The infamous high school cafeteria. Specs had always spent lunch in the library or out in the courtyard to avoid having to figure out which table she could sit at without disrupting the precious, oh-so-delicate clique system. It was slightly different in the 50's, (the Goth-kids, hipster kids, and Japanese-anime fan groups were not existent yet.) but the same rules still applied; stay with your group, or stay out.

Specs didn't have a group. She hadn't talked to a single person all morning. She was truly the definition of low profile, which was fine by her. The last thing she wanted was to talk to anyone. Well, anyone except for Krayonder.

Specs scanned the room for her friend. He'd promised that they'd stick together, but she couldn't help but worry. All her classes with him were after lunch, so she hadn't seen him since before first period. If he'd met some other, cooler people that invited him to sit with them…

Her fears were confirmed when she looked at the table by the windows, the one that seemed to hold the self-proclaimed "popular kids". Sitting next to two pretty girls was Krayonder, smiling and laughing along with them.

He didn't need her. He could get along just fine with the popular kids. All that she could ever do is hold him back.

She started walking to the door, her eyes stinging. It was stupid, caring so much about something so childish. She was a twenty-five year old woman, not a teenager. She couldn't cry in a crowded cafeteria over a boy.

Not again.

She pushed the door open and-

"Wait! Specs!"

Her heart almost stopped. She turned and saw Krayonder waving from across the room. He said something to the girl next to him, who reluctantly scooted over. "Over here!" he called.

He was making room for her. He was making a pretty, popular girl move over so she could have a seat. She walked over to the table, grinning.

"Hey Specs!" Krayonder smiled. He turned to the other people at the table. "This is the girl I was telling you about, this is Specs. Come on, sit down!"

She sat next to him, smiling shyly at the others. "Hello."

He proceeded to introduce her to everyone at the table, two of which she recognized; Wesley from the bus, and Sarah Rellis: the girl from the photograph. Krayonder not only had found their target, but he'd become very well acquainted with her too.

Now Specs understood why Lang chose them instead of Taz and Up. Krayonder was good with socializing and making friends, which could only mean that she was there to pretty much be his babysitter and make sure he didn't get in trouble. Which was fine with her, really. She would never trust him alone in the 50's.

Especially not now, given the girls that he's hanging out with, she thought resentfully.

Lunch went by with the other people only really talking to Krayonder, and Krayonder constantly trying to get Specs involved in the conversation. She appreciated his efforts, but was also glad when lunch ended. The walked out of the cafeteria together, heading off to their next class, which they had together.

"Kray!" Sarah called, practically skipping up to them. The flirty little smile she gave him made Specs want to kick her really hard in the shins. "Everybody's going to this diner, Donna's after school. You want to come with us?"

He put his arm around Specs. "We'd love to!"

From the annoyed expression on Sarah's face, Specs figured the invitation was not extended to her. But she didn't say anything.

"Swell. Meet me in the parking lot."

Much to Specs' relief, Sarah walked away.

"I don't like her."

"What?" Krayonder asked. "Why not?"

"Just look at her!" she pouted.

"I still don't see your point, man. She looks fine to me."

Nobody but me is allowed to look at you the way she does, she thought. "I guess it doesn't matter anyway. Our mission is to become her friend, so that is what we have to do."

The rest of the school day was a busy blur. Their Spanish teacher's accent was almost completely incomprehensible, they had a pop quiz in history, and their gym uniforms were the most horrendous things either of them had ever seen. (Short jumpsuits that had elastic on the waist) The only class that Specs really liked was English, which was taught by a nice, animated young man named Mr. Holmes. They were also reading Much Ado About Nothing in class, which made it all the better. Specs was a huge Shakespeare fan, and this was her favorite play.

"Man," Krayonder said as they walked out the door at the end of the day. "I forgot how hard school is. I am, like, so glad I have you here to tutor me… You will tutor me, right?"

Specs laughed at his suddenly panicked expression. "Of course I will."

"Sweet!"

Just as she'd said, Sarah was waiting for them in the parking lot, along with another tall, blonde-haired boy, who she introduced as her twin brother, Vince. They together to his car, and when they go there, Krayonder froze to the spot.

"That. Is. A. Nice. Car!"

Vince smirked. "It's a corvette. Pretty tuff, huh?"

"Totally!" He was completely in awe of the light blue convertible.

"Come on, hop in!"

Vince drove, Sarah got shotgun, and Specs and Krayonder sat in the back. He put his arm around his curly-haired friend. This was what living felt like- the warm sun and breeze on his face, the radio blasting in the car, and a beautiful girl under his arm. Now, it would have been ten trillion times better if he had the courage to kiss that girl, and if Sarah stopped giving him creepy looks, but it was better than nothing.

Much better than nothing.

They finally pulled up to Donna's. It was a classic, old style diner (well, old to Specs and Krayonder.) that was completely crowded with teenagers. This seemed to be the teenage hangout of the town. Rock music flowed out of the window, along with the smells of french-fries and hamburgers.

Inside, there was no open tables, so they sat at the bar table. Behind the counter was an old man with blue-grey eyes.

"Hello, Mr. Hummel-Anderson!" Vince beamed, leaning on the counter.

"Aw great, you again," he rolled his eyes. "Don't you no-good kids got anything better to do than hang 'round here?"

"Nope. So, Sarah and I'll have the usual, and… what do you two want?"

"I'll have a chocolate milkshake and a basket of fries," Krayonder said. "And she'll have a strawberry milkshake."

"You knew what I wanted to order?" Specs asked as Mr. Hummel-Anderson turned to get their drinks.

"Of course I did." He smiled smugly.

Specs couldn't help but stare at the old man when he gave them their orders. Something about him just seemed so familiar. It was his name, mostly; she knew that she'd heard it somewhere else before, she just couldn't place where.

Some girls came over to talk to Sarah and bat their eyes all fangirl-like at Vince. Krayonder laughed, dipping a fry in his milkshake. "I swear, whoever came up with doing this was a brilliant genius!"

Suddenly, a loud rock song came on. Krayonder's eyes grew wide as he sat up in his seat.

"This song! Are you hearing this, Specs?" he was completely beside himself with joy. "Oh man, I love this song!"

He stood up, holding up a coke bottle as if it was a microphone. "You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain!" he sang, grinning. "Too much love drives a man insane!"

Everybody in the diner was staring at him. Specs couldn't help feeling slightly awkward with that many eyes in her general direction, even if they weren't really looking at her.

"Krayonder," she whispered, "What happened to "low profile"?"

He completely disregarded everything she said. "You broke my will, but what a thrill! Goodness gracious great balls of fire!"

Everyone in the diner was cheering as he danced. It was like some stupid, cheesy movie where the main character could just randomly burst into song, and nobody would think that there was anything weird about it at all. It was just odd; the real world didn't work like that.

Then again, this wasn't the real world. This was the fifties.

"I laughed at love cause I thought it was funny,"

The way he was dancing was strange; the moves required a lot of movement in the hips. It looked like things she'd seen in a lot of old Elvis movies. Except the way he did it was… different. She couldn't find a word for it.

"but you came along and moooooved me honey!"

Seductive, that's what it was. He was sex on a stick, and he sang like a dream. Specs wanted to bang her head on the table for letting him turn her mentality to that of a squealy teenage girl's, but it was so true that she couldn't even argue with herself.

"I've changed my mind, This love is fine. Goodness gracious great balls of fire!"

It was amazing; the never thought that someone could be so adorable yet so sexy at the same time. It shouldn't have been allowed. All the girls there were giggling and staring at him. If he didn't stop soon, the poor boy was going to start a sex riot.

And that would definitely not be low profile

Later that night, Specs was laying on her bed, reading a book. She was debating whether Admiral Lang would be pissed at Krayonder for his little performance or not when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in,"

Krayonder walked in, wearing a pair of striped blue pajamas. "Hey man, I wanted to ask you something."

"Shoot."

He sat down next to her on the bed. "Are you like, mad at me or something? You didn't talk at all during the ride home."

I didn't talk because I knew that if I opened my mouth, I would bite Sarah's head off for mooning over you so much. "Oh, I'm fine."

"Really?"

"Yes…"

"Oh, good. I was really worried, man."

He hugged her tight, then stood up. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight…"

Specs sighed as he left. He was clueless. So. Damn. Clueless.

She would've never guessed that on the other side of the door, he was thinking the same thing.