We made our way into the cafeteria line, arriving just in time to get a coveted spot in the front. Kash glanced over the whiteboard menu, trying to decide what he was going to stuff in the pit he called his stomach. I tagged along, avoiding the lunchroom tables for obvious reasons.

"Hey loser!" Someone shouted from behind us.

I took a deep breath and sighed.

Who could it be this time? Ryder? Nate?

I spun around and saw a fair, tall boy; his hair dyed a platinum blonde and styled in a two-block haircut. His eyes, a deep crystal blue, complimenting his blush lips. His body was similar to mine except for the obvious six-pack peeking through his light blue pastel flowy, thin top, with white jeans highlighting his long slender legs and a dangling earring of a moon that tied his outfit together.

He almost gave off this Paris fashion week vibe. He was a little taller than Kash and I, but those two inches gave him an air of confidence we just couldn't match. He looked really innocent, completely different from what I was imagining. I scanned the rest of the line, thinking the voice had come from someone else.

"Hey loser," he spoke up again, prompting my attention back to him.

Oh...so it was him...What the fuck does he want?

I watched him as he smirked at Kash and I, gripping his textbooks in his hands as the crew that was oblivious to me laughed along with him. There were two girls overdressed in Harajuku garb and three other guys, sending hard K-pop boy band vibes.

Kash immediately lowered his head, nervously shaking. I noticed that whenever Kash was scared or intimidated by someone, he would always do this as some subconscious sign of submission, and I didn't like it.

"How come you aren't at the main house anymore?" The pretty boy asked Kash. Kash remained quiet, still silently shaking, his lunch tray vibrating in his hands.

"What? You finally got kicked out by your old man? It's about time, you're just a waste of space anyways." His evil chuckle prompted his squad to erupt in fake laughter. He gave Kash a light shove, sending his lunch tray to the ground and spilling chocolate milk all over Kash's green polo and white sneakers.

I didn't have any context to what was happening but one thing I knew was that I didn't like this dude or any of his friends.

"Leave him alone," I barked, my anger steaming from my ears. I pushed the manic e-boy away from Kash.

The wannabe influencer turned his attention to me, his eyes peering into mine, slightly confused by my sudden challenge.

"Who the fuck are you?" he sneered through his teeth, sucking the air and rolling his eyes.

"Who the fuck are you?" I threw his stupid question back at him.

He rolled his eyes in disgust. "Everyone knows who I am." He waved his hand around, pointing to himself, his groupies gawking at the accusation. "The name's Zale," he laughed as he tossed his hair. "And now that I've educated you...," he paused, in no way to gather his thoughts, but rather in a kind of awkward, egoic emphasis, "...to whom do I have the pleasure of meeting." With those final words, he gave me a daggering up and down glare.

"I'm Remy, Kash's friend."

"Kash's friend?!" Zale burst out laughing. I waited until he finished his tired routine. His exaggerated movements seemed so desperate that even some within his own group raised their eyebrows in distaste to his need for seeking attention. The others from his group still followed along as they mimicked his laughter.

"Wow, that's a good one. I haven't laughed like that in awhile... So Kash has friends now? That's just fucking rich." Zale wiped the fake tears out of his eyes, revealing an almost evil sneer stretching nearly his entire jawline.

"So that's why Kash hasn't been home. Found a new loser to hang out with? Probably to watch your stupid little anime with." Zale continued insulting Kash while Kash just remained silent and stood there shaking.

"I said for you to leave him alone. I'm not going to repeat myself", I commanded, standing in front of Kash.

"Oh really? And what are you going to do about it?" Zale goaded, strolling closer to me and staring me down from his striking crystal blue eyes.

Before I could answer, a tall figure appeared before us, the commanding presence distracting me from Zale. 

It was Theo!

I was caught off guard by it, surprised that he had shown his face in the cafeteria so brazenly. He never came into the lunchroom, from what I could tell. Even Zale seemed immediately distracted, immediately engrossed by Theo's towering figure, gawking at Theo as if he were a Greek god.

"Uhh... Hey, Theo," Zale chirped up, tossing his hair back like a schoolgirl smitten by her crush. "You look really good today!" Zale blinked his eyes, unexpectedly gushing. "Do... Do you want to eat with us today? Don't worry I'll buy, my treat!"

Theo completely ignored him, instead directing his attention towards me.

"Hey Remy, I forgot to ask you for your phone number for the school project. Is it possible I can have that?"

He pushed an old scratched up iPhone into my hands, a spindling web of cracks converging on several points around the perimeter of the screen.

"Umm, sure!" I replied as I struggled with the semi-responsive touch screen, trying to punch my number into his contacts.

"Thanks!" Theo smiled as he received the phone back. "I appreciate it!

Zale looked both shocked and miserable pouting his face in a dejected, almost theatrical manner in a desperate attempt to draw back the room's attention towards himself (although it wasn't working). He resorted to wrapping his arms around Theo, quickly snatching the phone out of his hand.

"How come you don't want my number, Daddy?" Zale whimpered, playing the jealous girlfriend.

Theo rolled his eyes and put his hand forth in a polite manner, motioning for his phone back. Zale huffed and handed it over without much resistance. Theo ignored his exaggerations and turned back to me.

"I'll see you after school." He winked as he walked away, disappearing into the crowded cafeteria.

Zale watched Theo walk away before snapping his attention back to me.

"Since when have you been close to Theo?" Zale chided, folding his arms. The displeased look on his face somewhat made me feel better. Someone seemed to have fallen off their high horse.

"Since Theo chose me to be his group partner." I snickered, turning around and helping Kash grab a new tray and escorting him out of the cafeteria line.

"Don't you walk away from me!" Zale's voice cracked as he threw a temper tantrum, his groupies huddling around him like he was the victim in this situation. I ignored him. I was tired of giving him any more attention.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," I waved him off, walking through the crowd to the outdoor patio, I glanced and saw he wasn't following us. I guided us to our usual picnic table, ignoring the cold gust of wind bellowing for us to return inside as I sat down on the bench, exhausted by the whole incident.

What a jerk!

"Are you ok?" I asked Kash, handing him some napkins to clean his shirt.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered quietly, taking my kind gesture and sopping up the chocolate milk, leaving a giant stain on his nice polo shirt that probably wasn't going to come out.

"Want to talk about it?" I asked, coaxing Kash to open up.

"Not really."

"That's fair," I handed him more napkins to clean up the mess.

"Hey, Remy?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks... for standing up for me and... being my friend," Kash mumbled.

"No problem man, no need to thank me," I said as I playfully elbowed Kash. He chuckled and flashed a toothy smile at me.

"Let's just try to avoid that jerk, too."

"Yeah!" Kash laughed as he dug into his lunch. I was glad to see he was back to normal.

I started making mental notes: Ryder, Nate, and now Zale were people we needed to avoid. High school can be so exhausting, especially with a growing list of bullies trying to beat you down the ladder.

A/N Short chapter guys but I wanted to get this update out. How do you guys feel about this chapter? New character alert, Zale is here and likes to cause a lot of problems! Talk about drama queen but he low-key makes me laugh. 😂

Please make sure to like, comment, and subscribe! It's still crazy that I have 280+ subscribers, thank you guys for checking out my story! It's also my birthday today so if you're feeling up to it, leave a girl some ink! 😘Until next time! 🐺💖