Natasha anticipated that she and Liam would have a rumor once the others saw them together and link it with the photos of her and Baker. She had no control over what would happen, so she would just mind her business like the usual. She knew the truth, so she had no reason to fret the baseless rumors.
She opened the sliding door of the classroom. She didn't expect Liam would be earlier than her.
"Liam?" she blinked.
Liam beamed and waved his right hand. "Yo, Natasha."
"You're earlier than usual," she noticed.
Liam chuckled dryly. "It sounds like you're telling me that you're used to seeing me getting late."
She giggled. "You're overacting, Liam. I mean you're early, but others are usually earlier than you, so it's unusual that you're earlier than the rest."
"I think you should start to get used to it," Liam smiled.
"All right," she took note of that.
She hooked her backpack on the hook of her desk and then she sat down on her chair. She yawned and then stretched her arms. She thought that she should eat something sweet, so she could fight back the drowsiness.
"Did you sleep well?" Liam offered her a sachet of M&M's. "I think you need this."
She was surprised that Liam offered a sachet of M&M's. "Is it all right? It's an M&M's, you know."
She was used to eating a less known brand of candies or chocolates.
Liam nodded. "It's all right, Natasha. I have a lot of those at home."
"I can accept this," she accepted the sachet of M&M's. "But I want to return something, so you better not refuse that."
Liam smiled. "Sure. I'll wait for that."
She opened the sachet and then ate the color blue M&M's. She smiled once the chocolate melted in her mouth. She pondered what she should give to Liam later as a return for giving her a sachet of M&M's.
She thought that it would be shallow if she would just purchase something and give it to Liam, so she decided that she should give him baked cookies as a return instead. In that way, she would thank Liam for being her friend and giving her a sachet of M&M's.
**
Liam thanked the Heavens that the first half of the classes were over, so it was time for lunchtime. He couldn't talk to Natasha that much around class time because she was too enthusiastic and concentrated on the lessons.
He didn't have a packed lunch, so he would invite her to eat at the canteen. He stood up from his seat once he was done placing his notes and books under his desk.
"Do you have a packed lunch, Natasha?" he asked.
Natasha nodded and then showed her packed lunch to him. "I have."
"It's a shame Mom's in a hurry on her way at work and didn't cook something for us," he recalled that he had to wake up his mother or else his mother would be late for work.
Natasha translated that as he didn't have a packed lunch. "So you want me to accompany you eat to the cafeteria for short?"
He chuckled. "That sums it up!"
"Sure. I don't mind," Natasha wanted to see the cafeteria for the second time.
She saw the cafeteria once when she toured around the school the first time she came to the school to apply as a transfer student. She ate all alone at the roof or bench where the silence was, but she got excited going to the cafeteria today because she had someone whom she could call a friend.
Natasha stood up from her seat while holding her packed lunch and went to walk together with him.
He and Natasha didn't exactly hear the buzz of others, but both of them were aware that the others were giving them a stare and discussing their assumptions of what happened between them. He wasn't surprised this would likely happen because the others were used of Natasha acting aloof and it didn't certainly help when the photos of Natasha and someone whom he wasn't familiar with surfaced at the Smith Secret Files.
It didn't take them long to reach the cafeteria.
"Sit where you want to," he didn't mind where would Natasha sit. "I'll go ahead and get something to eat—"
"Is it all right if I can accompany you instead of waiting?" Natasha didn't want to wait all alone and then the others would look at her. "I'm... uncomfortable, so can I?"
He didn't want to make her feel uneasy, so he would agree. "Of course, you can, Natasha."
Natasha was glad that she had a friend in the school who understood her.
He wanted to know Natasha better, so he would start to ask her what was he curious about while waiting for his turn to get his cafeteria lunch.
"I'm curious," he started. "Who cooked your packed lunch, Natasha? Is it someone else? Family? Or you?"
"It's all of me," Natasha answered. "When I wake up earlier than Mum or Pops, I cook my packed lunch."
He found that incredible. "So you must be a talented cook. Great."
Natasha chuckled. "You think so? I learned it from Pops, so I guess Pops gets the credit."
"So your father—" he didn't get to finish what he had to tell.
"Look what we have here," Lawrence intruded in the conversation of Liam and Natasha. "The Queen of Liar and her... um, second option, I guess?"
He held the right shoulder of Natasha. "What is it you, Senior Lawrence?"