Hello My Name Is...

Later that day...at lunch....

Seth took his usual spot by the window. He didn't know why, but he always liked being on the inside looking out. A sense of untarnished freedom awaited him somewhere out there, outside of these walls, the walls of his hell-house. Reese, Scott, and Micah sat down at the table.

"I'm gonna flunk geometry man, I can feel it," Micah grumbled, his head in his hands.

"Easy killer, why don't you just pull the ole cheat sheet shit?" Reese said, playfully tussling Micah's hair.

"Dude! Lay off man! Sides, cheating is wrong," Micah replied, running his fingers through his shaggy brown hair.

"We ran into some shit today, your shit," Seth said bitterly, staring down Scott.

Scott lowered his eyes in shame, "Sorry Seth."

The table grew silent with the tension. Scott looked up at Seth, noticing the bruises on his face.

"Did they do that to you?" he asked, pointing at the red and purple blemishes.

"I wish. No, don't worry about it," Seth replied, turning away to keep his injury out of sight.

"But-,"

"Shut up Scott, and leave it alone! It doesn't concern you!" Reese said angrily, punching Scott hard in the arm.

Scott shutted up and went about drinking his can of soda. Micah was embroiled in reading his geology text book, getting more and more nervous by the moment.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" a female voice asked from behind Seth.

Everyone looked up and saw Elle, smiling and holding a tray of lunch food.

Micah nodded and went back to his book, Reese smiled warmly, and Scott ogled her.
Seth rolled his eyes and cleared her a spot to sit. She smiled and took her place. She had plenty of room to stretch out, but she insisted on sitting extremely close to Seth. The other guys saw this and smiled amongst each other.

"Hey hottie, where you been?" Scott said, smiling at her broadly.

She returned the smile sarcastically, "As far from you as possible."

Micah and Reese laughed, causing Scott to frown and turn red from embarrassment.

"Shut the fuck up bitch!" Scott said in desperation, a feeble attempt to regain his pride.

"You shut the fuck up asshole!" Seth said suddenly, his voice angry and challenging.

Scott looked at Seth, then back at Elle, "What, you fucking her?"

That did it, Seth stood up suddenly, and grabbed Scott by the collar, lifting him up and across the table.

"What the fuck did you just say?! Say it again you worthless cocksucker! Fucking say it again to my face!"

Scott squirmed in his powerful grasp, he was scared and sweating.

"Hey Seth, chill man! Don't bring any of those teachers over here!" Micah warned, pointing to a teacher who was nearby and eying their group.

Seth nodded and slowly released Scott, sending him sprawling back into his seat, "Don't ever...EVER talk to a girl like that, you hear me?!"

Scott nodded, his eyes downcast and looking at his hands in his lap, "Yeah Seth."

Micah grumbled to himself, annoyed by the constant noise and distraction. But he kept his face in his book.

Seth turned to Elle, who had a look of shock and awe. She looked at him, not sure if she should smile for him sticking up for her, or to frown for the friction she had just caused.

"Thanks," she murmured.

"Don't worry about it.." Seth replied, grumbling.

"I didn't mean to...start things..." Elle said, instinctively placing a gentle hand on his arm.

Seth looked at her, he eyed her hand on his arm with regard. She saw the look on his face, and quickly removed her hand.

"Maybe I should go sit somewhere else..." she said with unease, grabbing her tray.

"Naw, fuck that! Sit here, you're more than welcome!" Reese said with a smile.

Seth shot him a cold look, slowly shaking his head. Reese saw this, but ignored it entirely.

"You're cool peoples from what Seth told us! Hi, I'm Reese, that dumb ass is Scott." Reese said, introducing the rest of the table, "We got two more guys in our gang, but they don't have the same lunchtime as we do, but I'm sure you'll meet them later."

Seth shook his head as he got up to go to the vending machine. His parents never packed him a lunch, so he would have to steal money from the change jar in the kitchen. His parents never gave him lunch money, and all the money from his weekend job went to his father.

"Hi, I'm Elle! So Seth mentioned me to you guys?" Elle said with a smile.

Reese returned the smile warmly, "Yeah, he tells us you're a skater too! You must have left a pretty good impression on him, cause you were the first thing he talked about today!"

Elle blushed, flattered by this boys remarks, "Really? We only spoke for a moment, and it was to help me fix my skateboard."

"It doesn't matter really, he's a cool guy. He might seem scary at first, but he's real cool and chill. You'll see, hang out with him and us and you'll see!" Micah said, setting his textbook down and opening his brown lunch bag.

Seth returned with a can of soda and a bag of chips, his meal. Reese frowned at the sight of his best friend going hungry. Elle saw it too, and offered him her orange from her tray.

"No thanks, " Seth said, handing the fruit back to her.

"No, really, it's okay. You can have it!" Elle said, placing the orange in front of him again.

"I don't accept charity," Seth said, placing the orange back on her tray a second time.

"Dude, she's trying to be nice! Take it for shits sake! And here, have half of my sandwich!" Reese said warmly, cutting his sandwich in half and handing the remainder to him.

Seth grumbled to himself.

"What?" Reese asked, leaning in to hear.

"Thank you guys. Thanks Elle, and thank you Reese."

Reese smiled and looked over at Elle, who looked at him and smiled back. Reese was able to put two and two together. He darted his eyes to Seth, then back at Elle, raising his eyebrows. She only smiled, hiding a laugh and nodded. Reese smiled and nodded his head in approval.

"So, you got a girlfriend?" Elle asked suddenly.

This prompted Seth to choke on his soda, Reese handed him a napkin. Scott remained silent, still bitter about the earlier incident.

"No, I don't have one. Why do you ask?" Seth asked, wiping his face off with the napkin.

"Nothing, just curious," Elle replied with a small smile.

"Sorry, but I don't date outside my social class....nothing personal."

Elle still kept smiling, "Oh no, it's nothing like that!"

Reese raised an eyebrow, leaning in to get a better listen to the conversation.

"Look, I don't know anything about you, and you don't know anything about me. I'd like to keep it that way. If anything, I think you got this all wrong." Seth said, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?! You think I'm not good enough to hang with you and your friends? Is that it?!" Elle asked, getting agitated and annoyed.

"No, no! It's just, we skate and all, and well, you were having an awfully hard time with your brand spankin new board. I just don't want to have to babysit you if we ever hung out, right Reese?" Seth said, looking at Reese for support.

Reese shrugged, "It's not my call man, I'm not the head honcho of this posse!"

Micah shrugged and concentrated on his lunch, knowing he didn't have much time to study and eat. Scott was sitting silent, for once, keeping to himself.

Seth waved Reese off with a hand, "Okay forget his take on this. Look, just cause you act, talk, and look like a skater, doesn't mean you are one. Even sitting at our table doesn't prove a thing! Don't get me wrong, you seem like a nice girl, but just cause you come from Cali-,"

"Okay, I got it. Bye." Elle said coldly as she stood up.

She grabbed her tray and moved off to sit at a solitary table by herself.

"Aww..c'mon man! She was cool! She was cute as hell too! What's wrong with you?!" Scott said, staring sadly at the lonesome new girl.

"Scott's got a point man, what's up with you?" Reese asked.

"I just don't feel comfortable with letting a new person into the group y'know? And I mean, I think she's a total poser man, trying to fit in and impress me is all she's doing." Seth said, trying to convince the guys.

Scott scratched his head, Reese shook his. Micah rolled his eyes and turned the page to his book.

"So you're telling me, she moved all the way from the west coast to here, just to be a poser and impress you? Seems a little far fetched my friend," Reese said, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

Seth sighed and grumbled, "Shit! What should I do than?"

"You're asking me for advise?!" Reese said in disbelief.

"For once, yes!" Seth cried in defeat.

"Well for starters, how bout you go over there where she is, and apologize. Start things off slow. If anything, I think she just wants to be friends dude," Reese said, pointing at the girl flying solo at the table across from them.

Seth sighed as he rose to his feet, "But she's annoying as hell though! And I just wanna be friends if anything man. What if she like...I dunno, crushes on me or something?!"

Reese shrugged, "So?! Would it be a bad thing?!"

Seth nodded, "Yeah it would be a bad thing."

Reese frowned, he knew what his friend was talking about. The bruises on his face didn't happen by accident.

"Get over there and talk to her man! What have you got to lose?!" Micah said, slamming his textbook closed in frustration.

They were right, what did he have to lose?

Seth turned and made his way to her table, taking a seat across from her.

"What do you want?!" she asked blandly.

"I wanted to apologize and say that I didn't mean what I said. I can be a total dick sometimes," Seth said with a sigh.

"Sometimes? Ha!"

Seth grit his teeth, she was already getting his nerves! But he continued to smile and be courteous.

"Look, we started out on the wrong foot. I'm a dick, I'll admit okay?! But once you get to know me, the guys can vouched for this, I'm a great guy! Honest!" Seth said sincerely.

Elle smiled to herself, for Seth had instinctively reached out and touched her hands with his. He was practically holding them. She didn't know what to expect from this scruffy tough-guy, but she liked it, and she liked him. When Seth looked down and noticed what he had done, he quickly pulled his hands back to himself and tried to play it off like nothing had happened.

Elle couldn't help but smile and quietly laugh to herself.

"So what do you say? Give me a second chance? I think we'll get along fine," Seth said finally, giving her a sincere look of apology and friendship.

"Sure, we're cool. See you in class!" Elle said with a knowing smirk, as the bell rang.

"Wait? What?! Class?!" Seth stammered, trying to fully understand what she meant.

"Yeah, we both have the next class together."

Seth wanted to protest, but knew it'd be of no use.

"How do you know that?! You been stalking me?!"

Elle laughed as she threw her tray away, "No silly! I walked through the school yesterday to find out where my classes were. I saw you in Spanish class, so I put two and two together."

"But, we didn't even meet until recently..what the hell?" Seth replied, still confused and dumbfounded.

Still smiling, Elle responded, "Let's just say, it's easy to pick out the hottest guy in a class room."

Seth turned away to hide his smile to her comment, catching Reese's attention. Reese smiled and winked at him, followed by a big thumbs up. Micah made a kissy face, and Scott only walked away, not caring or concerned.

"Great," Seth thought, "Everyone's happy..."