A few days after Dirk's confession, Dirk and Jake had started dating. Since their school was fairly small, word of mouth traveled fast. Nearly all of John's friends had heard about a day after they'd started dating, including John himself. He was happy for Dirk, considering the fact that Dave told him that Dirk had had a crush on Jake for a long time. Nothing really changed between any of them as friends, which was good. They hung out just as much, and everyone kept in touch. The only difference was that Dirk and Jake were almost always together, and sometimes they went out on dates or cuddled when everyone hung out.

September flew by, and October came around, same as it always had. Dirk and Jake were still a couple, and Rose and Kanaya were seemingly inseparable now. Roxy had started hanging out with some of the troll upperclassmen, and she'd become best friends with a girl named Latula, who liked skateboarding and video games and complimented Roxy's personality really well. Dave also made friends with some trolls, a blind girl named Terezi who seemed alright, if a little weird, and a loud but quite small troll named Karkat, who always seemed like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Jane was friends with a couple of the trolls, and a weird stoner kid kept flirting with her. She'd found a new friend in a cherub named Calliope, who was really nice and always got good grades. Jade had been hanging out with Karkat, Terezi, and a troll named Tavros who was a paraplegic, although he was really nice. John hung out with Terezi, and with his friends who hung out with trolls, so indirectly, he hung out with his friends' friends. A couple other trolls would sometimes hang out with them at school, so it was pretty fun.

John enjoyed the opportunity to make new friends. Of course though, he'd also been trying to keep his focus on school. He needed to get good grades if he wanted to stay in the STEM Program, so he mostly focused on that. Everything was going smoothly for a while, and everyone was still mostly focused on school. It was fairly easy for John to balance his social life and his school work, and he was working hard to finish his French homework tonight so he could go hang out with Dave, Karkat, and Terezi tomorrow. Apparently, they were going to play video games at Dave's, which sounded like a lot of fun. John really enjoyed video games, even if the only one he was good at was Pokemon. He was kind of glad that Dirk and Jake were the only ones who were dating, because they spent less time with the others now and more time between themselves. That wasn't a bad thing, John just wanted his friends to spend time with him, just as it had been for the last two years they'd been in high school.

When the time came for John to go hang out with Dave and his troll friends, Mr. Egbert drove John to Dave's apartment. The boy knocked on the door, and was answered by Dirk, who was wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. "Hey John! Come in!" Dirk nodded, closing the door behind the brunette as he stepped inside. Dave sat on the couch, Terezi at his left, Karkat at his right, and, surprisingly enough, Roxy and Latula sitting on the floor in front of them. The younger Strider paused the game and glanced up at John. "Hey! We're playing The Evil Within. I saved you a spot!" he nodded, gesturing to a spot on the floor next to Latula, where a sixth controller sat. "Thanks!" John smiled brightly, taking a seat next to Terezi's older sister. "Tules, say hi! This is my good buddy John!" Roxy said, leaning forward and smiling at him. The troll girl glanced down at the boy sitting next to her. "Yo! How's it hangin', Johnny boy?" she laughed, patting his back excitedly. "Good, thanks!" He smiled, trying to seem sincere. It was a little strange that Latula acted so friendly with him when he didn't even know her, but at least she was nice.

Karkat was very angry and yelled almost the whole time, causing Dave to erupt into a fit of laughter. Terezi was blind, so she sat in front of the TV and licked the screen, causing Roxy to have issues seeing, but she and Latula had a good laugh about it. It was great seeing his friends happy and laughing, and John couldn't help but join in. They played for a really long time, and Dave made some pizza rolls, which was nice. They eventually decided to play Mario Kart, which John sucked at, but regardless, it was still fun. Roxy or Dave almost always always placed first, and Dave insisted on playing as Princess Roselina, which made for an even funnier ass whooping, considering John always played as Bowser. They all had a really great time though, and that was what really mattered. When the time came for him to go home, John felt sad. He wanted to stay and play video games. Even if tomorrow was a weekend, he had to keep his sleeping schedule in check.

School was going well, and John was getting straight A's, which was really great. His dad always told him how proud he was of his son, which made the boy really happy. Everything seemed to be going well, until Dave pestered him on a Thursday night, a few weeks after he'd been at Dave's place, playing video games.

TG: dude

TG: are you there?

EB: yeah?

TG: you wont fucking believe what just happened

EB: what?

TG: jake and my bro broke up

EB: what?! no way!

TG: yes way

EB: what? but they were such a good couple...

TG: yeah im not sure what happened

TG: jake kind of just exploded and dirk has been crying for the past few hours

TG: before he stormed out of our apartment all angry n shit he yelled something about dirk being too overbearing

TG: said he needed some space

EB: that's awful!

TG: tell me about it

TG: dirks a really nice guy

TG: im starting to think jake is just an ass

TG: who knows what my bro saw in that douchebag!

EB: who knows. at least they broke up though. i mean, if jake wasn't good for him.

TG: yeah

TG: oh also

TG: um

TG: terezi and i are dating

EB: whoa really?

TG: haha yeah

TG: shes really nice

EB: that's cute. i'm happy for you, dave!

TG: thanks my dude

TG: when are you gonna get a gf?

EB: i don't know, honestly.

TG: probably just haven't met the right girl yet

TG: or guy

EB: dave!

TG: haha

TG: im just givin you a hard time

TG: anyways bye i have homework

EB: bye dave!

- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 04:30 PM -

John was kind of sad that Dirk and Jake broke up. They seemed like a really cute couple. If it was for the best, though, he guessed that was good. What surprised him most, though, was that Dave and Terezi were dating. The two seemed incompatible to John, but what did he know about matchmaking? As long as Dave was happy, that was all that really mattered. He tried not to let himself get too worked up about his best friend asking when he was going to get a girlfriend. It was probably just a joke anyways, and he knew the right one would come along eventually. It was just a matter of time. He really wanted a girlfriend, to be quite honest, but he didn't have a crush on any of the girls that he was friends with. Oh well. It would happen in due time, so he wasn't going to force it.

The next morning, at school, John was at his locker, getting his things, when he was greeted by a loud, hoarse voice. "John!"

The boy turned around, seeing his friend Vriska standing behind him. "Oh. Hey Vriska! How's it going?" the brunette greeted. "Good! But anyways, I wanted to ask if I can have your pesterchum," she told him. "Sure!" he nodded, not giving it any second thought, "It's ectoBiologist." "Cool. Do you have yesterday's history notes?" the Cobalt-blooded troll asked. "Yeah, let me find them!" he said, searching through his bag. "Just give them back to me before history, okay?" "Yeah, yeah. Thanks!" she waved to him as she went across the hall to her locker. John liked Vriska. She was nice. "John," Kanaya, who was at the locker next to his started, "why are you human friends with that girl? She is not very nice." John seemed confused. "She's nice to me!" He said defensively. Kanaya simply sighed, shaking her head a bit. "Did you hear that Dave and Terezi are dating?" the brunette asked, trying to change the subject. "Yes. Rose and I are..."human dating" also. Are you aware of that?"

"Huh?!"

What?! Rose was...a lesbian? "I didn't know Rose liked girls..." he mumbled. "Rose is a human homosexual. She didn't inform you of that?" Kanaya raised an eyebrow, searching around for something in her locker. "Well...no. She never really brought it up. I guess I assumed she always just liked guys..." John said, still feeling a bit strange that he didn't know his own friend was a lesbian, let alone dating Kanaya. "Well, good for you two! That's really great!" the boy nodded. Still, he still had a lot of friends who were single, so he didn't feel lonely. However, he'd started to question whether or not he was the same as his friends. He didn't really feel attracted to anyone. It was a strange feeling, and he wondered if any of his other friends felt that way too. Regardless, it was probably best to keep it a secret for now, because he didn't want to tell any of his friends and be thought of as weird. The right person would come along eventually. He knew they would. His dad always told him that, and so did Rose and Jade.

Hopefully they were right.