No Strings Attached

4

Other classes passed quickly, and were fairly bland. There had been no real interaction with any of the other students, which was fine by me. That was what I was trying to accomplish, anyway, so I was pretty content.

However, lunch came as another large social shock to me when I saw the bustling cafeteria again, full of laughing teens. Though I had been through the exact same thing the day prior, it still made me tense. I got in the lunch line again, messing around on my phone as I waited for a chance to get food. Suddenly, a group of the laughing, jock-type guys stepped in front of me. I raised my eyebrows pointedly as one of them looked at me, his eyes running up and down my body before he flashed me a laser-whitened smile.

"Hey, you don't mind this, right babe?" his voice was gravelly and I found it extremely irritating. In response to his poor attempts at flirtation, I rolled my eyes as he continued. "So, you must be new. Where you from?"

"I'm from somewhere far, far away from you. I thought I liked it here, but you're making me want to go back," I snapped, thinking quickly. I smiled victoriously when his smirk faltered slightly, though he immediately worked to correct it. Some of his guy friends chuckled as I did so, impressed by my bravado and audacity. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I came here to get my lunch," I said, stepping decisively in front of them and grabbing myself some pizza, fruit and a water bottle, then going to pay. I felt their eyes burning holes into me as I walked away from them, but I ignored it. I could deal with standing up for myself, and they needed to be set in their place.

As soon as I had paid, I found my eyes connecting with Naomi's again as she waved me over to the table, this time substantially more subtly and calmly. I chuckled to myself, as she had clearly taken the notes we had given her yesterday about her enthusiasm.

"Hey," she said, and Jane did the same as I slid into the same seat at the table, giving a small wave. Aiden nodded in acknowledgement, and the rest of the table, mostly the guys, continued their excited conversation as they gestured to their pizza. "Sorry they're not saying hello," she said, furrowing her eyebrows. "In fact, they're actually being kind of rude," she raised her voice pointedly so they could all hear her, and they stopped quickly, seeing me.

"Hey, Lucy," they chorused in deep unison, and I gave the same small wave I had given before again.

"Sorry again, they're just really excited again. Don't mind them," she groaned and waved her hand in the air, dismissing their behavior as normal.

"Hell yeah we're excited," Parker put in. "It's Pizza Tuesday," he said, fist bumping Elliot, who cheered in agreement.

"Bless Pizza Tuesday," Elliot added, shoveling one of his four slices of large pizza into his open mouth.

Aiden nodded solemnly as he raised his own pizza slice above the table. "Amen." Thinking my gestures would go unnoticed at the table, I slightly raised my eyebrows at him, amused. Instead, though, he caught my actions and responded with another one of his slightly dimpled smiles, happily chewing on his pizza.

"So, what just happened back there?" Jane asked casually, as she took a bite of her pizza. The conversation about pizza had mostly quieted down, as the guys were eating. I put a confused a look on my face at her question. "In line, with those guys?"

"That guy was was eyeing you like a piece of meat," Naomi muttered, and I rolled my eyes, embarrassed that they saw that exchange, and that I had to now explain it to them. "Will," she put in his name, since I didn't know who he was.

"I-uh," I started. "I told him I was out of his league, or something like that." My voice dropped towards the end of my sentence, and my eyes darted to the side of the table to avoid contact with hers. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aiden smirking to himself, and redirected my vision to my converse below the table.