There was a slightly louder commotion than normal in the homeroom class as Jon and Karyn made it to their seats. Everyone had something sweet in their hands, and most had something sweet in their mouths, and the mood was just all the brighter for it. Kids who normally didn't pay much attention to one another were bonding over their shared choice of pastry, and the sugar circulating through everyone's system seemed to smooth out the rough edges of regular teenage interaction, and act as a non-alcoholic social lubricant.
Well, almost everyone.
Leonard Drullers sat alone at his empty desk, without anything sweet at all in his hands or in his mouth. He didn't seem upset by it, but he wasn't as animated as the rest of the class.
Jon approached him: "Are you okay? They didn't run out of cake or something before you got to the hallway, did they?"
Leonard gave him a small smile. "No, there's still a ton out there. But, y'know, type-1 diabetes. I could take insulin, but I don't usually like to this early in the morning. I'll probably just wait for lunch and grab something from whatever's left."
Jon blinked, adding this new information. He hadn't known that Leonard was diabetic. The wheels in Jon's head turned as he tried to think of an answer for Leonard's problem, as though he could come up with something on the spot that Leonard hadn't thought of himself over the course of a lifetime dealing with diabetes. But fortunately for Jon, the classroom door burst open before he could give a suggestion that Leonard had heard a million times before.
Sarah McMillan, bright of face and wide of smile, held out a plate in one hand as the door swung closed behind her. "Leonard!" she cried as she approached the boy. "Don't think we forgot about you! Your cheerleading team wants to ensure that nobody feels excluded, so we got a list from the nurse of everyone's dietary restrictions and we made sure to make something that everyone could have."
Now standing between Jon and Leonard, Sarah placed the plate down onto the boy's desk.
He furrowed his brow. "What is it?"
"It's apple slices, fried in a little bit of butter, with a sprinkle of cinnamon and a dollop of sour cream," Sarah beamed. "Low glycemic index, you shouldn't need insulin for this."
Leonard squinted down at the plate, looked up at Sarah, did a few calculations in his head, and picked up the fork. "Thank you, Sarah. You didn't have to do that."
The cheerleader gave Leonard a wink and twirled around to address the whole class, reveling in being the center of attention. "We've got cheerleaders all over the school hand-delivering special items for people who can't just grab any old thing. A lot of problems were solved when Amber Levine just made a whole batch of vegan cakes, but we didn't want to run out before all the vegans got theirs, so we didn't put them out in the hallways."
Sarah paused for applause, and the assembled students of the classroom obliged her.
"Anyway, I'm off to make more deliveries. Everyone enjoy, and remember that at Lake Point High, school spirit means everyone!"
And with a flourish and a strut, she was out the door just as quickly as she'd entered.
And everyone else went back to munching on their cakes. Except for Leonard, who was busy munching on cinnamon apples with sour cream.
