"So, what is it?" Jon asked. "What does Sarah want you to do?"
Karyn audibly swallowed, gulping like a cartoon character. It would have been funny if not for the seriousness of the situation. She mumbled something.
"What?" Jon prodded. "Say it again."
She looked him, her face apologetic. "Stop you."
Jon stared at her.
"To get my ability to read back," she said, "I can't let you try on your panties."
"But..." he said slowly, "I need to try them on. If I don't, Sarah will make me... with a cucumber."
Karyn shook her head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Jon. Sarah's such a horrible person. All this is her fault."
He nodded. "I'm sorry too. I guess you don't have an out clause after all."
"What?" She raised an eyebrow, looking at him hard. "You're not... seriously wanting me to give up reading for you, are you?"
Jon jerked with alarm. He hadn't expected Karyn to betray him like this. "C'mon, Karyn, you can't be serious! You can't expect me to do... that. There's no way in hell I'm doing that!"
Karyn rolled her eyes. "Girls do kinkier stuff all the time. We're talking about my life, here."
"I'm not--" Jon started to raise is voice but halted when people started glancing in their direction. He spoke in softer tones, "I'm not a girl. I'm a man!"
"And I'm an honor-roll student," Karyn seethed. "So, man-up, jackass, and take your damn cucumber!"
Jon's mouth fell open. He couldn't have imagined Karyn would go along with Sarah's evil game like this. He struggled to put into words why this mattered so much more than Karyn's reading ability. "I'm not... I'm not supposed to have a girl's... anything. I would never do this, ever, not even if I got a hundred dollars for it. Sarah's going to make me do it. It's not just me being kinky, it's like... rape."
Jon's voice squeaked on that last word. He wasn't used to that kind of sexual vulnerability. He knew girls had to deal with those kinds of fears, but he had grown up assuming he would always have the power because he was the guy. Sure, there were vague, ghostly fears of some perverted gay man lurking in the dark corners of his mind, but he knew not to do anything to wind up in prison, and the fear never entered the practical realm for him. He certainly never, ever would have anticipated that a girl would hold that kind of power over him, but it was true that Sarah had become for him what the dangerous male figure was in the minds of most girls.
Karyn winced. She understood, or at least Jon thought she did. She sighed. "I really am sorry, Jon, but... you'll get through it. I can't live my life without being able to read. I'm sorry, but there's absolutely no way I'm letting you in that dressing room."
