For the first time in her life, Ymir actually gave half a shit about washing her hands (her mother would have been so proud if she knew). She washed them three times under hot water, getting as much of the lizard germs off of her as possible. Those things could have been covered with germs, the kind that carried diseases that only scientists knew how to pronounce.

She didn't want those things on her hands while she ate pizza.

Ymir waved to Marco. "Hey, dude," she said.

Marco smiled at her. He was wearing an already dirty apron and had his eyes fixed on his phone. "Hi, Ymir, it's good to see you. You're lucky to come here around this time. We've settled down a bit from earlier, but your friends are still here."

"Sweet," Ymir responded. She hitched her thumb to the back of the restaurant. "I'm gonna take a wild guess that they're over there. Am I right?"

Marco looked up at her and nodded. "Just like always."

Ymir turned around.

"Wait."

Slowly, she turned around.

"My parents are making some fresh cinnamon sticks back in the kitchen. Want me to get you guys some?"

Ymir nodded. "How could I ever refuse those? Just make sure to throw the bill on Hitch and bring an extra container of sauce!"

"It's a done deal."

As Marco had said earlier, almost everywhere was empty. A few college students sat at a table, but other than that it was almost deserted. Some tables still needed to be cleaned, though there were more than enough empty spaces if anyone else came in.

At the very back, shielded by some potted plants and sitting next to a large painting, was the table that Ymir and her friends always sat at. A nearly finished pepperoni pizza lay on the table next to some half eaten bread sticks and opened containers of marinara sauce.

"Hey, Ymir!" Sasha waved. There were bits of foods on the side of her mouth, cheeks, and even a bit on the tip of her nose. "Your seat is free as always!"

Ymir pulled the furthest chair out, the one that she always sat at, and plopped down. "You guys didn't eat all the pizza?" She picked up the last soggy piece of pizza. "It's so thoughtful, thinking of little old me."

Hitch snorted. "The pizza's probably cold by now."

"Cold pizza is the best pizza." Ymir took a large bite.

"I agree," Sasha added. She grabbed a half finished bread stick and began to run it around in her container of marinara sauce. "So, where were you? You never responded to our texts."

"Does she ever?" Hannah asked.

Ymir rolled her eyes. "I responded to you before, Hannah."

She raised an eyebrow. "When?"

"Uh," Ymir said. She could picture the moment, though she did not know what month it occurred. "Can I check my phone's history?"

Hannah shook her head. "Whatever, that doesn't matter. So, why were you so late?"

"Yeah," Sasha said. "I was worried about you."

Ymir patted her on the back. "It's good to know that you guys care."

Hitch sighed. "Can you just hurry up and tell us? I was worried that you had actually managed to already get detention."

"Detention? Why, I would never!"

Hitch rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me that my theory is correct."

"Today's your lucky day, but it sure as hell isn't." Ymir placed her half finished slice of pizza down and leaned forward, her elbows propped up on the table. "I decided to volunteer to get some extra credit."

"What?" Hannah asked. "A teacher is giving out extra credit already?"

"More like she's already failing," Hitch responded.

"Hitch, you plan to procrastinate for a living."

"Somebody has to do it."

"What is it?" Sasha asked.

"I'm cleaning out the cages of Professor Zoe's lizards. It's actually kind of cool."

"Oh," Hannah said. "I thought that you meant like writing a paper or making a Powerpoint." Her eyes widened. "So, are their lizards as big as I've heard?"

"Oh yes," Ymir responded. "Professor Zoe has some big lizards. I don't know why they like them so much, but they are cool. Besides, it's better than that year a few years back when they had spiders."

"I thought that was just a school rumor!" Hannah stuck out her tongue. "Okay, we get it, you're working with lizards now. We can discuss it again later, once our food has had time to properly digest itself."

"Suit yourself." Ymir picked up her slice of pizza again.

"It would have been nice if you had told us beforehand." Hitch said. "We were getting worried. Hell, I thought that you had ditched us and had nearly left."

"You have so little faith in me." Ymir took another bite of her pizza, tearing a pepperoni in half. "Was I really gone that long?"

"Yes." Hitch responded.

"Damn, then I really must be late. By now Hannah and Franz have gotten married and had three little babies and a house, Hitch got around to doing her homework, and Sasha ate most of the bread sticks. I sure have missed out on a lot."

Hannah turned red and Hitch shook her head.

"Hey, at least it was long enough to where Sasha didn't eat my slice of pizza."

"I'm really not that hungry any longer." Sasha said.

"That's a first," Ymir replied. "So, where's Connie?"

"He couldn't make it; he had to go to help his dad at his shop."

"Poor guy."

At that moment, Marco appeared in the corner of her eye. She grinned. The smell of freshly baked cinnamon sticks hung in the air, along with the ever present scent of pizza. Her other friends had already finished eating.

Thank you karma and Professor Zoe, Ymir thought. You just got me some free cinnamon sticks.

It was around eight when Ymir's phone vibrated. She looked up from her calculus worksheet to check to see who it was from.

What does Hannah want at this time of night? Ymir thought, swiping the screen of her phone.

HEY, the beginning of the text read. CAN I ASK YOU SOMETHING?

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? Ymir responded.

See, Ymir thought, for once I replied to you. A smirk formed on her face, even if Hannah could not get the chance to see it.

She finished the last part of her problem before her phone vibrated once more. Dropping her pencil, she grabbed her phone and turned it on once more.

WHO IS THAT LITTLE BLONDE GIRL YOU'RE ALWAYS HANGING OUT WITH? IS SHE NEW? I HAVEN'T SEEN HER BEFORE.

For a moment, Ymir's fingers hung above her phone's screen, never touching the iPhone's keyboard. She returned to her home screen, and absently looked over her apps, trying to think of some way to reply.

When that didn't work, she did an entire problem before finally picking up her phone and replying. Somehow, Ymir had managed to procrastinate on doing her homework by texting and then procrastinating on texting by doing her homework. She had gone full circle, and surely if Hitch knew she would be impressed.

HER NAME IS KRISTA AND SHE IS NEW. SHE'S PRETTY CUTE.

Ymir placed her phone down and did another problem. Whatever Hannah would do with that information, Ymir did not know.

Her phone vibrated.

SOMEBODY HAS A CRUSH.

I JUST THINK THAT SHE'S CUTE.

She turned off her phone and finished the rest of her paper. If Hannah replied, then Ymir didn't bother to check. She needed to get her worksheet done if she wanted to watch some YouTube videos for a while before going to bed.