The school's cafeteria was a medium-sized hall with wooden tables that could take up to eight students at a time. Usually, Quinn would sit with his friends on the table closest to the door, but today Quinn was on a table at the back sitting next to Cody whose usual pale colorful face was red. Having slept over meant that Cody stuck around when Quinn got ready for school and tagged along with the boy.

Cody looked stressed. And his eyes were fixated on the plate in front of him as his hands gripped at the cloth of his jeans. He rarely ever visited the cafeteria—he rarely ever went to school at all, so it was strange to be in the sea of students as the smell of food hung in the air. Worst still, people couldn't take their eyes off both of them. Cody wondered if Quinn saw what he saw.

"Are you worried about something?" Quinn asked, cocking his head a bit so that he could look at Cody's face properly.

"N-no, I'm n-not..." Cody trailed, looking up from his plate of beans. His voice was shaky, and the way he twitched when Quinn leaned forward with a frown discounted his words.

"You look uncomfortable," Quinn stated, and Cody shrugged his shoulders.

The fair boy sighed. "People are staring at us," he said, picking up the plastic fork in his tray to poke at the beans.

The crease of Quinn's frown deepened at Cody's words. He looked up, noticing what Cody had said. The whole cafeteria was indeed looking their way. Some people turned away when Quinn turned his gaze to them, but Karl and Lindsey had their eyes still fixed on him and Cody. The confusion was clear on everyone's face. Most people wondered what Quinn was doing with the weird kid that moved around the school building like a ghost. Quinn was known for being barely two meters away from his friend group, and now he was sitting with a kid who was—in kind words—the school's outcast.

Karl turned when Quinn rose a brow at him, but Lindsey continued to stare before she made to whisper into a friend's ear.

"I don't feel very well," Cody admitted. "I don't like being watched." Cody didn't have much time left in school, so he preferred to remain unknown. Having people up in his business was not something he wanted at all.

"Do you want me to leave?" Quinn asked after a while of being silent. There was a sadness in his tone. He didn't want to leave, but if it made Cody uncomfortable he would leave. Cody found himself staring down at his food as he tried to think up an answer to Quinn's proposal. He wanted the staring to stop, but he didn't want Quinn to leave.

"Do what you want," he ended up says before shrugging his shoulders. When Quinn had spotted him the cafeteria and left his friends to join him, Cody had been a bit surprised. Quinn had walked over to him with a smile and offered him food he has watched his mother pack for him as they had left his house together that morning.

Quinn sighed, frustrated. "You should really start saying more of yes or no."

Cody froze up at Quinn's voice, scared that the boy might be angry at him. He looked up, and visibly sighed in relief when he noticed Quinn was smiling at him. "I really don't know. You can leave if you want. I don't want people to give you trouble because of me—"

"I'll stay," Quinn said, cutting Cody off. There were about thirty minutes left for lunch, and Quinn wasn't going to leave the boy alone by himself. Cody was hard to catch in and out of school, and Quinn realized that they might not get to talk to each other for a while if he left now.

Cody blinked, before focusing his gaze on the wooden table. "Okay." The decision Quinn made brought him joy, but he wasn't going to express that to him. Instead, he tried to hide his grin by stuffing more food in his mouth.

Although the cafeteria stared on, Quinn stayed with Cody, easing his anxiousness by talking to the smaller boy. Quinn started a discussion about birds that made the frail boy a fast talker with little breath between his words. Quinn was amused by his excitement.

"You've forgotten about all the staring," Quinn said, and Cody froze up again, looking about the cafeteria before recoiling into himself again.

I shouldn't have said that. Quinn thought, scolding himself. He found it a bit perplexing that Cody seemed so scared. The other kids were just looking because they were curious. It wasn't a death sentence—Quinn would know, he got stared at all the time.

"You can pretend they're all little jaybirds, you know?" Quinn said, and Cody chuckled, looking up again. The talked about jaybirds, and Quinn smiled when he noticed that Cody seemed at ease again. The conversation soon veered towards the comic book Quinn had both for him way back.

"Did you like it?"

"Yeah," Cody said, taking a sip of water from the open bottle on his tray.

There was a pause.

"Did you sneak in just fine?" Quinn asked, starting up another conversation. When they had both left his place, Quinn had to wait for about thirty minutes at a crossroad for Cody to get his stuff from home.

Cody frowned for a bit, swallowing the food in his mouth before his features relaxed when he realized what Quinn must be talking about. "Yeah, I did. I didn't see my brother either."

"That's good to hear," Quinn muttered, resting his head on his raised hands. He had finished his food a while back. His eyes glanced at Cody's plate. It was still half full. Something he had noticed was that the boy was slow with meals. It seemed like he was overwhelmed by them—like he didn't eat much and wasn't used to it.

A smile touched Cody's lips. "Thanks for letting me stay over at your place."

"It's no problem. It was nice to have company as I waited for my parents," Quinn muttered, resting his head on the cool wooden surface of the table as he smiled up at Cody.

"Are your parents always that nice?" Cody asked in a small voice as Quinn closed his eyes and hummed.

"Yes, they're always like that."

I'm jealous. Cody wanted to say, but he didn't want to stir the conversation in an uncomfortable direction. Besides, he didn't want to rant about his mum and brother now. Quinn was being nice to him, but that would be a lot to drop on the boy for no reason.

"Your mum's very good at cooking," Cody said instead, scooping a spoon full of beans.

Quinn chuckled. "Yeah, she is." He drummed a finger on the table, feeling bored. "When you came over you looked at my posters a lot. Do you want any of my records? I have lots of them to share," Quinn said, mentioning the band posters he had up. Cody felt his face warm up. A big part of why he had stared at the walls was because he didn't want to stare at Quinn changing. He had got a glimpse though. His chest was toned, and he had nice legs under the jogging pants he wore every day.

"I like A Dozen Newts, but do you think it's okay if you gave me your stuff like that?" Cody asked, chewing inside his mouth. "I'm wearing your clothes now that I think about it," he added, realizing that Quinn had given him the nice graphic tee and trousers he had on. They were a little too big for him because Quinn was taller and broader, but they were alright.

"Friends share things," Quinn said after a while. "So yeah, it's okay," Quinn said and Cody's face warmed up at that.

The two continued to talk about mundane things. Homework, comic books, and bands. Their discussion was interrupted by a chough that made them both turn their gaze up. Quinn frowned when he realized it was Lindsey. She had an odd smile on her face and was wearing faded blue jeans that she matched with a denim top.

"What do you want?" Quinn asked when she didn't say anything after a while. She cocked her head to the side, making her braids fall in that direction as well. She was squinting at them both.

The girl shrugged, folding her hands over her chest as her eyes flickered form Quinn to Cody. "Nothing, I just came to take a closer look."

Cody, feeling uncomfortable looked away from her to stare at Quinn. Cody began to wonder if he was now in the middle of a lover's quarrel. Quinn never told him if he said yes or no to Lindsey asking him out. He looked over at her, wondering if she was the person Quinn was dating. He had seemed worried when they had talked about it at the basketball court, but maybe the two had sorted things out. Cody thought Quinn had to be dating someone, girls were always flocking about him, so it only made sense.

Lindsey was also very pretty.

She was 5'0 feet of manic pixie dream girl. That's what the girls were into these days—or at least that's the impression, Cody.

Quinn let out a sigh before looking down at his plate. "Well then, have a long hard look." Cody frowned, wondering if there was something he didn't know.

After a while, Lindsey did leave, but she didn't go without making a blowing motion with her hands as she sucked on her cheeks. Quinn didn't seem to notice, but Cody felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured on him.

Does she know I like him? Cody thought to himself, making his hands into fists in attempts to stop them from shaking. The possibility made him nervous. He didn't know what would happen if Quinn knew. He didn't want to let go of his new friend.