From Tutoring, to Friendship, to More...

Chapter 15: First Lunch as Friends

     The following Monday was pretty much like any other high school Monday. Students came walking in with dower looks on their faces as they started yet another week cramped together. The events of last week were still very fresh in people's minds, so there were a few stares directed at Delilah as she and Bowen walk to their lockers.

"Looks like your popularity hasn't dwindled much," Bowen chuckled.
"Oh god, please shut the fuck up," Delilah groaned as she opened her locker. "This isn't exactly the kind of popularity I wanted."
"I bet tons of our classmates see you as a hero," he smirked. "No doubt plenty wanted to do the same."
"I won't lie and say it didn't feel pretty fucking amazing," she chuckled. "Because it totally fucking did!"
"So embrace that shit!" he exclaimed with a wink. "I bet Beaker and his group of friends found it amazing. Oh, that's right, they invited you into their fold. So it's your friends too!"
"Oh yeah," she sighed with a smile. "I nearly forgot."
"That you've been embraced by a gaggle of geeks?" he grinned widely. "On of whom you're totally crushing..."
"Ok, enough!" she exclaimed, putting her hand on his mouth. "You might be my bestie, but don't think for a moment I wouldn't gut you like fish if you tell anyone about that! Understand!?"
Her eyes were wide open and filled with crazy rage. Bowen nodded slowly and she took her hand off his mouth.
"Good," she sighed. "Now let's get these early classes over with."
     "Excited about lunch?" he smirked.
     "Don't push your luck, Chang!" she exclaimed, blushing slightly. "Even though I actually am exited! It's my first lunch with Beaker! It's just as friends, yet I can't help but feel fucking giddy about it! Shit, this is embarrassing!"

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     Little did Delilah know, Ion was also excited about their first lunch together as friends. Like her, he was trying to act like it wasn't a big deal. Like Bowen, Randy was teasing him about it.
"Someone's certainly in a good mood today," Randy smirked.
"I can't be in a good mood?" Ion asked, arching an eyebrow.
"On a Monday morning, at school?" Randy retorted, also arching an eyebrow.
"It was a good weekend," Ion. "Shit! I shouldn't have said that! Now he's gonna say it has to do with Delilah hanging with us!"
"Because of a certain someone who hung out at your place that night?" Randy asked with a giant smirk.
     "Shut the fuck up, dude," Ion groaned. "Of course he hit the nail on the fucking head!"
     "Hey, relax, buddy," Randy grinned. "You'll see her at lunch! And I bet she's excited too!"
     "I really want something bad to happen to you now," Ion retorted in a deadpan manner. "I fucking hate how he can read me at times! Just stay cool! Don't act like it's a big deal that one of the most beautiful girls in school is gonna have lunch with you later!"

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     The first half the day went by a lot quicker than expected for Ion and Delilah. They didn't share every class with their respective best friends, but when they did they definitely got some teasing.

Once they got to the cafeteria, the atmosphere was a bit awkward. They all stood there for a moment in silence near an empty table.
"Hello," Ion greeted Delilah.
"Hey," Delilah greeted back.
"Pleased to meet you properly," Bowen interrupted the awkward, yet cute moment, stretching out his hand for a shake. "Bowen Chang. Delilah's bestie in the whole world."
"Oh, yeah. Hello," Ion replied, shaking his hand. "Ion Bleaker. Guess you already knew that."
"Del talks about you a lot," Bowen winked.
"Holy shit," groaned Delilah.
"Can we finish this introductory shit at the table?" Mal interjected. "I'd rather eat my cafeteria food while it's a warm glob, rather than a cold one."
"That seems reasonable," Bowen agreed.

They all took their seats, with Ion and Delilah sitting opposite each other, their respective best friends next to them.
"Ok, so I think I've been familiarized with everyone here," said Bowen, pointing to each person. "Randy Jennings. Malena "Mal" Morrison. Benjamin "Benji" Sanchez. Aldo Ricci." All simply nodded to show her was correct, the rest still being unaware of Bowen's chats with Randy. "Del mentioned how much fun she had at Beaker's with you guys Saturday night."
     Delilah blushed slightly.
     "We figured she'd brag about it," Mal smiled proudly. "We're a fun group of mother fuckers. It was also nice to have such a fine looking maiden in our presence. Well, besides yours truly, of course. But, you know, they see me all the time."
     "Oh, you are just amazing!" Bowen exclaimed.
     "Tell me something I don't know," Mal retorted with a wink.
"I think I love you!" Bowen exclaimed.
"Everyone does," Mal shrugged.
     "Last thing Mal needs is an ego boost," Randy chuckled.
     "I can't help being this awesome," Mal smirked. This made everyone at the table laugh.

     "Wow, this is going way better than I expected," thought Delilah. "I don't really get how people as nice as them get treated so poorly by others classmates. I mean, I wasn't exactly super friendly at first, but I never went out of my way to make anyone feel bad."

     "Well, would look at this shit right here," snickered an all too familiar voice.
     Chaz was standing at the end of the table, a big smirk plastered on his face. Some of his fellow jocks were with him.
     "Only been a week since I dump you," Chaz went on. "And the mighty Delilah Gellar and her good buddy Bowen Chang are cozied up with Beaker and his gaggle of geeks." This remark got his friends laughing, they were always willing to kiss his ass.
     "I wasn't aware Beaker was in charge," commented Randy.
     "Name brand recognition," Mal pointed out. "His name sticks out in their feeble minds more."
     "Fair enough," Randy shrugged.

     Chaz was clearly annoyed that his presence wasn't causing any discomfort towards anyone besides Delilah. Ion definitely noticed Chaz smirking at her discomfort. He was definitely one to avoid confrontation, but he couldn't stand seeing his friends being messed with, even if they were new ones. Plenty of other students began looking their way, it was pretty much impossible not to notice.

"So, I guess this where you'll be from now on," Chaz smirked.
"With a group of totally awesome human beings?" Mal retorted, arching an eyebrow. "By the way, Chazzy, I noticed you still got a bit of limp from where this badass babe kicked you straight in the stones. Bet it stings when it rains."
"Who said you could talk, ya fucking midget bitch!" Chaz exclaimed.
Suddenly, everyone sitting at that table was dead silent and not moving a muscle. Delilah and Bowen showed clear concern.
"What's going on?" Delilah asked. "They look like a gun went off..."
"Don't speak," Ion answered in a whisper. "Stay as still as fucking humanly possible."

Ion motioned his eyes to Chaz's location. Delilah looked and saw that Mal was already standing right in front of him. She had a look Delilah had never seen before. The usually cool and relaxed Mal was now giving off a stare so intense, you'd swear it could burn through things.

Malena "Mal" Morrison is a tiny girl. She stands at 5ft 2in tall, often wearing black combat boots with 3in soles. She pretty much always had a hoodie of some kind on (sporting some kind of pop culture reference), with bits of pink hair sticking out, and some kind of plaid skirt to complete the look. But, what she lacks in size, she more than makes up for it in confidence; and she oozed that. She was also known for a quick joke and a relaxed attitude. You never ever wanted to get on her bad side. Chaz Freeman just got on her bad side.

Chaz was your typical tall jock. He stood 6ft 4in tall, more than 1ft taller than Mal, plus he was broadly built. And yet, at this very moment, the way he was looking at Mal, you'd swear he'd suddenly shrunk and got smaller than her. All that could be heard was some murmuring from other tables. Nobody could predict what would happen.

"I'm sorry, I must've misheard you," Mal finally spoke, a wide smile appearing on her face. "What did you say to me just now?"

Chaz seemed aware that his options were extremely limited at this point. He could either repeat what he said, thus risking even more grievous bodily harm than was dealt to him last week. He could simply apologize. Sincere or not wouldn't matter to Mal, she'd still be the victor in this scenario, having stood up to the mighty Chaz Freeman. He could feign ignorance, acting as if he'd said nothing at all. Either way, Chaz wasn't winning this.

"N-n-nothing," he finally spoke, then making an audible gulp. "I said... nothing..."
"Well, ok then," Mal replied in a sweet yet still terrifying tone. "You might wanna eat your food before it gets cold."
Chaz didn't say anything, he just walked off to a table, his jock buddies following. Mal took a deep sigh and sat back down. While the rest of the table went back to normal, Delilah and Bowen were still in slight shock.
      "Holy shit!" Bowen exclaimed. "What the hell was that!?"
     "You just witnessed Mal showing off some dark energy," Randy explained with a smirk. "Pray to whatever deity you believe in that you'll never be the cause of it."
     "I didn't think I could love you any more!" Bowen exclaimed with a wide grin.
     "They never do," Mal shrugged as she took in a large chunk of her lunch.

     Delilah and Ion gave each other some glances, both smiling and chuckling at what just happened. Delilah knew now for sure that she had zero regrets befriending this ragtag group of misfits.

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Notes: New chapter! Woot! I hope y'all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing! I also hope you liked more of the group dynamic, especially with Bowen thrown in.

Thanks for reading! ^__^