CHAPTER FOUR

I get to the cafeteria without any more incidents, thankfully. I stand at the door, looking around the big room. It was louder than I expected it to be.

I see Michael around the center of the room, sitting with Simon and a few other kids I didn't know.

He looks up as if feeling my gaze and I consider looking away because I don't want him to know I've just been standing here staring at him. I'm pretty sure he already thinks I'm pathetic.

He says something to them, something I can't decipher because I'm not good at reading lips, and starts walking towards me.

"There's Mac and cheese, today," he says when he reaches me.

He knows I love Mac and cheese. He's seen me making it a few times in the middle of the night. It's one of the few things he knows about me.

I nod, not knowing how to respond.

He raises his eyebrows, "Don't you wanna get some?"

"Oh, I do." I'm still not moving though. He looks behind me, just as someone slams into my back, causing me to stumble forward. Michael steadies me with hands on my shoulders.

I turn in annoyance to see a tiny girl with braces looking at me with wide eyes.

"Sorry," she mumbles and walks away.

Today was not my day.

"Come on," Michael says, one of his hands still on my shoulder and leads me towards the line.

After we get the food-which takes several minutes because the line was pretty long and the people were moving ridiculously slowly-Michael takes me over to his table and gestures for me to sit at the only empty chair there. It almost seems as if he had prepared it for me though I was not that hopeful. I sit down and look around at the other five people that are sitting there to find all of them staring at me with interest.

"I'm Lia," I tell them breaking the silence.

One of the girls smiles and says, "Hi Lia, nice to meet you. I'm Jordan." I nod at her.

The other girl at the table looks from me to Michael, a look of confusion and maybe betrayal on her face.

"H-how do you and Michael know each other?" I look at her for a moment, confused. Then I look around at the other people at the table to see if they knew why she looked so offended. Two of the guys I didn't know just looked kind of annoyed and Jordan just looked kind of amused. Simon was also sitting at the table but he wasn't looking at the girl.

He and Michael were looking at each other, some kind of weird, silent communication thing happening between them.

Finally, Michael turns to the girl. "We live together," he says and I see Simon trying to stifle a smirk.

The girl blinks rapidly, her face turning pink. I shift in my seat, slightly uncomfortable by the wording. I get the feeling he said it like that on purpose, for reasons I did not understand.

"What do you mean you live together?" she asks, in a tight voice.

He slowly blinks at her, raising his eyebrows. "I mean, my parents adopted her a few months back, therefore we now live together." Okay then. No sugarcoating it, I see.

"Oh," she breathes, the relief audible in her voice. She gives Michael a small smile.

I wait for the others' reaction, but they didn't seem to care, they just looked mildly surprised.

Maybe they knew Sarah and David wanted another kid? But I was still confused as to why they didn't know. Weren't they friends?

Simon rolls his eyes and turns to me "That's Natalie," he tells me. He jerks his head toward a guy sitting between Natalie and Jordan. "That's Matthew. But we call him Matt, he's British."

Now it's Matthew's turn to roll his eyes, "English," he says in a beautiful accent, then smiles at me.

"I was speaking English," Simon says, with mock confusion and Matthew glares at him.

Simon just smirks and gestures to the guy sitting at the end of the table. "And that's Jordan."

I blink, confused. "Isn't she Jordan?" I ask nodding at the girl but she just smiles at me.

"Yes, we're both Jordan," the guy says, rolling his eyes (they roll their eyes a lot). "See, I told you we shouldn't have been friends. It's confusing to people."

"Aww, but what would you do without me?" croons the girl Jordan, looking at the guy Jordan with a mock pouty expression.

"Careful," says Matthew, narrowing his eyes at her.

"Babe, don't be jealous," she says, laying a hand on his arm.

"I'm not jealous, babe, you can't possibly do better than me, and you," he looks at Guy Jordan, "that's why I insisted we call you Guy."

Guy Jordan scoffs. " Why don't we call her 'Girl'?"

"Because you're single," he says, triumphantly, miming a mic drop. Girl Jordan whoops and pecks him on the cheek.

Guy Jordan flicks his eyes at me, his face turning pink. "I- that's- you-" he takes a deep breath. "I don't see how that's relevant," he says finally.

"Exactly," Matthew says, face serious. "Because you're single."

Simon roars with laughter and even Michael's lips twitch.

I really didn't understand what Matthew meant by that but I had to fight to keep myself from smiling because Guy Jordan's reaction was quite hilarious.

"I like Guy," I say quietly before he can retort.

They all look over at me, blinking as if they'd forgotten I was even there. Well, except maybe for Michael. His face reveals nothing.

Then, slowly, Matthew grins at me with straight white teeth. "Thank you," he says, with a small bow of his head, emphasizing the words.

Simon slams his hands at the table making me jump slightly. "It's settled then," he says cheerfully. "You're Jordan, and you're Guy."

"Yay!" Jordan claps loudly, causing people to look over in confusion.

"Thanks a lot," Guy (yes, Guy) glares at me, but I can tell he doesn't mean it.

I bite my lower lip to keep from smiling and he notices and smiles, wide enough for the both of us.

Maybe, just maybe, my school year wasn't going to be completely horrible.