"It was hilarious," Asher says in between laughs as he and I walk to the cafeteria. "You were all... *eyes widen* and then I was all *arms cross*... And then Ms. Richards was all 'get back into the classroom, Mr. Miller!'" He ends his re-enactment with a high-pitched voice, impersonating Ms. Richards, our Physics teacher.

He continues repeating the story to me as though it hadn't occurred less than three hours ago. "Your acting skills are... just impeccable." I comment with a quick raise of my eyebrows. "Maybe you should join the drama club, unless of course, you're already in it."

I'm not usually very outspoken. I never really have been. And It's never been much of a problem because throughout most of my life, I haven't had many people to talk to, anyway. There are only a handful of people who know, really know, who I am.

Sure, if a handful consisted of two people.

But things have to change. I know that I need to break out of the shell that I've been enclosed in for a majority of my life, if not the entirety of my life. Because if not now, then when, right?

"Hell no." Asher replies with a shake of his head as he grabs a red apple from the large selection of fruit in the cafeteria. I chuckle at his response. "I'd rather, like, have sex with—"

"Please don't finish that sentence." I cut him off, shaking my head. He grins with a quick shrug as he leads me away from the cafeteria and outside to a separate seating area to eat our lunches.

It seems like there's a good balance of the students who eat inside the cafeteria and the ones who eat their lunches outside. I would have rather eaten inside, where the sun wasn't beating down on me. But I also don't want to stray away from Asher, who has been so kind in offering to have lunch with me.

Asher, I've noticed, is quite popular among the students at Westwood High. As we walked from our third period class to the cafeteria, he'd gotten countless fist bumps, head nods, and had engaged in many short conversations with fellow classmates.

He leads me to a round table where three others are sat at. "Lady and gentlemen, this is Estella," he begins, but then turns to me, whispering, "What's your last name again?"

"Ramirez," I reply shyly.

"Estella Ramirez!" He announces. "She's new." He adds flatly.

He takes a seat and gestures for me to sit at the empty spot next to him. I take the opportunity gratefully, giving everyone a small smile.

"Hi," I say with a little wave to the three students staring at me with... curiosity? Annoyance? I really can't tell.

"Hey, nice to meet you." A boy with curly dark hair and soft brown eyes underneath his black glasses smiles. "I'm Josh."

"Thank you, Josh." Asher nods to him. "How about we all go around and say our names and a little about ourselves, yeah?" He looks around to the rest of the table with a tight smile.

"Sorry... um, I'm Aaron." A boy with dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes speaks up as he makes direct eye contact with me. "This is Devin."

He gestures to the girl sitting next to him. She acknowledges me with a small smile and raise of her eyebrows then quickly goes back to staring at the phone screen in front of her, sticking her spoon into her yogurt parfait.

Devin has long wavy, brown hair. I took note of her style the moment we reached the table. She wears a black tank top and a pair of distressed light wash mom jeans. Her shoes are beaten Air Force 1s with red detailing on the sole and on the Nike swish.

"So this is our group for the most part," Asher says to me as I take out my brown lunch bag from my backpack. "I mean, sometimes there's more, but it's usually just me, Devin, and Aaron."

I don't have time to respond before I'm being addressed by the blonde boy, Aaron.

"So, you just moved here, Estella?" He asks. "Or just moved schools?"

I set my sandwich box down on the table before responding. I prepared for this question over and over as I tossed and turned in bed last night. "I've lived here my whole life. But um... yeah, I just moved schools."

I'm not exactly eager to admit that this is my first year at a high school. Being homeschooled for eleven years and deciding to get a taste of high school senior year is something I've decided isn't worth bragging about.

He nods, his blue eyes staring at me intently. A small smile appears on his face as his eyes fall to the lunch I set out in front of me. It consists of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, without the crust of course, a bag of goldfish crackers, a blueberry protein bar, and a bottle of water.

By now, a conversation between Devin, Asher, and Josh has started up. I'm not paying much attention to what they're talking about and instead begin feeling extremely embarrassed of my overly-prepared lunch that Aaron is still taking a look at with interest.

"I like your lunch," he says with an amused smile. "I mean, you have all of the necessary macros in there. Got some protein, carbs—"

He stops when he looks to see how red my  face has turned, embarrassment heating, what feels like, my entire body. I tug my bottom lip between my teeth, staring down at stupid lunch meant to be eaten by a five-year-old.

"I- I'm just kidding," he says. "Sorry."

I look from ny food back to his face, which now seems to be filled with guilt.

"No, it's okay." I shake my head, brushing it off, and attempting to brush off the embarrassment that came with it.

He furrows his eyebrows, scratching the back of his neck before turning his attention to his friends, obviously over the short-lived conversation between the two of us.

Nice going, Estella.

Cute guy thinks you're weird.

I blink out of my trance, looking across the table to Devin, who's speaking animatedly, using gestures as she rants.

"- a bitch. She's only ever cared about herself. So stop with the whole brooding thing cause I miss fun, happy Josh. The one who doesn't look like he's at a funeral every day."

I switch my gaze from Devin to Josh, who sighs, twisting a curly strand of hair around his finger. I'm definitely not about to pry and ask if something is wrong, so I keep silent and open my sandwich box reluctantly. Even though I absolutely despise it now, I'm also insanely starving.

"I know. I know," he replies, removing his hand from his hair. "I just want her to like — understand, you know? I want her to get me, to get how I feel about her."

"Simp." Asher coughs, causing everyone to turn their heads to look at him. "Fuck, sorry — " He coughs again. "Something's just —" Cough. "Stuck in my throat."

"Are you okay?" I ask, my voice laced with concern as I lean my head over the table to study his face. "Do you want some water?"

Devin snickers as she turns her attention to my concerned demeanor. Turning away from Asher, I look to Devin in confusion.

"He's not actually coughing," Devin tells me with furrowed eyebrows. "You know that, right?"

"Shut up, Devin." Aaron deadpans.

I internally cringe at my second, or third, maybe fourth, embarrassing moment I've encountered on my first day. I decide, right then and there, that I will no longer talk.

Ever again.

"Yeah, shut up," Asher repeats, tilting his head from left to right with each word, which causes Devin roll her eyes in response.

"Oh, don't get mad." Josh smiles as she abruptly stands up from her spot at the table. "Don't leave, Dev."

"Come on, Devin." Asher laughs. "Sit back down. I was fucking  joking."

"I hate all of you."

She begins to walk away from the table, but doesn't leave before turning around and sticking up two middle fingers, waving them in front of the guys' faces.

I was internally hoping she wouldn't actually leave, given I felt more comfortable with another girl here. Even if said girl hardly acknowledged my existence. Either way, I felt a little intimidated sitting at a table with three guys— three very good-looking guys who probably think I'm a weird loner.

"We love you, too." Asher says with a sweet smile as he presses his fingers together, shaping a heart with them.

Once she walks away for good, the boys' laughs die down.

"Thank God she's gone," Asher mutters in a serious tone, shaking his head.

I turn to him with bugging eyes, surprised by his hateful words. "I thought—"

"He's kidding," Josh interjects before I'm about to make another ignorant comment. "That's just the way they are. Deep down, he's probably in love with her."

"Never." Asher shakes his head. "I'm no simp."

I turn to see Aaron's reaction to their bickering, but am taken aback when I realize his narrowed blue eyes already looking back at me, his head tilted to the right as if trying to solve an impossible math problem. I quickly look down to my food, grabbing a handful of Goldfish crackers from the small Zip-Loc bag to avoid his curious gaze.

-

author's note:

hey peeps! so, I finally got chapter two out, yay! I literally have every chapter of this book written — I hesitate to publish them because I feel like I can always make them better and don't want to publish until I'm satisfied with my work.

Anyways, I promise there's lots more coming for this story. Stay tuned ;)

Thank you so much for reading!

- blizfvl