"And it was actually a girl? Not a dragon at all?"

"Yeah, she said something about wanting to go to a ball. So I sent her back to the Gho- oh, hi."

Coraline looked up from poking her lunch (she still hadn't made up her mind whether or not it was edible) to see three people standing beside the picnic table she'd chosen (in a nice shady spot under a tree), holding trays and looking as though she'd caught them doing something horribly embarrassing.

"Hi," she answered, guardedly. "Uh, I'm sorry. Do you guys usually sit here? Because I'm pretty much done," she said, pushing away her tray and starting to get up.

"No, it's cool," the dark-skinned kid in the red beret said quickly, putting his tray down beside hers. "I'm Tucker. Tucker Foley. But someone as gorgeous as you -" he leaned in toward her, propping one elbow on the table - "can call me Tuck."

Coraline leaned back, putting as much space between them as possible. "Uh, hi. I'm Coraline. Not Caroline. Coraline."

"Coraline-not-Caroline. Got it." Tucker flashed Coraline the most ingratiating smile she'd seen since her first day at Ashland Middle School, sliding onto the bench beside her. Behind him, his friends exchanged a look. "So, Coraline. You new around here?"

Coraline nodded, despite herself. "My family just moved here from Oregon."

The dark-haired boy shrugged, and sat down across from Coraline. The gothy-looking girl rolled her eyes, but she sat down too. Coraline was very aware that she was intruding on something, but no one seemed to want to tell her flat-out to leave.

She smiled awkwardly at Tucker's friends. "So who're you?" It was probably too blunt, and she mentally smacked herself. Tact had never exactly been her strong suit.

"I'm Danny, and this is Sam," the dark-haired boy answered.

Sam crossed her arms and scowled into the middle distance. Silence, thick and awkward and suffocating, descended around the table.

"So, uh, is there anything interesting to do around here?" Coraline finally asked, more to pierce the heavy silence than out of any real desire to know. The feeling of being an intruder was making her paranoid about everything she said.

"Not unless you enjoy sports or juvenile delinquency," Sam answered shortly.

Coraline laughed, nervously. "Guess I'm going to be bored, then."

"Nah, there's lots of stuff to do," Tucker countered. "Like hit the mall, or one of the cyber-cafes, or hang out at the Nasty Burger – or go to a movie with a pretty girl," he added, sounding hopeful.

Coraline prodded the greyish lump on her tray, which rippled slightly, and then leapt abruptly upwards with a noise like a rubber boot being pulled out of particularly sticky mud. She jumped. "I'm pretty sure food's not supposed to do that."

"I'm pretty sure that's not food," Danny answered. "I'm not sure what it is, but nothing that comes out of that cafeteria is even remotely edible."

"Okay. Bag lunches from now on," Coraline muttered, eyeing her lunch suspiciously. It sat innocently in the middle of her plate, wobbling gently from side to side.

"At least now there's protein in it, even if it is inedible," Tucker said offhandedly, prompting a glare from Sam.

"Innocent animals should not have to suffer for the sake of your tastebuds," she shot back.

Tucker shrugged. "At least my tastebuds haven't all rebelled from being forced to eat grass."

"It was not grass!" Sam said hotly. "It was an ecologically sustainable, humane alternative meal!"

"Sam," Tucker sighed, "It was grass."

Coraline turned to Danny, who was ploughing through his lunch. "Are they always like this?"

Danny paused, swallowed, and shook his head. "Usually, they're worse."

Coraline stifled a laugh in her hand. "You guys have been friends for a while, then?"

"It was not grass!"

"It was grass on a slice of cardboard."

Danny nodded again. "Since first grade."

"Oh." Coraline prodded the greyish lump on her tray again, watching it ripple. "I guess you know most of the people at this school, then?"

"Well, so what if it was? It's still better for you than a Mighty Meaty Melt."

"Hey! What's the matter with Mighty Meaty Melts?"

Danny shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. So where in Oregon were you living?"

"Ashland." Coraline scrunched up her nose in disgust. "It is the most boring place in the whole entire United States."

"Really?"

"The most exciting thing that ever happens there is the annual Shakespeare Festival." Coraline crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. Danny winced in sympathy.

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about life in Amity Park being too boring," Tucker interjected, turning that same hopeful grin on Coraline.

"No, it's the excitement you'll need to worry about," Danny muttered. Coraline was about to ask him what he meant when Sam interjected, loudly.

"Ha! You're just giving up because you know I'm right," she exclaimed triumphantly, and Tucker glowered at her.

"Hey, think what you like, but I'm not giving up my meat anytime soon."

Sam looked like she was about to retort, but they were interrupted by the bell. Coraline stood up, grabbing her tray. "Oh man, I should have been getting ready ten minutes ago. Now if I get lost, I'll be late to class again."

"Hey, don't worry about it. I can walk you to class," Tucker offered, at what seemed like light speed. Coraline laughed.

"Thanks, that would be really helpful," she said. Tucker blinked at her, as if unsure he'd really heard what he thought he'd heard, and then broke into an enormous grin.

"Really? Yes!" He pumped a fist in the air, then seemed to realize Coraline was still watching. "I mean, of course." He jumped up. "Which class do you have next?"

…

"So, there's this dance next week."

Coraline shut her locker door to see Tucker, leaning against the wall and looking at her with what he probably thought was a suave and sophisticated expression on his face. Before she could roll her eyes and open the door again, he flashed her a smile. "It's going to be a huge bash, and everybody'll be there."

"Everybody except me," Coraline answered, opening her locker door.

"Aww, come on!"

Coraline's voice echoed oddly as she put her head inside her locker, digging for a textbook she was sure she'd had just a moment ago. "No. I'm not really a 'big dance' kind of girl, and besides, I don't really know anybody here."

"It's a perfect opportunity to meet people," Tucker suggested helpfully. "Of course, you already know everybody who really matters -"

"You and your friends?" Coraline caught a glimpse of the book she wanted, already in her backpack, and felt incredibly stupid.

"Yeah," Tucker answered. "But you can come with us and hang out in the corner drinking too much punch and occasionally getting mocked by passerby who somehow managed to figure out how to advance up the social ladder and therefore gain the privilege of making fun of us at every opportunity."

"And they wonder why teenagers these days have such low self-esteem," Coraline sighed, zipping her backpack shut. She tossed it over one shoulder and shut her locker door with a loud clang. "Thanks for the invitation, but I don't really feel like spending an evening being ridiculed."

"Hey, it's not all ridicule," Tucker complained, before adding brightly, "There's also punch!"