The first half of the day went by without any major drama. Most of her teachers were very generous in not forcing Addie to make up the work she missed for the first month, seeing as it wasn't her fault she missed. She did have a lot of reading to do for English, seeing as the class had started their novel study last week, so she was already a week behind. Otherwise, the day hadn't been awful.

It was lunch time now, and of course this had been the part Addie was dreading most. She could sit with Dustin, but she didn't want to have to spend every lunch with her little cousin and his friends.

Walking into the cafeteria it was clear the school had its cliques. Addie looked around and noted where each group was sitting; there were the jocks and cheerleaders, the math and science nerds, the band kids, drama kids, and yes, the freaks. Sitting at the far end of the cafeteria was Dustin and the rest of their so-called "Hellfire Club." Dustin was talking to his friends, Mike and Lucas (Dustin had told Addie their names the other night). Eddie was sitting at the head of the table, his feet up, and he was sipping on a Coke, laughing at something one of the boys had said.

As if he could sense Addie watching, he looked up and locked eyes with her. One side of his mouth quirked up and he cocked his head to the side. Addie raised an eyebrow back at him and stuck out her tongue. She was just about to start walking over to his table when a group of girls stepped in front of her. Judging from their hair and outfits she assumed they were part of the cheerleading squad.

The girl at the head of the group stepped forward and held out her hand to Addie, "Hi, I'm Becky. You must be the new girl."

Addie smiled slightly and shook the girl's hand, "How'd you know?"

"Oh please, I'm sure I would remember seeing you around." Becky responded as she looked Addie up and down.

Addie looked over the girl's shoulder to where Eddie and her cousin were sitting. Eddie was still watching her, but was now smirking in amusement at Addie interacting with these girls. The girl - Becky - stepped over so she was in Addie's line of view again.

"So like, is it true you're from Chicago?" Becky asked.

"Uh...yes." Addie hesitated, she wasn't a fan of the fact that these girls knew something about her.

Her confusion must have shown because Becky laughed and clarified, "Oh everyone's been talking about the rich new girl from the city who was joining us for senior year. Is it also true that your parents are like super rich and have all these cool connections?"

Addie knew where this was going now, she had dealt with many people trying to befriend her so they could get free stuff or go to cool places.

"I guess so?" She replied, starting to get annoyed.

"That's so cool!" Becky said cheerfully, "You should definitely come sit with us. We're all going shopping after school, I'm sure we could find you some...better clothes."

Just then she heard a clamoring sound and looked over to see Eddie standing up on the cafeteria table, "Hey Firecracker!" He called out, putting his hands around his mouth as a fake megaphone.

Becky and the other two cheerleaders looked between Eddie and Adelaide and Becky grimaced, "Is he talking to you?"

Addie nodded, "Yeah, he's friends with my cousin."

"Um, I would be careful with that if I were you," one of the other two girls piped in. "I'm sure your cousin is nice and all... but Eddie's like...a complete freak. We're pretty sure they're all part of some sort of satanic cult."

The last girl nodded her head in agreement and chimed in, "Yeah, I heard from Thomas that he actually worships satan."

Addie almost laughed but held it in, she put a hand on her heart and said in the sweetest voice she could muster, "Holy shit really?"

The three girls nodded.

"Wow," Addie continued, "That is just... so fucking cool."

The girls clearly had not been expecting this response and they all scrunched their faces in confusion.

Addie threw her hands up in the air dramatically, "Thank fucking god! I thought I would be the only person in this god forsaken town that worshiped satan. Thank you girls so much for helping me find another follower." She smiled sweetly at them, then grabbed her tray of food from the counter where she had set it, and pushed past Becky to walk towards Eddie's table.

Dustin and his friends were gaping at Addie when she walked up and sat down.

"Adelaide..." Dustin hissed out, "Did you just tell Becky you're a satan worshiper?"

Addie shrugged a shoulder and opened her Coke. "Please, as if they wouldn't come to that conclusion on their own eventually."

She looked over at Eddie who was sitting back down now and grinning at her.

"What?" she asked, "They were just trying to use me because they heard a rumor that my parents are rich. Now I know they'll leave me alone."

She could feel Eddie still watching her as she looked down at her food, but she chose to ignore him this time. After a moment he went back to talking to his buddies about their current campaign and what they would do next.

Addie turned to Dustin, "So Dustin, are you going to officially introduce me to your friends?"

The boy sitting right beside Dustin reached over and held out his hand, "Oh, I'm Mike Wheeler."

Addie shook his hand and looked over the two of them at Dustin's other friend. "And you're Lucas?"

Lucas nodded awkwardly and went back to his food.

"So, Adelaide, right?" Mike asked, then took another bite of his sandwich.

"That is my legal name, yes, but seriously call me Addie. Adelaide is way too princessy for me." Addie hated when anyone other than her mom or aunt called her by her full name.

"Hey that's funny, we have Addie and Eddie now." Mike laughed, "If you two dated that would get so confusing."

Addie looked up to see Eddie glaring at Mike, "Yeah. Hilarious." Eddie said through gritted teeth.

Addie turned in her seat so she was facing Eddie, "I gotta say Eddie, i'm surprised to see you here. You don't exactly look high school age."

Some of the older boys at the table laughed at this, but shut up quickly when Eddie shot a death glare at them.

"Yes well... I love school so much I decided to repeat senior year a few times."

Dustin perked up and pointed a finger at Addie, "Hey Ads, you two have that in common! Addie had to repeat a year too!"

Eddie raised an eyebrow and appraised Addie curiously, "Is that right...Ads? Is someone else a burn out like me?"

Addie gave him a withering stare, "No I am not a burn out like you, and do not call me Ads. It's a confusing story but to simplify it for your burn out brain, my parents caused me to be held back because they made me miss a lot of school. That's it. So yes, I am already 18."

"Ooo an older lady," a larger boy sitting beside Eddie jeered as he winked at Addie.

Eddie reached over and smacked him upside the head and he yelled in protest.

"What the hell was that for?" the boy screeched.

Eddie glared at him, "For being an idiot, we don't want to scare Addie off now do we?"

Addie snorted, "Please, do you really think I scare so easily?"

"Yeah," Dustin interjected, "Addie knows martial arts. She could kick Ethan's ass."

Addie shrugged as if it was no big deal and went back to her food. After a couple bites she nudged Dustin and asked, "So when are you going to help me find some decent friends like you promised?"

Eddie feigned being shot in the heart, "Ouch firecracker, are we not decent friends?"

"I meant girlfriends," she retorted, "But let's be honest, nothing about you boys is 'decent,'" she wiggled her eyebrows to show she was teasing.

Dustin rubbed his chin as though he was deep in thought, "Oh I know! Let's go by the video store later. There's someone there I think you might hit it off with."

Eddie groaned, "You're not going to introduce her to Harrington are you? Doesn't he get enough girls already?"

"No," Dustin protested, "Not Harrington. I want to introduce her to Robin."