"What's so funny?" Olivia demanded as they entered the cafeteria.

Nikita laughed a little bit more then shook his head, suddenly serious. "I'll tell you later.."

"Why not now?" she asked, sitting down in one of the chairs and looking up at him.

His face became much more serious as he sighed and sat beside her.
"It isn't safe now…"

"What? Is the CIA secretly behind the corner?" she glanced around in mock suspicion.

Nikita shrugged. "Something like that."

She sighed and looked behind him, then grimaced.

"What is it?" he asked, concerned. He followed her gaze to a group of girls giggling and whispering and staring at him. Nikita cocked his head to one side, confused.
"I don't see what's so wrong… They're only curious. I am rather fascinating." He smirked.

"No, it's just, that one with the dark brown hair, Sierra? We used to be best friends. Until high school. Then she completely stabbed my back and then soon after joined the cheer team." Olivia sighed. "She was the first of many."

"Why's that?"

"Well, high school changes people. I didn't find any interest in the groups, nor did I want to change my interests in order to fit in. That can set off a major riot in high school. Sameness is necessary, apparently."

"Wow."

"What?"

"The fact that you refused to change for acceptance… that's… wow." So that's why she was so much more intriguing than any other teenager he'd encountered. She had a sense of will power and dignity. That wasn't something you came by often in this world.

Olivia ignored his comments, brushing off the subject with a quiet sigh.
"Well, I'm gonna go get something to eat. You sure you aren't hungry?" she asked, standing up.

Nikita nodded, biting his tongue to stifle his giggles. Olivia noticed this and arched an eyebrow curiously. He shook his head. "No, go ahead, I'll be fine."

She gave up and walked to the line up for the food. Today there was pizza and sandwiches. Her common sense said sandwich, veggie-special. While her desire said pizza, extra cheese. On her way to make her decision, she grabbed a bottle of raspberry flavored water. The lady behind the counter asked what she wanted, greeting her with a smile, unlike the grumpy frown she usually gave out. Olivia was one of the more polite customers, so her behavior stood out among the usual snobby teenagers.

"Uhm, I'll have a slice of cheese pizza, please." She finally chose.

"Big or small slice?"

"Small, please." She'd never had a huge appetite.

"Would you like some fries, dear?"

She considered it, and answered, "Sure."
Just in case Nikita changed his mind.

Meanwhile Nikita was observing the teenagers around him. He heard that Sierra girl gossiping, most likely about him, as she threw flirtatious looks his way every now and then. Clearly, she'd noticed he was staring at her, although his look was bleak and unimpressed.
While Olivia was gone, girls all around him were immediately interested. He was surprised that their natural human instincts weren't telling them to back off. Then again, this was New York. Danger was as common as a crack in the pavement, so their better judgment was clearly not up to average standards.
He glanced to where Olivia was. At the moment she'd only grabbed a bottle of water and was talking to the lunch lady. It would be a solid ten minutes before she'd return, considering the line to pay for food.

Sierra seemed to realize this as well, as she stood and sauntered over to Nikita. Her girlfriends seemed to wish her luck, and he heard her sneer, "I don't need luck, look at me!"

How could Olivia have ever been best friends with such a… bitch?

She sat next to him, her bare, tan arms within reach of his.

"Hi, there." She greeted with a cutesy smile. She was twirling a strand of her dark brown hair between two fingers. "I'm Sierra."

Nikita turned to face her, his gaze bored. "Hi, I don't like you." Her eyes widened with shock. "Go away." He spat, his eyes dark and his face hard.

Sierra gathered her thoughts, and tried again. "Aw, you're cute when you're playing hard to get." She leaned closer towards him. "What's your name?"

Nikita blinked. Her face was an inch away from his, but he still didn't move. Until, that is, she was only a fragment of a centimetre away from pressing her lips to his.

Then, his cold hand shot up and he gently shoved her face back.

"Ew." He muttered simply. A grimace crept onto his face, making his nose wrinkle in disgust.

Sierra huffed and stood, scampering back to her friends.

Olivia had seen the scene from her place at the till. And she burst out laughing. He really wasn't like other guys. As far as she knew, every guy in the room at that moment wanted Sierra, and she guessed they envied and hated Nick all at the same time. Olivia had to keep herself from skipping back to Nikita. It was refreshing to see Sierra get her fair share of disappointment.

"That was quite the display." She grinned, sitting next to him.

"What? Oh, that. Well, she didn't smell all that good. And her attitude was very irritating."

"She didn't…. smell good?" Olivia questioned.

Nikita glanced back at Sierra. She was eating Chinese food. He couldn't tell Liv the real definition of what he meant. "She was eating Chinese food. I hate Chinese food." His nose wrinkled in distaste once again. Olivia giggled.

She wasn't eating her food, and Nikita grew worried. "Aren't you eating?" he hoped she had better sense than to starve herself… better sense than him.

"Oh, the pizza's still hot. I'm waiting for it to cool down." She explained, opening her bottle of water. She took a long sip, in need of some moisture. Her throat was getting dry from all this talking. When was the last time she'd kept a conversation with someone going as long as she had with Nikita?

A couple moments passed in silence, but Olivia didn't mind. With Nick, it didn't seem at all necessary to keep up a conversation. It seemed like they both enjoyed each other's company, even if sometimes he was pretty annoying.

She finally picked up her pizza and took a big bite, then munched on a fry. Nikita seemed relieved to see her eat.

For a while they discussed the science project. Nikita understood it thoroughly, so he explained some of the parts that Olivia didn't quite know. Then they discussed their hobbies. Olivia failed to notice that Nikita barely spoke on that category, merely saying he liked to draw. When she asked him what he liked to draw, he shrugged and said, "Whatever."

Then he asked her about her own hobbies. She told him of her dancing and singing, and her reading and writing. Unusual hobbies for a sixteen year old. Most teenagers enjoyed staying up late, driving, drinking, smoking cigarettes and whatever else they could find. At least in New York, that's how it was.
They talked, Olivia ate and they talked some more, all the way until the bell rang. They stood, and Olivia tossed her paper plate into the trash can.

"Off to French?" Nikita asked, as if making sure he'd gotten the order of her schedule right.

"Correct." Liv approved, then she noticed he was staring at her intensely. "What?"

"Your eyes." he mumbled in a whisper.

"Er… what about them?" she took a step away from him.

He laughed, his intensity vanishing. "Hm, you know, I think I'm gonna start calling you Olive. Your eyes are green, and your name's Olivia… seems to work."

"What the hell, Nick." Olivia rolled her eyes and started to leave.

"So, Olive, you any good at French?" Nikita was close behind her.

Olivia whipped around and shot him a hard look. "Firstly, my name is Olivia and secondly I've been in French since I was five."

Nikita held up his hands apologetically. "Fine, fine, Olivia. So I take that as a yes?" They reached their lockers. Both opened them in unison.

"Sure, I guess." She shrugged and grabbed her books and binder. "I like French, I just hate the teacher."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. He's a moron." She nodded, closing her locker door then walking down the stairs.

Nikita laughed at her bitterness on the subject, not bothering to ask any further questions.

The day went by quickly. In French they worked on pronunciation (as if Olivia needed that), and Liv was surprised to see that Nick was even more fluent than the teacher.

In gym, well, it was gym. They separated the girls and the boys. The girls went to the track and ran a couple laps while the guys went up to the weight room to pump some iron.

During that time, Nikita was sprawled across a bench in the courtyard, considering how he'd tell Olivia. It wouldn't be easy… but he was giddy over it. He'd finally have someone he could tell his problems to… and it would be almost like she was his own kind, without any scent. He could starve himself for weeks and never have to worry about hurting her or wanting to hurt her.

So far, she seemed rather passive to violence. Sure, nothing too horrible had happened, but just the way she was… so laid back, intelligent, had a similar sense of humor as his own, she was pretty but not vain…

The final bell rang and he leaped up. Alright, it was time.