A/N: I know it is a long, long, long time since this story has been updated and if I hadn't returned to this site recently I would still have forgotten about it. But I did return and no matter how long it has been I still love Mean Girls and Karen and Gretchen and they deserve the rest of this story. So if anyone is still interested in this, I'm back. :)

Chapter 11

As arranged, Cady met Karen in the morning before school. In fact Karen arrived at the Heron household before breakfast. A still groggy, pyjama clad Cady had opened her front door, ready to murder whoever was ringing her doorbell at this hour. It was Karen, though it took Cady a few minutes to realise it.

Karen looked different. Gone was the familiar bubbly blonde. Instead Cady found herself looking at a brunette (wig?), glasses wearing, uniform clad girl. Makeup and jewellery had been banished and the ex-Plastic was walking around on, not pumps, strappy sandals or even wedges but chunky Mary Janes. Only those unmistakable green eyes were the same.

'Karen you look…'

'Smart?' Karen asked, voice molten with hope.

'Something… come in.' Cady shook her head. It was way too early for this. Mercifully, for both their sakes, Cady's parents were away at an exhibition in Chicago.

An hour later and Cady (now properly dressed in an outfit utterly unlike Karen's) walked with her friend to school. She'd managed to persuade Karen to leave off her glasses (reading spectacles that would have done Harry Potter proud). Actually Karen hadn't needed much persuasion after walking into her third mailbox. Looking smart was good. Being able to see was even better.

'The uniform is from my cousin Jane. She's at North Western now but she went to Saint Brigid's Catholic School and she is so smart. She's like Abraham Einstein.'

Cady nodded politely. Jane Smith might have been so smart but judging by the way that her uniform 'fit' Karen the ex-Plastic definitely had the looks in the family. Poor Karen when in (and out) in almost exactly the opposite places as Jane went out (and in.)

As yet the brunette wig remained unexplained and Cady was afraid to ask.

People stared at them. The polite ones whispered. The impolite ones didn't bother keeping so quiet, but Karen seemed to notice none of it.

Gretchen was at her locker. She hadn't seen Karen since this morning when the blonde had departed early from her house, seemingly in good spirits.

At least one of us is, Gretchen thought. Oh why didn't anyone tell me feeling guilty would suck so bad?

She took a long shuddering sigh, closed her eyes and counted backwards to ten, just like it said her step-mom's self books. Okay, I'm Gretchen Wieners and I'm fabulous. She opened her eyes and took out her compact from her bag. See? Totally fetch. I'm ready for this. I can face Karen. She'll be so much happier with Rick.

Karen walked by.

Gretchen dropped her compact.

Ten minutes of hurried explanation in the girl's room and seven years of bad luck for Gretchen later and all three girls were off to separate classes, each with a lot on their minds. Gretchen, normally one of life's B- students would not for the life of you have been able to say what class she was in. Cady, generally top of her class could concentrate on nothing but the awesome task of making Karen Smith seem smart, and Karen herself…

The Capital of Washington State is: a) Seattle, b) Olympia, c) Spokane.

Karen read the test question very carefully, then read it a second time. Then, taking her pencil she crossed out all three options and wrote: None of them. It is a trick question. Washington is the capital of America.

She sat back in her chair feeling exhausted but proud. The first thing Cady had told her was that smart people always thought very carefully before they did something, and not even just with important stuff like fashion.

She'd wanted to talk more with Gretchen before class but for some reason her bff had seemed talkative. Well she'd catch her up at lunch before Cady took her to the library (Karen had been surprised to learn the school totally had its own library!) In the meantime she had a history class to catch – and Mike was in that class! Yes!

Regina George liked to think her Satan in Stilettoes days were behind her (even if she had secretly loved that nickname). The Plastics were as kaput as the Soviet Union Mr. Diaz was droning on about. That didn't mean she didn't still look out for her friends though and as soon as Karen had walked into the History class dressed like the Empress of the Nerds she had felt a flicker of guilt. You didn't need to be Cady Heron brainy to see Karen was way overcompensating for her lack of smarts. Normally her friend and ex-comrade was completely okay with her dimbulb rep but obviously something had gotten to her.

'Regina, is that Karen?'

Regina turned to her left, to look at the cute swimmer dude sitting at the desk beside her. She had to admit to herself that Rick was a great catch and if she wasn't dating Joel Kline she'd have been tempted herself. Oh you so owe me Karen.

'Yes Rick, she's, uh, in a school play Damian is setting up. It's a comedy.'

'Oh, okay cool. She looks cool as a brunette though right?'

'If you like that sort of thing,' Regina muttered back.

Three desks over and unaware of this attention Karen was quietly whispering to Mike, her own neighbour. He'd been happy to see her, if puzzled by her appearance. 'For Halloween?'

'Something like that,' Karen replied mysteriously. Smart girls were mysterious. Everyone knew that. Think how surprised Mike was going to be if he thought she was dressed like this to pretend to be smart when she was totally going to learn how to be smart.

I mean how long could it take to learn everything?