Gina and Karyn were about to enter the cafeteria for lunch, when they were intercepted by a diminutive interloper.
"I meant it this morning," Lucy Corinth told them, warning but kind. "I'm not going to, like, force you to do anything, but in Sarah's mind she's doing you a favor by letting you sit with her. And if you reject her favor, she's going to make your lives miserable."
"Okay, so what does that mean?"
"It means you two sit with the cool girls now." Lucy turned and lead them into the cafeteria, and the two girls followed, unsure of what was about to follow.
And Gina felt a sort of shifting in her belly. She chalked it up to nerves, but that's not quite what it was. It was almost a shifting, almost like she had gas. Except, it almost felt like there were solid objects rubbing against one another inside of her, and they had to shift to make room for a new one that had bubbled up from underneath. This new piece of her identity: she sits with the cool girls.
At the middle school, Jon was just entering the cafeteria, as well, but for some reason he couldn't remember where he usually sat. He figured this was another one of the stone's effects, and scanned the room briefly to make his assessment. His eyes briefly paused on Mikey: should he sit with the boy? Or would that be too forward? He filed that thought in the back of his mind as he continued to survey the room.
Then his eyes stopped, and his body froze up. A feeling, like he'd had after first period, like something was dropping inside of him and landing with a thud, took all of his attention right as he spied the table where Lizzy Pierce, Paige McMillan, and Ashley Tyler were sitting.
His feet started moving before his conscious mind could catch up, but this direction felt right. Jon obviously sat with the cool girls.
