"Where were you at lunch?" Karyn whispered as she took her normal seat next to Jon in Pre-Calc.
"What do you mean, where was I?" Jon's reply had just the slightest hint of hurt to it, "You were sitting with Zoe, there wasn't any room for me."
Karyn's face reddened slightly. She hadn't even considered that there wasn't any room at the table. "But then where did you sit?"
Now it was Jon's turn to have a red face. "With Biff."
"Meadows!?"
"No, Biff Tannen. Of course, Biff Meadows. I don't know, after that run with him this morning he's... taken an interest in me?"
"Well, count me jealous," Karyn poked Jon with her elbow as the bell rang and Mrs. Newman began her lecture.
Jon wasn't sure how to take that last statement from his friend. Technically, her wish shouldn't make her act like Sarah, but that seemed a rather Sarah-esque thing for her to say. Her mom's attitudes seemed to have changed, maybe that was rubbing off on Karyn? Or maybe there was something about wearing hot-girl makeup that made a person act more like a hot girl. Was Zoe acting the same way now because of her own makeup?
But his thoughts were soon overtaken by math. And far more quickly than Jon thought it would, soon the bell rang to end the period.
Biff didn't normally sit next to Jon in Spanish class, but nobody was going to argue with him when he inevitably did. What was it about Biff that made everyone just... do what he said? He didn't seem malicious, he just always seemed in control somehow.
"Did you think about that pick-up game?" Biff whispered before class started.
Jon hadn't, but that sense of control that Biff exuded seemed to compel him to say "yeah, I think I'll join you."
"You should text your mom, have her meet us there."
Jon hesitated.
"Come on, it'll be fun. If you're already there anyway, I'm sure your mom will want to join up. I'll make sure you two are on the same team."
Jon knew he was being affected by peer pressure. He could feel it. And there was some part of him that resisted the action because he knew it was peer pressure causing him to take it. But the bigger part of him just wanted to give in, so his hand went to his pocket and he texted his mom: "pick-up football game at the park after school. You want to join?"
Jon didn't even have enough time to put his phone back in his pocket before it buzzed in response: "Heck yeah! Count me in!!!!"
Biff could see the response over Jon's shoulder and his grin widened. "Awesome!" Señora Altagracia turned in Biff's direction at his outburst. "Er, I mean, muy bueno!" The teacher's look softened as she began her lecture.
When Spanish ended, Biff practically dragged Jon to gym class. The whole time the larger boy was rambling about catching drills and making sure Jon was prepared for the pick-up game and how amazing it was going to be to have his mom there, and it was all Jon could do to toss in an "uh-huh" or a "yeah" every now and again.
As they changed in the locker room, Biff wouldn't let Jon out of his sight, told off other boys who looked like they were going to start something, just acted very protective of Jon somehow. And once out in the field, Biff started up with those catching drills he'd talked about, not even letting Jon greet Karyn as the girls exited their own locker room. All Jon could do was shrug in Karyn's direction, but Karyn seemed to understand.
Jon could not remember the last time he had spent so much time throwing a football, and by the end of the period he felt only marginally more confident in his abilities. But Biff seemed happy to have devoted all of his attention to Jon throughout the period. When Coach Burlington blew the whistle to call everyone back to the locker rooms, Biff whispered to Jon, "just stay in your gym clothes, we'll go straight to the park."
And just like that, the school day was over, and Jon found himself once again struggling to keep up with Biff as the two ran side-by-side.
