"I am soooo sick of this brat," Dixon announced the next day at lunch. "Take her. God, take her."

Chris was shooting peas at Gordie through a straw, making Gordie giggle and Brooke irritable. Politely, he set his straw down and looked at Dixon with expectance. "Hey. What?"

Dixon and Molly sat down together, with Molly taking a seat next to Chris. Pulling two sandwiches out of his brown paper bag, Dixon grumbled, "She's pissing me off my gourd."

"That's a weird phrase," Brooke commented.

"Molly?" Chris demanded, laughing, and resting his elbow on her shoulder. "But she's so cute."

"Bah," Dixon snorted. "Are those brownies I see?"

"Back off, Hennessy," Gordie snapped. "These are special brownies that I do not share with anyone, and certainly not with the likes of you. You can have my sandwich though."

Shrugging, Dixon said, "Works for me."

"I'm really not annoying," Molly insisted feebly.

Her brother laughed. It was cruel, mocking laughter. "She ran up to me as I was about to build up the nerve to sit with Mary Miller, and she was like 'Dixon! Dixon! Take me to Chris! I'm too shy! I need you!'"

Molly blushed, and tried to deny that but just stammered instead.

"Heh, heh," Gordie chuckled. "Aren't you in like grade two?"

"No," Molly said adamantly. "I'm in grade ten."

"Ooh," he said happily. "Chris, you pedophile!"

Anya, who had been quiet since the two siblings had arrived at the table, appeared somewhat rejected. She looked at Chris with silent questions in her eyes.

Chris caught the look and was unable to smile at her. Was he hurting her?

"Guys, this is Molly," he said, not looking Anya in the eye. "We officially met yesterday."

"Oh, are you Dixon's sister?" Brooke asked.

"No. He's my brother."

Brooke looked at Chris. "She's a weird one."

"Yes," Gordie agreed. "We'll keep her."

Anya looked relieved when she saw Lorelei enter the cafeteria, followed by Teddy. She rarely saw her best friend anymore, and she wanted her company right now, what with Chris and this new girl Molly exchanging all these secretively shy looks.

Then Lorelei veered off, and she and Teddy sat down at a table by themselves.

Dixon watched as Anya's shoulders slumped, but said nothing to her.

"I don't want us to be mad anymore," Teddy murmured, wordlessly exchanging his pudding--his vanilla for Lorelei's chocolate--as they did everyday.

"Neither do I," she said, sitting with her back rigid and her face set emotionlessly.

"I love how you don't take shit from anyone," he told her. "But I also hate it, because that means you won't take shit from me, and I know how much I always fuck up…" He took off his thick glasses, rubbed them with the hem of his shirt and then replaced them. His eyes were full of defeat, regret, and painful lifelessness. "I was lying in bed last night, and I just missed you so bad. I wanted you to be there so I could just say goodnight to you, so that you'd be there when I woke up, so that I wouldn't have to be alone in that house. I realized that you're the one thing in my life that's worth anything. And you would think when someone like me gets someone like you; I wouldn't just let you walk away like I did yesterday."

Lorelei continued to look down at the table, but then, when she looked up, her grey eyes were vulnerable and forgiving. "I'm sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean to pry, I just--"

Teddy shook his head. "Don't."

"I really do love you, Teddy. I don't think you always believe me when I say that, but it's true."

He smirked. "I believe it when it comes from you."

"I need a new spoon," Molly decided. "Mine doesn't seem to be clean."

Dixon looked at her appraisingly. "Thank you for the update."

"Anytime!" she said cheerfully, standing up. "I'll be right back. Please don't move to another table to try and ditch me."

Chris laughed. "We'd do no such thing."

"No?" Dixon frowned. "Dammit."

After Gordie watched Chris watch Molly walk away, with her light brown hair pulled back into a carefree ponytail swishing with each step, he cracked his knuckles and pushed his tray away from him. "Well." He placed his hand over Brooke's with a large grin. "There's still some time before the bell. We'll be disappearing now. Enjoy the rest of your lunch period."

"Gordo, there's like seven minutes left," Chris informed him.

His eyes stared at him innocently. "Meaning what? Seven minutes isn't long enough to do it?"

Brooke rolled her eyes.

Gordie poked her. "Don't roll your eyes at our sex life!"

"We don't have a sex life, Gordie."

"That can change."

She laughed and followed him out of the cafeteria.

"MRAG!"

Chris and Anya turned to stare at Dixon, who had had an outburst.

"You okay, buddy?" Chris asked cautiously.

Dixon began to pant.

Anya seemed to be troubled. She squinted her eyes at him. "Maybe we shouldn't watch. I think he might be orgasming…"

"Close enough," Dixon said. "I see Mary. She's sitting alone. Reading a book. Eating Jell-O. I must go skronk her now."

This time, Chris watched Anya as she watched Dixon walk away.

When she turned back around in her seat, they looked at each other silently. There was a dull, uncomfortable silence between the two of them. Chris cleared his throat. "So, what do you think of Molly?"

Sighing, Anya rested her chin on her hand as she chewed on a carrot, trying to look indifferent. "I don't know."

"You must think something."

"Okay. Wanna know what I think? I think that what I think doesn't matter to you. That's what I think."

He raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I fell in love with you, Chris, but I asked you to wait for me. Then you decided that you wanted to be friends, not taking into consideration how much I'd fallen for you. Then you ask me what I think of your new crush?"

"Jesus Murphy," he sighed. "Anya, I'm sorry."

"She's cute."

"Huh?"

"You asked me what I thought of her."

"You think she's cute?"

"Don't you?" She smiled wryly. "I think if you like this kid, you should ask her out. She obviously has it bad for you already."

"But Anya, I had no idea I was making you feel this--"

"You can't begin to understand how happy I am when you're happy. So just be happy, you retard."

Chris smiled tenderly at her, leaned across the table and kissed her forehead. "I kinda love you. Double retard."

She laughed. "Yeah. You're kinda neat too. I can't think of another insult."

"Retard's good."

"Yeah. RETARD."