"Oh, um." I fumbled with my backpack and pulled out my schedule. Three days here and I still didn't have the thing memorized. "Chemistry with Mr. Phelps. Sounds thrilling. You?"
"Sweet. Me too." You would have thought she'd won the lottery. I chuckled.
I didn't have a clue what Mr. Phelps said during the lesson. I spent the entire class texting back and forth with Ty. The class bell rang and I eagerly looked forward to lunch. "Ready to eat?"
"Oh, no." Ty pouted. "I've got the second lunch session. I have math next."
Just my luck, what might have been a fun time with a new friend, now had become an impending claustrophobic moment of doom; lunch, when everyone enjoyed mocking those who didn't have someone to sit with. Oh well. After three days, I was used to it.
With my head down, I crossed to the lunch line. I could feel eyes on my back and could have sworn people were whispering about me. I shrugged it off as nerves, remembering. I'd thought wolves followed me too. I grabbed a sandwich and juice, then shoved them on my tray. The quicker I could get this done, the better.
An empty table stood on the left side of the cafeteria. Head held low, I darted towards my target. When I dropped my tray on the table, I almost lost my drink.
I sat down, took a bite of my egg salad sandwich, and realized I had forgotten napkins. I could never manage to eat anything messy without half of it landing in my lap. I went to get some.
I grabbed a fistful and headed back across the cafeteria to my table. I stopped short. An overwhelming scent of rich pine hit my nose. Liam sat at my table, along with four other teenaged boys I had never seen before. They stared at me as if in shock...all of them except, Liam.
He wore a smile that literally touched his ears. He looked amazing. The thin material of his black t-shirt fell over his square shoulders, revealing the faint line of well-defined pecks underneath. My heart felt like it stopped and restarted again.
No. No. Not amazing. What is he doing here?
He leaned on the table, his disheveled ash blond hair catching whispers of sunlight that washed in from a small skylight overhead giving it and his light bronze skin a faint illuminating glow. I swallowed hard.
"We thought we'd join you," Liam said, smiling.
My focus flicked to the others sitting with him. Two tall lanky teenagers with matching sunburned complexions and raven dark hair sat bookending Liam and a much younger scrawny guy with a beat up grey hoody. He couldn't have been more than fifteen and reminded me of a group from my old school who thought World of Warcraft was a religion. A large blond jock type sat in the middle, starring.
I shifted my feet and tried to think rationally.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Liam.
"Eating," he said.
I scanned the table. Nothing.
"Where's your food?"
Liam's face lit up.
"Stop looking at me like that." I kneaded my hands to take my attention off him, feigning casual. I wouldn't let him know how jumpy he made me and prayed he couldn't tell my face warmed.
"Like what?" he said, grinning. "Nice jacket."
My stomach flipped and I became grossly aware of the long thick leather sleeves covering my hands. I tucked my arms around my chest. "I was cold. It's drafty in here. Besides, it's your fault for giving it to me."
Liam chuckled.
"So does this mean you guys are going steady now?" the left bookend asked.
"Yeah, are you his girlfriend?" The opposite sunburned twin asked. "Cause if not, my schedule might be open."
The left bookend snorted a laugh. "You wish."
My mind went blank with embarrassment. I didn't have words.
"Shut up, you guys," Liam said. "I knew I shouldn't have brought you."
"Wow, Liam," the large Jock said, shaking me from my numbed state. "You weren't kidding. She does smell like a bitch."
My mouth dropped open.
Liam jumped to his feet and I cringed, hearing the impact of bone on bone as he caught the Jock square in the jaw with his fist. The guy toppled to the floor. People from the neighboring tables began to chant. "Fight, fight."
The world moved in slow motion as the administrator on duty ran over.
"There will be no fighting here," he said. His voice snapped like a brittle stick covered in ice, the man's glare not any warmer.
"We're not fighting." Liam offered the guy he punched a hand. He pulled him to his feet.
The Jock dusted off his jeans and smiled. He didn't seem fazed or hurt in the slightest.
"Nope," the Jock said. He gave Liam a playful punch in the shoulder. "No fighting here. Might want to check out that table over there." He cocked his head to the side as he pointed to a table full of Barbie wannabes. They glared back at him. "If you could just hear what those girls are talking about." The guy shook his head, chuckled, and sat back down next to Liam.
The administrator's expression shot daggers, but he turned and left.
"Sorry about the comment," the Jock said. "That truly wasn't an insult. But that is." He nudged the small younger guy that I had labeled a 'gamer' to his right.
"What? I'm starving," he said, through his hefty bite of roast beef on rye.
The Jock huffed. "When'd you get a sandwich?"
"When we first came in. This is a cafeteria, stupid."
"Give me that thing." The Jock grabbed for the sandwich, nearly shoving the poor little guy off the table.
"No, it's mine." The boy held it as far from the Jock as possible. Sunburned twin on the end right, leaned in, and took half the sandwich off in one big chomp.
"Not bad," he said with a laugh.
"Hey, give me that."
"That's it," Liam said. He reached across the Jock's lap, snatching up the sandwich from the mass of grabbing hands. "Forget about the stinking sandwich." He motioned his head in my direction. "We're not here to eat."
Liam sat and then took the last bite of the sandwich with a smirk. He quickly chewed, then swallowed. "Charlotte, I'd like you to meet my...friends."
I gave a weak smile, not knowing what to think.
"This idiot here," he said, playfully punching the Jock in the shoulder, "is Byron."
"Flynt," Sunburned right end said with a nod. The motion made the light catch a long scar tracing the bone of his cheek up to his ear, where it disappeared into his dark hairline. I wondered what happened.
"Eldridge and Flynt," Liam said, pointing to the other guy at the opposite end of the table, "are twins. And our sandwich thief, is Steve."
"Hey," Steve said with a small wave.
"How come he gets saddled with the ordinary name?"
Of all things, I ask that. I needed some serious help. I didn't even know these guys, not to mention they screamed suspicious...and obnoxious. Were these the friends Liam said had been prowling around my campsite? If so, what had they been doing in the woods at three in the morning? What did they find so interesting about me? I didn't like this.
Byron laughed. "I like this girl, Liam."
Liam made a motion as if he kicked Byron from under the table. Byron's expression grew serious.
"He's the youngest," Liam answered.
"Oh," I said, nodding. It took me a moment to realize that didn't make sense, but under the circumstances, I didn't care. More important things took my attention, like what they really wanted with me. "What are you doing here? This is the first time I've seen you at school."
Liam leaned across the table towards me with a grin. "You were looking for me?"
"What? No. That's not what I meant." I stumbled over my words like an idiot. My cheeks burned. Forget interrogating. I wanted to leave.
I still had a large wad of napkins clenched in my hand and I used them as an excuse to stand up. The entire group rose with me.
"Where're you going?" Liam asked. "I didn't mean anything by that."
"I'm... just going to throw away my...napkins?" I showed them my handful.