Chapter 7- Nincompoop

Frustrated, I turned to the only male sitting at our table at that moment. "Hey, Charlie. Would you help me out here, please?"

Charlie stopped chewing one of his chicken tenders and looked at me with his mouth full, nervousness and a little bit of astonishment showing on his face.

"Wha-" He stopped himself and coughed, before swallowing the rest of his probably not fully chewed food.

"Oh, sorry", I said to him "You can finish your food." I laughed, giving him a gentle tap on the shoulder.

"No," He cleared his throat, "It's alright." He told me with a smile, matching my own. "Um, how can I help you exactly?" He asked me shyly, glancing at the others.

"Well, since you're a boy yourself, you could tell these people that, one: I'm not that pretty, and two: Collin doesn't have a crush on me."

"Uh, I-" He began stammering "I mean," He seemed desperate now, looking for words to answer me. How hard was it? All he had to do was repeat to them what I had just told him. "Well, you are-"

"That's okay, Charlie. Just repeat to them what I said, but with conviction." I whispered in his ear, still smiling.

He looked at me with wide eyes for a moment, (a little longer than what I would consider normal, but okay) and proceeded to do what I had asked him to.

"She- uh, she's not that pretty," He said in an almost inaudible voice, alternating his gaze from the girls to the table and me. Oh my, I shouldn't have done this to him. He's even blushing! I was well aware of the fact that he was really shy and didn't interact with people very often, unless needed, and that it was hard for him to socialize. That's why I often tried and brought him in to the conversation, regardless of the topic. I wanted him to feel like he belonged with us, to feel like he fit in. And little by little, he really was opening up more and speaking more. Well mostly to me, but that also counts as progress, right?

"And... And Collin doesn't, uh-" he continued, fidgeting with his fingers, his gaze fixed on them.

"You know what, Charlie?", I cut in, in an at attempt to spare him from getting more embarrassed and awkward, "Forget about it, I don't think they'll change their minds, anyway. Such stubborn people..." I tsked, shaking my head at them.

"You didn't have to bring Charlie into this." Darcy rolled her eyes.

"Why not? I like to hear his opinions. Besides, he is a boy and has a different perspective from us." I told her, then shot him a smile, getting a tight one from him in response.

"Okay, whatever." Kathy piped in, waving us off, "It doesn't really matter, because Collin likes you, period." I rolled my eyes once again as she smugly crossed her arms. "You should be feeling lucky that-"

"Heeey, y'all! What is up?!" Nick, the stupid one of the table- okay, that's mean. The not so clever or hard-working student barged in, slumping on the empty chair next to Darcy. "Hey, honey bear. I missed you." He said, his tone matching that of an old lady talking to a cute toddler, leaning closer to Darcy and puckering up his lips, about to give her a peck, when she harshly pushed his face away with her hand, making the others and me hold in a laugh.

"Nick, I already told you not to call me that."

"But babe, I didn't see you all day." He whined, pouting. "Don't you miss your pumpkin? I'm sure you-"

"Nick, I'm eating. And don't nickname yourself a pumpkin."

Hm, isn't it interesting how his name's Nick, which is also a verb and a noun? I bet he never thought of that before.

"I've never even called you that." She continued, holding out her hand in front of his face interrupting whatever he was about to say.

I laughed a little, feeling a bit sorry for him, but that didn't stop me from thinking further.

'I nicked myself on the wrist'. 'He was nicked by the street punks'. I tried the word, laughing to myself as I did it in a British accent just for emphasis. Yes, I'm weird.

"Aw, hey Darce. Don't you think that was a little harsh on our Nicky here?" Joey asked approaching our table, with his hand wrapped tightly around Avery's waist.

I couldn't help but smile at them. They were such a cute couple, and to see her happy like that just for being on his hold made me happy too.

Darcy's reply was an eye roll. I just wasn't sure if it was directed to Joey or Nick, or maybe both. Either way, she ended up not resisting and cracked a smile at her silly boyfriend, who just pulled her closer to him by putting an arm around her shoulder.

"Hey, you guys. How's it going?" Avery greeted sitting on a chair Joey had kindly pulled for her, next to me.

"Hey. You guys took a while. Everything alright?" I asked her, handing each of them a tray of food I had gotten for them earlier, seeing that they were going to come late to lunch.

"Yeah, just Mr. Myers dismissing us late again." She shrugged, then shared a look of agreement with her boyfriend. "Oh, thanks for grabbing lunch for us." She added smiling at me, being followed by Joey.

"No problem." I replied with a smile too. Then we all resumed to a conversation of whatever topic there was to talk about in school, and I was happy they had forgotten about the Collin Benson matter.

After a while of us just chatting, laughing and catching up with each other, I perked up, seeing that everyone had finished their food and took a tupperware out of my bag to open it in front of them.

"So guys, I brought some cookies. My mom got a little carried away when making the batch and ended up with more than she needed." I declared, placing the recipient in the middle of the table and observed as everyone's eyes widened and they started licking their lips.

Feeling pleased after seeing everyone grab a cookie (and Nick three), I explained the flavors of each.

"Hmm, this is heavenly. Your mom's the best, Donny." Kathy praised, making me laugh.

"Yeah, how can she make all this fancy stuff at home?" Nick asked with his mouth full, causing a few fugitive cookie crumbs to find their way back into the light and land on the table's surface. Gross.

"Well, we do have an industrial oven at home, so..." I explained.

"What was the order this time? Something big?" Avery inquired eating a meringue cookie, her eyebrows furrowed together in curiosity.

"Not so much of a big order. It was just a regular number cake."

"Oh. So you got to rest a bit from that huge Monday order?"

"Yeah, thank God." I said, letting out a big, dramatic sigh. Monday was indeed tough. I went to sleep at almost 5 A.M. just to finish my part on the cake. And that's because I had school the next day. Mom and Dad on the other hand, didn't get any sleep at all until it was ready to deliver, at 7 A.M. of Tuesday. Sometimes the life of a confectioner is not as sweet as sugar, ironically.

Avery chuckled, "Well, that's good. You looked a little worn out yesterday."

"A little worn out?" Nick snorted, scoffing. "She looked like a dead zombie that's been run over several times by a truck loaded with lead." He finished, bursting out laughing.

I could see from the corner of my eye that Joey was trying hard to suppress a laugh, making me fuming mad on the inside. Idiotic imbeciles.

Avery took notice of that and elbowed his side, before quickly replying to Nick, "Well, at least she doesn't look like that all the time, unlike you, who looks like the Hulk just grazed your face back and forth on the asphalt every single morning. And zombies are dead already, you dumbass." She paused, before adding a "Sorry, Darce." I smiled at her attempt to stand up for me.

Joey snorted and Darcy burst out laughing, "Man, that was dope!" She said, high fiving Avery from across the table. Dope. I hate that word.

"Babe!" Nick whined like a little five year old, except he is way more infantile than one.

"Oh, shut up. You deserved that for being an ass." She answered, making him pout and cross his arms, slumping deeper in his seat. What a baby.

"Hey, Nicky." Joey called, staring at his phone. "I'm looking up some cream brands for that burn Avery just gave you. Wanna check the prices?" He mocked, smirking at the clown.

If I weren't mad at him too, I'd probably laugh.

Nincompoop.