Chapter 2

Catherine woke up half-remembering an unpleasant dream. Not a great start to a day. She rolled out of bed, and looked blearily around her room.

Something was off. When she could finally see the waking world clearly, she knew what was wrong. Her room had undergone a makeover. Gone were her grey sheets, her bookshelf and her posters of famous female scientists. In their place was pink sheets, a vanity and posters of models. When she looked more closely at the posters she realized they still depicted the same people as her old posters (Lisa Meitner, Marie Curie, Andrea Ablasser, etc.) but instead of depicting them in dignified poses, they all seemed to be posing for the camera and wearing skimpy outfits. Had someone really gone through the trouble of photoshopping these pictures?

This had to be a prank of some kind, though Catherine had no idea how someone could have pulled it off. The posters and furniture were one thing, but how could they switch her bedsheets without her noticing? Oh well, she would just have to take this in stride. She did her usual morning routine as best she could, but ran into a snag. Apparently, someone had taken the liberty of changing her entire wardrobe of conservative, professional clothing with miniskirts, midriff- and cleavage-bearing tops, and similar skimpy clothes. Great. This prank was going from vaguely amusing to annoying now.

Catherine got dressed in the most conservitive outfit she could find (which still showed off her stomach and legs) and went down to the living room hoping to find some answers. Instead she just had more questions.

The usual early birds of Nu Epsiolon Rho were all down in the living room, but they were all dressed more like they were going to a party friday night than their second day of classes. Catherine was also surprised to see that all of them were wearing make-up, when it was sort of an informal rule that no one in Nu Epsiolon Rho had the time for such things. Catherine walked up to Sai, who was working hard on a piece of bubble gum and texting someone on her iPhone. (Didn’t Sai have a basic flip phone, so she ‘wouldn’t be distracted’?) Sai was only wearing booty shorts, and a sports bra - rather daring for a girl who had just been teased about her weight yesterday.

“Hey, Sai. What’s up with the way everyone’s dressed? Is there an event or something?”

Sai finished her text message, and looked up at Catherine. “You’re one to, like, talk. Where’s your makeup?”

“I, uh, don’t wear makeup.”

“Kat, I’ve know you for, like, three years, and I’ve never seen you leave the house without makeup.”

Kat? Catherine hated that nickname - she had always considered it too informal. That was the least of her problems right now though.

“Sai, if this is some sort of practical joke, you guys can stop now. What is going on right now?”

Sai rolled her eyes. “You’re acting mondo wierd, Kat. This is what, like, happens when you don’t put your makeup on. It throws your whole, like, day off! Let’s go do your makeup so we can meet our boyfriends for breakfast.”

Things were happening so fast, Catherine could barely keep up. “Boyfriends? We’ve never had boyfriends.”

Sai giggled. “You can’t be, like, serious! With your hot body, I’d be surprised if you’ve gone more than, like, a week without a boyfriend since high school.”

Catherine looked down at her same, plain body. What was Sai on about? Had the whole world gone mad!?

Catherine didn’t object as Sai led her back upstairs to her room. Sai sat Catherine down at her vanity, and began to do her make-up while carrying on a one-sided conversation about something. Catherine sort of tuned her out, only offering the occasional “uh huh” of acknowledgment as she began to try to puzzle out what was happening. A practical joke was becoming less and less plausible as an explanation for all the weirdness going on. That’s when Catherine saw it out of the corner of her eye. The necklace Sai had given her.

It was impossible. There was no way ... Had a twisted version of her wish been granted? Instead of getting the body she always wanted, was Catherine now in a world where her body type was considered ideal? So far, she had still only seen the inside of her sorority house. There was no way of knowing what the outside world looked like at this point. As a rational person and a scientist, she needed more data.

Sai finished Catherine’s make-up, and they walked from Greek Row to the dining hall. It was still pretty early, so there weren’t that many people out and about, but Catherine was fascinated by what she saw. The boys didn’t seem any different from how she remembered, but she was surprised every time she saw a girl. Plain girls, fat girls and even ugly girls all seemed to carry themselves with an amazing degree of self-confidence, while the girls with pretty faces, athletic bodies and curves in all the right places seemed to unconsciously try to make themselves invisible anywhere they went. The difference even seemed to extend to their clothing. The former group seemed to be fashion conscious for the most part, wearing name brands and flattering makeup, while the latter group looked like they just threw on whatever they had in their closet with out much concern (or expertise) in putting together a convincing ensemble.