"So like I was saying," Ethan began with his mouth full of food. He paused momentarily just so he could chew obnoxiously in both, mine and Barbara's faces before continuing. "Don't you think it's insane how she named her son that? Might as well have named him iguana."

I was about to respond, when I spotted Alexandria in the corner of the cafeteria. My words immediately halted in my throat and I was left looking like a fish out of water. Ethan glanced over at me from the corner of his eye and tossed an apple at me, which I thankfully caught before it could smack me right on my face.

"What's this for?" I questioned, looking over at him with a raised brow.

"I heard that apples quench thirst," he whispered lowly. "And I don't know about you, but I can sense your thirst from all the way over here."

I snorted and resisted the urge to dropkick him in the jaw before taking a bite out of the apple and gagging immediately after, "Why does this taste like fart?"

"How do you know what fart tastes like?" Ethan retorted. "Anyway, did Alexandria ever confront you about the letter?"

"No," I began. "I was planning on leaving another one at her locker today. I wrote it out and everything."

"Cool, cool," Ethan began, pushing his tray of food away. "What does it say?"

"I just wrote down my feelings for her again- in more detail this time," I began. "And I asked her to write back to me after she reads the letter. I even mentioned my locker number. I hope it doesn't backfire this time."

"Let's hope the dude from earlier won't get to the letter before she does," he nodded in response before looking over at Barbara. He tossed a crumpled up piece of tissue at her, which smacked her right on her forehead, "Oi, Barbie. You've been awfully quiet this entire time. Anything bothering you?"

"Yeah," I noted as she looked up at us with a raised brow. "You've been on your phone the entire day. Are you texting Hailey?"

"Oh, yeah um-," she stuttered, setting her phone face-down on the table. "Sorry. Hailey was just telling me about her volleyball coach, that's all."

"Mrs. Carson?" Ethan began with a hum. "God, I hate that bitch."

"Why? What did she ever do to you?" I questioned. 

"Don't even get me started," he huffed in response. I could almost see the smoke blowing out of his nose and ears as if he were a cartoon character. "Last year I tried out for the volleyball team. I spent hours learning how to do the jump-serve on Wikihow and I demonstrated it on the field. She said I did it completely wrong and took the ball from me and said 'this is how you do it' and she ended up smacking the ball right on my fucking face. I broke my nose in twenty different places that day."

I snickered quietly, "I remember that. Your nose was all patched up and you couldn't play basketball either because of that."

"It's not funny," he huffed in response. "And this other time she caught me eating fries in the corner of the sports hall by myself and she yelled at me as if I'd slaughtered her entire family. Anyway, she ended up taking the fries from me - and get this, I caught her downing them in the parking lot after school had ended that day. What a snake. Breaking my nose is one thing but stealing my food is on another level."

I let out another giggle and glanced back over at Barbara who sat there in silence, staring down at her phone once again. "Hey, are you going to make time for your friends?" I questioned with a pout, feigning a look of betrayal. 

She rolled her eyes at me playfully before setting her phone aside once more, "Sorry. Hailey's being a little demanding. What were we talking about again?"

"Doesn't matter," Ethan responded, playing with the plastic fork on his tray. 

"Alright," Barbara nodded- and when she noticed that the atmosphere was slowly turning awkward, she cleared her throat and leaned in, a look of interest on her face. "Ethan, when are you going to get a girlfriend? I've never heard you say that you were interested in someone."

"Hm?" he hummed in response, tilting his head at her before leaning in and landing her a light flick on her forehead. "I told you, I'm aromantic. Did you forget already?"

"Shit, my bad," she chuckled, rubbing her forehead. She was about to say something else when her phone suddenly vibrated on the table. She picked it up and stared at the screen for a second or two before shoving her phone back into her pocket and standing up abruptly, "Sorry guys. Hailey wants to meet up in the girls' washroom. I'll catch you guys later!"

Before we could say anything, she'd already turned to leave. I heaved a sigh and turned to look at Ethan, "I guess it's just you and me now, huh buddy?"

"She's been acting a little strange, don't you think?" he responded in a low tone.

"Maybe her and Hailey are going through something right now so they're probably meeting up to discuss their relationship," I suggested. "It isn't our place to talk about all that."

"You're right, but if that's the case then how come Hailey's still seated at her table?"