Tyler had finally put the candy in his mouth, his lips spreading into a small smile when he realized it was his favorite flavor, watermelon. It had been nice of the boy to notice that he was nervous and give him the lollipop. When Tyler was nervous, he usually took to one of several habits in an attempt to distract himself from the feeling, whether it be picking at his nails, biting the inside of his cheek, or idly scratching his arms. The taste of the candy in his mouth was able to distract him just as well as any of those methods. Not particularly looking for the boy who had given him the candy, Tyler found himself looking around the auditorium as he listened to his brother and Alyssa talk.

[i]"Unless he doesn't like speaking to people?"[/i]

The comment caught Tyler's attention, though he kept looking around the auditorium as if he hadn't heard it. He wanted to interject, defend himself, tell her that it wasn't that he didn't like talking to people, but he was just terrified of saying the wrong thing or being a bother to anyone. But the conversation was already moving on, and it wasn't like Tyler would've worked up the courage to say any of those things anyway. He bit down on the candy a little harder and returned his gaze to his lap, hating that he couldn't just talk the way everyone else did. Undiagnosed social anxiety be damned. 

Evan listened as Alyssa talked about her love for dancing, happy that she would be in Performing Arts with him. "Wow, it's really admirable that you've stuck with dancing all these years," he commented. One of his older sisters, the one he had grown closest to before she went off to college, had been into dancing at one point. She was one to take up a hobby, dabble in it for a while, then grow bored of it and move on. She had taught him to play piano and cook when she was interested in those things, and they were two things Evan still very much enjoyed doing. "I'm taking Performing Arts too, though I'm in it for the theater. I was in a lot of plays in middle school and my first year of high school, but then I started to move around a lot and couldn't join any theater programs. Until now, that is. And I'm taking Home Ec. as well."

Evan had just finished speaking when someone new approached the group, claiming to be the one who had given Tyler the lollipop. Tyler looked up at the familiar voice, a light blush staining his cheeks again when he spoke directly to him. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't think, um." He looked back down, not sure how to go on. He wanted to thank Jeremy properly, wanted to mention that it was his favorite flavor, but he just didn't know how. 

Luckily, Evan had plenty of practice covering for Tyler's lack of conversation skills and picked up where he had left off. "That's my fault, actually," he said with short laugh. "I got the thought in his head. My name's Evan Lance, Section A, and he's my brother, Tyler, Section B." He smiled at Jeremy and held out his hand. "So, are you the school's resident Candy Dealer?"