Convergence - The Last Science #2.1 - In Plain Sight

B2: Chapter 5 - Rules of the Game - II

  Tyler's mouth fell open slightly. Natalie just watched them go, not saying a word. As they disappeared, she sat back down again. She hadn't gotten to finish her lunch, even if it was yet another plain peanut butter and jelly. Lily made them with magic these days while writing emails in the morning, just floating the ingredients and tools around in midair through the kitchen. She was so distracted that the sandwich usually turned out messy and falling apart. Natalie always made sure to wrap them up tight before packing them into her purse, or else the jelly might spill out into the space between pockets and make the whole thing smell funny.

  Tyler just stood there staring at the ground, and after a minute or two she started to feel awkward. "Tyler?" she prompted.

  He spluttered, a bit of spittle flying out of his mouth and landing near her feet on the concrete. She resisted the urge to flinch. "Hi. Sorry."

  "Wanna come sit down?"

  His eyes widened again. She'd said the wrong thing, apparently. After another painfully long awkward pause, he finally took a seat against the wall a full six feet away from her, gazing intensely out into the field behind the school that jutted up against the apartment buildings on the opposite side. She kept eating, unsure what to say next, while he stared in silence. Finally, as she ran out of food and Tyler still hadn't said a word, Natalie gave in and tried to break the tension.

  "Why'd you do that?"

  "Huh?"

  "Why'd you try to stop them?"

  "I..." He paused, then finally looked over at her. Natalie noticed he had very nice brown eyes, magnified massively by his thick glasses. "They were being mean for no reason."

  Natalie shrugged. "I don't care."

  "Huh?"

  "If all they're gonna do is make bad insults, I don't care." She'd dealt with way worse than that. A few girls her own age who wanted to try and make fun of the way she looked? If she really got angry, she could beat them all up no sweat. Plus, Blake's got nothing on Ryan or Rika. They'd tear her apart if she tried making fun of them. "They don't scare me one bit."

  "They scare me," Tyler said, looking away again quickly.

  "Thanks, then."

  "For what?"

  "Saying something." Natalie stood up and pulled her bag over her shoulder. "How long til lunch is over?"

  "Uhh, like five minutes I think."

  "Tyler!" The door swung open and out walked Quinn, flanked by the other two boys in his usual group. He spotted the two of them and made a beeline for them. Natalie felt an urge to flee, still uncertain how she was going to talk to Quinn now. She realized belatedly that she did recognize Tyler as one of Quinn's friends, but she hadn't gotten to know any of them since Blake had scooped her up so fast (and discarded her just as quickly).

  "Tyler, what are you doing? You forgot your bag, dude." The boy—who could not be more opposite of Tyler if he tried—tossed the bag over, which Tyler promptly failed to catch. Pencils spilled out all over the ground from an unzipped ouch.

  "Nice throw, Mitch," said Quinn. Mitch groaned and got down to help Tyler gather up his things. Where Tyler was pale, taller than average, long-haired and awkward, Mitch had incredibly dark skin, short black hair, a strong face—and was shorter than all of them, Natalie included. She was pretty sure he was even shorter than Cinza, who was the shortest person she knew. The only thing they had in common was that they both wore glasses, but Mitch had cool thin frames while Tyler had thick black frames that made his eyes look gigantic.

  "We missed you at lunch," said the last boy in the group.

  "Sorry, Steven," Tyler said, finally gathering up his bag again.

  "So what's up? Are you two friends now?" Quinn asked.

  "No," Tyler answered uncomfortably, at the same time that Natalie said "Yes."

  "Uh oh," said Steven, grinning.

  "Hi, Quinn," Natalie said, her cheeks heating up.

  "Blake and her friends were saying mean things about her," Tyler suddenly shouted.

  They all looked at him. "Oookay," Mitch said. "So, totally normal Blake stuff?"

  "I thought you were part of Blake's fan club," Steven added, with a nice smile at Natalie. He seemed okay, but there wasn't that special quality Quinn had.

  "Guess not," she replied.

  "She's too cool for them," Quinn added with his own smile, which made Natalie's brain go all fizzy for a moment. "She'd be way better in the Glasses Club."

  "The Glasses Club?" Natalie asked, confused.

  "Well, we used to call it the Glasses Gang," said Mitch, "but they told us we weren't allowed to."

  "But... Steven doesn't have glasses?"

  Steven reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a case, revealing a pair of thin-rimmed brown glasses. "I got contacts last year."

  "Traitor," added Mitch, punching him in the arm.

  "You should come sit with us tomorrow," Quinn continued. "Instead of eating all alone in the bathroom."

  Natalie's whole face flared up. "You knew?" she asked, mortified.

  "Whole damn school knew," said Mitch.

  "Mitch!"

  "Sorry, man," he replied sheepishly. "I just thought she should know."

  Natalie shook her head. "I didn't think anyone would notice."

  The bell rang, startling them all. The rest of the group walked inside, making fun of Mitch for something Natalie couldn't hear, but Quinn held back a second. "If you want to," he said. "You don't have to."

  She'd been craving new friends, and suddenly they'd been dropped on her out of the blue. It seemed too good to be true—and she hesitated. Something about them made her nervous, but she couldn't figure out what. It wasn't like Quinn or his friends seemed like bad kids, but when she was suddenly confronted with the option to finally connect back into the real world again, Natalie wasn't sure if she still wanted to.

  Quinn saw her hesitate. "All right. See you around, Jenny."

  He went inside. Natalie sat back down against the wall in the empty school yard, trying to work through the emotions cluttering up her head.