Jon felt a well of hope rising within him when he saw Biff Meadow's form enter the cafeteria, knowing that his friend Karyn was inside. But that hope was dashed immediately, as the lumbering form turned away from Jon and towards the siren's call that was Sarah McMillan.
What a bullshit wish, Jon thought to himself. There was a deep philosophical question here about whether the identity was carried with the body or with the mind, and perhaps the wish for Biff to be his friend would have been successfully fulfilled if the mind of Biff Meadows was in the body of Jon's friend, and the mind followed the body to make that person hang out with Jon. Or maybe if the body of Biff Meadows was controlled by the mind of Jon's friend, and the body followed the mind to make that person hang out with Jon.
But neither of those things were happening. He'd barely spoken to Karyn-in-Biff for more than a few minutes in the morning, and the very next time he saw her, she was clearly choosing Sarah over him. And Biff-in-Karyn? If it even was Biff-in-Karyn? He hadn't even spoken a single word to Jon all day. It was as if he was deliberately avoiding Jon.
And now Jon was sitting alone at lunch with neither Biff nor Karyn. With no friends at all. This was how the wish was being fulfilled? Something had to be wrong.
Jon took a fuming bite of his lunch and forced his gaze away from the goo-goo eyes that Biff's body was making at the cheerleader leaning into the crook of his arm, and back over to the table where Karyn's form sat. Surrounded by Kyla Leeson and Gladys Brewer and Monica Tobin and Courtney Phu.
Apparently this Karyn had a new friend group, and Jon wasn't a part of it. Four non-Jons. It made him want to scream at the top of his lungs: "what's going on?"
What was going on, was that Biff had found some barrettes in Karyn's backpack, and was in that moment using them to re-frame Gladys's bangs around her face. Gladys wore her hair in a short bob, which limited Biff's options. But he still got a warm little tingling feeling right in his back between his shoulder blades as he adjusted the larger girl's hair just slightly, just enough to bring out the shine in her eyes.
"I have to say, Karyn" Monica said, watching 'Karyn' work with the same sense of wonder in her own eyes as 'Karyn' had while looking at Gladys's hair, "I'm not sure what's gotten into you today, but I really like it."
"What do you mean?" Biff asked sweetly as he brushed Gladys's hair behind her ear.
"You don't usually spend so much time with us," Monica leaned forward. "You don't usually care so much about appearance. Usually you're always hanging around Jon and, honestly, letting yourself look a lot like Jon, too. But it's like you woke up this morning and realized that you're a girl."
I am a girl, echoed a voice in Biff's head. And the pronouncement filled him with warmth, as he gave Gladys a final once-over and decided that her hair was now perfect.
"Whatever happened, I'm in favor," Monica continued. "I like it when you're a part of our group, Karyn. Us dorky girls have to stick together."
Dorky girls. Was Biff a dorky girl? Had Karyn been one? It didn't matter, Biff liked being included. He felt welcomed. He wanted to keep feeling welcomed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Biff saw Courtney pulling something out of her backpack. "What's that?" he asked.
"Oh, I'm in the middle of crocheting a doll for my baby cousin." Courtney displayed the incomplete yarn creation, along with some crochet hooks. "He's turning three and he loves Bluey, so I'm making him a little Bluey doll."
Biff's eyes lit up. "Can you teach me how?"
"Sure!" Courtney's smile grew. "Come here and sit next to me."
Biff stood up and moved his things next to Courtney, under Monica's approving gaze, wearing Kyla's beautiful green hair clip, admiring his own recent handiwork on Gladys's hair, and sat down next to Courtney to learn how to crochet.
And as his butt met plastic, he felt a great warmth for the third time that day. A warmth he'd never felt before that morning, but which came to him as he was being cuddled by Karyn's mom, and then again as Kyla gifted him a hair clip, and now as he found himself surrounded by a group of girls, accepted as one of the girls, and learning how to be a little girlier, step by step.
In the back of his head, Biff still wanted to figure out what had happened. He still wanted to return to his own body. But, as he used Courtney's spare set of hooks to manipulate a string of yarn, he decided he wouldn't be too upset if things stayed the way they were.
