The table shook, and that was the first indication that there was someone trying to sit with her. Naomi looked up with her eyebrows raised. Sitting across from her was a boy dressed in green with oddly voluminous brown hair. He looked nervous and his mouth was moving as if he was talking.

He probably is, Naomi realised and popped the ipod buds out of her ears. She caught the end of a word and then the boy paused. She looked at him expectantly.

"Hi, I – um – I was wonderin' if I could sit here because I'm new yo' see and I don't really know anyone yet," he said giving her an unsure half-smile.

"And because this is the emptiest table, right?" Naomi answered. She wasn't aggressive, well, most of the time. She just knew people. He was new, the weakest link, and he needed to protect himself. So he went where he is less likely to be teased, and that means where there are less people.

The boy didn't register the comment, only that he has been allowed to stay sitting. He beamed at her and held his hand out over the table.

"I'm Rory Flanaghan. I'm an exchange student from Derry in Ireland," he smiled. Naomi shook his hand cautiously and drew hers back immediately. Now she had a place to match his accent that stood out like a sore thumb in an American high school.

"I'm stayin' with the Pierce's," he said conversationally. Naomi nodded, becoming less interested. One of the ear buds was already back where it belonged when, looking quite surprised he said, "Yo' didn't tell me your name."

She briefly considered with-holding the information, but decided against it. He was going to find out soon enough anyway. "Naomi Seymour." He opened his mouth to talk again but the music had started playing in her ears and he shut it and they ate lunch in silence.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.

Naomi was more than a little surprised when Rory sat opposite her again the very next day. She silently cursed technology. She had fallen asleep with her ipod in her ears last night and there had been no chance to recharge the battery this morning.

But she still frowned when she saw the remnants of slushie on his green clothes. He was clearly being picked on, and she had been just as bad yesterday by refusing to talk to him. Swallowing the last of her pride, she said,

"Rough morning, huh?"

His eyebrows shot up. "What do yo' mean?" He seemed honestly confused, which in turn confused Naomi.

"The – um – the slushie?" she explained her answer sounding like question. Rory smiled again as he understood.

"Oh, no, that wasn't too bad. Sure it's kinda chilly, but we get worse in Ireland. Never stops rainin'."

Silence fell again. She really needed to say sorry. Say something, say something, her mind drilled her. "So you're staying with Brittany Pierce's family," was all she could manage. A dopey grin spread across his face. He stayed like that for a minute.

"Um, Rory?"

"Oh sorry. Yeah, I'm stayin' with Brittany Pierce," he sighed dreamily, and Naomi actually found herself repressing a grin.

That's when it hit her. Apologise when he was distracted. Bingo. "By the way, I'm sorry about how I acted yesterday." Phew, she'd said it. It was out there, gone, done.

"No problem," he snapped back into reality as he saw the blond girl herself walking by. "I'll be seein' yo'." With that he hurried after Brittany.

At this point, as far as Naomi was concerned, she thought that would be the last time she needed to talk to Rory Flanaghan.

,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,

Naomi was in the hallway the next day, walking by a classroom, when she saw flash of green and burst of colour in it. Green everything. There was no doubt who was in the class. But what the hell was Rory doing with three boxes worth of cereal?

No, fight it Naomi, she thought to herself. She was done with him, wasn't she? But her curiosity got the better of her. She stepped into the room and looked on in confusion as Rory sat with a mountain of cereal in front of him.

"Um, what are you up to?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Oh, she was so going to regret this unnecessary conversation later.

He looked up and beamed at her. Why did he always have to do that? It made it so much harder not to like him. She didn't want friends.

"Well, yo' see, Brittany wants a box of Lucky Charms that only contains marshmallows. It was her first wish," Rory said, still smiling. He picked up two mini marshmallows between his finger and thumb and dropped it in the Lucky Charms box.

"Her first wish?" Naomi said the words slowly and carefully, trying to see if there was some hidden meaning she was missing. Social outcasts weren't really 'down with the lingo'. But it seemed unlikely that someone from a different continent would be.

"She – um – she thinks I'm a leprechaun," he explained. His eyebrows twitched.

Naomi nodded. "Understandable. I'm pretty sure she still thinks I'm a crazy animal rights activist." Then Naomi cursed herself. He was bound to ask what she meant. So she took the liberty of saying, "Long story." Rory clearly could take the hint.

"But what's with the whole 'first wish' thing?" Naomi wondered out loud. She perched on the table and took a block of liquorice out of the Pile of Supposed Wholegrain Goodness and placed it in her mouth.

Rory blushed and lowered his blue-green eyes. "I don't know if I'm supposed to tell you. I'm not sure if it's a guy thing."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Just spit it out. I'm hardly going to tell my numerous groups of friends."

One half of Naomi's head was screaming at her, telling her to leave the boy alone, who cared what was going on in his life?

The other half (the half that had a conscious and emotions) made her stay. It seemed she actually wanted to know. Or maybe it was her brain going funny again. That was probably more likely.

Rory cleared his throat and still blushing he quickly said, "I'm still a virgin and Brittany said if I granted her three wishes she'd give me her pot o' gold."

Naomi paused. "You were right. That is a guy thing. Well, not really, just something guys discuss with guys. So I'm going to pretend I heard none of that."

Rory blushed brighter and Naomi felt a twinge of guilt. But at least now he wouldn't broadcast it in the halls. Besides, it wasn't like Santana Lopez was going to let him near Brittany Pierce.

"Have fun with your, uh, marshmallow sorting," Naomi said awkwardly, finally getting out of the room. What had she gotten herself into?

,,,

Rory sat opposite her again. Naomi was exasperated. She thought she was finished with him, but she guessed having the conversation at what she now dubbed the Great Marshmallow Sorting of 2011 could be considered as sending mixed signals. Not that she was sending him any signals. Apart from not wanting to talk to him. Even if she – oh, you get the point.

He looked like he was deep in concentration. Naomi ignored him until he spoke,

"Why didn't yo' tell me?"

Fighting back the curiosity in her, she raised an eyebrow. He sighed, something that almost worried Naomi. From what she saw he never stopped smiling. But what right did she have to be worried about him?

"About Brittany," he explained. The corners of her mouth twitched. She hadn't thought he would be so forward about his affection. Clearly, Santana Lopez had shown him Brittany was spoken for.

"That she was les for Lopez? I thought you would've realised," Naomi said nonchalantly. She didn't see the big deal. What was the use in liking someone when they were eventually going to be taken from you anyway? Better he learned that sooner rather than later.

"I'm not exactly great with the ladies. The last girl I saw whose name I knew and wasn't related to me was my family's cow Betsy," he paused, considering. Naomi's eyebrows knitted together, not sure if he was being serious and not sure if laughing would offend him.

"But that doesn't count I guess. And that was before I came to America," he paused again. "But you could have told me instead o' me makin' a fool out o' myself. I looked worse than Siobhan O'Donnell's crop o' potatoes last year," he continued. "A friend would do that right?"

Naomi choked on the soda she was downing. "Friends? No, we're not friends." She didn't know why, but the idea frightened her. It was insane anyway.

His eyebrows twitched up and down in confusion. "We're not?"

She cleared the rest of the soda from her throat. "No, we're not."

"We're not friends," he repeated more emphatically. Naomi nodded, glad he finally understood. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she insisted. She couldn't afford friends. Attachments led to expectations, and expectations led to disappointment and pain. And boy, she had enough of that crap to last a lifetime "I've been slushied before. You were slushied. I felt bad for you. The end."

"Speaking of slushies …" was all she heard and all she saw was a scarlet letterman jacket before bright red slushie forced her to close her eyes, because if there was one thing Naomi had learned, it was that slushies stung your eyes like hell.

She heard snickers and footsteps as the jocks strolled away. Wiping the ice out of her eyes, she glanced at the Irish boy. Now he was frowning.

"Are you okay? I would love to rap those lads upside with a hurl. The cheek o' them."

Naomi's face had gone as crimson as the slushie. She quickly stood up and went straight to the bathroom, leaving Rory sitting at the table bewildered. Ten minutes later, she was once again clean and embarrassed at her behaviour. If her Mom and Dad had – She really should apologise. Again

Plus she had given those people what they wanted – to embarrass her. She was not going to let that happen anymore.

Naomi stepped back into the cafeteria and looked towards their table. No, her table, she corrected herself. But he wasn't there. Naomi was about to sigh, but caught herself, forcing her mouth to let the air out in small breathes. She couldn't be more stupid.

How had she managed to get into a fight with the friend she didn't know she had?

I don't own any content you recognise. So here's the story. Not the one I promised on my profile, that's been put on hold, but here's somrthing I had to write. I know that there isn't much revealed about my OC, Naomi, but you'll find out soon enough. This will probably follow along with the episodes and I'll try to catch up to present time. I'll only include important things that concern my character, because there's no point in typing out the episodes. Sorry about the essay anyway.

Please review!