Along the jog to school, Biff started asking questions about Jon's mom, but he quickly found that while he could talk easily while maintaining a jogging pace, Jon was struggling badly. He'd have to come back to Jon with these questions later, he reasoned.
By the time the two boys made it to the high school, Jon was sweaty, flushed, and panting hard. He still couldn't speak. But he could listen.
"There's another pick-up football game at the park after school today," Biff informed his hunched-over classmate. "No commitment, but it would be really cool if you and your mom showed up."
Jon gave a thumbs up, just to acknowledge that he'd heard the invitation.
"Hey, I gotta talk to Coach Burlington about something," Biff said quickly, "but I'll see you in class. Good run, Gibson!"
Jon was oddly heartened by the compliment, which surprised him, but he was still struggling to breathe as he made his way to his locker, and wasn't even fully recovered yet as he sat down in his first period class.
"I saw you jogging with Biff on the way to school," a voice came from behind him.
"Sarah?" Jon turned around to see the school's head cheerleader leaning forward against her desk.
"You looked pretty good. Not as good as Biff, of course," there was a hint of disdain in the girl's voice, but not as much as Jon was used to, "but I'm impressed you could even keep up with him."
As she said this, the words that Jon's mom had shared with him the night before came back to him: "they respect confidence," and "If you're trying, and you just be yourself, they'll welcome you in." So he fought the instinct to brush off the compliment.
"Thank you, Sarah. I was surprised I could keep up with him, too."
Sarah gave him a smirk before turning her attention back to the female classmates around her. It wasn't a condescending smirk, or a smug smirk, or a sarcastic smirk, though. It was... a knowing smirk. Almost a friendly smirk. Like, this was Sarah's version of Biff saying "good run, Gibson."
It filled his chest with an unfamiliar pride that displaced any remaining weariness from that morning's run.
