Kadic Cafeteria, 12:31

"Time to brave yet another sampling of nutritious glop dispensed by drones wearing hair nets," Eric stated as the gang neared the cafeteria.

"No, today is Brussels sprouts," Jeremie informed him.

Eric and Odd both grimaced. "Can I have the glop instead?" Ulrich asked.

Eric staked out a table while the others entered the cafeteria line. He was once again aware of the curious stares pointed at him. On the spur of the moment, he decided that this was the best time to find which other students spoke English. He wouldn't get a better chance.

"Hey, so what's with Jim? Was he just born mad? And that bandage. Like there's really a cut there. Man, I'd laugh if some kid just walked up to him and ripped it off." A few of the older students chuckled as they heard what he said. Eric tried to remember their faces. If he had to go a whole year without talking to someone in English, he'd go insane.

At that point, the rest of the group arrived, carrying trays heaped with sprouts. "Eugh," Eric said, wrinkling his nose.

As it happened, Sissi was walking by at that point. "Overcome by jealousy, Erin? Trying to insult me so I won't understand?"

Odd laughed. "When we insult you, Sissi, you'll know it. In fact—" He bent over his tray, seized by inspiration. Squirting condiments onto an empty tray and using it like a palette, he smeared ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and other ingredients across his sprouts. Holding up the tray for his audience's critique, he revealed his masterpiece—a dripping caricature of Sissi.

Seething in anger, Sissi swatted the tray away onto the table. "Someday, you'll figure out that you're wasted among these freaks, Ulrich. After all, no other girl here is as beautiful as me."

"No…no, I guess not," Ulrich said, feigning surprise. "In fact, I'd say no other girl on the planet has looks quite like yours." Sissi basked in his praise, only to hear his next line: "No one is that ugly."

Spinning on her heel, Sissi marched off, followed by Herb and Nicholas, but she wasn't fast enough for Eric to miss the tears brimming in her eyes brought on by Ulrich's rejection.

Odd broke the awkward silence that followed. "Say, Eric. What exactly are you going to eat?"

Eric grinned mischievously. "Well, you remember how heavy my bags were, right?"

Ulrich smiled ruefully, and Odd winced. "Yep."

Eric smirked. "Well, carefully packed into one of them was a month's supply of GORP."

"GORP?" Yumi asked. "That's not French, is it?"

"No," he replied. "It stands for Good Ol' Raisins and Peanuts. Trail mix, in other words."

Still, the blank looks persisted. "What, you don't have trail mix here?"

"Nooo," Ulrich said, while Yumi, Odd, and Jeremie shook their heads.

Eric sighed, pulling out a bag of assorted nuts, raisins, and M&Ms, scooping out a handful. "This is trail mix. I had this bag on the plane over." He chomped down on the handful, then screwed up his face. "Aww, man, this bag is stale. Oh, well, it's good bird food."

"Well, we've got some time," Yumi said. "Enough to throw around some granola."

"Sounds like a plan," Ulrich said. "Odd? Jeremie?"

Odd shrugged. "Why not?"

Jeremie shook his head. "I've got some work to do. I'm going back to my room."

"Eric watched Jeremie as he left. "He's a lonely guy, huh?"

Odd nodded. "His parents are loaded, but they don't always spend a lot of time with him."

They're nice people, but always working," Ulrich added. "He's also an only child."

"If only there was someone we could set him up with," Yumi mused.

Eric stood to go. "Well, time to support the local ecosystem."

"We've got an hour," Ulrich said. "Let's not waste it."

Sissi took out all of her rage and frustration on the closest objects at hand, namely anything breakable in her room. Glaringly, unashamedly pink, it made Odd seem positively plain by comparison.

"Why does Ulrich ignore me?" she sobbed into her pillow. "It's that stupid goth new girl. I saw how they looked at each other," she ranted to the air. "I'd like it if someone messed her up good."

Nicholas and Herb waited outside Sissi's closed door, but because of the soundproofing (installed after her first crying jag), all they could hear was the last sentence.

Nicholas turned to Herb. "Is that supposed to be what she wants me to do?"

"No, Nicholas, it's obvious that I, the weaker one, am supposed to beat someone up!" Herb said sarcastically. "Of course she does! Snap to it! And get rid of that smart-ass Eric while you're at it." Nicholas plodded ponderously down the hall, cracking his knuckles menacingly. Herb watched him go, and waited for Sissi to emerge. Once Nicholas had finished, he would be able to bask in her presence again. Secure in his fantasies, Herb prepared for the long wait ahead.

"So, what kind of kid were you like at your old school?" Yumi asked Eric as they neared the parklike lane within the school's campus.

"Well, this may be hard to believe, but up until January, I was seen as somewhat of a nerd," Eric revealed.

"No way! I'm shocked! How could they?" Odd said.

"I don't get it, Odd," Eric replied, grinning. "But it all changed when I went to the 'Night on the Town' dance that year. Turned me around. People saw this spastic little kid dancing, and they actually paid attention to him more in school. It was weird."

"And that's why you're popular now," Yumi finished.

Eric looked at her in shock. "What are you talking about? Popular? No, I'm not a Sissi. Believe me."

Yumi was nonplussed. Here he was again, denying that...that charisma he had. Was he truly oblivious to it?

Then again, that charisma was only evident half the time. The other half, he could be the most annoying person Yumi had ever met. Maybe he's schizo, she thought to herself.

"Well, if it worked for you, maybe it'll work for Jeremie," Ulrich said. "There's a 'Welcome Back' type of dance on Friday."

"Anything to get a rise out of Einstein," Odd chirped.

It was at that moment that Nicholas stepped out in front of them. Cracking his knuckles ominously, he lunged at Yumi. Ulrich blocked his ungainly thrust, and twisted his arm backwards. Nicholas flipped Ulrich over his back, and flailed towards Yumi again. He was completely caught by surprise when one of her combat boots caught him in the stomach, driving him backwards into a tree. Winded, he swung wildly at her, almost clipping her temple, when Ulrich leaped into action again and Yumi's heart skipped a beat. What was up with him? Pitting himself against a kid who outweighed him by at least twenty pounds?

Ulrich glared menacingly at Nicholas. "Touch any of us again and I'll make you regret it," he scowled.

Nicholas rubbed his sore arm where Ulrich had twisted it. "So where're the two nerds?" he asked.

Yumi looked around. Odd had managed to stay out of the fight, but where was Eric? On the grass a few feet away, there lay a bag of granola. But where could he be?

As if sensing their confusion, Eric spoke up from the tree branch he was perched on. "I prefer the term 'mad genius,'" he said, swinging from the branch to kick Nicholas directly in the face. He toppled to the ground with a thud, out cold from the full force of Eric's 98-pound weakling body propelling him backwards.

Grabbing the bag, Eric dumped the granola across his body. "Let's see what he looks like next period after he's fed the birds."

Laughing under his breath, Odd slapped Eric on the back. "Man, you have one twisted sense of humor."

As they walked back to the building, Eric looked across the skyline. "So what's that building with the bridge, anyway?"

"That's where the old Renault factory used to be," Ulrich said. "The new one's in a different city now."

Eric frowned, trying to remember some detail connected to the building. He had a feeling it had something to do with foam...