With Jon still leaning on her, Sarah took her phone out of her purse and dialed a number.
"Hey, Mom?" she spoke into the phone after a moment. "Can you call the school and tell them I'm going to sign myself out early today?" A pause. "I mean, tell them whatever you need to tell them, but I just really need to help out a friend." Another pause. "Great! Thankies!"
Jon was too dazed to really hear what Sarah had just said, but Karyn looked at her in shock.
"What?" Sarah was genuinely confused. "You know I've skipped classes before. I always make up my work."
"But I should--" Karyn paused, trying to collect her thoughts, trying to figure out what she really wanted to say. On the one hand, she should be the one skipping class for Jon, and she wanted to say that to Sarah. But on the other hand, she couldn't be alone with Jon without Sarah, and she didn't want to risk steering the conversation in a way that might lead in that direction. "I have a test, or else I would--"
"No, Karyn, I'm doing this." The girl was almost relieved to be cut off so sternly by Sarah. "My boyfriend-- my ex-boyfriend broke your boyfriend, and I'm going to fix him as best as I can. I've got a car, and I have a doctor I can take him to, and you have a test."
Both Karyn and Sarah knew that the test was an excuse, but Karyn didn't argue further. And the nurse finished her examination of Jon and gave him some over-the-counter pain relievers. And after a quick phone call to his mom, where Sarah intervened and explained why nobody needed to pick Jon up from school, Jon found himself in the passenger seat of Sarah McMillan's little white Miata for the second time that day.
And a bitchier Karyn walked her way back to the cafeteria, wondering why she and Sarah had escorted that little creeper to the nurse's office. It was a lingering thought that didn't have an easy answer.
"I can't just let you pay for a doctor for me," Jon struggled through swollen cheeks once they were on the road. "Clothes are one thing, but--"
"But nothing," Sarah cut him off. "This guy works for my dad, and he's salaried. He'd be getting paid the same working on you as he'd be getting paid for doing paperwork. It's literally nothing. I've taken Biff to see him before."
"Has Biff ever been as beaten up as I am right now?" Jon's words were slightly slurred.
Sarah turned her head to give Jon a quick once-over. "No," she said sympathetically. "But this doctor is really good, and he's got really up-to-date equipment."
Jon let out a sigh and allowed himself to sink down into the leather upholstery, eyes closed. He was going to trust Sarah. He was going to let Sarah help him. Jon let out a low chuckle, then winced as it caused a bolt of pain to shoot through his chest. How had he ended up in such a ridiculous situation? How had his world become so backwards that he felt least safe around Karyn, and most safe around Sarah?
Jon steadied his breathing, leaned the seat back, and tried to sleep the rest of the way to the doctor's office.
