Our Guide.

I walk into the cafeteria alone. Evan should already be in there, considering I myself am a little late. I got distracted, is all. I find Zeke to be a very nice distraction, anyway.

That one kid seriously pissed me off so bad. I don't know his name, but I know he was a junior. I had left my last class looking for Evan- which, let's face it, is my cover story. In reality, I was looking for Zeke because I wanted to talk to him. I don't know what about, but I wanted to. The more days that pass, the more I want to see him and walk with him and speak to him. Even if he doesn't listen to me half the time, I feel like it's natural with him.

Plus he's really gorgeous. I also like him.

After I helped him he sort of stuttered in an nervous, adorable manner before apologizing. I was confused to say the least and when he told me it was because of his sweet stuttering I was a little floored. Who cares if you stutter? It's not like it's that big of a deal. Doesn't everyone at some point stutter? It would be plain rude if I were to make fun of him for it. Besides, today was the first time I heard it. Plus I thought it was cute how he was nervous. Sweet even.

Apparently he thought I was hurt as well from when he stepped on my foot, which puzzles me. People have stepped on my feet before and they never say a word about it. He tripped, what's the big deal? It's not like I can't walk now because of it. He shouldn't freak out so much over little things.

Then again, maybe he's used to people actually being mad if he steps on them, or stutters I guess. It looks to me like he's a sort of outcast of the school, and people tease him regularly. I just wish he would realize that I wasn't going to do that. Neither me or Evan would ever tease him or make fun of him or laugh at him or get angry with him. Unless he punched me in the face for no reason; I might be angry then.

Seriously though, I meant what I had said to that douche. People whisper behind their hands or shove him around and if I see anyone do it again, they're going to regret it. I don't care if I'm a walking bean pole, I bet ten bucks if the time called for it I could throw a punch.

Although thinking of getting in a fight, for a boy nonetheless, is odd. Evan would refuse. He has a golden heart and is a total pacifist. I don't like confrontation to much or fights either, but I have this gut feeling that if someone really messed with Zeke, I would have no problem using my fists. I've never seriously punched anyone before though. I'm not sure how it would work.

I spot Evan easily. He has a lunch trey from the cafeteria and picks at his burrito. I can tell from this angle that his blonde roots are starting to show up. I wonder if he is going to dye it again or let the blonde grow back. It'd be crazy to see Evan with his natural hair again.

I sit down, taking out my lunch in the process and slumping down. I'm still sort of pissed off at that kid. And Zeke confuses the fuck out of me. He just ran off saying something about next period, but I wonder if he knew that it was lunch. Not another class. He was sort of flustered and just ran off.

"What's up with you, buttercup?" Evan asks, raising a delicate brow once he sees how fumming I am.

I give him a sarcastic smile and start taking everything out of my sack. There's two Nutella sandwhiches, two string-cheese, a bag of sweet pickles, some potato chips, a bag of beef jerkey, and three cookies. Yeah, my mom seriously knows how to pack a lunch.

"Some kid totally ran into Zeke," I say, viciously biting into one of my sandwhiches. Evan looks concerned. "I mean," I say through a mouthful, "I caught him and shit before he fell, but the kid kept laughing so I snapped at him. I told him if anyone else treated Zeke like they were better than him, well... I left it as an open threat."

I take another bite, slowing down a bit as my heart rate decreases. I'm the type of person that if I think of a past situation that pissed me off, I get pissed off all over again. Which is exactly what happened. When I've finally calmed, I take another bite, peaking up at Evan through my fringe. His eyes aren't looking at me, his brow drawn together.

"Why-" He starts, then stops with a heavy sigh. He leans back in his chair. "Why would people treat someone else like that in the first place?"

"I dunno," I say, reaching over to eat some pickles. "But when Zeke thanked me, he stuttered and then apologized for stuttering."

Evan looks at me oddly before saying, "Why would someone apologize for that?"

"That's what I was thinking!" I say like it's obvious, shrugging my shoulders. "He also apologized for stepping on my foot earlier."

"So that is what he ran off for," Evan says. Early, before first hour, Evan said maybe Zeke was embarrassed that he stepped on my foot, and that's why he ran off like a dog with it's tail between his legs.

The sudden memory of the analogy makes me smile to myself. I take a drink of my tea to hide it though. If Zeke was an animal, he'd definitely be a puppy dog. Cute and sweet, but liked to bite your fingers when he could. Fiesty.

"I asked him again in fifth if he was gonna eat lunch with us," Evan says, somewhat distracted. "He said he had something to do. I think he was lying, though."

"Of course he was," I scoff and roll my eyes. "He hates us."

"He does not hate us," Evan chuckles. "He just doesn't trust us."

"He hasn't even given us a chance," I say darkly. I try not to think about it, because it kind of gets me down. Here I am, crushing on this kid, the first person I have ever shown an intrest in, and he doesn't even seem to like me as a friend. It just sucks, you know? I don't want the first and quite possibly the only person I like to never even give me a chance. It's frustrating I guess.

I think Evan notices that I just got myself down because he reaches over and punches my shoulder. I look up and glare at him but he just smirks lightly.

A part of me wants to tell him the truth, that Zeke is the person I like, but another part is scared. Not of his reaction, per sa, but the deed in general. Coming out, telling the truth, all that stuff. I don't care that Zeke is a dude. He is gorgeous and I definitely am not afraid to say so (in my head) and maybe I could jerk off another man. It's not repulsing, anyway. I bet Zeke's gorgeous naked too so isn't that all that matters? I don't know what I'm afraid of. I just know I'm not ready to tell him.

"He'll come around," Evan says surely, picking up his burrito. "I know he will."

"How do you know?"

"I just do, don't agrue with me," he chuckles. "Enough about Zeke. We haven't talked about it since that night at your house and I'm wondering about this mystery girl you have a crush on."

Talk about freaky. I think of the cons of telling Evan the 'girl' I like is actually Zeke, and he brings 'her' up.

My cheeks get red on their own at the thought of him and Evan grins widely. "Wow. You really like her, huh? I never saw this coming."

"Senior year," I mumble, shrugging. I feel kind of bad for lying, but I have to. I don't want Evan to hate me. Which I doubt he will, but I'd hate it if he stopped coming over and staying the night because he was uncomfortable with it. It'd be a tragedy.

"Can you tell me who she is?" He asks, and I just blush harder, shaking my head. He pouts, about to open his mouth and demand I tell him when he notices something over my shoulder. Suddenly his eyes are wide and mouth open as he blinks slowing, saying quickly, "Holy shit."

I look over my shoulder as well and swallow hard. Weaving through the tables is Zeke. His head is down, dark hair covering his eyes, and his hands are deep in his worn-out pockets. As he passes, some people turn to watch him go, a couple beginning to talk behind their hands. If they were any closer I would have yelled at him, but the sight of Zeke actually walking to us overwhelmes me.

"I told you," is all Evan can get out before the small boy is standing beside me.

I look up into his face. His cheeks are an adorable shade of pink, and his black hair is hanging in his eyes. He's biting his lip and shuffling awkwardly. For a few minutes, no one says anything. I'm a little side-tracked by his good looks, but I don't know what's up with Evan.

"Uh, hey," I say after a few minutes, blinking. I can feel my cheeks flush and wish that I wasn't so white.

Zeke doesn't even give me a second glance as he takes the seat to my right. He hunches his shoulders, one of his fists resting against his cheek. More people turn to look at us but he doesn't seem to notice. Me on the other hand? Yeah, I notice. It only makes my cheeks brighter and I know they've got to be the color of my hair by now.

"I'm glad you decided to join us," Evan says, his face breaking out into a huge grin. Zeke doesn't look up, just grumbles something no one can make out. Evan chuckles lightly. "Well this is our super fun lunch table. We were just talking about Sam's uh... Sam's crush on..." He stops, looking at me. We make eye-contact for a few seconds and I know he's trying to get me to spill the beans on who it is, but no way in hell am I admitting it when he's sitting right there. I think this is the closest we've ever sat together. Fuck, he's so hot up close.

"On someone," he finally finishes, glancing at Zeke before looking down. Zeke hums in reponse, nodding his head once. I swallow loudly, taking a drink to try and cover it up. Evan saves me. "He hasn't told me who it is."

"And I'm not going to tell you," I mumble, hoping he gets the picture. I don't want to talk about the person I like because A, he's right here, and B, I don't want Zeke thinking I like some one else when it's him! What if I do get him to like me, and he just thinks I'd never be interested? That would be terrible!

"Right," Evan says, drawing out the 'i'. He stares at me before looking at Zeke, and briefly glancing back at me. I give him a weird look but he ignores it. "I really am glad you came, Zeke."

"Whatever," he mumbles, rolling his eyes. For the first time he looks up. His eyes are such a dark brown they almost look black and I'm instantly drawn into them. "Don't make a big deal out of it or I'm leaving."

"Why did you decide to join us?" I ask, truly curious.

Zeke gives me a sarcastic look before rolling his eyes. "I said don't make a big deal out of it, fire truck."

Evan smirks lighty as I blush, hoping no one notices because then maybe Evan would figure out who exactly my crush is. "I like that name."

"Screw you," I say, causing Evan to start laughing. I swear Zeke cracks a smile, too. Which is nice. He looks great smiling. I need to make him smile some more. "I need to think of something to call you."

Evan just sticks his tongue out at me while Zeke rolls his eyes. He picks at the edge of the table, not saying anything, and the silence is a little awkward, so I clear my throat. Zeke jumps, blushing and hiding behind his hair while Evan raises a brow lazily.

"Uh," I say, scratching the back of my neck. I look at Zeke but he won't meet my gaze. "Why did you come here, though? Not that we mind or anything, obviously we invited you, but you've been saying no for the past three days."

"You stood up to me," he says after a long pause, so quietly I almost don't catch it. He doesn't look up, so I look from the top of his head over to Evan, who has a huge smile on his face. He winks at me and I know what he's saying: I was right. This is how we get him to trust us.

"Well," I say gently. I reach over and put my hand on his shoulder. He tenses up, staring at my fingers but I don't move it as I squeeze lightly. "I meant what I said. It's not right for people to pick on you."

"Th-Thanks," he says, wincing at his slip of the tongue. I smile, hoping he won't apologize for something as silly as a stutter, and luckily this time he doesn't. Instead he just hides his face from view and kind of caves in on himself.

I look over to Evan who clears his throat. "Do you not have a lunch?" He asks.

Zeke hesitates before shaking his head. "I forgot to pack one," he mumbles, but I can tell he's lying. I can see his eyes from this angle. But I don't mention it. I glance at Evan who's brow is furrowed.

"No money on your lunch account?" Zeke heitates again before shaking his head. Evan chuckles. "You're like the size of my pinky, Zeke. I don't think you can afford to skip a meal!" He jokes, but judging from Zeke's blush that he hides, I don't know if it was a wise joke. Evan doesn't get this as his laughing dies off slowly.

"You can have some of mine," I say quickly, grabbing my other sandwhich. Zeke looks up at me quickly, his brow drawn together. I smile at him, feeling my cheeks pink a little as I hold the sandwhich out. He just stares at it, and then at me like I'm crazy. "I hope you don't mind Nutella."

"I'm not eating your lunch," he mumbles lowly, pushing the sandwhich back in my direction. Then he mumbles so low under his breath I doubt Evan heard, and I doubt I was supposed to, "I don't need your fucking charity. I shouldn't have come here."

I can't have him regretting eating with us. This has to be the best lunch on the face of the planet so he realizes he has to come back every single day. It has to be!

I say quickly before he has a chance to run away, "Just eat it, champ. My mom always packs me too much anyway." I shove it at him and grab the bag of pickles before he can object. I watch him as he stares at it for a few seconds before slowly opening it and pulling the sandwhich out. I only smile when he pinches a bit off and sticks it between his lips, his pink tongue darting out to grab ahold of it. My thoughts go elsewhere before I force myself to focus. I blush and hope he doesn't realize I was just staring at him and what exactly I was thinking, but he always manages to catch me. Luckily he doesn't say anything, just adverts his gaze.

"Do you want some pickles?" I ask, holding out the bag.

Zeke's nose scrunches up in this adorable way as he shakes his head, his hair momentarily falling out of his eyes and making the view much nicer, in my opinion. He says in disgust, "I fuckin' hate pickles."

Evan laughs at this as I pull the bag back, pouting. Zeke looks up into my eyes, one of his brows perked up as I whine, "You're a terrible person! Pickles are the bomb!" Zeke rolls his eyes and mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like freak. I just grin and reach for the potato chips instead. "Here, have these then. I won't take no for an answer." He takes them and rips them open, sticking three in his mouth purposefully, causing us to laugh at him. He smiles a little bit but doesn't comment.

"So," Evan muses, smiling.

The rest of the lunch is mostly filled in with mine and Evan's conversations. Zeke doesn't say much, except for every now and then. He sits and eats, and when he's done I offer him two of my three cookies, which he takes with a grain of salt. He doesn't really seem to want to take my offered food but I really won't take no as an answer. He does need to gain some weight, I feel like I could break him with a simple flick. I've never noticed how.. delicate he is and I honestly love it. I just sort of wish he was more of a healthy weight.

Towards the end of lunch, I mention something about Oli's journal and Zeke looks at me oddly. I blush and ask what it is and he says, "You read your brother's diary?"

Evan cackles. Probably because he is imagining Oliver having a diary and how bad he is going to make fun of him for it. I just crack a smile at Zeke's perplexed and worried look. Hopefully he doesn't think Evan is laughing at him.

"No, uh," I say, awkwardly scratching the back of my neck. I never thought I'd actually tell someone about the letters Oli gave me. They're personal, you know? Like I said before, they're like crying. But this is Zeke. Maybe if I tell him a little something from my personal life, he'll start trusting me, too. "My brother was a senior when my parents got pregnant with me," I say and Zeke seems a little startled, so I chuckle. "I wasn't exactly planned. But anyway. Yeah, he wrote me these letters about how to survive my senior year and my mom gave them to me so, you know." I shrug, embarrassed.

Zeke doesn't say anything for a few seconds. He stares straight into my eyes and I get a little lost in his dark orbs, but then he blinks and the connection is gone. He says off-handedly, "I have an older brother."

I can tell by his monotone voice, though, that they aren't very close. I stare at the side of his face for a few minutes before looking over at Evan who is frowning lightly. He doesn't say anything either so we both drop it. There was definitely something off about his tone; if I'm telling someone about Oli I'm happy because he's one of my best friends, and my big brother that I look up too.

Evan says after a few moments of silence, "You should hang out with us after school, Zeke. I think we're going back to Sam's." We are?

Zeke looks up and says, voice low though with a little bit teasing, "I came to one lunch. Don't push your luck, sea-weed head."

At the nickname, I burst into laughter, having to hold onto my stomach because it's so hard. Zeke smirks, looking down at the table while Evan's face gets red. He glares at me but I just keep laughing, wipping at the corner of my eye dramatically and sighing.

"I'm going to start calling you that," I giggle like a little girl, causing Zeke to crack a smile and look at me like I'm crazy while Evan reaches over and hits me in the chest pretty hard.

"Like fuck you are, Ging!"

"It's classic!"

"Fuck you!"

Zeke laughs then, a soft, barely audible chuckle, but it's there. We obviously don't say anything about it in fear of embarrassing the kid, but the noise does make butterflies come alive in my stomach. It's definitely a good lunch.