As Lily left the Great Hall, James told his friends he'd be right back as he tried to apologize to Lily but it was nearly impossible to talk to her alone. She was one of the most popular girls at Hogwarts and was never alone. After a while of following her he realized that he was one of the most popular guys in school. The marauders were the most popular guys. He could tell the people to leave and they would listen. That was probably also because he was known to have a short temper when it came to Lily.
"Hey Lily," walking up next to her.
"What do you want Potter," Lily snapped looking forward while she spoke.
"Can I talk to you," then looking at everyone surrounding them, "Alone?"
As everyone walked off Lily finally looked to James, "What do you want?"
"I want to know why you hate me so much when all I do is be nice to you."
"Well," Lily said pacing slowly in circles around James, "There's your answer."
"What?" James thought out loud.
"You are nice to me but your mean to everyone else."
"Not everyone." James exclaimed defensively
"Let's see, you're nice to your friends but you treat girls like trash. Dating them for a week, leading them on, and then dumping them like scraps of rubbish. You jinx anyone who gets in your way. You make people feel like idiots when you brag about how easy spells are when they're only easy to you. And then there's Snape-"
"Now wait there," James called out cutting Lily off, "Snape deserves it, most of the time. And the rest of the time it's defensive."
"Whatever you tell yourself James," and with that last note Lily walked down the corridor and left James to ponder if he was the cruel beast that he was told he was.