"No."

Miguel hadn't even reached the table with his lunch tray before he was quickly given attention. Albeit, the attention was a one word denial of his entry further.

"What?" The boy wasn't sure if he had heard her correctly or if he was talking to her. "Can I-"

"No." Jade didn't even look up as she continued to write whatever she was writing in the warn out notebook.

"You didn't even know what I was going to say!"

"You wanted to sit here. If you have to ask, the answer is no." It was a simple statement and her eyes didn't even wander to see who came over. The denial wasn't a discrimination.

It was weird to Miguel. She didn't even know who he was, what his intentions were, or anything. The girl with the mint green mohawk sat with no desire to converse, look, or even make fun of him.

"So, what if I just sat down?"

Jade stopped her pencil.

"Then I guess you'd be sitting," she shrugged as she erased something on her paper. "I don't own the table."

Miguel took that as a good sign and looked over at Eli and Demetri with a thumbs up before he sat down. The kid took in a deep breath as he risked a glance over the girl.

How much did it hurt to pierce her septum?

"So, did you come over here to eye-fuck me or was it a bet?"

Miguel sputtered over his drink that he had been taking a sip of.

"W-what?"

Jade decided to look up at the kid and rose an eyebrow at the new soul in front of her. She nodded over at Eli and Demetri who were barely attempting to hide their staring.

"I asked, did you come over here to eye-fuck me or was this a bet from Tweedledee and Tweedledum?"

Miguel shook his head as he tried to reassure her of his own intentions.

"N-no, I, uh neither. I came here because you looked lonely and thought maybe you'd want to come sit with us?"

It seemed like an hour that Miguel stared into the haunting green eyes. Maybe it was a stupid idea to come over here. He should just leave-.

"Sure."

"I'm sorry to have bothered you, I-I'll just go and- wait what?" Just as Miguel gave up and started to get up, Jade had agreed. He hadn't expected that.

"I said sure." Jade took out her earbuds and put them into her pocket.

Miguel nodded a few time as he watched her put the note book away and get up from the table. He clumsily got up himself.

"Lead the way, calaca." Jade let out a little smirk on her lips as she nodded her head to let Miguel lead the way. Miguel turned around and almost jerkily led the girl to the "virgin-til-college" table.

When the two made it over, Demetri and Eli were already staring wide-eyed at the crazy looking girl. When Demetri said yesterday to leave her alone, he had meant it. But for some reason the new kid really didn't pay attention to society norms.

There was an awkward about of silence passed between the four until Miguel broke it with a show of his hands.

"So, uh, this is Jade," Miguel gestured over to the girl who nodded. "And uh Jade, this is Demetri and Eli." The two nerds were still speechless at the newcomer.

Jade decided to sit down with a roll of her eyes.

"Aye, yo. Tweedledee and tweedledum," Jade snapped twice in from of the boys faces causing them both to jump back. "Ya there? You guys on some kind of spectrum?"

Eli looked down.

"W-well, the doctors said I could be."

Jade nodded, "makes sense." She opened up her paperbag and pulled out the ham and cheese sandwich from inside.

Demetri shook his head in disbelief.

"Why are you sitting with us?" Demetri exclaimed as he gestured around the table. "Do you know what you've done?"

Jade shrugged her shoulders and continued eating her sandwich.

"I assume sitting at a table with the scrawny Mexican, the kid with a weird lip, and the kid that's never been told to shut up at home means I'm at the popular table." Eli covered his mouth with his hand as he looked away in insecurity. Demetri's jaw opened at the audacity.

"A-actually my family is from Ecua-"

"Didn't ask, calaca."

"Y-you can't just say that to people!" Cried out Demetri as he looked at the girl in offense. "That is very offensive a-and..." Demetri didn't even know where to begin at how disrespectful that was to say.

Jade just smirked over at Demetri and enjoyed the growing frustration.

"C-could you please not say stuff like t-that?" Eli spoke up softly, not looking the girl in the eyes.

"Why not?" Jade rolled her eyes as the kid remained silent and once again snapped her fingers towards the mouse-like boy. "Aye, chiqui. Take your hand from your face, look me in the eyes and repeat what you said."

Nervous blue eyes crashed into intense green as Eli hesitantly looked at the girl. He slowly put his hand on the table, ready to put it back if necessary.

"C-could you please not say stuff like that?"

Jade nodded her.

"No."

Eli deflated and quickly looked away at the rejection. Demetri scoffed and Miguel closed his eyes in mental pain.

Just as the boy was about cover his mouth again, Jade reached across the table, and grabbed the kids wrist.

"Don't cover up because some bitch like myself said something offensive."

The boys looked at the girl in shock and Eli's eyes flicker down to the hand on his wrist. His heart sped up at the touch. Jade sat back down in her seat slowly and made eye contact with Eli.

"You're letting people win when you do that."

The table was silent for a while until the bell ring. Jade was the first to get up and leave without another glance or word to the three boys.

Demetri, Eli, and Miguel all looked at each other in shock and disbelief. Their little moment was broken as Kyler came up behind Demetri and shoved the back of his chair. Demetri quickly grabbed the table in front of him in fear as Kyler his friends walked away in laughter.

Miguel got up from the table first.

"Guess we should go?"

Eli looked at his wrist that still felt tingly and warm from the girls touch. As he got up, he touched his lip and thought about the weirdly kind words from the equally weird girl.

When Kyler made fun of his lip in the hallway later that day, all Eli did was look away.

...

The next day Eli, Demetri, and Miguel sat with each other at lunch.

"You know what you've done? You've invited the devil to sit with us at lunch!" Moaned Demetri as he played with his crappy school lunch. "And you know how hard it is to get the devil to leave?"

A snort sounded from behind him, making Demetri groan again. The other two boys looked up at where the noise came from with wide eyes.

"It's behind me, isn't it?"

"You know, I've never been called THE devil before," Jade commented as she sat down next to Demetri. The kid shuffled closer to Eli. "I've been called A devil but not THE devil. Guess I'm moving up in the world." Jade took out her paper lunch bag once again and pulled out another ham and cheese sandwich.

"Whose called you that?" Jade looked over at Miguel.

"Mostly old ladies on public transportation," She smirked and took a bite. "So, what do I owe to this sudden change in rank?" Jade looked over at Eli who unconsciously twitched his hand to put it over his mouth. Jade's smirk deepened.

Eli turned to the side with a red face.

"N-nothing. Just Demetri trying to be funny."

"Oh, and please tell me the punchline?" Jade looked around at the boys with a challenging eyebrow raised. The three tried vainly to escape her gaze until she chuckled lightly.

"Yeah it was pretty funny."

It was like a weight had been lifted off of everyones shoulders as the boys smiled awkwardly.

"So, do you usually invited social outcasts to the your table and then stare at them or?"

Miguel cleared his throat and rubbed his neck sheepishly.

"W-well, we just don't really know what to say, y'know?"

Jade snorted and nodded over at Demetri. "With lengua larga over here I never thought silence could exist at this table." Demetri narrowed his eyes at the girl. Maybe he didn't speak the language, but he had an idea that it wasn't anything like "hottest guy in the school" or "smartest person on earth." Miguel cracked a smiled at Jade and nodded.

"Hey, I may have decided to take French instead of Spanish, but that doesn't mean I don't understand when someone is insulting me." Demetri put his elbow on the table and pointed at the weird girl next to him. "I refuse to take insults from someone who has a toothbrush on their head." He paused quickly at the narrowed green eyes.

His chair was already hitting Eli's.

Jade let the kid roast in the silence before cracking out a grin and giving him a friendly smack on the back.

"I know you had it in ya, tigre!" Jade let out a deep laugh and Demetri winced at the sudden hit. "I'm only messing with, you guys. Call me devil, bitch, Jade, whatever... toothbrush is a new one though. I kinda like it."

"W-what do you mean?" Jade rolled her eyes as she finished the last bite of her sandwich and looked over at Miguel.

"What I mean is that you guys let words rule your life. People are never going to run out of words and it's not up to everyone else to control themselves." Jade looked Eli in the eye and gave a small smile. His face burned red as they made eye contact. "Your lip isn't going to change. The words are never going to change. Accept what you got and fuck everyone else."

Demetri shook his head in disbelief.

"That has got to be the dumbest thing ever said. This is the 21st century, not London in the 80's. You can't just say those things!"

"Why not? Kyler says them." Jade pointed out. "No one stops him."

"Yeah, well that's different. Kyler can and will beat me up." Demetri widened his eyes and stuck his hand out palm up. "In real life, this doesn't happen."

Jade just smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey Tigre, I guess you're right. What would I know about real life. Let me know how real life is in a few years?"

...

"What's that even supposed to mean!?" Demetri asked Eli after school, still frustrated with the ominous comments made by the new presence at the virgin's table.

"I-I think she's trying to say that we can't control other people." Eli responded helpfully, remembering the small smile she sent his way at lunch. The boy felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest at the female attention. "A-and that maybe we need to have confidence in ourselves."

Demetri scoffed.

"Confidence is a word made to give people like us false hope. We will always be nerds, Eli. That's how life is going to be." Demetri put a hand on Eli's shoulders. "Don't be like Miguel, man. It's just not going to end well for anyone."

Eli looked down and played with his sleeves. He didn't want to always be like... this, but maybe Demetri was right.

Maybe he was never meant to have confidence.

...

A/N:

So, if Jade seems insufferable with her snapping and insults, that's her :-) She's not here to make you or me happy, she's here to exist how she wants and not live for other people.

Question: What's your favorite color from Cobra Kai?