Jon woke up the next morning with a strange feeling in his gut. Everything still seemed normal, but he knew better. Something had changed, his wish had been granted, and all he could do was get through his day until he figured out what that meant.
So he got ready for school as usual, and he ate breakfast as usual, and he said goodbye to his mom as usual, and he exchanged middle fingers with his little sister Zoe as usual, and he met up with Karyn...
But not quite as usual. He knew to expect the newly-blonde hair and the newly-increased bust, but it was still a shock to actually see it. Somehow, even having those aspects of Sarah, Karyn still wore them like her usual self. It wasn't like someone would look at Karyn and go "Oh, she kinda looks like Sarah," she just looked like Karyn, but with a weird Instagram filter.
"How are you holding up?" Jon asked.
Karyn just sighed and gave him a look that said "don't ask." And as if on cue, Sarah McMillan drove up beside then in her pink Miata to stop at a red light.
She didn't say anything, but her look said it all. Sarah McMillan turned her head to face her two classmates on the sidewalk, and just gave a slight roll of her eyes. Just a little look of disdain. A look that said "you're not worthy of my time," as she ran a hand through her wind-swept perfect hair.
Hair that, though identical, didn't look quite as good on Karyn.
Then the light turned green, and she motored away.
"I may have her hair," Karyn breathed, "but I don't know how to style it like she does."
ping
Jon felt a sense of accomplishment all of a sudden. Like "Achievement Unlocked" just flashed across his screen, but the screen was himself. Something had unlocked within himself.
Acting on instinct, Jon took Karyn's arm and pulled her into the trees. Karyn flailed slightly, but followed, and once they were out of view of the street, Jon took off his backpack and opened it.
And he produced a hairbrush, which had not been there before. "Kneel for me?" Jon asked his friend.
"On top of the pine needles?" She asked.
Jon took a deep breath, and put his hand into his backpack again, this time producing a small towel. "Here, kneel on this," he folded it in half and placed it on the ground before his friend. She skeptically obliged.
Quickly, Jon pulled the brush through Karyn's hair a few times just to straighten things out a little, then he returned to his backpack and produced a spray bottle. A few squirts, a few more brushes, and soon there was a fine-toothed comb in Jon's hand, changing the part in Karyn's hair. A cordless curing iron appeared from Jon's backpack, which he used to give Karyn's locks some volume, then a can of spray to set it, and a few more quick brushes, and some fussing around with his hands, and then a blow dryer (how had all of this fit into Jon's backpack?), and Jon took a step backwards to admire his work.
After all of that work, Karyn's hair still didn't look like Sarah's. It looked better.
One final object, a hand mirror, appeared from Jon's backpack. Karyn was in awe. "I didn't know you could style hair like this, Jon. This is amazing!"
Jon stared at his own hands with a sense of foreboding. "I didn't know I could, either."
