Jon was still self-conscious throughout his morning classes - there wasn't much he could do about it. When he leaned his head forward to take notes from class, his new hair brushed the pages of his notebook. When he turned his head to look at one of his classmates when they asked a question, his pigtails would softly smack him in the face. They were just... there. Ever present. Other students and teachers caught sight of the pigtails, and every time he would see a look of recognition and understanding in their eyes, followed by a sympathetic smile or a supportive shrug. No one really cared - besides him.
At lunch, Jon was ready to find Karyn and just ask her to cut his hair off. He was doomed to get a few more physical penalties anyway, why not just get it started? Heck, maybe the 'witch's curse' can just turn me into a frog or a slug or something, and then I won't even have the brain to think about this crap! He sighed.
"Jon! Over here!" He looked, and there was Sarah, waving from a nearby table. Her librarian glasses were perched on the end of her nose (maybe she got glasses with window glass? who knows how this works, Jon thought), but she looked happy to see him. Jon looked around for Karyn, but she was already standing by another table in animated conversation with Biff, Tiffany, Kyla, and a few of their other friends. What a weird combination of people. Or at least, it used to be weird, he thought, as he walked over to Sarah.
Sarah patted the bench besides her. "Hey! Grab a seat. Did you see that poor lunch lady Dolores ended up with a firefighter's closet today? I hope they give her plenty of time to sit down, that's a lot of weight and gear for her to have carry all day long! " Sarah smiled and nodded at a different group of students as they passed by.
"Anyway! Do you know Chloe? And Kaitlyn?" Sarah gestured to some of the other girls sitting nearby. Chloe had long blonde hair and wore a form-fitting green dress that stretched over a truly impressive chest - Jon wasn't sure he knew her, and honestly, he felt like he generally would have known that someone with breasts that big were at his school. Kaitlyn was someone Jon knew as a cheerleader like Sarah, although today she wore a football jersey with pads. Jon gave each of them a quick smile, still not sure why he was sitting with them all.
"So," Sarah put a hand on his arm. "Rough morning, I'm guessing."
"Yeah, you could say that," he muttered.
Chloe leaned forward. "You don't know me, do you?" Jon shook his head apologetically. "Probably because I usually wear clothes that leave me more anonymous. Do you know how often the curse puts me in dresses like this, Jon? Practically 20 days of every month, at least. I'd kill to have my loose baggy hoodies back." She shrugged. "On those days I get guy's clothing, I purposely screw it up to get a penalty on purpose."
Jon's eyes widened. "Really? Why?"
"To remind myself that while I'd be easily defined by these E-cups, there's a lot of the rest of me that I really appreciate and love, too. And so when the curse makes me put my breasts on display, I take a hit elsewhere to remember for the rest of the year to appreciate all of myself."
Jon stared. "That's... surprisingly insightful."
Kaitlyn laughed. "Chloe is good at that kind of thing."
"October forces me to be introspective," Chloe admitted. "But a few years ago Sarah saw me purposely cutting a flannel shirt in two - not one of my better days! And since then she's gotten me to share my perspective with people who look like they're having a hard time. And I think it's helped them. And I didn't know I could be helpful like that, and I like it."
"What's the point in my being the queen bee around the school if I can't use it to help other people?" Sarah laughed gently.
This is a really different universe, isn't it. Jon thought.
"So I'm assuming this was a mistake. And because of soccer, you're beating yourself up today because at least on game days you're actively choosing the physical penalties, as opposed to having them forced on you? And since it looks like a young girl's hair, you're a little extra upset?" Sarah asked.
"That's... accurate enough," Jon evaded.
"That sucks," Kaitlyn nodded sympathetically.
"Just don't let your frustration develop into shame, okay? It's almost nobody's fault that October is like this." Chloe smiled at him.
I mean, it kind of is my fault. Jon sighed inwardly.
"At least let us help you with your hair, ok? We can make it a little less awkward for today, and then tomorrow you can just throw it in a ponytail or something and the curse probably won't care," Sarah announced. She and Kaitlyn got up and stood behind Jon, each taking part of his hair and beginning to braid it. "You can be pampered just a little."
Jon smiled sheepishly. "Thanks, Sarah. And Kaitlyn, and Chloe."
"We've all got each other, I'm sure you'll do something similar for someone else before the month is over." Chloe shrugged.
Jon looked at her. "The curse really puts you into form fitting dresses like that all the time?"
Chloe smiled exasperatedly. "All the time! I bet once I'm finally able to get my reduction that it'll suddenly decide to reward me with nothing but baggy dudes' clothes."
"I had one year where I had nothing but guys' team jerseys," Kaitlyn laughed. "I think the curse was trying to suggest guys for me to date."
"We're three days in and I've gotten the closets of two people who work here at the school. I bet I get the principal tomorrow," Sarah guessed. "Is the curse trying to tell me to go into teaching? It really doesn't know who I am, if that's the case."
"... this is my third day of women's clothes," Jon admitted.
"See! The curse likes its themes. Just once, give me all the women who go to my mom's yoga studio! There, finished." Kaitlyn tied off her side of Jon's hair, and he could already feel that it was less present in his face. Sarah finished a few seconds later.
He reached up and felt at his hair. "Thanks, girls. I appreciate it."
"Of course! Alright, other conversation topics." Sarah announced. "Someone told me that Mrs. Kline took a date to the Town Diner the other day."
"What? That's where students hang out all the time. Why would she do that?" Kaitlyn screwed up her face in confusion.
"Maybe the date was going badly and she wanted us to help scare them off?" Chloe suggested.
They laughed, and Jon found himself laughing along with them. He caught Karyn's eyes across the room, and they smiled at each other. She winked at him, and he nodded back.
Twenty-eight more days. It'll get worse. But... we really are all going through this together, he mused. ... okay, that sounded pretty cheesy. Guess it's not wrong, though.
