Chapter 4: Lunch

The empty table stared at her like a beacon of her loneliness. Long faced, Leah sat, taking a sandwich and notebook from her bag. Soon, she was spun into her own world of peanut butter, jelly, and writing, oblivious to the person talking to her.

"I'm Rick," he said again, sitting down.

Slowly, Leah was pulled from her own world. "Oh," she said quietly. "Sorry, I didn't see you there. I'm Leah."

"I know. Toby was telling me about you earlier."

Leah's eyes lit up at the mention of Toby. "Toby? Where is he?"

"His class is on the other side of the building. He'll be here soon."

"Talking' about me?"

Leah looked up, smiling at her newfound friend. "Glad you could make it."

"Glad you found us. I see you've already met Rick." Toby sat his tray down and lounged back in his chair. "What're you writing?"

"My next novel," she answered dryly, her pen smoothly moving along the paper.

"Wow," Rick breathed. "A novel?"

Leah nodded, not looking up. "It will be hard to get it published--my publisher is a dandelion in Japan."

"Dandelion?" Toby asked.

"Her name is Tanpopo Watase. Tanpopo means Dandelion." She took a bite of her sandwich as a boy with punk skater hair and light blue eyes tapped her shoulder.

"New girl," he said, trying to pull her arm. "We need to talk to you."

Toby looked up at the boy. "Spinner," he said, a dangerous edge in his voice.

Leah got up with a shrug, following Spinner to a table where two African-American students, one male, one female, and two blonde primma-donna looking girls.

"Spinner," the boy said, pointing to himself. "Jimmy, Hazel, Paige, Emma."

"I speak English," Leah had a droll tone, her accent clearly showing her origins. "What is this about?"

"Why are you hanging out with that fluffy faired killer?" The girl called Paige asked in a demeaning tone.

"He's a killer?" Leah's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"My best friend, Terri," Paige began, "is in a coma because of him."

"Look," Leah took a step back. "I'll hang with whoever I want. Sorry about Terri." She smiled, turned on her heel and walked back to Toby and Rick. "Friends of yours?"

"I dated Spin's sister a while back. He's not too happy with me since I dumped her." Toby smirked, looking down at the saggy macaroni on his tray. "Anybody want this?" he asked, pushing the tray away from him.

"I can barley look at it," Rick said in disgust.

Leah let out a laugh. "Goddess, I wish they served food her like they did back...well, no where I've ever lived has had bad food for lunch...until now." She looked down at her watch. "I gotta jet, guys. I need to go to my locker and I want to find my own way to class." She smiled, picking up her bag. "See you later."