"Uhm, hi?" Mia greeted in a suspicious tone, raising an eyebrow at him.
"What?" Michael asked innocently.
"What are you doing here? Where are *your* friends?" said Austin, his eyes squinted. This uncalled hostility would have made me defend Michael if it weren't for the fact that I myself couldn't help but believe there was some sort of ulterior motive to his sudden friendliness.
"Seriously?" Michael challenged. "Are we in high school still? I'm not allowed to hang out with people outside my group?"
"It's not that, Michael," I said. "It's just, you're not a particularly friendly guy, and you've never approached us first, so…"
Michael had turned to me as I spoke, eyeing the bruise above my right eye. He ignored what I told him and instead—with an unbelievably coquettish voice, mind you—said, "Hey, Shiner," before winking at me.
