A few days later, Lily and I were in the cafeteria lineup. We'd been so caught up in our conversation that we hadn't realized we were holding up the line. That was, until someone called us out.

"Move up!" the voice snapped.

We abruptly stopped talking and turned around to face the culprit. Suddenly, a smile fell onto my face.

"Hey there, Benny."

My friendly greeting was met with a scowl.

"You two," he growled.

"Hey, what'd I do?" Lily said indignantly.

"You're friends with Rose. I dislike you by association," he unabashedly said.

"Hey," I frowned indignantly.

Benny dramatically rolled his eyes. "Would you move already? You're holding up the line."

I raised my arms at his tone and continued walking.

"Jeez! You're awfully rude today."

"What's new?" he blandly asked from behind me.

"Lighten up, Benny Bear," I sarcastically smiled, recalling the nickname I'd given him.

"Rose!" he yelped, looking around at the people behind us in the lunch line.

Lily and I glanced at each other in confusion. Just as we gathered our food, we were suddenly dragged towards a random table in the cafeteria.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked in confusion, while I wrenched my arm away from Benny.

"Just sit."

We listened and skeptically sat down, while Benny settled down across from us.

"You." He pointed a long finger oddly close to my face. "You've gotta stop it."

"Stop what?" I asked, laughing at how angry he looked.

"This," he looked around and drastically lowered his voice. "Stop with the teasing. Stop calling me Benny Bear. Stop bringing up that night. I wasn't crying. I'm telling you–I have allergies!"

"Allergies?" Lily quirked a brow.

"Whatever you say, Benny Bear," I sighed. Lily giggled.

Benny actually facepalmed. "You're never gonna listen to me, are you?"

It was a rhetorical question, one that I flashed a dazzling smile at.

"Alright, how about this," I finally proposed. "You let me call you Benny Bear, and I never bring up the night you cried in front of us, if it means that much to you."

Benny glanced at me thoughtfully. "Okay. But why do you wanna call me that?"

"It can be like our thing! After all, we're practically best friends," I grinned.

He coughed in repulsion. "No we're not!"

"Yet," I grinned.

Benny looked absolutely disgusted at the idea of us being friends.

"Okay," he finally said. "Point is, I've got a reputation around here. I don't want anyone finding out about... that night."

"What night?"

The three of us jumped, looking up to see Antonio standing behind Benny.

"Oh, hey," Benny outstretched his hand to give Antonio a bro-shake.

Surprisingly, Antonio only glared at Benny and ignored the hand, taking a seat beside him.

Lily and I shared looks. Weren't the two of them best friends? What was the problem?

"So, what's the big secret?" Antonio asked.

I stared up at him. First of all, where did he come from? Second of all, woah. He had a massive black eye that made my mouth drop open. I definitely wasn't the only one who noticed.

"Antonio, your eye!" Benny yelped.

"Any louder?" Antonio rolled his eyes in irritation, as a couple of people looked at our table.

Benny stared at him with skepticism etched on his face. There was a look of... what was it, worry? However, Antonio gave him a firm look as if to say, drop it.

I was a little concerned myself but it faded away. Antonio probably just got in another fist fight. Nothing new.

"Anyways, what are you guys hiding?" Antonio asked for what must've been the third time.

"What do you mean?" Lily played dumb.

"Benny said, I don't want anyone finding out about that night. What night are you talking about?" he insisted, glancing at each of us.

"It's nothing, Antonio. What are you even doing here?" Benny said exasperatedly.

"What do you mean, what am I doing here? I'm here to sit with my friends," Antonio scoffed, gesturing at Lily and me.

I glanced at him in amusement. Liar. He'd never had lunch with us before.

"Your friends are over there," Benny droned. He pointed a finger towards the table in the center of the cafeteria, where all of the loud and popular kids sat.

It was true—Antonio always sat there. But so did Benny and the rest of their stupid friends. A few girls sat there as well, though all they ever seemed to do was pass judgement onto others and laugh along to the guys' half-witted jokes. I suppose I'd been staring for too long, because a raven-haired girl suddenly flashed me a nasty glare and whispered to the girl next to her, while keeping her critical eyes trained on me. I frowned and looked away.

The center table was notably quieter without its two favorites, Antonio and Benny. Everyone else in the cafeteria sure seemed to notice that too. Many eyes flickered up at our table, wondering the same thing—why were the boys sitting with us? It was a question even I didn't have the answer to.

"Those are your friends," Antonio sneered back at Benny, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"So what? I can't be friends with Rose and Lily too?" Benny asked in amusement.

I had to refrain from snorting. Was this the same guy who was practically threatening Lily and me just seconds ago?

"I knew Lily and Flower before you did," Antonio snapped almost territorially.

Lily and I shared exasperated looks. What was this? Some ploy to make the other more jealous?

"Who the hell's Flower?" Benny asked in confusion.

"Me," I shortly said, taking a bite out of my sandwich.

Benny glanced at me. Then at Antonio. Then back at me. Then back at Antonio.

Suddenly, he gave Antonio a knowing look and began to chuckle. "Oh."

Antonio only glared at him. "Something funny?"

"Nothing," Benny smugly replied.

Antonio swung an arm over Benny's neck, playfully choking him. Benny cringed and pushed him away, but a laugh emitted from his lips. As the hostility between the two of them disappeared, Lily and I shared perplexed glances. What a peculiar friendship... though I could certainly see why the boys were so close. They had a few similarities.

"Y'know, Flower, we should probably get started on that biology project," Antonio randomly pointed out.

I recalled our teacher pairing us up for the project a few weeks ago.

I shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, we should."

"Alright, we can go to my place to work on it sometime this weekend."

I nodded again, and the topic took a swift turn.

"Hey," Lily spoke. "Romano says there's a Halloween party next weekend and we should come." She placed her phone in front of my eyes to show the text messages.

"Yeah, I'm going," Benny interjected.

"She wasn't talking to you," I pointedly said. He rolled his eyes and piped down, while I turned to face Lily. "I don't know, Lils. Every party we've been to has ended in a fight."

I pointedly faced Antonio, who wore a proud smirk on his face. "Guilty," he sung.

"I hope you know that's not a good thing," I grimaced.

He ignored my words and reached over to grab a fry off of my tray. I smacked his hand and he instantly recoiled.

"Just one?" he pleaded.

"You're rich, buy your own," I said, protectively covering my fries.

The other two chuckled. Meanwhile, Lily faced me excitedly.

"Y'know, maybe we could do a costume together," Lily said to me.

"For what?" I asked.

"The Halloween party, idiot," Benny chuckled.

"You're the idiot," I childishly stuck out my tongue before facing Lily again. "What costume were you thinking?"

"Hmm. Cheerleaders?" Lily suggested.

"Basic," I shook my head.

"But cute," Antonio offered.

Everyone gave him a strange look.

"Maybe you should go as a cheerleader," I grinned. When Benny laughed, I quickly added, "you and Benny Bear." That instantly wiped the smile off his face.

Antonio's eyes bore into mine suspiciously, as if wondering when I had the time to come up with a nickname for Benny. Though, I didn't address his unspoken question.

"Maybe you should go as a troll," Benny muttered. "Of course, you wouldn't have to dress up for that."

"Hey!" I indignantly reached over to punch his arm.

The table erupted into laughter, meanwhile we continued to animatedly talk about the upcoming Halloween event. The conversation jumped to a number of things, and I found myself having so much fun that I lost track of time, only being pulled out of the conversation when the bell rang and we had to go to our separate classes.

• • •

QOTC: do you like to bake?
AOTC: yes, baking is my free therapy

have a great weekend, i love y'all!!

love, emmanuela<3