A/N: See? It wasn't four months this time. Shoutouts to D9/VanillaBean for the beta, and Elizabeth/whatever your name is here, and yct/whatever your name is here for various things. I think it's this chapter I owe shoutouts for. If not, there here anyway.

III - Transition

The crisp, white snow that had covered the ground for the previous two weeks had finally began to melt, leaving a cold, gray slush in its place. What had been a winter scene worthy of the cheesiest of holiday films had now transformed into the dark reality of the season's demise. And it had come just in time for the post-holiday return to school, the sky casting its ominous gray glare down over all of Arcadia.

It had been an uneventful break for Grace. She hadn't gone to Adam's to pass the time as she had in previous years. She knew her presence there that year would be awkward, and probably unwanted, as she would serve as a reminder to Adam and his father of what they'd recently lost. A small but present token remembrance of the previous years she and Adam would spend on the living room couch sipping on the hot cocoa his mother made in the kitchen. It was real cocoa, not the factory processed packets Grace's own parents stockpiled and made her fix for herself using hot water and a microwave. This was milk and chocolate bars melted together on the kitchen stove, filling the entire house with its aroma, adding to the warmth Grace always felt upon walking through the doors.

She knew there wouldn't be any cocoa that year. Just as there would be no lights, no festive music coming from the radio, no cheesy Christmas specials Grace always insistedthey watch just because her parents would freak when she told them. No, the Rove house that year would be just as stark as her own. The air of sadness surrounding that house was so strong she could feel it just being on the same street. It was a strange sensation coming from the place she always ran to to escape sadness.

So she kept herself clear that year, wasting away the two week break locked in her room trying not to think of how she hadn't spoken to Adam since that night at his shed, how he hadn't spoken to her since a few days before that. She tried as hard as she could not to think about how much she missed that sanctuary always provided to her, the place she could hide away from her own family with the one adult who ever truly understood. But even through the music coming from the stereo at full volume, she could hear her thoughts drifting over to the only person that ever managed to make her feel like she was worth something.

So with nowhere else to turn, she spent the days at home, hiding away in her room as long and as often as she could. Every day throughout the break, Grace made sure to sleep until at least noon if she could pull it off. Whenever she determined there was no one around, she would grudgingly pull herself out of bed and head down to the kitchen where she hoarded enough junk food to last her the entire day. After carrying it all back to her room, she sat at her computer all day blaring music and playing hours of Tetris and Battle Chess. Occasionally she would crack the door and glance into the hall when she heard her mother's drunken footsteps approaching, but she would close it quickly and return to the computer just in time to watch the knight decapitating the bishop.

It was the first time she could ever remember welcoming the first day back to school. She never liked it there; there were too many people always trying to tell her what was best for her, too many people trying to tell her how she was supposed to think and act, what was worth knowing, what wasn't. She found keeping to herself was the best remedy for that; hiding quietly in the back of the room so no one would ever be tempted to try and make her into someone else. Throughout the years it had been just her and Adam. While there were other friends that would come and go and never return, she and Adam stuck by each other through everything. It was because of this that the simple fact she hadn't talked to him in weeks bothered her. It was a situation that desperately needed to be remedied.

As Grace walked into the school's cafeteria at lunch that first day back, she noticed Adam sitting alone at a table over in the corner. She looked at him for a moment, taking in the image before her. The light coming in from the windows cast a shadow over the corner where Adam sat, allowing little light to reach him. Grace continued to examine her friend sitting alone in the dark as she walked over to join him. She had no idea what she would say; she didn't have an arsenal of words that could make the situation better, and even if she had, she knew they would be words she needed to hear just as much as him. She was still plagued by the thought that she was in just as much pain as he was, even though she knew she shouldn't be.

When she reached the table, Grace slowly pulled out a chair across from her friend and took a seat. Adam kept his eyes fixated on a small piece of paper lying on the table in front of him. When several moments had passed without Adam so much as acknowledging her presence, Grace decided to speak up and break him out of his trance. "Uh…hey," she said, rather quietly. Adam looked up at her for a second before returning his attention to the paper. They sat in silence for a little while longer as Grace thought about what to say. She had never been at a loss for words before with anyone, let alone with him. So much had changed in such a small amount of time for him, for both of them. The only thing she could hope was that her at least being there would help a little.

"So…" Grace finally spoke up again, breaking through the first truly uncomfortable silence to pass between them. "What's that?" she asked, gesturing to the piece of paper in front of Adam. As he picked it up and held it very carefully between his fingers, Grace was able to distinguish it as an envelope. Adam treated it so delicately, as if it would crumble into dust if it was touched in the wrong way.

"It's from my mom," he answered. Even though his voice was barely audible, Grace could hear it start to crack as fresh tears found their way to his eyes. They weren't like the loud sobs from the night at the hospital; these were the quiet tears of a young boy who had no idea what to do.

"Oh," Grace answered. "What…uh," she shifted uncomfortably in her chair, "what's it say?" Adam shrugged silently. "Have you even read it?" she asked, making sure to keep her voice free of the harsh tone that often found its way into her words. He shook his head. She responded with a quiet nod, knowing it wasn't the right time or place to prod him about the contents of his mother's envelope. Instead, she decided to let him know that whenever he was ready to read it, if he needed her, she'd be there. "Listen," she began, "if you ever wanna, y'know…talk…or anything…"

Before she could go on Adam stood quickly and walked out of the cafeteria. It took a moment for what had just happened to register with Grace. Adam had never walked off in the middle of a conversation, let alone leave in the middle of a conversation without saying he had to take off. Her eyes followed his retreating figure until he had vanished through the cafeteria doors.

"Hey, Grace. You ready?"

Grace opened one eye slowly to see Rove had resurfaced, his girlfriend in tow. "As I'll ever be." She took her hands out of her pockets and pushed herself off the locker. As the trio began their walk to class, Grace noticed that they were, in fact, just a trio. "What happened to party girl?" She didn't really care. She was more interested in striking up a conversation so she wouldn't have to watch Rove and his girlfriend procreate in the middle of the hallway.

"Oh, she decided to ditch," Joan answered. "She'll probably milk the hospital excuse as long as she can."

"Well, she did have alcohol poisoning," Grace replied, her tone earning her a worried glance from Adam's direction. "She shouldn't even be here to begin with."

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," Joan countered, quite nonchalant for someone who's friend had been taken to the hospital on the verge of death.

"Right. I don't know anything," she replied, tugging at her bag and picking up her pace as she sped past the lovebirds, avoiding the growing look of worry on Adam's face. "I keep forgetting that," she mumbled. She pushed herself forward, but still remained close enough to hear the conversation behind her.

"What's with her?" Joan asked, indifference lacing her tone.

Grace could feel Adam keeping his eyes locked on her. "I don't know," she heard him answer. He wasn't a very convincing liar. It was a good thing for her that Joan didn't appear to care one way or the other as she launched into some spiel about how her grades have improved since last year and she was well deserving of an iPod.

Grace tuned out the conversation as she continued her trek down the hallway. Joan's complete lack of interest in anything that wasn't directly related to herself did get annoying, but there were times, much like this, where Grace was grateful that she failed to notice any occurrences outside of the Joan Girardi bubble. As she walked on, she could tell Rove was still watching her, probably trying to think of some way to talk to her about what happened at the party. They had already talked about Joan's rather…odd behavior, about how neither of them thought any good could be salvaged from Judith's behavior, but every time Rove tried to discuss Grace finding Judith's near dead form on the living room floor, she quickly changed the subject to, well, anything but that. It wasn't his concern; he had far too many problems of his own to worry about hers, especially something so trivial as to how she might be feeling after finding someone she really didn't like that well anyway passed out with alcohol poisoning. She'd been through the same situation before, so much so that her reaction to it was about as textbook as one could get. It certainly didn't bother her. Or so she told herself.

As she entered the physics room, Grace was forced to bring her hand to her face in order to shield her eyes from the bright rays of sunlight coming in through the windows. "Couldn't someone just close the stupid blinds," she mumbled, to no one in particular. Just then, as if on cue, any clouds that had found their way in front of the sun departed, and the light grew even brighter, casting its warmth into the already heated room.

The gray of the passing winter had started to fade and found itself slowly being replaced by the warm glow of a spring sun. The light from the sun was so bright, Grace was forced to shield her eyes as she entered her science class. Its rays shined in all directions through the frosted glass windows, casting a warmth throughout the room. She walked to the back of the room and took her seat next to Adam in the last row. She hated science class, and the warmth invading the room from the window beside her did nothing to make things any better. The only good thing about that class, to her, was it was the only class she had with Rove that year. It was the only time she could actually watch him, and the only time he couldn't run away. She hadn't stopped by the shed since early December. She'd wanted to, but even she knew she couldn't survive so many hours outside in the middle of a Northeastern winter. And as much as she wanted to help, she knew she was of no use to him if she died of hypothermia sitting outside his shed.

The weeks had passed slowly since the last time she'd tried talking to him. She knew he needed time; she did too, but three months with barely a word between them was too much. She looked over at him as class began to start, wondering how many wasted opportunities had passed, how many times she could've pressured him to talk, tried to get him to deal with what had happened, but passed them up because it still felt too fresh. He looked about the same as he did that night in November. His eyes were puffy, and Grace could tell he'd been crying before school that day. She remembered how just the day before his mother died they'd been sitting in that class. She'd whisper some smart comment and he'd reply with one of his own to make the situation even funnier. They'd both try and stifle their laughter when the teacher would look back at them. She hadn't made any jokes since his mother died, not even to herself.

As their teacher began his daily lecture, Grace leaned over to Adam. "Hey, dude…" she whispered quietly. Adam turned his head in her direction, but didn't look up from the spot on the table he'd been staring at since she walked in the room. "Uhh…" she struggled to find the right words. She'd never been very good at providing comfort, or offering any sort of emotional support. She wasn't sure why; she just couldn't do it. That had always been Rove's department, but now he needed it to be hers, even if he wouldn't say anything. Still, she knew the best thing she'd be able to do was simply eliminate the silence between them. She looked up at the teacher for the first time that day and noticed a bright orange tie with images of beakers and test tubes. "Hey," she leaned over, pointing the monstrosity out to Adam. "Can you even hear him above that tie?" she joked, in an attempt to fall back into their old routine. Perhaps that would help, making things seem as though they were still the same as they had been.

He didn't reply. He looked up at her for a split second. His face held a glare she was pretty sure only she had ever delivered, before turning around and returning his attention on the spot on the table in front of him. Grace searched her mind for something else to say, but found nothing. She couldn't ask him any questions because she couldn't make him answer or even make him say a word; she knew that. But that didn't stop her from focusing all of her attention on him, watching him, waiting with the slim remainder of hope that maybe he would say something. She'd have even settled for a simple "shut up, Grace."

"Uh Grace? Hey, Earth to Polk. Yo, Grace!"

"Huh?" Grace turned quickly to see Joan and Adam standing behind her, Adam looking worried, Joan looking annoyed.

"What are you doing?" Joan asked.

Grace soon realized that she hadn't moved from the spot right inside the door since she'd entered the room. "Nothing," she replied, fishing through her head for a decent answer. "Just…basking in the warmth," she plastered on a sarcastic grin that had become a virtual trademark.

Joan rolled her eyes at her friend's answer. "Whatever, just go sit down." She shoved Grace lightly, pushing her forward.

Grace mumbled to herself as she readjusted her bag and followed Joan and Adam to their table in the back of the classroom. On the way to her seat, she was forced to pass by Rocket Boy's table, where he was, of course, looking right at her. "Don't even think about it." She picked up her pace in order to get passed his table as quickly as she could. She could almost hear his eyes roll as she took her seat behind him.

As soon as Grace sat down, Joan turned in her direction. "Hey Grace," she began, "you know, Judith really is grateful for you, you know, saving her life."

"Sure," Grace replied, unenthusiastically as she rested her head on her hand and proceeded to stare at the back of the head in front of her.

"I'm serious Grace," Joan continued, even though Grace technically stopped listening after Judith's name was mentioned. "I'm sure she's just been too preoccupied to actually thank you."

"Hm, parents restock the liquor cabinet?"

"Listen, Grace, I don't expect you to understand her situation, but you know…"

"Jane," Adam interrupted. "Uh, do you have the homework? I think I forgot mine." As Joan started fishing through her bag in search of the previous night's work, Adam looked around her and caught the remnants of a glare that had been forming on Grace's face. If he didn't know any better, he'd have sworn that he caught a hint of gratitude flash in her eyes. Grace looked as though she was going to say something when the door burst open and an abnormally enthusiastic teacher entered the room.

"Goooood morning, my little atomic particles," Lischak chirped as she walked through the door.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Why does she have to be so damn cheerful?" she muttered quietly, to no one in particular. Lischak started in on her daily lecture as soon as the door closed behind her. What it was about, Grace had no clue. She had already begun to drift off as the sounds of Lischak's science musings filled the room.

Time continued to pass slowly, most of the time with hours feeling like days, days like months. Grace found no sanctuary. Neither school nor home offered any comfort. Not even the confines of her own room gave her solace anymore. She missed things as they had been, when she could find comfort and even peace, if only for a few hours, with her best friend, his mother, and sometimes even his father when she was lucky enough to be there when he had the night off from his janitorial job and was awake. They were a family, and even without saying or doing anything special, they always managed to make her feel like a part of that, too. Sometimes she'd felt more like a Rove than a Polk. Or a Polonsky. Whatever she was. It was hard to believe it had been so long since she'd been in the Roves' home, felt the warmth that always resonated from it. Of course, that warmth was no longer there. It vanished months before only to be replaced by a cold sadness that even her own home had never felt. She supposed she should be grateful for that; grateful that her mother was still alive, grateful that they were still a family, if only in the loosest possible sense of the term. But it was hard to be grateful when she had no idea what kind of woman her mother would be when she walked through the door. Whether she would be greeted by the smell of liquor and vomit accompanying a woman staring indifferently into space, or whether this woman would be wobbling happily around the living room singing the entire soundtrack of Fiddler on the Roof.

It had been that way since before she could remember. It wasn't until about a year and a half earlier that Grace fully came to realize just how bad her mother's drinking problem really was. Until then, it was just one of those family secrets that no one ever talked about and everyone pretended didn't exist. But when she walked downstairs with her friend Becky that one morning to find her mother passed out on the kitchen floor, that's when she knew there was more to it. Her friend never spoke to her again.

She remembered running to the Roves' house the morning Becky had left. When she knocked on the door, Adam was kind of surprised to see her. He knew about her and Becky's plans for the day and wasn't expecting to see her until later that evening. He asked what happened and Grace replied by merely telling him that Becky had to go home, with no further explanation. Out of the corner of her eye she had seen Mrs. Rove give her a knowing look, though she wasn't quite sure why. Adam was happy to hear that her plans fell through, since he'd been wanting to play outside all morning, but hated playing by himself. As he'd ran upstairs to grab his shoes, Mrs. Rove came over and knelt beside Grace, telling her quietly that it wasn't her fault. Grace looked at her for a second, slightly confused, as Adam came plowing down the stairs eager to get outside.

After that, every time Adam asked to come over to play Super Mario Brothers, Grace quickly cameup with some excuse to keep him out. He had been over before, and somehow, somewhere inside she knew he'd never leave just because of her mother, but she wouldn't risk it. Her house became off limits and the Roves' had become their permanent hangout. True, they had always hung out at his house more than hers, but after that she kept him as far away from her house as she possibly could.

Then his mother died, and she knew things would never be the same. The one adult she actually trusted was gone, and she needed her then more than she ever had. As the months since her death passed, Grace's own life had begun to plummet downhill. The situation with her own mother wasn't getting any better, her best and only friend wouldn't talk to her, and the only other person she'd ever trusted was dead. She couldn't figure out why everything had to happen at once, why her entire world felt the need to suddenly implode. She felt bad enough not being able to do anything to help Adam. He'd always managed to be there for her, in his own way, when she'd needed him. Now when it was her turn to be there for him, he refused to let her. And while she didn't want to break her promise to Mrs. Rove, as more time passed by she saw how truly impossible keeping it was going to be. How was a twelve year old kid supposed to protect a boy who'd just lost his mother? How was she supposed to watch over someone who wouldn't even say a word to her?

THWACK!

Grace shot up like a rocket, startled by the sound of Lischak's pointer slamming down on the table in front of her. Once she realized what was going on, she hunched back down, well aware of what was coming. "So," she sarcastically asked the teacher, "what'd I miss?"

"Class, Polk. So," Ms. Lischak emphasized her word by smacking her pointer on the table once again, "perhaps you'd care to enlighten the class as to what dark matter is."

"Not really," Grace answered.

"Humor me," Lischak grumbled.

"Fine," Grace smirked. "Dark Matter is a really crappy metal band from…"

"Why do I even bother?" Ms. Lischak mumbled, shaking her head. As Grace started to put her head down on the table, her action was once again thwarted by Lischak's pointer. "Not so fast." She reached in her lab coat and pulled out a pad of yellow slips that Grace had grown all too accustomed to seeing throughout the years. Lischak tore of the slip and virtually slammed it on the table in front of Grace. "I will see you after school."

"What!" Luke grumbled from the table in front of them. "You're kidding me." He quickly noticed that everyone within earshot, including Grace, was starting right at him. Well, Grace was glaring, but that wasn't anything new. "Uh…I…just realized I forgot my Spanish book."

"Dude," Friedman turned toward him, "you can just get it after class…"

"Right. Of course." Luke turned around and focused on the notebook in front of him as Lischak went back to her lecture.

As Lischak droned on, Grace folded her arms across the table and plopped her head down. She figured as long as she already had detention, she might as well catch up on the sleep she'd been missing lately. She didn't have a clue was the lecture was about, only that the sound of Ms. Lischak going on and on slowly faded out as she found herself drifting off once again.

One night in early March, Grace found herself walking through the Roves' lawn on her way to Adam's shed. The lawn had become a virtual quagmire as a cold rain fell heavily from the sinister, cloud covered sky. She wasn't exactly sure what had made her go there that night in the pouring rain, but she was there. She trudged through the mud and stood in front of the shed door for several minutes, trying to figure out exactly what she was supposed to do if this would be the one time Adam actually answered. Of course, she still knew that he wouldn't. She could hear the sounds of a blow torch resonating from inside, so she knocked as loudly as she could. "Rove?" she shouted above the sound of sparks flying off of a sheet of metal. The sounds suddenly ceased. Grace raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised that her presence somehow caught his attention. The shed was completely quiet as Grace waited several moments for some indication that he really did hear her, or just quit working and started spacing out. When nothing happened, she spoke up again. "Hey, Rove?" She tried the knob, but the door was locked. "Adam?"

Nothing.

After a few more moments of waiting, Grace turned around and leaned back against the door, slamming her head against the slightly damp wood. She slowly slid down the door and took a seat on the ground. It was already soaked from the downpour, as was she. She didn't care. The wind had picked up since she'd left her house earlier, and was blowing with a fury quite similar to that which she was feeling at that moment. What was she even doing there? Adam didn't want her help, or he would have accepted it long before. He didn't need her, he seemed just fine on his own. Well, certainly not fine, but he definitely didn't need her help. He'd kept himself locked up and closed off ever since that cold November night at the hospital and no amount of prodding or poking around from her was going to make that any different. Why should it be all her responsibility to look out for him anyway? Who was looking out for her? Sure, her mother was still alive, but that didn't offer her much solace.

As she sat there in contemplation, she subconsciously reached into her pocket to pull out her lighter, only remembering that it had gone missing when she discovered that it wasn't there. With this added frustration, she once again slammed her head against the door. She closed her eyes and let herself drift away into her thoughts. She was through. She wasn't going to take responsibility for someone else when there was no one around to take responsibility for her. She didn't care about her promise to Mrs. Rove; it was only as good as Adam would let it be, anyway. As she slowly drifted off to sleep she made a new promise, a promise to herself, the only person she would look out for from that point on was herself. She had to, because no one else would.

Grace bolted upright as the shrill of the bell pulled her from her siesta, signaling the end of class. She shook her head, trying to shake away the remnants of an undesired dream that had stayed with her. As she gathered her things, she noticed the pair beside her hanging all over each other, as they were prone to do. "Dude, if you two keep that up, you're gonna get arrested for indecent exposure."

Joan let out a small laugh. "You have some serious issues, Grace. You know, you're totally not going to say stuff like that once you have a boyfriend."

Grace's eyes darted to the table in front of her. Luckily, Atom Boy was already on his way out the door with the Freak Duo and didn't hear his sister's comment. "Yeah, right," she replied ascetically as she tossed her bag over her shoulder. "The day I start using anybody as a leaning post is the day Rove over there is sending me the way of Old Yeller."

"I don't remember agreeing to that."

"It's a common courtesy."

"Right," Joan said, rolling her eyes. "Okay, I've gotta go find Judith. Maybe I can talk her into actually going to French." With that, Joan leaned in and kissed Adam as Grace stood there disgusted as always.

When he didn't follow Joan out of the classroom, Grace looked over at her friend in an attempt to figure out what was going on. "What's the deal?"

"What?" Adam asked, looking in Grace's direction.

"You two are joined at the hip. Why the lagging?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought we could walk to class. I mean, they're right next to each other and all."

"Party girl getting on your nerves?" Grace asked, raising an eyebrow.

Adam smiled. "Something like that."

"Right."

The two of them began their walk down the hall in silence, which was just fine as far as Grace was concerned. She knew exactly what had been on Rove's mind all morning and there was no way she was going to talk about it. However, Adam had other plans as he spoke up once more. "Listen, uh, Grace…"

"No," she replied harshly.

"I haven't even said anything."

"You don't have to, Rove. I know you. And I am not acting weird."

"Actually," Adam replied, "I was just gonna ask how you were doing. But now that you mention it…"

Grace let out an exasperated sigh. "Dude!"

"Look," her friend's tone grew worried, "I know things have been kinda…you know…lately. I just wanted to know how you were. You know, after that whole party thing."

"I'm fine."

"I know." Adam kept quiet as they continued down the hall. As the reached the corridor where they were to turn and head to their respective classes, he spoke up once again. "Are you acting weird because of what happened at the party?"

"Look, dude," Grace all but shouted, "I told you, I'm fine." With that, Grace picked up her pace and continued to walk straight down the hallway.

"Look, dude," Grace all but shouted, "I told you, I'm " With that, Grace picked up her pace and continued to walk straight down the hallway.

"Hey, where are you going?" Adam called after her. "Our classes are this way."

"Don't feel like class," she shouted in response as she turned down another hallway, leaving a confused Adam standing there alone.

When Grace reached the end of the hallway, she shoved herself through the set of double doors in front her. The warm breeze that hit her the moment she exited the building was about as welcomed to her as a root canal. She walked down the stairs and around to the back of the school, finding a quiet, secluded spot beside one of the dumpsters. She quickly found herself surrounded by the smell of the previous week's lunch, which actually smelled worse than it did when they served it, a feat she didn't even think was possible. The final bell sounded as Grace leaned against the cold, brick wall and slid down to the ground. She reached into her pocket and slowly pulled out the old Zippo once again. As she prepared to flip the lighter open, she caught a portion of her reflection in the chrome. It could only be seen if held at just the right angle, as the one reflective space on the lighter's surface was surrounded by rust and tarnish, hardened by use over an unknown amount years.

With a flick of her wrist, Grace flipped the lighter open, running her thumb across the igniter, causing the wick to erupt into the orange ball of chaos she'd grown so accustomed to. The angle of the flame combined with the light, autumn breeze made the tendril appear to be almost dancing in mid-air. It cast it's warmth subtly over Grace's face as she continued to stare directly into it, studying it's every contour and every movement. Like so many times before, she found her eyes start to glaze and her mind start to drift back to a time when the blaze inside herself had only begun to kindle.

The next day, Grace found herself arriving at school around lunch time. She had fallen asleep outside Rove's shed the night before, and didn't wake up until around nine o'clock that morning. She had wondered how Rove had managed to leave without noticing her sitting on the wet ground, but decided that it didn't really matter. She walked home quickly once she realized what time it was so she could change out of her clothes that were still soaking wet from the night before. At first she was worried that her mother might wonder why she wasn't at school, why she spent yet another night on the ground outside of Adam's shed, and why Mr. Rove hadn't been kind enough to let her stay inside the house, but as soon as she opened the door she saw her passed out on the living room sofa, half empty bottle of some kind of liquor still held tightly within her grasp, she knew she was in the clear.

She entered the cafeteria through the heavy wooden doors as soon as she walked into the school. The first thing she noticed was Rove, once again sitting alone at a table in the darkened corner in the back of the large room. She started to walk over, but forced herself to stop upon the recollection of her thoughts from the night before. He wouldn't talk to her if she did go over; he hadn't said a single word since the day she saw him with his mother's letter. He wasn't her responsibility anymore. The only person she took responsibility for now was herself. With one last glance at Adam, Grace turned around and walked back out of the cafeteria.