"Hey, Jamie." A voice called out as the crowd started to disperse. A girl approached Ronald and Jamie. She had long blonde hair and sizeable breasts whose shape was now more visible through the tighter sweater. It took Ronald a moment to recognize her as Karyn. Jamie's, formerly Jon's, best friend. One of the people on his list.
Karyn's eyes flicked to the boy walking with her best friend. A tight, nervous expression overtook her smile the moment she recognized Ronald. "Oh and you're Ronald, right? I didn't know you and Jamie were friends." Her tone was overly polite but also a little excited.
Jamie's eyes looked to Ronald and then back to Karyn. "Yeah, he uh helped me look for the stone and then we were stuck with a group assignment together. I never knew he was so funny." Jamie said with a small laugh. Karyn's eyes went wide in alarm but a quick look from Jamie quelled it.
Karyn must also know about the stone, Ronald quickly concluded. Karyn's look was replaced with jealousy which she did a poor job at hiding. Was she jealous of her best friend getting inroads with Ronald? Yes, but also something else.
"Oh right, you're in a gym class," Karyn quickly replied, trying to bring attention away from whatever had just happened.
"I am. Jamie figured we could walk together." Ronald replied feeling a little unsettled by the relationship between the two. Their friendship was much stronger than he had known.
"Good. You always like making new friends," Karyn said looking pointedly at Jamie. Jamie looked at Karyn and smiled, ignoring Karyn's hidden meaning. Karyn just looked away a slight flush in her cheeks. Wait. They continued the small talk but Ronald was mostly thinking about what had happened between the two of them.
So, they were friends. Close friends. Karyn knew about the stone. Knew it was gone. Karyn was also uncomfortable with Jamie talking to Ronald. Ronald got the sense that Jamie was no virgin, perhaps Karyn was trying to curtail her friend's promiscuousness. Ronald was okay with this. He might have wanted something more conservative but this slightly-slutty Jamie was actually pretty exciting.
Ronald logged this away as he observed Karyn. Even though there were no visual changes, Karyn's nervousness around Ronald meant it had started working. But there was a lesser, better-concealed nervousness around Jamie. Jealousy and something else. Ah. Ronald recalled Sarah's campaign against Jon and Karyn from a few months ago.
Ronald wasn't super up on rumours but he recalled the ones she had spread about Karyn. How she was a lesbian. It was a strange rumor to spread. The only people who would care already didn't care much about her. But maybe there was some truth to it. Ronald watched as Jamie took several long strides to get in front of the two of them before spinning around to walk backwards as she cracked so joke.
Ronald didn't miss Karyn's eyes darting glance at Jamie's precariously concealed breasts. So it was true. The crowds started to thin. They were halfway to the locker rooms.
