By lunchtime, Karyn had seen a bit more, but was still very confused.
Confused, first (and most) of all by Sarah, who not only seemed to be her new best friend, but who wasn't even bitchy to others anymore. She wasn't on the cheerleading squad at all, and didn't seem to have more than a passing acquaintance with any of its members, either. What was more, Karyn found herself liking this Sarah, which, with the history that she remembered, left her feeling quite non-plussed.
She was also still at a loss about Jon. She hadn't seen any sign of him all day. Finally, she decided to ask Sarah about Jon.
"Sarah," she asked, "Do you know any Jon Smith at school here?"
"John Smithe? The little geek on the newspaper?"
Suddenly, Karyn remembered the name, but she knew that wasn't him. "No, spelled differently from him. Without the 'h' in his first name, and without the 'e' on the end of his last name."
"What has gotten into you today? First forgetting about our friendship, and then looking for people who don't exist?" Sarah put her hand on Karyn's forehead.
Karyn giggled at that. "C'mon, stop that. I'm serious. I could've sworn I'd seen someone around with that name."
"Well," Sarah asked, "Is he cute?"
"Oh, he's great," Karyn averred, her voice drifting off a bit at the end.
"The eyes... The voice... She's in love. Come on, tell me all about him," Sarah said, rather louder than Karyn would've preferred.
"I am not!" Her voice dropped down to just above a whisper. "I used to see him everyday, but now he doesn't even seem to exist. Look..." She paused for a minute, thinking about the look in Jon's eyes right before his mom walked in. That led to thinking about the stone for a minute, particularly when he first showed it to her. "Let's talk about this after school. I don't want to talk about it now."
Seeing her friend suddenly near to tears, and quite confused, Sarah let it rest for the moment...
