A Love Like War

Jack asked me to hang out with him and his friends at lunch. I told him I couldn’t because I had to sit with my friend from England. He hadn’t been offended luckily; he’d simply said, “Okay. Maybe tomorrow!”

I liked Jack. I could see myself becoming really good friends with him. It was a relief knowing that I might actually make friends, and the more I thought about it, the more glad I was we’d moved. Although it sucked having to leave Michelle and Natalie, I was excited to sort of . . . Start over. I could remake my reputation into something other than “Quiet Girl in the Back of the Classroom.”

I walked into the cafeteria to look for Alex. I scanned the room for a small kid sitting by himself at a table, but the only kids by themselves were one stoner listening to his iPod and a girl reading a book. No Gaskarth in sight.

Then I saw a group of kids; probably about ten of them, boys and girls. They were obviously the popular kids, I could tell just by the way they acted. A few dumb blondes and a couple well dressed brunette girls, and a bunch of guys dressed like skaters. They were all huddled around the new British kid, and he was leaning against a table telling some story that was most likely over exaggerated to impress the others more.

I could tell that Alex didn’t need my friendship, and although it had been short-lived, I was hurt. Well, maybe not hurt as much as jealous. Jealous that he didn’t make attachments to people so quickly, jealous that he could make friends so easily, jealous of how much more attention people paid to him than they did to me. And maybe a little jealous of the girls in the group he would much rather talk to than to me.

I sighed and looked around the room for Jack. I spotted him sitting in the corner with three other kids and walked nervously over to them.

“Hey! You decided to sit with me,” Jack said excitedly when I got close enough to hear him.

“Yeah, my friend didn’t mind if I sat with you guys instead,” I laughed, still slightly nervous.

Jack said to his friends, “Guys, this is Kristin. She’s from England.” He grinned widely.

I looked at his friends. A chubby boy with light brown hair cut in the shape of a bowl smiled the whitest, biggest, brightest smile I’d ever seen.

“Hey, I’m Rian,” he said to me.

“Matt,” said a guy with short black hair and a lip piercing.

“Kara,” interjected a pretty girl with long, light brown hair and a warm smile.

“It’s lovely to meet you all,” I said politely, then watched Matt’s eyes grow bigger.

“Your accent is amazing,” he told me, and I giggled. He was cute, with big brown eyes and a perfect little smile.

“RIGHT?” Jack exclaimed. “Kristin, what do you think of American accents? Cool or annoying?”

I thought for a moment. “It depends on where you’re from in America, I suppose. Like, Southern accents are a bit annoying, but you guy have cool accents.”

“I get what you’re saying. I also hope you realize I’m probably gonna make you talk a lot today so we can listen to your accent,” Jack laughed.

“Basically,” Rian interjected.

“A word of advice,” Kara started. “Ignore any of their attempts at trying to get in your pants, because believe me, they will.” She laughed.

I chuckled. “I’ll try,” I replied, then stole a quick glance at Matt.