"Biff Meadows? No way. I've been tolerating Jon-boy over here all day," Monica shot a suspicion-infused glare at the boy sitting next to Karyn before turning back to her other friend. "But Biff? That's a bridge too far."
"Come on," Gladys gestured to the star quarterback whose past had just recently been re-written to remove him from the team. "We're asthma buddies!"
Monica did not have enough time to process how to respond to this declaration, when another person arrived at their table.
"Biff!" Courtney's eyes shot up in pleasant surprise above her lunch tray. "How's your crochet going? I hope you're joining us for lunch today."
Monica's expression of disbelief ping-ponged from Gladys to Courtney and back before landing on Biff, himself. "Fine! He can stay!"
Biff's heart leapt slightly at the pronouncement as Monica sat back down, and he moved to sit between Gladys and Courtney.
"Oh," Kyla scrunched her eyes as she arrived at the table. "Biff's here?"
"Apparently!" Monica threw her hands up in exasperation.
"I'm learning crochet," Biff supplied as he produced some yarn from his backpack.
"He's learning crochet." Monica shot him daggers.
"Okay." Kyla decided she didn't really want more information as she sat on the other side of Jon.
Meanwhile, Karyn's attention was elsewhere. Despite herself, her eyes would not move from the cheerleader's table, even as she continued to fork pieces of food into her mouth. Even as Jon tried to engage her in conversation. With half of her mind vaguely following the conversation around her, the other half kept itself focused on navigating her eyes around bubbly bobbing heads of hair that kept moving back and forth and getting between Karyn and her target: Sarah McMillan.
"You okay?" Jon nudged Karyn with an elbow as Monica scolded Biff for some imaginary slight.
Karyn shook her head, but didn't change her gaze. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Look at me, Karyn." He physically put a hand on her cheek guiding her face towards him. There was something in her eyes that he didn't recognize. "Are you sure you're okay?"
Karyn blinked. Allowed herself to look at, to truly see, the boy in front of her. The worried look on his face. The caring look on his face. This was Jon, her friend. Her best friend. They'd gone through so much together, had been so important for one another. And here he was, trying to communicate something that she wasn't receiving.
She blinked again, and her eyes shifted back to how Jon always knew them. "I'm sorry," Karyn sighed. "I've just been feeling distracted today. Like half of me is still..." Karyn made a motion with her head towards the boy whose suddenly-nimble hands were working a set of crochet hooks while his two newest friends talked Monica down. "You know, still him."
Jon lowered his voice to a whisper as the worry in his voice grew. "I'm going to be honest, he's kind of acting like half of him is still you."
"So he's acting like your friend?" Karyn allowed herself a small smile. "Like you wished for?"
Jon's face soured. "This is serious. Both of you are acting weird today. Do you want to go the rest of your life pining for Sarah?"
The sound of the name woke up a sleeper agent in Karyn's brain. That thing Jon didn't recognize clouded her eyes once more.
No. Karyn didn't want to spend the rest of her life pining for Sarah. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with Sarah. Having Sarah. Owning Sarah.
