Bethany Black turned out to be practically a professional at being a single Mom: The car pulled up at Lake Point High School almost exactly as the first bell rang for the day and the front doors unlocked. 5 minutes to get to homeroom, in a school that took 5 minutes to traverse end-to-end. Students started funneling out of the courtyard and through the doors like sand grains in an hourglass.
Jon bolted out of the car ahead of Athena and practically dived into the mass of studentflesh at the doors. He didn't just need to get to class; he wanted to find Karyn, before she disappeared to classes of her own for the day. There was no way he was keeping something as (not) interesting as this to himself! He needed someone he could trust to bounce ideas off of, someone to confide in, and Karyn was easily the girl for the job.
He found her easily. Too easily, actually; it didn't immediately register that she was the slender redhead he was used to picking out of a crowd, and not the buxom blonde she should have been. "KARYN! Karyn! There you are!"
She had been walking to class, like everyone else, but stopped short and turned when called. She looked him up and down curiously. "Hello?"
"Oh my god, Karyn, I'm glad I caught you! I-... I, um... did you do something with your hair?" Jon asked, noticing the aforementioned change for the first time. Actually, the hair was subtly different than he was used to, longer and pulled back in a ponytail behind her, and she was dressed a little differently, apparently going without her usual green sweater and opting for a smallish brown hoodie today instead, and tight black leggings.
"You could say that... What's this about?" She asked impatiently.
"Look, I know you need to get to class, but, I wanna talk about stuff!" Jon yammered in the rush.
"...Stuff?"
"Stuff that happened with... the.. y'know?" He gestured frantically, trying to indicate the Stone without mentioning it aloud in the middle of all those people. "Interesting Stuff! We can talk about it after class, right?"
Karyn just stared at him, puzzled and curious. Eventually though, a grin started to spread across her face. "Are... oh my god, are you trying to ask me out!?" She asked with a little blush.
"What?" That one caught Jon off guard. "No? Well, yeah, but, not like that, I just thought we could, y'know, hang out?" Now he was as confused as Karyn.
She giggled in a way Jon hadn't heard her giggle in a long time. "You're Jon, right? Jon Gibson?"
"...Yeah...?"
That fact was suddenly confirmed by a second opinion, out of nowhere. "Jon-boy?" Jon and Karyn both turned to the voice. It took a moment for Jon to place her. She looked like she used to be Nicole Tiller, one of the few popular girls at school that wasn't a cheerleader and had no ambitions to be one; she was the star of the Track and Field team, and one of the tomboys around the high school.
She was also wearing an old green sweater, blonde where she used to be brunette, and heaving two absolutely massive melons within that sweater.
...Oh.
...Shit.
Karyn could not have looked more smug if she tried. "Weeeell, Jon, the thing is, I have practice after school today, and homework and the usual stuff after, BUT, if you wanted to come out and watch me run after class, we could probably work something out on my water break!"
Then Karyn kissed him. Leaned in and pecked him on the cheek, in full view of Nicole and everyone. The old Karyn had never done that. Both Jon and Nicole were red as tomatoes, with eyes wide like saucers.
"But, we're out of time for now. I look forward to hanging out later! Toodles~!" Karyn practically skipped off to class, giddy like she was on cloud nine. Jon and Nicole were left standing there, stunned. For a dumbstruck moment, Jon turned and shared a look with her.
The look on Nicole's face practically broke his heart. "I-I should get to class..." She rushed off, before any other words could be exchanged.
Eventually, Jon started walking numbly to a class of his own. The emotion that first filtered into that void, of all things, was anger. "Uninteresting, my ass!" he screamed at his pet rock.
