“Of course my name is Jocelyn. Who else do you think he was talking to? A little slow on the uptake, aren’t you.” She snapped, her annoyance over being the center of attention displayed clearly on her face in a deep scowl. Having everyone staring at her wasn’t something that she was interested in repeating, and if she was going to have to endure the looks of her classmates in the future, she would stop talking to Tora all together to save herself the hassle of rumors that were completely untrue. She doubted that he would care about having her name paired with his, especially since he was the new kid and didn’t know many other people, and from what she had seen, he hadn’t attempted to try and meet anyone else. He spent their entire class time harassing her, and not even bothering to interact with anyone else. If she had been a normal, teenage girl, she might have been flattered over it, but being who she was, Jocelyn was nothing but weary about it. She had to watch herself, and keep an appropriate amount of distance between herself and Tora.

She didn’t linger long enough for the conversation to continue past confirming her name was Jocelyn. The moment the bell rang she was off to her keyboarding class which she sat through in a daze. The other kids in the class could type away like they were experts, probably because they spent most of their time online or on a computer, while Jocelyn only used her laptop whenever she had an assignment. She still had to hunt and peck through the keys in order to type out a sentence. She was the slowest person in her class, but considering the other electives she had to choose from, this had seemed like the less invasive and the one with the least amount of work. She didn’t score very well, but her teacher always passed her for at least putting forth some effort, which she did. In this class she didn’t have to deal with other people. She could sit behind her computer, and not say a word to anyone all period and they wouldn’t even notice her. Once the class was over it was lunchtime, which meant a forty five minute time period where she only had to deal with Tony, who was the only person outside her aunt and brother that she could tolerate.

As usual, her friend was waiting at the entrance of the cafeteria for her, his fingers hooked around the straps of his backpack as he fidgeted anxiously in the doorway. Once she approached he wheeled on her, bombarding her with a half dozen questions in a single breath. “Is it true? Were you really flirting with the new kid? How come I’ve never seen you flirt with anyone before? Do you like him? I honestly thought you were a lesbian.” Tony blurted out breathlessly, his eyes wind and observing as he stared down at her. “Hold the hell up! Can I at least get some food first before you start overwhelming me with questions?” He shrugged, but led the way to inside the cafeteria, only pausing to grab a tray, which Jocelyn mimicked immediately afterwards. She didn’t go for any of the slop they served, instead she grabbed an apple, an orange, and a bowl of red jello. “Are you ever going to eat normal food?” Tony inquired, filling his own tray up with a cheeseburger and fries, along with a bag of chips. “This is normal food. Are you ever going to stop clogging your arteries with enough cholesterol to kill an elephant?” Tony smirked, and shrugged his shoulder. “I need the calories.” Rolling her eyes she shoved her tray forward to pay for her food and move off to go find a table for them to sit at.

They were seated, Jocelyn digging into her jello while Tony began to smother his hamburger roll with ketchup and mustard. “Are you ever going to answer my questions?” Pausing mid-bite, she peered over at her friend, but before she could answer, Tora made his appearance, drawing both of their attention onto him. She watched as Tony eyed the other boy up curiously, tensing at the mention of him being her boyfriend. Before he could respond, she was quick to answer in her usual, snippy tone. “What’s the matter? Jealous?” 

Tony glanced between her and Tora, a grin stretching across his lips as he took in Jocelyn’s demeanor and responses. She didn’t give anyone the chance to interrupt, starting in on Tora again. “Who said you could sit here? I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing you again. Why are you here anyway? Afraid you might embarrass yourself if you open your mouth around anyone else?” She would have enjoyed lunch a lot more if she wasn’t forced to deal with Tora, and now that he was sitting at her lunch table, he was only going to keep the rumors going. Tony on the other hand wasn’t about to let Jocelyn scare him off, his curiosity sparked by the offhanded way his friend was talking to the new kid. “Don’t mind her. She gets edgy when she’s not allowed to go outside at lunch time.” Her mouth snapped open, eyes widening and swiveling over to glare at her friend, who looked smug as he took a bite of his burger. She would have huffed and began to argue that she was not annoyed because she wasn’t outside, but that she did not want Tora to sit with them, but the more she argued against his placement at their table, the more it would draw attention. Instead she began to eat her jello, her shoulder shrugging with indifference. “Sit wherever you want. I’m out of here in five minutes anyway.”