A sea of students gathered outside the university buildings, most of having a break to have lunch. Steps echoed all over campus as a wave slid down the stairs, all trying to escape the suffocation of several hour lessons.

Alice zigzagged between students, slowly, since she had little idea who she was going to have lunch with. Going home wasn't even an option because having to walk that far would only make her loose time and she would likely be late to her following class.

She snatched her phone off her bag and started dialling Nicole's number. The annoying noise coming from the other side of the line distracted her from her way and she ended up pacing back and forth in the middle of the crowd, being pushed once in a while by some clumsy person.

"Hey," Nicole answered cheerfully, which surprised Alice. "What's up?"

"Not much, just wanted to know if you wanted to grab lunch?"

It was almost certain that she would agree. She didn't really have anyone to have lunch with either, since Carolina and Lucas were eating together. The difference between them was that Nicole didn't mind eating alone, even if she got weird and pitying looks from other people, whilst Alice couldn't stand the paranoia of people thinking she had no friends.

"Can't, sorry. I'm covering Nelson's shift," she explained, and then added in a less joyful tone, "Here 'til three. Yay!"

Alice sighed and said goodbye before hanging up. All her options had plans, which meant calling the last resource. Just thinking about it made her shudder.

She scrolled up on her list of contacts. There weren't that many, so not that far away from Nicole on her list. Her thumb lingered over Miguel's name as she questioned herself.

"Dude, that project he asked for the other week is killing me."

"I swear I'm so close to giving up. I finished the code, but it's not working and I don't know where I got it wrong."

Computer nerds. Alice thought with a sneer.

"See you later, man," the one who messed up whatever the code was said goodbye. He was walking backwards, so he didn't see Alice walking around.

They crashed. Although he stopped, turning around, Alice was still walking around with her eyes on her phone and didn't see him approach. Her phone almost flew away from her hands, but both of them grabbed it desperately.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologised, looking at his slender fingers that gripped hers loosen slowly.

Her eyes turned away from the phone as soon as his hands dropped to his sides and she looked up. Luck was definitely not on her side when she stared at his green eyes. She staggered away, taking a moment to collect herself after the harsh collision.

"A-Andrew," she stuttered. "I didn't see you."

"Obviously." He shoved his hands deep inside his pockets, something she noticed he did a lot when he was standing up. It was as if he didn't know what to do with his hands when they weren't typing on his keyboard. She liked it, though, made him cool and nonchalant.

"Where are you going?" she questioned. Her brain was already racing, shoving the phone in her pocket. If the choice was between Andrew and Miguel, she would choose the lesser evil.

He shrugged, as if he didn't know exactly what he was going to do, but he did. Yet, telling Alice wasn't in his plans since it was likely to make her cry.

"I'm going to have lunch," he said shortly.

"Do you need company?"

He rose his brow in a silent question. Of all things she could have said, he didn't expect her to say that, even if she was trying to revive their long-lost friendship.

"I don't-"

"Oh, okay," she cut him off, not wanting to hear the rest of his denial. "I have plans with other people, anyway. Bye."

She walked away from him, ignoring his eyes on her back. Everyone kept saying no to her. Everyone kept getting away from her. Just like her father had once done. Maybe it was all on her.

The thought of ever liking Andrew made no sense anymore. How could she like someone who barely smiled at her? Who barely shown any emotion? He might have been all charming in the beginning, but now she realised how he barely shown any emotion.

It was easy to blame him when she didn't know he grew up concealing the smallest frown into a blank mask, and it was obvious she didn't hear him tease Nicole at The Bookmark when no one was there to pry into what he did or didn't do. She was convinced every smile had been a lie, and maybe she was right.

Her fingers found Miguel's name again, and she called him at once.

"Hello, angel," he picked up immediately. "What do I owe the pleasure of this unusual calling?"

She scowled at the pet name. Why does Nicole hang out with this guy?

"Where are you?"

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. If Alice thought he was an idiot not worth talking to, Miguel thought she was an entitled little bitch living from Nicole's kindness.

"I'm doing fine. Thank you for asking. I'm also working."

"And when is lunch time?"

Miguel almost choked on the toothpick he had been chewing since morning. He had to cover the mic of the phone to express what had just happened to his coworkers.

"Is that the red head girl?" one of them, sliding from under a car, asked.

"It's blue now," Miguel said.

"Hello?" Alice asked.

"In an hour," he told her. "But I'm probably gonna grab a burger with the guys. I'm kind of far away from you."

At that moment, Alice realised she was truly alone. She had ended any relationship with Andrew; she was allegedly mad at Nicole and Carolina and Lucas had each other. The one person she didn't want to have lunch with denied her, too.

"Ok, bye."

Alice could feel everyone's eyes on her, laughing. They knew. All of them knew she was alone. She couldn't handle the pressure.

Her eyes surveyed everyone around her. No one was looking, but she felt the stares, the sneers.

Ignoring the pressure, she walked to the nearest bakery and bought a sandwich. She put it inside her bag and walked into the library, avoiding people's judging looks. Nobody would see her on the back tables of the library, so she sat between two thick shelves that hid her completely.

She wouldn't cry. It was a terrible coincidence they were all busy. She wasn't being discarded. It was all in her head.

Alice started doing the final touches on a school project for her class while biting into her sandwich.

"You can't eat here."

She froze.

"Why are you such a stuck up, Gio?" she pulled him to a seat beside her before they noticed them. "Can't you see I'm having a critical moment?"

"It's still against the rules."

She exhaled, exasperated at the boy. There had been too many denials that day. Another one from him was not needed.

"Gio, look at me. Don't you see this is a life or death situation?"

He frowned. "It is?"

"Yes!" she whisper-yelled. "I don't have anyone to have lunch with!"

He sighed in relief. He had thought something had really happened. Something so trivial surely wasn't a cause to break simple rules. It couldn't be that hard to eat outside before going inside the building.

"So? I have no one too, normally."

Alice felt bad for him, but he didn't see the problem. Jaime was always with his boyfriend, so they couldn't eat together, and Gio was too busy studying to talk to people.

"You were left alone too?" her bottom lip quivered. "Oh, Gio."

She held him in a tight hug, and he froze awkwardly against her.

"It's okay, we can have lunch together," she told him. "I won't leave you?"

"E-Every day?"

"Yes!" she gripped him tighter. "I won't leave you alone."

While she promised him she would never leave him alone, Andrew made his way to The Bookmark. His friend had called him since he figured it was a decent time for Andrew. Having the call ended halfway through his rant last time had left scars. He was used to it, but that didn't mean he couldn't learn to avoid it.

"You are so fucked!"

"You said that already." Andrew rolled his eyes, crossing the street.

Jace liked to create suspense when sharing any kind of information, perhaps why he circled around the matter instead of just talking. Perhaps why Andrew was so done with him all the time.

"But I mean, like, colossally fucked, you know?" he explained. "Imagine Everest bending you against a table and-"

"Jace," he interrupted, "Get to the point already."

"You're no fun, man."

Of course, he was no fun. Jace knew his father better than any of his friends, he knew Andrew was terrified of him finding out where he was. Maybe he would trace a call if he answered, or maybe someone would recognise him and call immediately to the corporation. And disobeying back then was saying goodbye to life as he knew it, but being caught now meant facing legal charges.

"He knows you embezzled a lot from the company funds."

"Took him long enough."

At his answer, distant voices argued with his friend. A quick physical fight for the phone erupted and Jace yelped loudly. At last, one of his friends took control of the phone, whilst Andrew stared at a show window full of watches.

"Are you stupid!" It wasn't a question.

"Hi to you too, Michael."

It was Mike to everyone, but as he never abbreviated Andrew's name, Andrew didn't abbreviate his either.

"They're going to trace the account and..."

"Will they?" Andrew doubted, giving up on finding a proper watch to replace the worn out one that rested on his left wrist. "Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"I think your father already stopped underestimating you and has hired people who can actually trace you," Michael explained. "Andrew, you've proven your point already. Now come home and apologise before you end up in jail."

However, he couldn't come home and he hadn't proven his point. He wasn't trying to show his father he wasn't the worthless worm he treated him like. He was building a life for himself step by step, away from his family antics, and university was only the first step. Coming back was always the plan, but he needed to make his own life first, away from the madness.

"I don't think so."

His friend let out a deep breathe. For someone who had spent his life following orders, Andrew was really stubborn. He already knew that, but he hope to reason with him.

"Are you doing what we agreed?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then who is Alice?"

Andrew sighed. Sometimes Jace needed to keep his mouth shut.

"It's not what you think," he started, and as his friend kept silent, he continued, "I don't know why- I didn't mean to have anything with her, but... she reminded me of Maya. It was stupid of me."

If they hadn't rushed into a relationship, Andrew would've known she was nothing like the girl he had once been in love with. At first, he had seen the sweet girl he'd been passionate about, but it soon turned into a completely different person and he realised his life there would never be his life back home.

"And the first Maya wasn't enough of a lesson?" Michael deadpanned. "Andrew Stewart Romana Whittmore!"

Andrew rolled his eyes. "Still not my name. I really think you'll never guess it."

"What did we fucking agree on?"

"Only sociopaths eat pineapple on their pizza?"

Jace yelled something about him being the real sociopath and the bittersweetness of the pineapple on his pizza being like a bliss not experience by many and how it was a gift from the gods themselves. He also compared it to things that made Andrew disgusted about eating pizza for a long while.

That argument was one that lasted between them for a long time, but it was not what Michael wanted to talk about.

"You said you would keep a low profile. Are you doing that at least?"

Andrew could already see The Bookmark at the end of the street. He narrowed his eyes to see through the windows, but he was too far to distinguish anything.

"I am. But I also think I'm being too paranoid."

"What part of your father is onto you didn't you get?"

He shrugged. "Still. It's not like he has wanted posters glued on the walls. No one would really care if they knew who I was."

"That's what you think, then you end up in jail."

"Maybe not." He reached his destination. "I'm going to have lunch. Bye."

They hung up, and he walked past the glass door, to be welcomed by the smell of bread and coffee. The small bell above his head rang at his entrance, announcing his presence. Both waitresses looked at him, but his eyes were on her.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH

This sucked the life out of me and still feels flat! F me.

Thoughts on this? Does anyone like Andrew or does everyone feel like he needs development?

This chapter was nothing like in my head... maybe because I had to fight writer's block for this...

Thank you for reading if you're still doing so! Sorry for the break.