(Ticcimask) One In The Same

New Friends

          The cafeteria was bustling and buzzing with; various conversations, kids doodling on the stairway, and last minute study sessions being crammed into notebooks by procrastinators. Toby, was led by Brian and Tim through the maze of tables towards a designated grouping in the far left corner of the hub area. There were three other guys sitting there. Chattering away and surrounded by sheet after sheet of notebook paper. Toby noted that all of them had varying shades of blond hair, much like Brian's, strangely enough.

Upon their approach, the group looked up, pausing from their conversation. They all waved to Brian, who waved back enthusiastically. The jock took it upon himself to introduce the newcomer to his friends once they were all face to face.

"Hey guys, this here's Toby. He's a new sophomore, we just met 'm today."

Toby swallowed his nerves and greeted the new trio, waving softly. "H-hello.."

The blonds just smiled politely in a welcoming manner (not a pitying manner, thank god) and introduced themselves accordingly.

Jay Merrick; Was of average height, most likely an inch over Tim, had the darkest blond (or light brown) hair of the crew. His eyes were rounded and gray-blue colored. He also had a snubbed nose, thin face, and his build was the thinnest– aside from Toby. Most notably, he wore a worn, tan army flat cap.

Alex Kralie; The tallest one of them all, had short blond hair in the style of a mop. A pointed nose, light brown eyes– which were encased by thin framed glasses. He had a rounded and long face, and was slightly toned. He had a certain upward quirk to his lips, giving him a jovial resting face despite how serious and scrunched his eyes were.

Finally, Seth Wilson; He had the brightest and shortest blond hair of the trio and was the second tallest, just two inches above Brian. He had a thin nose, hazel eyes, broad shoulders and well-built like Brian too. He also seemed to be the quietest from what Toby observed, considering that he didn't speak. Only waved, as Brian had to be the one who told Toby his name.

"So," Alex invited, with an equanimous gaze to the smaller boy. "You've been introduced to Brian's persuasive nature and decided to join the public, huh?"

Toby felt himself waiver under such a confident gaze, but managed to keep eye contact with Alex. The perma-smile of his lips threw Toby off, not quite sure if he was being interrogated or just honestly asked a light-hearted question. "Uh.. Gu-ess s-so?" He answered lamely.

Tim seemed to be oddly attuned to what Toby was feeling and offered a conversational detour, away from Toby. "So how's that script coming Alex?" He asked rather smoothly.

Thankfully, Alex took the bait and proceeded to excitedly summarize his latest breakthrough.

The group began to tune out, unbeknownst to Alex, and got settled back into their seating arrangements. The two seniors sat next to each other, adjacent to the blond trio, while leaving Toby with little options as to where he should place himself.

He ended up sitting at the end of the table, next to Tim.

As he situated himself with an air of caution, Toby caught a few words as to what Alex was going on and on about. Distracting himself from the semi-awkward feeling that made his stomach flutter.

It had something to do with the premise of Alex's story being changed from a sitcom-like-comedy, to a coming of age love story about finding oneself. Added in with some other self help cheese that seemed far too camp to be real.

With the way Alex's eyes lit up and the fervent way he emphasized certain words with his hands, told Toby (and everyone else) that no. This was actually something meant to be taken seriously. But only to Alex.

The reactions went as follows; Seth pretended to busied himself, looking through the mess of papers, stacking them up neatly into a folder.