if you eat the food of the dead, you can never leave hades, so i guess that wasn't hades

[self_composed]

Bella still brings her lunch most of the time. Today, she is chipping away at the leftovers of the pasta monstrosity her father made when left to fend for himself. She has not yet had a chance to talk up Hilary's cooking because it would have seemed cruel in the aftermath of the... meal.

It's actually pretty edible after she added all that garlic and butter.

Jessica sits with her, and Angela, and then Mike; Eric's with some other friends today. There's an empty chair to her left; Angela's on her right, and the other two face them.

Comments

[self_composed]

Bella gives Alice a look - it says Really? - and then says, "I've been to La Push a couple times, my dad has friends there, but not recently. Will it get at all warm anytime soon or are all these plans terribly premature?"

"Sometimes there's a weekend nice enough that a raincoat will do," Angela says, "even in January."

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice answers her look with an unconcerned shrug.

"I don't even know where that is," he contributes.

[self_composed]

"It's the Indian reservation about half an hour's drive away," Jessica says. "There are Indians there."

"Quileutes," Angela says, possibly in lieu of correcting Jessica on her ethnic terminology.

"There's nice scenery," Bella says. "The residents don't mind people hanging out there, generally."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Cool," he says, shrugging again and opening his bottle of juice. "I mean, not that scenery is my favourite thing in the whole wide world, but it's okay."

[self_composed]

Mike has taken a long route back to the table. He has also harvested Lauren and Eric from wherever they were sitting, and now it's a little crowded.

"Whoa," Eric says to Mike, upon spotting Alice. "You weren't kidding."

"It'd be a dumb joke," Lauren says, "just to say that someone was sitting here if he wasn't."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Hi," says Alice, waving at the newcomers. "You've sure got a lot of friends," he adds, turning to Bella. "I didn't accidentally drop in on the popular crowd, did I? Because that would be tragically hilarious."

[self_composed]

"Yeah, tragic and hilarious, both at once," Lauren says.

"I don't really have a good sense of those dynamics here yet," Bella says.

"It's not like we're cheerleaders and football," Jessica says. "Well, I'm going to try out for cheer next year, but you know what I mean."

[edgeofyourseat]

"I'm pretty sure there's not a football player left at this school who can look me in the eye without trying to punch it," Alice muses.

[self_composed]

"Is that because you're obnoxious?" Mike asks, in what is for him a bold move.

"Mike," says Bella testily.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Yep," he says brightly. "Glad you noticed."

[self_composed]

"Bella, why are you hanging out with this jerk?" Mike asks pleadingly.

"Apparently," Bella says in a dark, level tone, "I have poor taste in companions."

That one takes Mike a second. He spends that second in rather adorable triumph, which evaporates.

[edgeofyourseat]

Ooh, good one. Alice grins behind his juice.

[self_composed]

Mike's done with his lunch anyway. He just leaves.

"Well, that was kind of a bitchy thing to do," Lauren remarks.

"So was that," says Bella without any particular heat. Or interest.

Angela's trying to hide her face in her shoulder.

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice glances sideways at Bella and grins again.

He doesn't say 'I love you', but he thinks it pretty loudly.

[self_composed]

He gets a wan smile for his trouble.

Bella then conspicuously asks if Angela wants to start heading for Bio, because she actually likes Angela.

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice, not being finished his juice yet, stays right where he is.

[self_composed]

Lauren waits until Bella's gone and then turns to Alice. "So, did you move here because you, like, killed somebody?"

Jessica was about to leave, but apparently can't pass up the chance to hear the answer. Eric's leaving anyway.

[edgeofyourseat]

He grins.

"I could tell you that," he says with a wink, "but I'd have to kill you."

[self_composed]

Jessica, slightly quicker on the uptake than Lauren, comes to the understanding that this sentence has implications. She departs expeditiously.

Lauren cocks her head, then leaves, apparently mostly because she and Alice are the only people left at the table.