friends.
“I do my hair toss, check my nails
Baby, how you feelin'? (Feelin' good as hell)
Hair toss, check my nails
Baby, how you feelin'? (Feelin' good as hell)
(Feeling good as hell)
Baby, how you feelin'? (Feelin' good as hell)”
