Somber Ridge's hallways and classrooms may have looked grim and arid on a daily basis, but much of its other facilities were mostly in an unsullied and vibrant state. Alex had his eyes on the library, and he especially had his eyes on the volunteer sign-up sheet by a wall next to its doors.

His eagerness to sit with the group at a lunch table, and his excitement to volunteer at one of his favourite places to be, were the only things keeping him at peace during his dreaded tour with Nick.

But that was the thing.

The tour had been going on for at least ten minutes, and nothing about it seemed as dreadful as the group had warned Alex it would be. Nick had made a few sarcastic or mocking comments every now and then, but other than that, he'd been the perfect host so far.

But Alex wasn't going to let himself be fooled so easily. He'd once had a babysitter that could make the best ground beef taco casserole, but also possessed a budding dislike for children. And Alex had seen his fair share of coming-of-age movies; crossed arms and lack of eye contact meant that a person didn't like you. Although, Nick wasn't as easy to read as Harold the babysitter had been. On the contrary, all Nick seemed to do throughout the tour was make a reasonable amount of eye contact, and continuously offer welcoming gestures with his arms — all with a maniacal smile, or at least, Alex thought it was maniacal.

"And that brings us to the end of our tour," Nick announced as he came to a stop in front of the science labs on the third floor. "Now that that's out of the way, tell me, who made a move first — you or Leven?" His grin was framed with curiosity as he waited for a reply.

Alex stared back at him puzzled. Maybe he hadn't been able to read Nick, but he certainly wasn't expecting to be thrown this much off his guard by him. "He prefers, Lev," he answered instead.

Nick's grin mellowed out into a smile. "Well I prefer, Leven. I noticed you didn't answered my question there, but whatever. You seem much more the forward type."

"Why do you want to know that anyway?"

"Hey, I'm just trying to let you know, man. You've unfortunately befriended and shacked-up with two guys who like to make friends by challenging them to near-death sword fights."

"That's not how it is," Alex bit back, softly, though still upset by the assumption.

"Oh really? Then tell me, how is it?"

Alex's lips parted to speak, but they closed right back up again. He didn't actually know how the group had all become friends with each other.

"That's what I thought," Nick sniggered. "But hey, those punks have kept to their little posse since the dawn of time. I guess I should say, try not to take it to heart if you find yourself on the outside on more than one occasion. Catch ya later, man, hm?"

Alex's lips curved downward, vexation outlining his face. "It's Alex."

Nick scoffed. "Of course, I know that! Listen, again, don't take this to heart either. I usually call every guy at this school 'man', and every girl 'missy'. They're all mostly fine with it. You will be too, eventually."

Nick saluted to him before strolling off down the opposite side of the hall. Alex observed him for a second before shifting his attention to his grousing stomach.

It was finally time to go eat lunch.

Somber Ridge's auditorium also served as its cafeteria, with its grand yet barren stage at forefront of the room, and a few dozen mobile picnic tables with benches attached neatly arranged in several rows that took up much of the remaining space. At the very back of the room was an area for the kitchen where students and teachers lined up with trays to collect their meal.

Alex found the group stationed at a mahogany-painted picnic table in the corner of the room nearby the kitchen. As he drew closer, he raised his nose in the air like a bloodhound as he caught the heavenly scent of poutine.

Tate was the first to notice Alex sniffing his way over, and grinned at the curious sight "You were right, Lev. Just like bees to flowers."

The rest of them turned their heads to get a look at a beaming Alex, who'd tossed his backpack beneath the table and slipped into a vacant spot on the bench next to Lev.

Lev gave a brief though eager pat to Alex's head as he got seated, then slid him his awaiting lunch tray that was occupied with a plate of poutine along with a bottle of apple juice.

"Hmm...Alexy, you look to be in the same mood as we left you at second period, but still we must know, how'd it go?" Nyne asked as she crossed her arms and let them rest atop the table.

"Mhmm, actually, it was pretty good," Alex said before taking a wolfish bite from the gravy and cheese-coated fries.

Carsyn set her fork down as she regarded Alex a bit suspiciously. "Sorry, Lexy. Don't think I heard you clearly. It sounded like you said that your tour with Nick Pierce was pretty good."

"It was," Alex mumbled before finally swallowing. "But at the end of it, he asked about you and me for some reason," he gestured with a hand between him and Lev. "Don't worry though, I didn't tell him anything."

Lev's glance at the others was hesitant, and vice versa with the ones the group had returned, Ziro especially looked wary, though Alex was too engrossed by his meal to notice the vigilant exchanges.

Aside from Alex, the rest of the group had all been informed about the reason Lev had turned traitorous in favour of Nick last spring. Lev had even mustered up some courage to tell them about his unsuspecting kiss from the disdainful boy. He still had yet to obtain the courage to tell Alex about any of it, but until then he had the group sworn to keep information to themselves. Another furtive exchange of glances between the group, Alex missing it again, his face almost buried in his plate.

"Oh, and he also said something else that made me realize something," Alex said, his face rising from the dish at last. I don't actually have a clue about how you guys all became friends. I mean, I know how Ziro met Six and Nyne, I know that Lev and Ziro are baby-buddies, and I know that Syn and Ziro met in grade six, but I think that's all I know." His eyes sought out Ziro, his expression beaming yet again.

Ziro shrugged in return, taking hold of his turkey sandwich. "What's there to say?"

"What's there to say?" Alex repeated. "How about everything?"

"Alright Lexy, keep your undies on," Carsyn began, "if you really wanna know, I'll start the story. So you know that I've known Ziro since grade six, but what I haven't yet told you is that I've also known Lev since exactly the same time. You see, once upon a late September, I was-"

"그만해 (Geu-man-hae)," Ziro sternly whined. "If we wanted endless dramatic recounts of every aspect of our lives, Silas would be in the group."

Carsyn glanced at him, flustered and amused. "Dang, was I talking like a sappy sidekick reject? Ha! My bad. Okay okay, Lexy, here's the scoop, long made short — I used to get bullied."

"W-what?" Alex questioned, his fork dropping from his hand and clattering against the plastic plate.

Carsyn turned and reached for her backpack that was slacking on the floor behind her. She pulled out a plum-shaded wallet, and from that she removed a small picture and showed it to Alex.

"Woah..." was all Alex managed as he stared at it: a photo of Carsyn at eleven-years old; her long black hair a messy tangle of strands with split ends and uneven bangs; her skin as pale as it currently was; her eyes the same hue as well — one searing red while the other a cool blue.

"I know, Lexy, I know. I looked just as amazing then as I do now." Everyone but Alex did nothing to suppress their eye rolls, but Carsyn ignored them anyhow. "His name was Devon Covington, a seventh grade ass-hat. He always made fun of how I looked, and one day he cornered me by my locker. Things got ugly pretty quick when I actually called him an ass-hat to his face. Next thing I knew, I was sent crashing into my locker."

Alex flinched. "H-he hit you?"

"Well, it was an effective shove, really. But don't fret, Lexy, I fought back."

"Barely," Lev scoffed, mouth partially stuffed with a chewed-up bite of a roast beef sandwich. Ziro's chuckle was low and Lev's grin was roguish, and Carsyn glared between them.

"Okay, fine. My idea of fighting back at the time involved a very ineffective right-hook to the guy's shoulder. And then-"

"And then," Lev cut in. "Me and Ziro got involved, broke Devon's wrist, and by the end of it all, Syn was practically begging us to teach her how a right-hook is properly done. Ziro, being the kind soul that he is, gracefully accepted to be her mentor. We also got suspended for a week, but you know, friendship or whatever." Lev's unimpressed gaze fell over to Carsyn, who, for once, beamed right back at him.

"Wow, so you've taught Syn Korean, and how to fight. Did you also ask her those same questions that you asked me back when we first met at Halcyon?" Alex asked Ziro.

Before Ziro could say anything, he winced in pain, letting out a barely audible grunt. Surprised looks landed on him, and then at the obvious suspect — Carsyn.

"Remember when I said that I didn't want anyone to know?" she quietly hissed at Ziro.

"I thought you were over that by now," Ziro replied, giving his pained ankle a shake beneath the table.

Lev narrowed his eyes at both of them. "Over what?"

Carsyn scooped her fruit cup from her tray and peeled open it's plastic covering. "I'm not telling. And neither is Ziro."

"That sounds like a secret," Evan added. She dipped an unsalted cracker into some barbecue sauce before plunging it into her mouth.

"No it isn't. It's just a personal thing about me that I don't want to share with anyone," Carsyn explained.

"Hmm," Jeremi hummed, tossing a few potato chips onto his cotton salami sandwich. "Sounds a lot like a secret to me."

"Well it's not, and Ziro let me keep it anyways, per my request. But aside from Lexy, I don't recall any of you sharing what your answers were after Ziro asked you."

Nyne licked away the smear of butterscotch pudding on her upper lip before she said, "well, Six actually told Alexy about hers just a short time after we had all met him. Although, if Six wasn't on her way to see Three that day, neither she nor I would've been much of an open book about that."

"See? It's a mutual feeling," Carsyn said. "Now enough about me. Let's move on with the story. Who wants to go next?"

Tate set down his half eaten grilled-cheese sandwich, then slowly brought his hands together for an indistinct clap, grabbing the attention of the group. "I'll take the lead now." He looked to Alex. "Prepare yourself, A.P., you're about to hear an important chapter about the life of one, Tate Niall Morales."