Carl asked out Sally Donovan. She said yes. Seb was impressed. Carl was fit and popular. He always ate lunch with Seb. Jim still ate in the computer lab. He avoided the cafeteria at all costs. He was certain that nobody liked him. Not even Carl. Especially not Seb. Jim's list was still blank. Carl kept texting him things like 'hey, u should join the bball team'. No grammar, bad spelling- and what was 'bball' supposed to mean? Baseball, basketball, what? Regardless, Jim hated Carl's new-found popularity and how it was getting to his head. What he hadn't noticed was that Seb could tell.

"Moriarty!" Sebastian called through the throng of students in the hallway, and Jim, recognizing his voice immediately, spun around.

"Hey, Sebastian! need anything?" He replied.

"Meet me outside at lunch, by the big tree?"

"Sure," had been Jim's response, before he ducked into his next classroom. Now he was begrudgingly seated at the base of the three, tearing bites from his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He didn't even like peanut butter and jelly. Though, lately, he wasn't liking a lot of things, and he hardly noticed Seb plop down beside him.

"So, I haven't been seeing much of you around lately," he commented after a moment.

"You're right," Jim replied simply. And the average person would have thought nothing of it. But Seb? He was not 'the average person,' and he could tell that Jim was upset.

"Is this about Carl?" He asked. Jim thought for a short while, before giving a nod. "You don't think that since he's 'popular' or whatever, I prefer him." Jim didn't respond, and by the look on his face, Seb knew that was exactly what it was. "I don't, you know. Just because he's a swimmer now doesn't make him better, Jim, I swear. You're still just as much my friend as he is. I promise, Jim, nothing's changed in my eyes." And while that wasn't quite perfect, not exactly what he wanted... it was enough for Jim. After all, it was more than he had dared to hope for. The two boys just sat and ate their food in an appreciative silence the rest of the period, not even knowing that their conversation wasn't as private as they had thought.

A/N: Okay, okay, I know how short this chapter is, but there was really nothing I could fit in there, and I really wanted to get it up! Next chapter will be a lot more interesting.