You think I could sit with you at lunch?" Dear Lord Renan, even I would have rejected you on the spot.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts before heading down the hall to the cafeteria. I had spent the last 2 hours intermittently wandering the halls, finding my locker, and watching the beginners dance class.  I had spent the entirety of that time though reflecting on my tour with Eve.

Why was it so hard for me to make friends?
You think I'd be good at it by now.  I was used to being the new kid, with each new high profile case my father acquired came a new state and home and school. 

Eventually I knew I would find friends, if you could call them that. But I was never the first to approach them. Once people found out who I was, who my parents were, they would do anything to have me befriend them.  But it wasn't companionship they were looking for, it was clout.  It was the almost instant popularity.  It was the seemingly never ending perks that came with being friends with the rich kid.

But Eve, she had flat out turned me down when it came to being friends, and it was refreshing. It wasn't until after she had left me alone for a while though that I realized the truth: I really did want to be friends. I had also decided, if that wasn't possible, I'd settle for acquaintances. But I couldn't focus on that now.  Right now I had to focus on surviving an hour of lunch.

Surprisingly I don't make it to the lunch room exceptionally early having been in no class. I still get sucked up by the sea of students and eventually make my way to the cafeteria entrance. I go quickly through the lunch line grabbing a lettuce and chicken wrap, some fruit, a banana muffin, and milk before turning to face the sea of seated students before me.

Endless hours of dance lessons don't fail my now, I plead, don't let me trip in front of all these people, not on my first day.

I slowly begin walking down the first row of seats but find no where to sit.  I sigh and turn back around to start circling the second row but out of the corner of my eye I notice someone's raised hand waving.  I turn out of instinct and make eye contact with a petite brunette who smiles instantly before waving a little more vigorously.

Confused I look around to see if there's anyone standing behind me, but there's no one.  Either people are already sitting or walking towards their usual tables. I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion and point to my chest making questionable eye contact with the same girl.  She nods before beckoning me over the smile never leaving her face.

And so it begins, I think as I make my way over, that was quicker than usual.

As soon as I'm a few yards from the table the brunette makes a motion for the guy sitting next to her to scoot over. He does so begrudgingly and before my tray has even hit the table the Brunette raises her hand in a greeting.

"Hi! I'm Anna," she chirps. "Wanna join us for lunch?"

"Yeah actually, thanks," I reply while sitting down. "I'm...

"Renan Mathews," she interjects. "No need to introduce yourself, everyone already knows who you are. How couldn't they? You're practically a celebrity" She smiles showing a row of straight sparkling white teeth.

"I'm hardly a celebrity," I chuckle. "Trust me."

"So not true," Anna replies taking a sip of her green juice. "I just looked through your extensive followers list on Insta and it not only includes the entire Kardashian family but also multiple chart topping artists." She pats me on the arm, "no need to be humble around us love."

"Uh okay," I reply, "but to be fair they only know me through my father. You'd be surprised how often pop stars need legal assistance."

Anna waves my statement away dismissively. "Connections are connections no matter how they're made.  That's what our mom always says at least."

"She's a Hollywood talent agent," interrupts a male's voice, "our mom." It's suddenly brought to my attention that Anna and I are not the only ones having this conversation. "I'm Joseph, but my friends call me Seph." He reaches across the table to shake my hand before nodding his head to his left. "That's Blythe, Ellis, Courtney, Brooke and Royce. I'm sure they'll introduce themselves once they're done catching up," he smiles.

"Anyways," Anna directs our attention back to her. "We've got a little less than an hour to kill, so we better get started."

"Get started," I question.

"On getting to know each other of course," Anna replies. And that's exactly what we do for the next 40 minutes or so.

The conversation is mostly spent between Anna, Seph, and I, with the exception of one of the other people at the table interjecting a comment every once in a while. We discuss the normal getting-to-know-you talking points: where we're from, what we did this summer, what classes we're in, etc. Turns out Anna and I have the same second period.

I've decided that Anna and Seph aren't all that bad, that we could potentially reach a level of true friendship when the brunette asks me: "So Renan, have you met anyone else yet?"

I have a feeling she's hoping I'll say she's the first person I've talked to since starting school this morning. But I nod my head instead.

"Actually yeah, I have," I state taking one last sip of milk. "Evelina Joyce."

As soon has her name leaves my lips our lunch table goes quiet. I guess whatever conversation the rest of our group was having paled in comparison to the conversation I was about to have because now all attention was on me.

Anna's face distorts with surprise and disgust.  "You can't be serious," she says, "how did you meet her before me?"

"She got sent to the front office this morning," I explain, "I was already in there to receive my schedule when she came in and Mrs. Hender had her show me around. She's..."

"Bad news," Seph finishes the sentence for me.  "If I were you, I'd make sure the first conversation you had with her was also your last or you'll come to regret," he warns with a scowl, "trust me."

"I don't understand," I counter.  "When I talked to her this morning she seemed pretty..."

"Psychotic," Anna interjects.

Actually, I was going to say: tough sure, but harmless nonetheless. But I didn't get the chance to because in the same instance Seph looks over my shoulder and under his breath announces: "Speak of the devil."

I twist around just in time to see Eve approaching our table.  She had changed from her earlier outfit into black spandex shorts and an oversized tee.  With each step I could see the toned muscles of her legs flex then relax.  She starts to pull her hair up into a ponytail allowing me the see the soft contour of her biceps.

"Mathews," she addresses me without making eye contact with anyone else at my table. "I'm walking you to second period now. Let's go."  Eve lets her arms relax by her sides.

I'll admit a bit intimidated, I begin to get up from my seat when Anna grabs my shoulder, and rather aggressively for such a small girl, shoves me back down to a sitting position.

"There's still ten minutes of lunch left," Anna quips, "we aren't done talking."

Evelina rolls her eyes before crossing her arms. Her eyes shift between myself and Anna in a cold silence.  "You have five minutes then we're walking."

"You can't tell him when to..." Anna protests but I cut her off.  "Sounds good. We were just finishing up anyways."

Evelina nods before pointing to her wrist when no one begins speaking, "tik tok."  The table seems to be sucked back into reality as most pick up where their conversations left off.  Anna starts to ask me what my plans for the weekend are when I hear Eve's voice from behind me. "Hey Seph," he whips his head up from his phone, "I never got the chance to ask: how's the eye?"

I see Seph's jaw tighten as he flips Eve off, grabs his lunch tray, and stands up.  Before he leaves to throw his garbage away he leans towards me, "remember what I said Renan," then addresses the table, "I'm going to class, are you coming or staying?" He gives Eve one last glare while his friends slowly get up to join him. I see a smirk appear on Eve's face and a look of confusion settles on mine.

Before I can ask what that was about the bell rings and Anna and I are grabbing our trays as well to leave.

"So as I was saying," Anna starts while giving Eve a pointed look as she falls into step beside me, "if you're free this weekend, my brother and I are throwing a party.  We throw a huge back to school bonfire at our beach house every year.  It'd be amazing if you could come."

I pause a moment to think. "I don't know,"
I confess, "I'm not really the party type."

"Awesome!" Anna exclaims clearly not processing what I've just said.  "The doors open at 9 and..." but then realization hits her, "I'm sorry but did you just turn my party invite down?"

I shift uncomfortably and look towards Eve for help, but she only shrugs her shoulders with an amused look on her face.  Gee, thanks for the help, I think as she opens the studio door for us to enter.  I lose track of Eve as Anna and I head back towards the separate changing rooms and shelves for our dance bags and back packs. I guess she's left for her next class.

"It's nothing personal," I assure her, "I've just never really been into the whole party scene."  I look down one last time before we part ways to enter our changing rooms and can't help but feel bad for the frown I've put on her face.

I know I'll regret it later, but before she turns around to leave, I catch her attention.  "But hey who knows, I'm new in town and a party may be just what I need to meet people."

The smile reappears on her face.  "So you're saying you'll come?"

"I'm saying I'll try my hardest to at least make an appearance," I correct her.

She spins on her heels entering the girl's locker-room before announcing, "see you Saturday at 9 then!"

I shake my head before stepping into the guy's locker-room.  What did I just get myself into?

When I'm done changing into some grey sweats and a white muscle tee, I make my way back to the studio where I see Eve sitting alone lacing up some Nike sneakers.  Confused I head over to the wooden bench and sit down next to her.

"What are you still doing here," I inquire.

She responds without looking up from fixing her laces.  "What do you mean," she asks. "I told you earlier I'd see you at second period."

"I know," I say keeping my gaze on her profile, "but I thought you meant because you had to walk me there."

I small smirk appears on her face while she finishes up lacing her shoes. She turns to me, "You don't think I can dance." It's a statement, not a question, and I realize the hypocrisy of what I've just done. I had made the same assumption about her as she did about me this morning.

I start to try to apologize to Eve but I'm cut off by our instructor. Eve gets up without saying a word and before I can follow her into the crowd of the class, small fingers wrap around my wrist. Anna starts to drag me over to stand beside her and her friends, but while she guides me over my eyes never leave the back of Eve's head.

That girl is full of surprises.

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A/N:

Hey y'all! Hope you've had a great day so far! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter and introducing two new characters :) Looks like Renan is discovering that Eve may have a few enemies and some secrets that go along with them! Hope y'all enjoyed!

Love Life & Live Well,
Anne_Hedonia