four. put it on mine !
real life...

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CHRIS HAD TO QUICKLY DROP MOST of his stuff off in his locker before he could head off to lunch. eden followed behind him, fully confused on where she was going the whole time. she would have tried to find her locker to put her things away as well, but she didn't want to waste any unnecessary time when they could be getting their lunches.

"are you not going to put your stuff away?" he asked, looking like she was out of her mind for wanting to carry her stuff around the school for a few extra minutes.

"i don't want to waste time trying to find my locker." she admitted, making him more confused because he didn't understand what time would have been wasted. it would only take them a few minutes to find it.

"why don't you just put it in mine?" the suggestion passed his lips before he could think about it, he really wanted to help her out.

"then we have to go back," she complained, almost dropping her stuff on purpose because she just wanted to go to lunch.

"so? c'mon, it's not that far." he made her turn back around with him so they could make their way back to his locker. it looked like she didn't have much of a choice in the matter anyway.

he grabbed her stuff for her once they got there, placing it on the top shelf. it made her wonder how she could possibly get that down if she needed to, the answer was she wouldn't be able to. there was no way he didn't do that on purpose. maybe he just forgot that short people exist, eden happening to be one of those people.

"let's go." he walked around her to be on the right side of the two.

once they walked into the lunch room, nick and matt were already staring at chris and eden as they walked in. they were ready for the moment and they most likely never let their eyes leave the cafeteria's entrance for a second. chris walked right past them to the lunch line and eden, of course, followed.

"ooh nachos!" eden expressed, getting in front of chris, wanting to be the first to get her food. though, she hadn't thought about how this was her first time going through the the lunch line. chris followed behind her, a tad too closely, and ended up helping her figure out her lunch from there. he was able to let her know what came with it and what costed extra. it was like a little trick they played on the students, trying to get them to spend more than they already were.

once they got to the pay station at the end of the line, eden placed her finger on the print pad. the lady moved her glasses down so she could see over them, "you're not registered here, sweetheart."

the words caught eden off guard. how was she not put in the system for lunch yet? she got here two whole days ago.

"maybe i can just look up your name?" the lunch lady wondered. it looked like she felt bad about it.

the second the girl was asked for her name, it was like her brain was wiped. she couldn't remember what her name even started with for a second. "oh... uh— eden e-d-e-n. baxter, b-a-x-t-e-r."

"yeah not in here. i'm sorry kiddo." the lunch lady shifted her weight onto her arm on the

"just put it on mine, ms. stall." chris said, showing her his plate as well so she'd know how much to take off.

"are you sure?" eden remarked, thinking about how she could easily survive without a lunch. though, it was nacho day and he was just trying to be nice.

"yeah, i'm so sure." a smile crept across his face as they walked away from the paying counter. eden couldn't determine the exact reason but it made her smile right back.

chris led them over to the table they passed
not even five minutes ago. there were a few extra people there that eden hadn't met yet. she could tell who were their school friends verses their long-term friends.

a group of girls continued to talk. they looked like a completely separate group of friends in the way they didn't stop their conversation when chris and eden walked over, like the rest of their group did.

"hi eden!" one of chris's brothers waved at her, the first to acknowledge them. she had a deep feeling it was nick but she couldn't be a hundred percent yet.

"hi!" she said back, not saying a name in fear she would mess it up.

chris shooed his one friend with lightish brown hair, motioning him to scoot over.

the friend responded with a defensive, "why?" then saying, "oh, nevermind," when he saw the girl sit down across from matt and next to chris. in his defense, he thought she wasn't here with chris and was just waiting there for him to move out of her way or something.

"nate, this is eden." the boy's eyes widened at the mention of the name. he was about to go on about how he's already heard so much about her, but a quick look and shake of chris's head forced him to stop.

instead he settled for the, "hi, i'm nate," and in addition to that he held up his hand with a quick wave and a smile.

"it's nice to meet you," eden responded, smiling back at him.

"that's genevieve. we all just call her vie." chris pointed at the girl with the most beautiful red hair who reacted to her name, sitting right next to nick, across from nate.

chris started saying, "umm..." when he stopped his train of thought to see what was happening down past the two he already introduced. he found that they weren't even aware that there was a new person at the table, as they were just talking to each other. "they're... not that important."

"got it," eden noted, picking up a nacho and putting it into her mouth. they were good nachos—for school food that is.

"so, eden... are you planning on going to the dance?" nick leaned slightly over matt to get the girls attention.

"when is it again?" she asked, not caring enough to listen whenever the dance was brought up. she thought she wasn't going, so there was no reason for her to remember anything about it.

"next saturday. we're all going together and we wouldn't be opposed to adding one more to our group."

"yes, please! i don't want to be the only girl anymore." genevieve clapped her hands together, now leaning over towards eden along with nick.

"i don't even have a dress, or a ticket, or shoes and—" she started making excuses, and she wasn't sure why. she loved going to dances and everything but she felt as if she was going to be a burden. even if that wasn't the case, she still felt weird going to a dance for a school she just joined. she expected to have no friends by now so maybe her brain was just tricking her into thinking she shouldn't go?

then nick started making solutions to most of the things she was worried about. "we can take you shopping this weekend? or vie has plenty of dresses you can try on!"

"that i do."

"and i could buy your ticket," chris added, checking off another one of her excuses.

eden could already tell she belonged in this friend group and it put a genuine smile on her face. it was comforting knowing that no matter what she wanted to do at this school, there was a group of people ready to support her.

"okay, ill go. and i'm so down to go shopping." she said excitedly before turning to chris and smiling, "and thank you so much."

"no problem." he smiled back before they both ate away again at their nacho lunches.

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nat's notes !

if ur confused on the seating,

eden , chris , nate
matt , nick , vie

anyways i love how welcoming they
are to eden AHH

<3