Kye sat in his fourth hour English bored out of his mind. His teacher looked at him obviously not listening and gestured towards one of his classmates to get his attention. Kye felt someone tap his shoulder and turned to the girl next to him. She pointed to the teacher and felt his face heat up.

"Do you have your hearings aids in Mr. Thomas?" The teacher signed.

"Yes Mrs. Helen, they're on I just zoned out I'm sorry," He answered.

The teacher returned to the black board and the boring lesson she was teaching.

Kye watched as the clock hit 12:00 and the bell rang. He grabbed his bag and quickly walked to the cafeteria. Kye walked into the cafeteria and saw Finley already sitting at their usual table. Kye ran over and tossed his lunch box in front of his friend.

"Ready for the daily surprise box?" Kye says jokingly.

"Of course. Your mom always makes the best food," Finley said.

Every morning Kye's mother wakes up really early to make him some traditional Mexican food. Kye's great-grandmother was an immigrant from a small town in Mexico that Kye can never remember the name of. Isabel was born and raised in a town on the outskirts of Oklahoma city, working in her grandmother's small restaurant, serving traditional Mexican food. She was raised speaking Spanish and English, so she raised Kye the same way. Kye smiled and slowly unzipped his warm lunch box.

"How...how is it always so warm?" Finley inquired as Kye opened the container and shrugged. "yes! She made Pozole,"

Finley stares at the stew longingly.

"You know, mama would make you lunch too if you asked," Kye stated when he saw the look on his friend's face.

"Your mom does so much for me already. Don't tell her OK, she doesn't need to worry about my family too," Finley begged as he tore his eyes away from the deaf boy and his food.

Finley's family was having a really hard time financially ever since his dad lost his job. Isabel had heard and offered both his parents jobs at her mother's restaurant, *Reúnanse y coman. Finley would work there, if he didn't spend most of his time watching his younger sister. Kye worked there, cleaning tables and dishes. On rare occasions he would take orders or work register, but his mother was head chef. She ran her business the same way her mother taught her, treat all staff like family. Isabel was always kind and understanding to her staff, and newbies would mistake that for her being gullible, but they're dead wrong. She was stern, she treated all her workers like her children, Kye could confirm. The two were conversing as Erin walked into the cafeteria awkwardly. Kye's eyes were drawn to the boy across the room watching as he got his lunch tray from the line.

"Oof, Kye stop staring," Finley said and Kye turned to his friend.

"Shut up Finn. I'm gonna invite him to sit with us," Kye said as he made his way over to said boy. Erin saw Kye walking towards him and sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Dude, why are you so intent on being my friend?" Erin asked, annoyed.

"I thought you seemed pretty cool," Kye remarked.

"Well, you barely know me. What if i'm an asshole or some kind of pervert?"

"That's for me to find out isn't it."

Erin was taken back. No one was really ever so determined to be his friend, sure, he had friends at his old school. Those were his friends since elementary school, but they had known him for years. Erin couldn't help but be impressed by his determination, and annoying kindness.

"Fine, I'll sit with you." Erin followed Kye to his table and sat down next to him.

Erin sat with the two boys for the entirety of the lunch period. What's weird is that, he actually enjoyed himself. He would never admit it to them but he enjoyed their company, somewhat. When the bell finally rang for the students to leave Erin sighed. Happy and sad at the same time, happy that he was done socializing and sad that he had to stop socializing. He wanted to continue talking about music with the two boys, but he also wanted to hide in his hoodie and not talk to anyone. Erin's head could never settle on one thing for too long. Erin headed to his fifth hour and took a seat in the back. He pulled out his book from this morning and began reading as other students filed in. One girl sat next to him and smiled, Erin promptly ignored her. She frowned and turned away from him. Erin sighed and returned to his book, ignoring all other people who tried to talk to him. The teacher finally started class and Erin stored his book back in his bag. The teacher was reading roll when she got to Erin's name she called him up to the front. "Shit." Erin said under his breath, so only he could hear it. "You need this rubric." She said and handed him the paper, Erin let out a breath and took the paper before heading back to his seat. He sat down and stuffed the paper into his backpack unceremoniously. He turned to listen to the teacher talk about physics. Erin sighed and started writing notes about momentum. The bell for seventh hour to start finally rang and Erin sat in his chair, last class of his first day. A few students other than Kye and Finely had talked to him, but none were as persistent as Kye was. Erin was reading his book, as they had no work that day, as the door opened and a student quickly walked inside. A plus size girl about 5'5, a mass of colorful braids running down her back. She apologized for being late and turned to walk towards her seat, only to stop when she saw Erin.

"You're in my seat"-she sits in the seat next to Erin.-"but I'll just take this one instead."

This class was fairly small and all the seats surrounding Erin's corner of the sitting section of the home EC room had been empty, until now. The girl smiled and Erin found that he couldn't get angry, she was kind of adorable. She wore a pastel yellow sweater crop top with black holey jeans, her hair was pink and teal braids. It stood out against her dark skin and pale sweater.

"So, You're new," She states suddenly.

"Yeah, I'm Erin."

"I'm Mae." .

She glances at the board before turning her gaze back to Erin.

"So, no work today?" Mae turns in her seat to face the other teen, "Makes sense though, it's only the third week of school. Most teachers of course, would have already started all the lessons. But electives are a lot less hectic."

Erin is starting to get annoyed with how much rambling this girl is doing but she suddenly stops and is staring at Erin like she's studying him.

"So, why have you moved here?" She asks setting her chin in her hand.

"Why do you care?"

"I know you're probably tired of annoying people, who know nothing about you, trying to be your friend. You probably just want to get through these next two years without hassle, you think you don't need friends. You're wrong of course. Humans are social animals, that's why solitary confinement does more harm then good. You need friends or your mental health will start to deteriorate. It was proven in depth in a recent psychology study, back in March. People who go to long without close relationships start to gain mental issue, like depression, anxiety, and negative intrusive thoughts. Of course if you have a good relationship with your parents you can avoid needing friends, but who has that these days," She continues to talk in a long stream of sentences but Erin is captivated by everything.

"That's really cool that you know all that. Do you like psychology?"

"Yup, I hope to be a psychiatrist one day. Now, why have you moved to New Rye?"

"My mom, passed away about a week ago and I had to move in with my dad," He mutters

Before she could respond Erin snaps.

"But I don't want any of your pity. None of that 'sorry for your loss' bullshit."

He got enough of that shit at the funeral and he didn't want to deal with it.

"Wasn't going to say that. I was going to say I'm sorry you moved in with your dad." She said as she doodles in her notebook.

"Why do you say that?" Erin asked fixing his glasses that had started to fall down his nose. "Well, your parents were obviously split up. Given that you're a junior I'd say you were old enough to have heavy sway with who gets more custody of you, so obviously you chose your mother and not your father. There for you preferred her over your dad, so I'm sorry you had to move in with him." She said turning her attention from her notebook back to Erin.

"Why do you think my parents were split up?"

"You wouldn't have stated that you had to move in with your dad, if you already lived with him. So I made an assumption" Mae explains scanning his face.

"You are really smart."

"The teacher's wouldn't agree with you. I was failing my classes last year. That's because I lacked motivation to do any of their work. If I'm not motivated I can't do the work, only Mrs. Laisier thinks I know anything. She is the psychology teacher. I hate that even smart kids fail. They don't try and motivate students so even the really intelligent ones fail classes and aren't seen as such."

Erin just shrugs, being one of the kids with average grades. Mae sighs and leans back in her chair.

"So, I saw you sitting with Kye and Finley at lunch today. Are they your friends?"

"I think they want to be my friend, and I don't mind them but I wouldn't call them my friends, at least not yet,"

"Tomorrow I'll come sit with you three at lunch, we can create our own little tight knit group and hang out," Mae turns to the boy with a grin. "Sound good?"

Erin would prefer to say no, that he just needs one friend, but she looks so excited he can't say no to the big dopey grin on the girls face.