Ch 10: Friends
"Alright, here comes Janet. Ready, Disgust?" Joy looked over at the green emotion, who had been rocked back in her chair since lunch began.
Usually Disgust would take the lead during social situations, but the beginning of lunch had become a pretty constant routine: get in line, grab whatever slop (okay, that might be too mean) was being served, then sit in the usual spot with Jordan and Janet. Not much maneuvering to do, and Disgust was adamant there would be no attempts to reach out to the popular girls yet; "Riley would just become a toady for them if she looked desparate" she had explained to Joy at the time.
Jordan was a curly haired kid, not particularly well-groomed, but with a casual air that made him pretty easy to be around after the awkwardness of his initial introductions; Disgust still chuckled sometimes when remembering him freezing the first real interaction he had with Riley at that hockey game. Plus, he had good tastes in music, and for the past few minutes he and Riley chatted enthusiastically about Star Wars; since both Riley and Jordan had finished Heir to the Empire, and they could finally discuss without spoilers. Jordan was careful to let Riley do most of the talking though, since he had already read the next book.
"Alright nerds, this is officially a no Star Wars zone," Janet plopped down. She had been friends with Jordan since elementary, and the two acted like brother and sister. She was almost the opposite in style though: she kept her hair in a slick, well-behaved bundle that kept just above her eyes, and preferred dark, long-sleeved shirts and long pants. She shared the others' musical tastes, but not so much their taste in space operas.
"Oh, we'll pull you in one day" he asserted. Janet simply rolled her eyes. Meanwhile, Disgust nodded at Joy, took a deep breath, and leaned forward. She'd planned this out quickly, and watched for the perfect time in the conversation to change from small talk to serious talk.
Riley held up her fork, looking at the bean salad thing they'd been served and cringing slightly. "I though you said they weren't doing Meatless Thursdays this year."
"Today's Tuesday" Janet deadpanned between mouthfulls. She'd eat just about anything, from broccoli to mystery meat pie. Disgust couldn't understand it.
"Doesn't stop them from doing weird things to save money" Jordan chimed in, eating slowly.
After a little more discussion on the proper way to run a cafeteria, Disgust saw an opening, and gave a delicate tap to one of her panels, prompting Riley to broach a new subject "How'd you guys do on that Math test?"
Jordan gave a look of surprise mid-chew, then swallowed and turned to reach into his backpack. "Forgot to check."
Janet rolled her eyes again. "Of course you weren't worried about it."
Fear cringed, "He probably did so much better than Riley, this'll be so embarrasing."
"Steady Fear, I've got everything under control," Disgust reassured him.
Jordan looked up at Janet for a moment, his face screwed up in a mock-hurt expression, then chuckled and returned to digging among the loose papers.
Janet gave a bemused glance. "Well I passed, and that's all I care about."
Jordan pulled out a paper, which Disgust wondered how it got so wrinkled so quickly. "I did alright; missed number 7 though."
"The horror!" Janet laughed sardonically, then turned to Riley expectantly.
Disgust signaled Sadness for a quick input, and Riley sheepishly held up her paper. Janet and Jordan expressed sympathy; so far, so good. Riley's grades had been slipping; in spite of her best efforts, she hadn't yet been able to make up for starting a bit behind due to changing schools. With this morning's math test grade teetering on the edge of failure, Sadness finally managed to convince the others that Riley needed some help from her new friends.
"Ms. Lenhart isn't pulling any punches." Jordan looked closer at the marks.
"Yeah, she even counted off points for not enough work shown" Riley lamented. Anger grumbled empathetically.
"How about you start studying with us?" Janet offered. "This nerd pulled my math grade out of the gutter last year, barely got me to pass!"
Disgust grinned. That was easier than she had dared hope. Joy couldn't resist twisting a knob, but then looked at Disgust sheepishly. Disgust gave a thumbs up; not everything needed a signal.
Jordan blushed and hid his eyes under his hat brim. "Well, I didn't help that much, you just needed some encouragement." Disgust could see him straighten up a little though, and inferred that he was proud of being helpful. And complimented. She had a knack for reading body language cues from other people as well as sending Riley's own; assuming the others were similar in the head to Riley, it was like she had a direct communication channel to other Disgust emotions. "Besides, I can't match your history skill."
Janet demurred, then related the times and location within the library down the block where they would normally go to study: most non-hockey days after school, at one of the 2nd-floor tables near a window. Fear wrote a Mental Note to ask Mom about going.
With that done, Disgust sat back, content with the outcome. As Riley and the others turned to other topics, she saw the Train of Thought approaching through the window. "Back to you Joy. Anger and I'll go unload the train for the afternoon."
Joy thanked them and hunched back over the console. Disgust strode toward the delivery door, Anger in reluctant tow. He discarded the used-up Idea Bulb on on the way. "I still think we should have challenged the work marks" he grumbled.
As they unloaded the usual boxes of facts, opinions, daydream cartridges, humming cassettes, idea bulbs, and other necessities, Disgust saw a package addressed to Joy. Looking closer, she saw a return address in Imagination Land and smiled to herself. Joy sometimes ordered things from the Imagination craftsmen to spruce up Headquarters, or even to give to the other emotions, like Disgust's makeup kit. Sadness once ordered a pillow from Cloud Town, but other than that is was really only Joy who bothered.
"Joy, package for you!" She called out, returning to the main room. "What is it this time?"
Joy looked confused for a moment, then skipped back and opened the package with gusto.
"Oh my gosh! They finally got it!" Joy held up a bronze figure about the size of her head. It looked kind of like an elephant standing on its hind legs, holding a bag and wearing a hat. "Sadness, look!"
Sadness went a bit bleary-eyed. "Bing Bong?" Disgust finally, faintly remembered. They had mentioned him playing a part in recovering during the Incident, but she hadn't really thought much about it. "Why is there a mesh hole at his mouth?"
Joy looked surprised, then examined the rest of the statuette, finding and pressing a button on the back. Joy jumped a bit when it made a dolphin noise, then giggled. "It's perfect! Here, Sadness, take a look."
Sadness held the statue, and it looked to Disgust like it darkened a little in her hands; probably just a trick of the emotions' internal lights, though.
"He did good, Joy. We'll remember him as long as we can, even if Riley can't" Sadness eulogized.
Disgust turned back to finish unloading the train, glancing over to make sure Fear was okay alone at the console. It seemed like he was doing fine; no real inputs were necessary during this kind of small talk.
After Joy and Sadness shared a moment reminiscing over their adventure, they placed the memorial on a shelf by the Idea Bulbs where they could see it from the console, one more loose end tied up from the Incident. They rejoined the other emotions in front of the screen just as Riley exited the lunchroom, ready for her afternoon classes. She couldn't put her finger on it, but in spite of the bean salad she felt strangely contented.