Karyn returned to the locker room with Amber and went to open her locker, but her combination didn't work. She tried it twice, then a third time, then stamped her foot and stared at it for a moment, before something clicked.
This wasn't the locker she'd taken the uniform out of. This was the locker Karyn had been using all year up until today, but when she'd entered the locker room a few hours earlier she'd detoured. Gone to a new locker. Karyn looked down the row and vague memories from her other self returned to her.
This thing, whatever it was that had been happening to her, had it changed what locker she uses? Even for when she's not under Sarah's thrall, or whatever?
It was something to figure out for later. For now, Karyn just needed to change out of her uniform. So she walked over to Sarah's locker, and opened the one right next to it, and found all of her things. Well, most of her things plus the flirty outfit that Sarah had put her in. The one that had gotten Amber and Tiffany's attention. The attention that got them to welcome her into the cheer collective. Which had earned Karyn an entirely new group of friends, somehow.
As Karyn removed the uniform and donned each piece of an outfit that was feeling more and more natural to wear as the day grew longer, a thought occurred to her: she hated the feeling of being that bitchy Sarah-y version of herself. Hated feeling like she was losing control of her own body. But whenever she came back to being herself, the aftermath of the episode always seemed to make her happy. When she returned to being herself, she got compliments on her clothes, and she got attention from Jon, and she made new friends.
And a guilty, selfish thought rose up in her mind.
Once changed, the girls all emptied out into the school parking lot, and Karyn was about to start walking to Jon's house to tell him what had happened and hopefully find a wish that could fix everything. But that nagging thought stopped her, and she turned on her heel as she saw Amber pressing the button on her key fob that unlocked her car door.
"Hey, Amber? Can I get a ride?"
"Sure," the girl replied without a second thought. "Where do you live?"
"Actually," Karyn paused. Was she really going to do this? "Can you drop me off at Sarah's house?"
