Laf woke up and glanced at his alarm clock. As soon as he saw the digital screen, he jumped up. Merde, I overslept! He scrambled to pull his shirt over his head and tugged on a pair of jeans. He ran down the stairs.

"Why are you running?"

"I overslept…"

His mom smiled. "Only by five minutes. You're fine. You still have plenty of time before school starts."

Laf let out a sigh of relief. "Heh...right…" He grinned sheepishly.

"It's alright. I made crepes."

"Thanks." He replied, grabbing a few and sitting down at the table.

"Of course. So, what do you think I should make for dinner tomorrow?"

"I don't know...some kind of American food? Like tacos or something."

"Aren't tacos Mexican?"

"I don't know, they seem pretty popular in America."

"Tacos it is then." She grinned. "So, what do you have going today?"

"Uh, nothing really...I don't have anything going after school."

"It's Wednesday though, isn't it?" She frowned. "You always hang out with Alex and John on Wednesdays."

"Oh, shoot, that's right! We didn't talk about what we were going to do today, it must've slipped my mind."

"That's alright." She smiled. "Just text me to tell me what you're doing, okay?"

"Alright." Laf smiled, putting his plate in the sink and grabbing his bag. "I gotta go. See you later tonight!"

"See you later!" She exclaimed as Laf rushed out the door. "Oh, and tell Thomas I look forward to meeting him!"

John and Alex were already at Laf's locker when he got to school.

"Hey, guys, what's up?"

"We were wondering how your date went last night." John said.

"Oh. It went really well." Laf replied. "Hey, what were we going to do tonight?"

"You're still open for that?" Alex asked.

"Well, yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Figured you'd be busy doing something with Jefferson." Alex shrugged.

"No, we aren't doing anything tonight. Did you guys have anything planned for tonight?"

"We were thinking about checking out that new pizza place on Mercer Street."

"Cool," Laf nodded. "Sounds like fun."

"Yeah, it's supposed to be really good." The bell rung. "Gotta get going. See you later."

"See ya." Laf replied, shutting his locker and heading to his math class.

Laf scanned the lunchroom for Thomas, finally spotting him in the back of the crowded cafeteria. He sat down next to Thomas, whose table was crowded with a multitude of people he didn't know.

"Hey, Marie!" Thomas exclaimed. "Glad you found us! Guys, this is my boyfriend, Marie. I don't think any of you have classes with him, do you?"

Laf shook his head no.

"Oh. Well, that's James Madison, and that's John Jay." Thomas said, pointing to each person as he said their name.

Laf nodded, trying to commit the names to memory.

James gave Laf a small smile, but John ignored him.

The three of them began talking about the football game last night while Laf sat listening, since he had never been big into the sport.

"Hey, Marie." Thomas said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "We're all going to be going to the school football game on Friday, you'll be coming too, right?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure, I guess."

"Cool." Thomas replied. "So, what are you doing tonight?"

"Me? I'm going to the new pizza place over on Mercer Street with Alex and John. Laurens, that is."

"You're friends with them? Both of them are trouble." John replied.

James nodded. "But you've got us now. You don't have to worry about them anymore."

"But-but they're my friends."

"You don't actually think they like you, do you?" Thomas asked. "They're just a bunch of stuck-up jerks. We're your real friends."

"You really think they don't like me?"

"I don't see any reason why they would like you." Thomas shrugged. "But if you want to still hang out with them, fine. Just keep that in mind."

Laf nodded. "Alright." Alex and John are my friends...aren't they?

"Good." Thomas smiled.

Laf finished up with his lunch and was about to get up to put his tray away, but Thomas stopped him.

"You don't need to get up." Thomas said, grabbing Laf's arm and pulling him back down. "James always takes our trays."

"Oh," Laf sat back down as James grabbed everyone's trays. "Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem." James replied, dumping the styrofoam trays in the trash can before returning to the table.

The bell rang and the group left the table. Thomas leaned close to Laf and pecked him on the cheek. "Looking forward to dinner tomorrow."

Laf was startled at the sudden kiss, but quickly shook it off. "Yeah, Mom's looking forward to meeting you."

"Mhm." Thomas nodded. "Well, I gotta get to class. Love ya." He said, pecking Laf on the cheek again and going down the opposite hallway.

Laf met up with Alex and John in the parking lot after school.

"Hey Laf," Alex said as Laf walked up. "You ready to go?"

Laf nodded, grinning, glad to be being called by his preferred name. "Yeah."

"So, how was sitting with Thomas at lunch?" John asked, his voice bitter.

"Hey, chill." Alex said. "He can sit with Thomas."

"Not without telling us!" John exclaimed. "We were looking for you!"

"Sorry…" The French boy shrunk back. "He-he had asked me to sit with him...I didn't think you guys would mind very much…"

"Well, we did!"

"John, calm down." Alex said, putting his hand on John's shoulder, causing him to flush a light shade of pink.

"I'll probably be sitting with him more often…" Laf said quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Fine! Go sit with your boyfriend! See if I care!"

"John…"

Laf looked at him, blinking away tears. "Were you ever really my friend?"

"I dunno, was I? Forget about coming with us tonight!"

"What? But we go out together every night!"

"Apparently not anymore! It's obvious you have better things to be doing!"

"O-okay…" Laf grabbed his bag and ran to his house, a thought nagging at the back of his head. Was Thomas right? Were John and Alex ever really my friends?