No Lie.

One.

New kid, Miguel Diaz, discovered all too soon that the biggest challenge facing teenagers today was finding their seat in the cafeteria. Amongst the whole room, were only two tables with seats available. At one, sat only a girl with a book in her hands. Her tray sat on the table in front of her, untouched. She seemed so at ease just sitting there, her eyes scanning the ink printed onto the paper. Maia Lawrence. The other, sat two boys. Miguel reckoned he had more of a shot with them than he did that girl.

"Um, hi." He spoke, catching their attention. "Can I sit?"

"Actually, the table is blowin' up right now. I could get you on a waiting list, but your looking at next semester at best." One of them said.

"Oh, okay."

"N- I'm kidding. Sit."

"Oh." Miguel sat down, setting down his tray and shrugging off his bag. "I'm Miguel."

"I'm Dimitri. This is Eli."

"So how come you guys are all on your own?"

"We're unpopular." Dimitri said, as if it was obvious. "Which is why all of the girls are over there." There was a table full of girls, and they were continuously giggling, and frankly, it was annoying. "The only relationship we've ever had with a girl is Eli constantly staring at that one over there."

"I'm not constantly staring at her." Eli shrugged.

"The girl with the book?" Miguel wondered, and Dimitri nodded. "Talk to her."

"No way." The giggling continued, and clearly something had caught Maia's attention. She turned towards the boys for a moment, before turning to the girls.

"That's not a very nice thing to say about somebody, Yas." Maia spoke.

"Oh, come on, Maia, look at it. It's unnatural and it's... it's ugly." It was then Eli knew they were talking about him. He'd been born with a cleft lip, and had it surgically repaired, resulting in a very noticeable scar. He put his head down as more giggles floated around the room.

"Oh yeah?" Maia hummed. "How about I make your face look like that?"

"It's just a joke, relax." Yasmin said, shifting uncomfortablly in her seat.

"Jokes are supposed to be funny." She huffed, shoving her book into her bag, and slinging it over her shoulder.

"She's coming over here." Dimitri panicked. "Everybody act normal." She approached the table, leaning against it. She reached across to Eli, gently lifting his head so he was looking at her.

"Don't let 'em make you feel bad." She hummed, tracing her thumb over his scar. "I think it's pretty cute." She smiled, walking away just as quickly as she had approached.

"That was intense." Dimitri sighed. "You okay, Eli?"

"I don't... know." He shrugged, feeling her touch still linger on his face.

"Well you better watch your back, because if Kyler finds out, you're a dead man."

"Who's Kyler?" Miguel wondered.

"It's her boyfriend-"

"Alledged boyfriend." Eli cut in.

"Whatever."

-----

Maia was strolling down the hall, thankful that today, thus far, had been stress free. It was so close to home time, and she couldn't wait to leave. That was, until she set eyes on her brother. She narrowed her eyes at him, approaching.

"What are you doing?" She asked, and he jumped in surprise.

"Nothing." He scoffed.

"No? So what's that in your pocket?" He let out a grunt, pulling out a small zip-loc bag of pills. "Are you kidding me?"