Chapter 3- Taunting Lunches

[] A M E L I A []

Today, I made it to the Sociology building without getting lost. I had gotten up earlier than I did yesterday, and made it to the lecture much earlier than it was supposed to start as a bonus. I took my place near the top of the hall and off to the side in hopes that by today, Andre would've forgotten about me. It wasn't that he was bad, but he just seemed like a really social type of guy. Exactly the opposite of what I need in my life.

Which is why it was better to stay away from him and his friends.

I slowly brought out the supplies I needed for class, and people eventually started piling in. Just as I placed my notebook down, a large shadow hovered over me.

I looked up in surprise to see Andre was standing in front of me with a grin on his face.

"Hey there!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but before I could, Andre came around the bench row and plopped down in the seat beside me.

"How are you?" he asked, pulling out his own things.

I mentally sighed.

"I'm good. What about you?" I mumbled out.

"I'm wonderful, little one!"

I scrunched my nose at the nickname. We weren't even close enough to give out nicknames. However, I didn't comment on it.

The lecture started right after that, leaving no room for us to talk anymore. Andre made a few comments here and there about the professor, or the lecture in general, and I found myself actually responding to a few things he pointed out.

After the lecture was over, Andre turned to me with a look.

"Alright, today I will not take 'no' for an answer. Come on Amelia, join us for lunch. Trust me, you won't get bored."

I stared at his grinning face for the longest time. I realized now that if I don't say yes, he'd keep pestering me till the I agreed. Maybe if I say yes now, sacrifice myself for an hour, he'd leave me alone. Maybe his friends would even point out all my social flaws and eventually, he'd leave me have no choice but to not see me anymore.

Sad, but this is exactly what I needed.

No friends.

So eventually, I gave a little head nod, making Andre nearly shake in glee.

However, I never thought that a simple lunch would be the biggest turning point in my life.

* * *

[] L E O []

Today was a rough day. Not only did Jamal drag me to Biology again, but I was just told that Andre will be bringing someone to lunch with him. For this reason, a) we had to eat campus food today, and b) I was extra cranky since Andre is probably bringing one of his snobbish buddies.

Besides being friends with us, Andre had his other group of friends he hung out with. They were the social and partygoing people, something I really wasn't. Very rarely, he'd bring one of them to join us for lunch.

And I hated it every time.

On the bright side, we were eating in one of the better places on campus today. It was a little coffee shop called Coffee Rush, and was a little ways away from the campus itself. This was one of our hangouts on the occasional day when we weren't at my apartment.

Jamal and I had been waiting for Andre for the past hour or so, since his class ended later than ours. We had already finished eating and had done our work, so had just waited lazily for the past while. I had resorted to my classic nap stance, while Jamal watched videos on his phone.

"Stop lying down on tables like that. You'll break your back," Jamal said, throwing a napkin at me.

I glared at him, but sat up nonetheless. Just then, the bell jingled, signalling someone had entered. I really hope it wasn't Andre, since I wasn't prepared to see him and his sidekick for today just yet.

"Shit, no way," Jamal murmured.

I didn't pay him any mind, conjuring up excuses to try and get out of this get-together.

"Hey guys," Andre said, coming up behind me.

No other noise was heard, which was weird, since his friends always started up with 'Hey bro, what's up,' in a thug-like voice.

Curiously, I turned around.

A curtain of hair is what I first saw, followed by slightly widened brown eyes. Andre took a seat beside me, and gestured for the seat next to Jamal for the girl to take. She hesitantly went over and sat down next to him.

My eyes followed her as she went, not being able to do anything else.

"Guys, this is Amelia," Andre introduced once she was seated.

She gave a small smile to Jamal and I, clearly uncomfortable with how we were staring her down. Jamal also looked confused as to what she was doing here.

We all had our own friends too, but with the three of us, it's almost always been only the three of us. Some occasional days when we dragged someone else to join, it was someone the others already knew. Having a random girl join in the equation was just unexpected.

Especially if it was a girl that Jamal injured the day before.

"You're the girl I hit yesterday, aren't you?" Jamal asked with widened eyes.

Amelia bit her lip and nodded.

"Uh, yeah..."

"Are you alright?" he asked, leaning closer to her.

"Uh, yeah. Don't worry about it," she said. "I've played sports before," she added as an afterthought.

Jamal sighed out in relief.

"Thank goodness. I was afraid you'd report me for giving you a concussion or something," Jamal said with a grimace.

Amelia gave a small smile and shook her head.

"I'm all good."

"I'm Jamal by the way," Jamal said, holding a hand out for her to take.

She hesitantly gave it a shake. Just then, Andre nudged me in the side.

"Be nice," he mouthed at me.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to Amelia. She was looking at Jamal, who was now telling her about his profession and my eyes involuntarily trailed over her features.

She was a small girl. Drained cheeks, consistent creases in her forehead, and barely-there freckles scattered over her cheeks. She was a plain Jane, something that definitely wouldn't have caught Andre's eye on a daily basis.

He was right.

She was different.

I stayed quiet, staring at the girl from English class, and wondered if I should even introduce myself or not. I didn't even know how to feel about her.

She was just plain.

But it was the faintest sparkle in her eye that caught my attention. It was as if there was a hidden meaning behind her demeanor. One that she was waiting for someone to crack-

"Hello, earth to Leo," Andre sang.

I snapped my attention away from Amelia and turned to Andre.

"Well Amelia, as you've probably guessed by now, this," he said, pointing to me. "-is Leo."

And for the third time this week, our eyes met.

I gave her a small head nod and she nodded back.

Then, Jamal was back to filling her ears about basketball. However, she didn't seem the least bit bored, and nor did she try and talk over him. She simply listened, even looking a bit interested.

At one point, Andre had to leave to get food, and he came back just as Jamal finished telling her about his position on the floor.

"Alright peoples, it is time to eat! Jamal can keep your tongue to yourself and let the poor girl eat," Andre said sitting down.

"Actually, my class starts in about fifteen minutes," Amelia said, looking at her watch.

Andre huffed at Jamal.

"See, you made her skip a meal," Andre said.

"I did?" Jamal said, confused.

"She probably just didn't want to eat in front of us, you morons," I blurted out.

I realized just how stupid that sounded a little too late.

'Way to put her on the spot, dick,' I scolded myself.

Andre smacked my knee under the table and I scowled at him.

"Sorry about him, he's a dick," Andre said, glowering at me.

"Nope, I totally understand. He probably had girls that were too scared to eat around him. I unfortunately, actually have a class," Amelia said to Andre, getting up.

The double meaning behind her words left my mouth fell agape, and had Andre burst out laughing.

"Thanks for inviting me Andre, and it was nice meeting you guys," Amelia said.

With that, she gathered her bag and started heading out of the café. My eyes followed her as she left, and Andre kept on laughing.

"I think I fell in love, dude," Jamal said with a grin, also staring at the door she just went through.

"Hey, I had my eyes on her first," Andre said.

"No way dude. I hit her with the ball, therefore, I had first dibs," Jamal said.

'Actually, I saw her first in English,' I thought. But hell if I said that out loud.

"Are you guys crazy? That girl is nowhere near normal," I muttered, slumping in my chair.

"Yeah, I think that's the point," Andre retorted.

* * *

Friday night.

The only day of the week where the three of us did what any normal college kid should be doing. We went to the only Pub in town.

It was the closest place to the campus that offered anything alcoholic, and frankly, the place was an absolute shithole. The walls were tearing up, the bathroom had leaky roofs, and they served disgusting beer, but somehow, it was 'the place to be' on an evening like this.

I wasn't a fan of this place, but Jamal and Andre always found a way to drag me here. Of course, by claiming that there wouldn't be anyone else they would trust to take their sorry asses back to their dorm.

I agreed with that.

Nobody else really could put up with these two the way I do. Same goes for them, sadly.

So here I was, on a Saturday night, sitting on a couch in the only pub in the city, watching my two best friends make a complete mess out of themselves. They had just gotten up and were walking to a group of girls who looked like they just wanted to have a good time.

My best friends were going to ruin that.

Andre had just bet Jamal that he could take one of them out on a date tomorrow, so they had gone up to try their luck. Andre had just spoken to them and they all turned their heads his way. By the looks of it, none of them were interested and Jamal hid his laughter in his fist as he watched Andre fail.

A little while later, a guy and girl walked towards me. They sat down on the couch adjacent to mine and started making out feverently.

Well great.

Suddenly, it was as if I heard my name being called. I slowly turned heads to see who had called me and my eyes zeroed in on the couple who had sat near me. They had stopped making out, since the guy had turned his attention to me.

I gave him a once over, confused as hell about he was.

"You're Leo... right?" he slurred.

I nodded.

Suddenly, he burst out laughing, surprising me and the girl beside him. Before I could ask what was wrong, Andre and Jamal came stumbling my way.

They plopped themselves beside me and I was surprised to see that they were less drunk than usual. Momentarily, my attention on the guy was forgotten.

"Yo, let's head home dude. This place is getting boring," Andre whined.

"I agree," Jamal said.

I nodded and the three of us got up. We started walking away, when suddenly, the guy from the couch spoke up again.

"Leo Kennedy... I heard she's quite the gold digger. Your mom, I mean."

And with that, I froze in my spot, my blood running cold.