First 5 Impressions

One Forced Exit

"Hello? Anyone in there? Earth to Phil?"

Immediately shooting upright in his seat, Phil Eggtree snapped back to reality to see his best friend obnoxiously waving his hands in his face. Oh, that's right, they were sitting in the school cafeteria eating lunch. Phred Whistler was a little too close for comfort and stared at him oddly.

"You good?" He asked, finally backing away. "You kinda blanked out there. What were you staring so hard for?"

"Ehh, it's nothing." Phil poked at his food, "Just... thinking, I guess."

"I'm surprised you think in general."

"Shut up, Phred."

The small quiet moment between them was cut short when they heard a tray clink beside them. Taking a seat, unannounced, was Zack Kelvin.

"Took you a while to get here." Said Phred upon his friend's arrival,

Zack shrugged, "Nyeah, well, y'know how people are at the line." He replied, "Especially 5, that guy does not give me good vibes."

Phil suddenly recalled what he was blanking out at earlier. The three of them didn't exactly get the best feeling from 5. It wasn't like 5 did anything in particular to them, but he was just intimidating, being school president and all. He seemed so strict and scary, one wrong move with 5 and he'd blow up at them. The feeling he gave Phil and his friends usually made them stay far away from 5.

"Jeez, not that guy." Phred continued the conversation, "Getting even remotely near with him seems like bad news."

"Yeah, him and his friends really freak me out, more than pigeons." Zack took a bite out of the school sandwich (which was as stale as you would expect it to be), "They sort of seem like a pack of stereotypical bullies."

"Maybe we should give 5 the benefit of the doubt?" Asked Phil, "I mean, if he really was a jerk, he wouldn't have friends in the first place, right?"

Phred simply looked at him as if Phil had asked a completely bizarre question, "And what if his friends are jerks too? They could be friends because they are jerkheads."

"Why are you even asking this?" Zack raised an eyebrow, "Are you working for him?"

Phil squinted, "What? No? What does that even—"

"Dude, Phil's a traitor!" Phred interrupted, his voice louder.

"Our friendship is over, Phil!" Zack chimed in, "You're one of 5's goons! Unbelievable!"

"We can't let him live, we gotta put him down."

"This isn't funny in the slightest!" Phil shot back, completely baffled at the bizarre conversation he was having, "And why do I need to be put down?!"

As Phred and Zack snickered to themselves, an extra familiar face stood nearby them, "Heya!" They greeted, voice cheerful and upbeat.

"Sup, Smiley." They waved back,

"Are you not hungry?" Phil asked, noticing she didn't have a lunch tray with her, "School feels 10x longer when you skip lunch."

Smiley shook her head as she took a seat, "Nah, I already ate. Thanks for asking, though!"

"Yo, Smiles!" A voice called out, and though it was familiar, it certainly wasn't a voice they wanted to hear.

The four of them turned to the source of the call, and there stood 5. He had a relaxed look on his face, casually waving to Smiley. While the three boys simply gave bitter looks, Smiley gave her usual optimistic grin and waved back.

"Oh, hi 5! Whaddya need?" She got up from her seat, not able to hear Phil telling her to wait.

"Nothin' really, just wondering if you got your part of the project finished?" 5 asked, putting his hands in his jacket pockets.

Phil, Phred and Zack all exchanged worried glances. The way he speaks and acts definitely gives off bad vibes up close. It was odd that Smiley never even noticed, but they can't blame her. Phil sort of expected Smiley to be oblivious to the fact that 5 was bad news, not to diss her of course.

Meanwhile Smiley and 5 kept their conversation going, Phil whispered among the group. "We should get outta here."

"Glad I'm not the only one thinking that." Zack replied, "We're probably in for a heap of trouble if we don't leave soon."

"We could wait 'till the bell rings, buuut that's a few more minutes away." Joined Phred,

Phil nervously looked back to Smiley and 5, tuning his ears into the conversation. (Do they even have ears?)

"Yeah, the works harder than I thought." 5 shrugged, "You're lucky you're smart, Smiles. Hey, what's it gotta take for you to share that knowledge, eh?"

He then elbowed Sundae, who playfully shoved him away. "Aw, you're giving me too much credit!"

"Oh, by the way dude," Started 5, "You got time today? If you're free we could hang out at my place and finish up that project. My place isn't too far, just down the road 'n' stuff."

Before Smiley could even reply, Phil shot up from his seat. He had to do something, otherwise this was all going to go horribly wrong. Although Eggtree didn't know what to say, he knew he had to step in. With an alarmed tone of voice, he randomly shouted,

"WAIT!"

... Yeah, totally not awkward.

Startled, Smiley and 5 whirled around and awkwardly stared at the bald kid, even Phred and Zack looked on, confused. Phil could feel himself lose 10 years of his lifespan upon realizing the scene he had made. It took all of his physical and mental strength to not shy away. Phil took a deep breath and cleared his throat, running up to his friend.

"Hey, Smiley!" He nearly caught himself stumbling over his words when he spoke, "Sorry to interrupt you two, but there's actually something I need to talk about with 'Smiles' over here."

"Oh yeah, that's chill." Said 5, "But can I finish up my convo with her first? Kinda got something important to talk about."

The way he talked felt unnecessarily rude to Phil's perspective, "I got something urgent to talk to her about as well. Excuse us for a moment."

He then suddenly grabbed Smiley's hand unconsciously and gently pulled her towards the cafeteria door, in which she nervously averted eyes in response.

"Uh..." 5 looked as if he felt awkward about what was happening, "I just gotta tell her something really quickly man, it wouldn't hurt to give us a few seconds, right?"

Phred then got up from his seat and ran in between the pair and 5, "You can ask her tomorrow, can't you?" He replied before turning to Smiley, "Hey, I heard the cookie machine got fixed."

"Yeah, but-" 5 shuffled towards them, "Hold on, it's just schoolwork I gotta ask her about."

"Figure the work out yourself," Phred shrugged, "Ask her later, homie."

"Right, seeya, Fivey." Phil waved,

5 sort of stood in silence at the random nickname before speaking up again, "Why are you guys even-"

Zack got up as well and head to the door with the rest of his friends, "Mind your own business, will you?" Despite having a hot flame on his head, his words were ice cold.

The three of them made their way to the cafeteria's exit, practically pushing a very confused Smiley out the cafeteria. 5 was left to stand there in bewilderment at their extremely forced departure.