"Biff, get over here!" The greeting was delivered by Steve "The Stud" Farber, Lake Point High's star wide receiver and resident casanova, and it pulled Biff's attention away from the wall that he'd surely have drifted into if not for Sarah's guiding hand.
"Hmminaminnuh," Biff replied with a light shake of his head.
"Are you alright? What's going on?"
"Oh, he's fine," Sarah piped up, speaking for her boyfriend. "Aren't you, babe?"
The dullness in Biff's eyes cleared for just a moment. "Oh. Yeah, Sarah, I'm good."
The conversation went on from there, returning to a more usual routine of gossip and flirting. Although Sarah seemed to be handling an outsized portion of the conversation, even by her standards, and Biff seemed more of a wallflower. When cheerleader Tiffany Sanders brought up a tough catch Steve had made in the last week's game, Sarah spoke over her. When linebacker Mike "The Moose" Matthews asked about what had happened in the locker room, Sarah made him feel like a fool for even asking. And when Steve started hitting on Amber Levine...
A sense of protectiveness that she didn't quite understand overtook Sarah. She physically stepped between the two, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder as if to caution him. And, to everybody's surprise, Steve immediately backed down.
And he blinked.
And he took on the same sort of distant stare that Biff had had all morning. When he stepped back, he even seemed to fade behind everyone else, like the spotlight that had been shining on him was turned off.
"That's better," Sarah said with a smirk that shifted into something more predatory. As she returned to her place in the informal huddle, she found her arm snaking its way around Amber's shoulder, pulling the other cheerleader in to her body. "You like me better than that jerk anyway, don't you, girl."
Amber was confused for a moment and turned to look Sarah in the eye. But in that moment, she was no longer confused. She was under a spell.
Up until that moment, Sarah commanded attention due to sheer confidence. The way she'd held herself, her general attitude, it created sort of a passive effect among those around her. But now Sarah was on the attack. Stalking prey that was already trapped.
Sarah leaned in and kissed Amber on the lips. Hard. And the other girl could do nothing but melt into it.
"If you want more of that," Sarah ended the kiss, "then meet me in the locker room before gym." Then she turned away from the group without even looking back, only a quiet "come on, babe," to signal Biff to follow her, which he did, as she headed for her first period class.
As she walked, though, the gears in Sarah's head were turning. Something had changed. She'd touched Steve, and suddenly she was God's gift to women. And when she'd touched Biff the night before she seemed to take control in the way that he always had. Maybe, in some twisted way, her wish in that locker room had come true.
She would have to investigate further.
