Things were actually progressing really smoothly for Jeffrey. He had a pleasant conversation over lunch with Samantha and Preston.
"So I talked with Samantha and after a quick discussion we agreed to invite Dresden to our project", Jeffrey announced
Samantha nodded her head eating the school lunch.
Preston smiled, "awesome, he's really good with numbers and talking to people. He's got a lot of high math grades and tests in Mr. Alistar's class. Plus he's also in the algebra honors class"
Samantha swallowing her food added, "He usually hangs out with the 7th graders since his older brother has a lot of friends in 8th grade and some high schoolers."
"Wow he sounds pretty amazing. Well I'm glad he's going to be joining us", Jeffrey said eating a cold chicken sandwich.
Samantha was chewing on the chicken wrap, while Preston had a few chicken drumsticks with seasoning on it.
"So" *Smphf* *Bork* *NARF* *CHOMF*
Jeffrey and Samantha started at Preston aggressively biting into his food attacking it as if he was a crow.
"Preston could you be any more undignified", Jeffrey mentioned.
"Yeah finish eating before you talk. Do you always have to eat so quickly", Samantha added
Preston continued eating, "So" *hampf* "My parents always eat really quickly and I don't like to be alone at the dinner table", he said taking a deep breath before continuing to inhale food.
Samantha and Jeffrey waited until he finished eating.
"I'm done", Preston announced 5 minutes later with an empty container.
Jeffrey looked away, but remained in his seat. Embarrassed to be seated next to him Samantha wisely headed to the girls restroom to salvage whatever reputation she had sitting next to the two boys.
"Go knock on the girls restroom or ask one of your friends to get Samantha", Jeffrey said to Preston.
Preston walked up to Jessica and whispered something to her after a short conversation. Jessica walked away and returned with Samantha. Samantha was sitting on a bench under the shade of the trees eating with some other girls nearby.
The kids there had some chalk and were drawing and scribbling on the concrete and sidewalk areas. There were a few art styles, some painters drawing flowers and hopscotch squares.
Samantha returned to her spot at the lunch table.
"Hey Samantha", Jeffrey waved her back
Samantha looked at Preston and Preston looked back.
In a silent manner and language they said something along the lines of.
"Did you really have to eat like that", Samantha had a disapproving look on her face and pouted.
Preston placed to hands in front of him as if to say, "I'm innocent. No one else seems very bothered"
Samantha looked angry, "That's because they're not with you"
Preston gave Samantha a smile and waved his hand to the side, "It's fine, no big deal"
Samantha spoke, "No biggie!? NO BIGGIE? Preston it's a pretty big deal. Don't you no biggie me."
Jeffrey at this moment decided to step in and break up all their gesturing, miming, and facial expressions. Jeffrey had absolutely no idea how they invented it, there were a few pig latin speakers, some Spanish and French speakers, maybe a rare Korean or Chinese kid. Jeffrey once met some exchange students who could speak Kushion!, esperanto, and Leet speak.
However their silent language was on a whole nother level almost as if it drew upon ASL (american sign language), drama summer camp, and some clowning around and miming at the fair. Jeffrey had his suspicions of what they were up to last summer, but he still had difficulty trying to understand their weird language.
Reading lips was much easier to understand in comparison.
"So uh, back to Preston's friend Dresden Poincaire?", Jeffrey offered.
Preston picked up where the conversation left off.
"Yeah, Well I'm happy he's going to be joining us. He's really enthusiastic about our project", Preston continued
Samantha still had a sharp glare, but realizing Preston was ignoring her moved on.
"Let's just get our part done, if he wants to promote the project I don't have a problem with it. We can focus on our presentation", Samantha suggested her teeth still slightly clenched from displeasure.
"Sounds good to me", Preston agreed.
"One last thing, two actually", Jeffrey brought up.
"Samantha and I wanted to meet up on Saturday if that's ok with you?", Jeffrey asked
Preston nodded and Jeffrey continued.
"We'll have to discuss a few things. Samantha mentioned that she would help Dresden talk to some of her friends as well since he's really good at talking to people", Jeffrey offered.
Seeing as it was Jeffrey that brought it up he didn't have any complaints about it.
"Well that's about all the really important stuff we have to talk about over lunch anything else you guys like to mention", Jeffrey looked at both of them.
Preston and Samantha shook their heads.
"Actually I did have one thing. Hey Jeffrey did you hear about what happened in...", Preston started before Samantha chased him off topic by hitting him with her fists.
"Ouch that hurts Samantha", Preston said trying to get a word in.
"Shut up Preston", Samantha said beating their project partner up.
Jeffrey thought it was a pretty good place to finish. This whole thing felt like an informal work lunch, with their friendship mixed in. Life was pretty fun and exciting, with just the right amounts of uneventfulness to be relaxed, but not bored.
Off in the distance a few of the band kids were practicing music together blowing on their horns, trumpets, and saxophones.