"I don't think we should spend tomorrow isolated," Lucy said to Sarah.
"I wasn't isolated. Biff and I went out and we had to go through that group discussion. I wonder why they didn't make anyone outside of the school do that," Sarah commented.
"Force us into therapy?" Lucy chuckled. "That would probably not go over well. They are probably focusing on you because they can...schools provide that kind of service during a crisis and they can make attendance mandatory. I can make a fuss and get you and Biff out of it, if you want."
"I don't want to call attention to ourselves. Although it's where I learned that Jon Gibson swapped with his mother too..." Sarah said. "Didn't you two used to be friends?"
"We worked together. When I stopped working, and his mother changed jobs, we did try to keep friendly. You and Jon were in the same playgroup for a bit. Then the business started to take off, we moved to this house. And your father had some sort of beef with Simon Gibson...hired him to fix up this house before we moved in. I never knew what that was about. The two of them settled it, and...we just all stopped talking."
Biff looked over, having been listening. "Why are we talking about Jon Gibson? His whole family is so messed up. Even before all of this. He has that Goth sister, and he's always with that girl Karyn who dresses like she wears her brother's hand me downs...except she doesn't have a brother."
Sarah looked at him. "Biff...sweetie...Don't make cheap shots at the Gibsons. It is beneath us."
"You do all the time," he protested.
"Well, that was before we decided that we need to all rally together to get through this. All four of us," she said.
Robert entered with a serving dish. He had heard the tail end of the speech assumed he was part of the four. But Mollie assumed the same thing.
He served each of them. "Thank you," Sarah said....in fact, the only one to thank him. The rest just took their servings and ignored him. From his vantage point, he could see Biff making eyes at Mollie..under Sarah's nose, no less. And Lucy and Sarah doing most of the talking. Mollie seemed focused on the food.
After he left, Sarah looked at Lucy. "When are you going to stop giving him the silent treatment?"
Lucy blinked. "To be honest, he's been so silent...and I've been so focused on other things..I forgot I was," she admitted. "I'll make peace with him tomorrow, I promise, honey. But let him sleep on all he did at least. Because I will be laying down some new rules."
She nodded. That made sense.
