Gary was eating lunch in the hall, by himself. There had only been one spare table so he'd sat there in order to not annoy anyone. He hadn't made any new friends yet and he was starting to think that he was a little too preoccupied with finding and talking to The Girl. They had only met once and it wasn't like they were instantly going to become friends.
He heard Barry's mocking laugh and turned to look at him. The Girl was sitting next to him, along the other populars that he'd seen in the hall, and a few more. She looked angry or frustrated. He didn't blame her, even though he hadn't even been at the school for a full day, he could already tell that Barry was a jerk. He didn't understand why people would hang out with someone as mean as that. Barry laughed again and rested his arm on The Girl's head, which she then threw off frustratedly and sank back down against the table.
Barry leaned in and talked to the other populars and then shouted. "Hey, what a loser! The new kid is a Billy no mates!" To which lots of people laughed. Gary sighed, trying to ignore all their judgemental gazes. Maybe teenagers really were just mean... Maybe it wasn't entirely his father's fault.
"Barry why do you always have to be such an idiot?!" The Girl asked loudly. Everyone turned back to them, including Gary. Barry scoffed, taking in the attention that she had so nicely brought him.
"It's pronounced genius, dummy." He responded, over exaggerating each syllable of the word, to which she rolled her eyes. "Or is this your messed up way of flirting?" He then added. She scoffed and crossed her arms as her cheeks pinked up, obviously embarrassed.
"Idiot." She muttered under her breath. He rested his arm on her head again and one of the other girls became worried. Gary wondered how The Girl and Barry knew each other. She seemed to hate him.
The bell went and everyone got up and placed their trays at the side of the cafeteria's buffet-like serving hatch. Gary placed his down quickly and rushed through the crowd to find The Girl. Why did she have to be so small?