“Victoria!” Nyaira cast a forced smile to her, apparently oblivious to the ice in Alex’s voice. “Such a lovely name!”
	Victoria tried to smile back, but only managed a twitch of her lips. She hated hearing her name coming from that monster’s tongue. Finally, at the mention of their food, she broke her gaze from Nyaira, the burger and mound of fries all but forgotten a moment before. As she stared at the sesame seeds on the bun, a new thought occurred; Alex probably did not know what he was friends with. Most people never did until it was too late. She needed to find a way to tell him, but how, without sounding completely insane, or alerting Nyaira?
	“Oh, [i]of course[/i]!” Nyaira drawled, hanging her head back as if embarrassed. “Lunch! Oh, waitress!” she called to the woman, raising her hand and standing slightly from her seat to get her attention.
	The waitress looked over from giving a receipt to the teenagers, who also turned and all but drooled at Nyaira.
	“Could I get a menu?” Nyaira finished with a sweet, innocent smile Victoria did not buy for a second.
	The waitress blinked dumbly at her a moment, then pointed to the stack of menus at the end of the table. “They’re at your table.”
	“Oh, how silly of me!” Nyaira made a show of reaching across the table and taking a menu.