Karyn felt a flush of heat in her cheeks as she drifted back into consciousness. Like she'd been angry. Like she'd been arguing. As her mother's face drifted into focus, she could see a similar heat reflected back. Had Karyn been fighting with her mom?
But, in a reverse of how the cheerleaders had gone from friendly to suspicious back on the field the day before, Bethany Black's face softened even as the anger in Karyn's belly subsided. And it changed into surprise.
"Honey," Bethany addressed her daughter, "that's a... bold look. Are you feeling alright?"
Karyn looked down at herself and flushed. Her comfy jeans had become a denim skirt that was even shorter than the one she'd originally seen on the hanger and left almost all of her leg exposed. Her loose T-shirt had become a tight little tube top that hugged her boobs like a boa constrictor. And her sweater, her signature sweater, her Karyn sweater, it was almost unrecognizable. Karyn found that she was now wearing a green leather zip-up jacket that ended just above her belly button. She rubbed the material with her fingers, and it felt soft and expensive, and everything that Karyn was not.
Other Karyn had certainly rebelled against the clothes that Karyn had put her in. Suddenly faced with the results of her actions, Karyn wasn't so sure she'd made the right choice.
But no. This was going to turn out good. Karyn somehow knew it, deep inside of her. If she could feel comfortable wearing Sarah's clothes yesterday, she could find a way to feel comfortable wearing Other Karyn's clothes today.
"I..." Karyn trailed off before collecting her thoughts. "Jon and I started dating yesterday. And I just wanted to, I don't know, give him a little reward for it today?"
Bethany's face softened further. "Oh, my little girl." She wrapped her daughter in a hug. "I don't think that outfit quite meets your school dress code, but just for today I won't say anything. Just make sure you don't get detention."
Karyn warmed in her mom's embrace. She could still feel the remnants of the memory of arguing, screaming at her mother just minutes earlier. But that wasn't Karyn. That was Other Karyn. Other Karyn fought. Other Karyn got angry. Other Karyn was miserable.
But Real Karyn was loved. And Real Karyn was getting the benefit of all of Other Karyn's bold decisions, without any of the consequences.
She allowed herself to be held by her mother for another moment, then picked up her backpack and walked out the door.
Jon marveled at the mirror as Sarah turned off the trimmer and admired her handiwork. It wasn't a lot. True to her word, she'd only given an even trim along the sides so that his hair held a deliberate shape, and wasn't just a disorganized mop.
"It actually looks pretty good!" Jon said as he pulled his fingers through his newly-tamed locks.
"I told you," Sarah gently chided. "Now go take a shower to wash off any leftover trimmings, and meet me back in your bedroom."
"Wait," Jon stopped her. "You just expect me to let you hang out in my bedroom for the next fifteen minutes, unsupervised?"
"Jon," Sarah sighed, "do you trust me?"
Jon looked back in the mirror once more, at his new provisional hairstyle that was waiting for a weekend barber's appointment before it became final. "Provisionally," he said to Sarah. "I trust you, provisionally."
"That's about all I can expect, I suppose."
Sarah left the bathroom without any further protest from Jon, who dutifully entered the shower as per Sarah's instructions. And, from Sarah's perspective, she did nothing to betray Jon's trust as she waited in his bedroom. She set out the clothes that he was to wear after his shower. She re-packed everything else back into her suitcase. She sat down on Jon's bed to patiently wait for him to finish.
And she picked up a pretty little red stone that was sitting on Jon's nightstand.
"It doesn't make any sense," Sarah articulated her thoughts out loud as she sat alone in the bedroom. "I trust Karyn, and I'm going to support her, and she made her feelings very clear last night, but I just don't get how those two are going to work together." Sarah looked up at the Dog Man poster that Jon had hanging on his wall. "The Karyn I know would eat this kid alive. Part of me feels like Jon deserves to know what he's getting into before Karyn breaks his heart. But she says she wants this relationship to work."
Sarah flopped backwards onto the bed.
"Maybe she acts differently when he's around. I just wish I could really see Jon's version of Karyn, and maybe that he could see mine."
There was a flash of light, and Sarah squinted before getting up to close the blinds. The sun must just be rising, she thought to herself.
