I grabbed my lunch tray and looked around the expansive cafeteria for a place to sit. There was a test in my last class so the teacher sent me to the library, making me about ten minutes early for lunch. I spotted three girls sitting at one of the tables in the corner and started to head towards them.

"Hey!" the blond-haired girl with bucked teeth suddenly screamed. "You stole my tater tot!"

Next to her, a girl wearing green capris laughed and grabbed two more off of her plate. "And? What are you going to do about it?"

With an enraged roar the blond girl leaped over the table and her. The third girl turned her head toward in my direction and roughly nudged the other two. "Looks like we got ourselves an audience girls."

The other two stopped fighting and all three girls glared at me. I slowly turned around and headed to a different table. I picked over my food and was just starting to feel lonely when I felt someone pull out a chair next to me.

"Hey Jackie," Kevin grinned down at me, spinning a tray on his finger. "This seat taken?"

I blushed and quickly shook my head. "N-no. Go ahead."

"Thanks. HEY ROLF! NAZZ! OVER HERE!"

"Geez, Kev. Could you, like, be any louder?" Nazz rolled her eyes and sat down on the other side of me.

Rolf sat on the other side of the table and frowned as Nazz pulled a salad out of her lunch bag and started nibbling on it.

"Rolf still does not understand why you eat food only fit for rabbits, go-go Nazz girl." He then reached into his lunch bag and pulled out an impossibly large slab of steak on what looked like a small pitch fork. "This is real food fit for a true son of shepherd."

"Whoa." I mumbled.

"That has to be like, two hundred calories, dude." Nazz mumbled.

Kevin frown and looked down at his burger which was understandably small in comparison. He then shrugged and pasted on a phony, cocky smile.

"Well, you know, coach doesn't want me to eat too many calories. Doesn't want me to get too bulky for track" He smirked and flexed his bicep while Nazz rolled her eyes while I giggled.

Later, the younger kids from before, they introduced themselves as Jimmy and Sarah, came over and we were, um, entertained by Kevin's story about how he won some football match (all by himself apparently). I tried to pay attention, but I kept feeling my attention wander. The next table over that bald kid, I think his name was John or Johnny, was talking to his piece of wood and at one of the other tables those three girls I saw earlier were now fighting over a slice of pie. Aside from them, the rest of the cafeteria was surprisingly empty.

I started to turn my attention back to Kevin's story when the cafeteria doors burst open and three boys came running in. The first two I didn't recognize right away. The first one was really tall and had a joyful yet somewhat, well to be brutally frank, stupid expression on his face. By completely contrast the second guy was short and stocky with a cunning glint in his eyes. It was the third guy behind those two that I recognized with a blush of left over embarrassment.

Double D waved to me with an embarrassed smile of his own and I started to wave back when I felt Kevin jog my elbow.

"Yo Jackie," he grumbled to me, "Be careful hanging out with those three. They're total dorks."

"Uh..." before I could come up with a response I looked over and realized that the large one was running directly towards me.

"HELLO NEW FRIEND! MY NAME IS ED!" He yelled throwing his arms around me in a crushing hug.

He lifted me off of my feet and swung around me around literally knocking over everyone else. In the midst of the hug the overwhelming smell of sweat socks, moldy cheese, and old luncheon meat hit me full force and I had difficulty breathing.

"H-hi Ed," I managed to gasp out. "N-name's J-Jackie."

"Ed please," Double D said nervously hovering around Ed's elbow. "We mustn't frighten-"

"Clam it, Sock-head." The shorter guy shoved him aside rather roughly and even broke me out of Ed's powerful grip.

"S'up new guy?" He grinned slipping an arm around my shoulder. Ed's unique, um, scent, was instantly replaced with the smell of strong, musty cologne and cheap shampoo. "Name's Eddy and for a lousy 50 cents I can give you a grand tour of Peach Creek Jr. High with the coolest guy in school."

Ed popped up and wrapped an arm around both of us. "Yeah, new friend Jackie! Eddy is the gravy in a vat of mashed potatoes. Make Eddy sound cool Lumpy!"

"Um." I was starting to feel dizzy from the smell, and yet I could feel a laugh bubbling up in my throat. "L-let me get back to you on that."

Suddenly, Kevin's fist shot out and punched Eddy out effectively knocking Ed away as well."Told you those guys were dorks." He growled.

It actually seemed a little harsh to me. I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted to say something about it when the bell rang signaling the end of lunch. I followed the others out of the cafeteria and headed toward my locker when I felt a timid hand on my shoulder.

"I apologize for the behavior of my two companions." Double D said giving a gapped tooth smile. "But I assure you that they are relatively harmless."

"Oh, no it's fine." I smiled. "They seemed, um, interesting. Were those the two friends who made you late this morning?"

Double D was just about to answer when Eddy shoved him out of the way.

"So, Jack! How about that tour?" Eddy smirked. "It's only two stinkin' quarters and you'll get to be seen with me, Eddy."

I bit my lip to hold in a chuckle and pulled two quarters out of my jeans. "Sure, why not?"

Eddy grinned and I could have sworn I saw dollar signs in his eyes. He eagerly reached out for the money, biting the tip of his tongue in excitement, but before I could drop the quarters into his palm I felt someone grab my arm and pull me away.

"Come on, Jackie!" Nazz said pulling me away from the Eds. "We're gonna be late for gym class."

"O-Okay, sure." I looked back and tried not to laugh at Eddy's completely shocked and crestfallen face. "Um, sorry! Maybe some other time?"

Eddy yelled something that I couldn't hear and Nazz pulled me through the gym doors.