Hello again! Just want to let you know that this chapter isn't very fast moving but it has a lot of important information in it that will be key in chapters to come, enjoy!

The diner turned out to be a nice place. It was a typical diner styled to look like the 50's. There were bright colours, Elvis music and a jukebox at every table. Milkshakes were being ordered left and right and all of them were massive, nearly a course by themselves.

The group of them got a booth near the back, which was emptier than the rest which meant they could talk as loud as they wanted without being afraid of annoying other customers. They were each handed a menu by a young girl who did not look like she wanted to be there.

It was only when they were handed the menu that Jack realised the first problem. The place was expensive. He had his debit card with him but even that was running low and he meant to only keep it for emergencies. Which this was starting to look like.

"Oh, let's all get milkshakes!" Fia exclaimed when she looked at the menu. "They all look so good."

Jack glanced at the milkshake menu and gulped. They not only would do a course by themselves but they cost the same. "I think I'll stick to water." He said quietly.

"How come?" Nick asked confused. "Do you not like any on the menu? I'm sure you could just get vanilla, or something, I doubt they would mind."

"Em, they just don't sit well with me." Jack lied. "Hurts my stomach." He said playing it up.

"Oh." Fia nodded. "My cousin has an intolerance to them too. Well to milk in general. "

"But didn't you have milk in your tea at lunch?" Aster asked looking at Jack suspiciously.

"Yeah, I can em, have it in small doses, like in tea without doing much damage, but give me a lot and I feel like I'm dying." He made up on the spot. He would have to research intolerences when he got home.

"What about dairy free milkshakes?" Sandy wrote in his little pad.

Jack shook his head. "Don't like the taste of substitutes. They're never the same."

"Can you have cheese?" Nick asked which Jack nodded to.

"Yeah, actually cheese doesn't really bother me too much." He said. "I think it depends on how it's cured though."

'Talk about third degree' Jack thought. He decided the best thing to do now would be to change the subject altogether. "What are you having to eat?"

Jack began to search for the cheapest thing he could have on the menu while the others also began to check.

"Might get a burger." Nick said while Sandy nodded and mouthed "Me too".

"Think I'll get a hotdog." Fia said. "But I don't know whether to get cheese and bacon on it too or not."

"I'm getting a salad." Aster said. "I heard the ones here are really nice."

"I mean, what else would a rabbit get?" Jack grinned cheekily at him.

Fia rolled her eyes. "What about you Jack, what are you going to get?"

"Well, there probably be dinner waiting at home for me,(There 100% wouldn't), so I'll probably just get chips and maybe curry sauce." He said. It was more in his price range.

"Did you not get a chance to text your mum and tell her you weren't eating at home?" Nick asked.

"Phone ran out of credit." He laughed holding up his phone.

"You should have asked one of us and we would give you our phones to text home. Won't she be wondering why you're not home?" Fia asked.

Jack shrugged. "She's used to me coming home late, she won't mind as long as I'm home before 9."

"Oh lucky, my mum always needs to know where I am." Fia said to which Sandy nodded.

"Oh Aster!" Jack exclaimed as he remembered something he had meant to bring up. "I was talking to your cousin today in English." He grinned

Aster rolled his eyes. "You don't even have to say it." He said as Nick said "You didn't tell us your cousin went to Custodes?"

Jack shrugged. "Hey, I didn't say a word." But a cheeky grin pulled at his lips.

"Who is she?" Sandy scribbled in his pad questionably.

Aster let out a sigh. "Sophie O'Brien, she's my first cousin and as she says herself 'she could talk for Ireland', she obviously Irish. She likes to say all the words at once and hope for the best that a proper sentence will come out. But also, don't you dare talk nasty about her because I will kill you."

"That's sweet that you're protective about her." Fia sighed. "But if she's Irish and Australian, how does that work?"

"Well, I'm not Australian by blood technically. My dad is from Sri Lanka, when he was 3, he moved to Ireland where he met my mum who was born there. Her brother is Soph's dad. Mum and dad moved to Australia after they got married because there was a recession in Ireland, but Sophs family stayed where they were. We lived in Australia until my last year of primary school before moving here so I could join secondary school at the same time as everyone else so we could all be new together. It helped make friends." Aster explained.

"The Ferry side of my family is from Ireland." Fia explained. "But it's so far back, I probably wouldn't even show as Irish. The name is the only thing that carried on."

"I'm Russian, mum and dad moved here when I was 7, but as you may have gathered the accent hasn't completely disappeared." Nick explained with a chuckle.

"I'm from here, not far actually. Never really left the country at all other than a few holidays." Sandy wrote with a shrug.

"As far as I know I'm from River Avon which isn't too far away, but I think there's some French connection from somewhere, not sure though." Jack pondered. "Was it hard making friends when being from a different country?" Jack asked looking at Aster and Nick.

"A little when I was younger and my voice was maybe a little scarier than a seven years olds should have been but people got used to me especially as my English improved and they could talk to me easier." Nick told the group.

"I never actively tried to make friends." Aster shrugged. "I don't really think that I need people to make me happy. It's nice and all to have friends but not so much that I try. I actually met most of my old friends in art class because we had to do a group project."

"Are you still friends with them?"

"Not really, a few of them but I'm not really close to them."

They all nodded and before anyone had a chance to answer, the waitress returned with their food.

"Won't you be hungry if that's all you eat?" Nick asked pointing at Asters salad.

"I'm a vegetarian." Aster shrugged. "Besides, this is a lot of food."

Pleased with this answer Nick dug into his food and the others closely followed.

Jacks portion certainly wasn't tiny but it wasn't a dinner. He ate slowly though so to keep pace with the rest. He hoped on their next outing it would be cheaper. A boy could only hope he guessed.

When everyone had finished, they all paid for their share of the food and left. They walked out together making small chit chat. Nick had driven there and he offered to give them a ride home but Jack decided to walk because he lived in the opposite direction to the others. They all bid each other farewell and promised to meet up at school the next day.

And just like that Jack was alone again. He shoved his hands in his pockets and hoped there would be something left to eat back at the house. He was far from full and he really didn't want to go to bed with an empty stomach. There was no worse feeling.

Still, he was glad he didn't make an excuse not to go, friends was a missing part of nearly his whole life. He always wanted a good group of friends and maybe this would be a chance for him to really hit it off with a group of people. I mean they all seemed like nice people. What more could he want.

Well maybe for the blackmailer to forget about their 'deal' but that wasn't looking likely.

Still if he did what he wanted what was the worst that could happen?

Oh if only Jack had known the roller-coaster than lay ahead of him, he possibly would avoid this ride.

Thank you all for reading! I hope you enjoyed, please leave all thoughts, good and bad, in a review!
I don't know if you have noticed but I haven't actually mentioned where this takes place as I want you to imagine whatever country you think it should happen in. Maybe where you live? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I'll try and upload again soon!