Sarah cracked Paige's door open a sliver to get a peek at what was happening. Normally, she would've been shocked that a loser like Karyn even set foot in her house, but this was even better than watching Gossip Girl! Even after she turned Jon Madison into a bleach blonde mini-version of herself, he still somehow managed to make friends with someone from his previous life, even with a three year age difference.
In typical Sarah fashion, she stayed to listen. Karyn and Paige were doing something over by the walk-in closet, but could only hear Paige's end of the conversation.
"C'mon Karyn, it'll be so fun! You don't know what you're missing out on."
"Well duh, you can borrow one of mine!"
"No really, I've got, like, a hundred of them. They're not all pink. Here, try this one, I bet it'll look cute on you."
"C'monnnnnnnnn. I'll even have Mom make us smoothies. Just once, I promise."
Paige turned around with a huge smile on her face -- Karyn was her friend again! She bounced toward the door, but didn't see Sarah standing right in front of it and almost bowled her over.
"Oh hey little sis, I think it's so cute you're taking on a charity case. Although if you haven't noticed already, Karyn Black is like a real lost cause. Maybe with a tan she'll stop getting confused for what we like to call " Sarah tilted her head sideways and smirked for added effect, " a train wreck."
"I'm not sure if you know this, Sarah, but yeah, her fashion sense might be more man than glam, but she's nice! And has lots of interesting things to say. God, it's so hard to keep you happy! I mean, I guess if she's making you look bad, I can at least let her borrow some of my clothes?"
Sarah pushed Paige out of the way, and barged into her room. "Let's see what she's up to!"
####
Karyn turned left and right in front of the full length mirror in Paige's closet. She was conflicted. One one hand, she didn't want to go lay outside in the McMillan backyard, sipping on a smoothie like some kind of beach bunny bimbo. But on the other hand, she really did need to relax once in a while, with all the stresses school and her home life were putting on her. Besides, she did look cute.
Since making that errant wish years ago, Karyn never really had worn anything like this. The bikini was white, and tied at the neck and back. What really set it off, though were the sequins. The triangle top of it was covered in them! From a deep purple to pink to green, they really looked great. Actually, she looked great.
Karyn struck a couple poses. Feigning surprise, side-to-side, arms on the head. She was ripped violently from her daydream by a mischievous smile over her shoulder. It was Sarah. She threw her hands down immediately to cover up. How much had Sarah seen? Her face flushed to a deep red in embarrassment.
"Look out boys, here comes Karyn Black! O-M-G, I love that on you."
Was this some kind of joke? It was like she was living in a parallel universe. McMillans being nice?
"It's like that suit was made for you. You should see if Paige will give it to you. It's not like she can wear all of them, anyway."
"Uh, Thanks, Sarah. Are, uh, you going to hang with us?"
"With you awkward dweebs? Psh, I'm headed to the mall."
Karyn noticed that Sarah cracked a smile when she called her a dweeb, except, it wasn't a smirk like before. It was almost endearing. She shivered, and turned back to the mirror -- maybe she would borrow it.
####
The warmth of the sun, mixed with the coolness of the banana/strawberry smoothie brought Karyn's nerves down. She wasn't sure how she felt about strutting around half-naked in a backyard, but slowly she got more comfortable. The McMillan backyard was, tree-lined and fenced, so they weren't lacking privacy, and the oversized sunglasses she borrowed from Paige also gave her an air of anonymity. She could probably act however she wanted, and no one would know!
She took another sip.
Hanging out with Paige was actually pretty easy. The topics of conversation might've not been the most stimulating, but they always were laughing at each other jokes, and complimenting each other on how hot they looked. It felt pretty good.
Going back to school tomorrow with Leonard and Gladys was really going to suck. Of course, she could ditch them and sit with Paige again at lunch, but that would mean having to put up with the rest of the blonde patrol. Could she handle that? Would it be better than her dumb friends?
She glanced over at Paige, who was intently leafing through the newest issue of Us Weekly. She seemed content, so why wasn't Karyn? She was going to have to think some things over.
Paige had already said yes, so maybe she'd do it at her house while modeling this bikini.
