Penguin documentaries were Davina's favorite thing to listen to during lunch.

She found that her go to genre, soft classical music tended to blend with the noise around. Hip-hop and everything else in between just made the noise louder and unbearable.

The loud, droning voice of the reporter was soothing and predictable, no sudden changes in tone or speed that could throw her into panic.

A hand waved in front of her above her food. A large, masculine hand that was nothing like Jaiyana's.

She resisted the urge to flinch and looked up.

Leonardo began to speak and she stared at his forehead blankly, wondering how long it would take for him to realize that she couldn't hear him.

He stopped talking after a while, probably expecting a response. His eyes narrowed before he reached out and gently pulled her hood down to see her light grey headphones covering her ears.

He smiled and reached to take off her headphones but Jaiyana slapped his fingers out of the way and wagged her index in his face as if warning him.

Davina moved out of reach and turned off the documentary.

"Can you even hear me?" Leonardo's said.

"Does she look deaf to you?" Jaiyana snapped. Leonardo raised his hands in surrender. A smile grew on Davina's face and almost immediately dropped.

"Your voice is muffled but I can hear your words," Davina replied.

"Why are you wearing headphones?"

"I could have anxiety attacks. The noise gets overwhelming."

Leonardo nodded. "And this is part of your autism."

"Yes." Davina looked at the table Leonardo usually sat and saw his seat empty. "Your seat at your table is available. Why are you here?"

Leonardo adjusted his position on the seat, so that his back completely faced his table. "Your table seemed like a nice one to sit at. Am I unwelcome?"

"I don't think you're unwelcome. However, I don't understand why you would want to sit away from your friends with someone you just met."

Jaiyana leaned over to Davina. "Davi, he's avoiding them. He sits with his back to them because he doesn't want to make eye contact and feel obligated to explain immediately the reason for his table switch."

Davina nodded as she took in Jaiyana's words. "Why are you avoiding your friends?"

Jaiyana tried to suppress her laughter. "Davina, he's not supposed to know that you know that he's avoiding them."

"Is this another of those unspoken social mannerisms?" Davina tried to whisper back to her friend. Jaiyana nodded.

"So I'm supposed to pretend I don't know what he's doing even when I clearly do?"

"I'm right here, you know," Leonardo said.

"We know that. You never left," Davina said and looked back to Jaiyana whose head was on the table, her body shaking with laughter.

She turned to Leo. "Did you know why Jaiyana's laughing?"

He smiled. "You're endearing."

"There you are!"

The loud voice made Davina jump. She looked at the offender. It was one of Leonardo's friends. The shorter one. He slammed his tray on the table beside Jaiyana, making the food on his plate bounce around a little.

Jaiyana looked up at him with a scowl. She hated when people played with their food.

"We were waiting for you by your locker until Ethan said he saw you enter here," the tallest one said.

He looked at Davina, having noticed her staring and stretched out his arm to introduce himself. "Hi, I'm Valentine."

She looked at his palm for a few seconds before touching it softly. "Davina."

He smiled and retracted his hand before it got uncomfortable for them both. Davina realized he may have some knowledge about general quirks of autistic people.

She looked to his still unknown friend with a distasteful expression. He was mansplaying. As if on cue, his feet touched hers, she let out a little squeal and jumped in her chair towards Jaiyana.

Jaiyana turned to him with a ferocious glare. "You, move."

He frowned. "To where?"

"I don't care. Switch with Valentine. Don't sit near me or her and keep your stupid legs to yourself," Jaiyana said in one breath.

Valentine frowned and grabbed his friend by his collar, lifted him and put him in the seat closer to Leonardo. When Davina saw that she was no longer directly opposite him, her breathing returned to normal.

"I'm sorry about Damian. He has no respect for anyone's boundaries," Valentine said with an apologetic expression.

"You're so sensible," Jaiyana said as she patted Davina's hair. "Why are you friends with someone like him?"

Valentine seemed to sit up straighter at Jaiyana's words. "We've been friends forever. It seemed almost cruel to abandon him when he started losing braincells."

"Well, Val, tell him to keep his diminished IQ away from me and Davina or we're gonna have problems."

"I'm right here, you know," Damian yelled and slammed his hands on the table.

Davina squeaked and focused on her food, trying to force down her urge to wring her fingers. Her hand reached for her headphones and she turned up the volume of her documentary to the point she could hear anything else.

When she raised her head after the meal, she saw Valentine's worried gaze trained on her. When he met her eyes, he flushed and looked down.

"Jaiyana, we have class soon," Davina whispered. Jaiyana nodded and picked up her bag to leave, but not before giving Damian a withering glare.

***
"Davina," someone said behind her. The bell had just rang and she was at her locker with her headphones on.

The person who spoke had to be standing within three feet of her for her to hear them.

She turned around and found herself face-to-face with a broad chest covered by a blue sweatshirt. His cologne told her who it was. She had smelt it during their earlier meetings that day.

Davina stepped back, rubbing her nose. "Hi, Leonardo."

"Why not call me Leo? Everyone does," Leo said. His voice was begin to sound so far away the more steps she took that Davina needed to take off her headphones to hear him clearly.

Fortunately, the noise in the hallway wasn't irritating because most people were in the parking lot, looking to get out of school as fast as possible.

"Hi, Leo."

He smiled. "Can I have your number?"

"Okay."

His expression changed. Davina tried to decipher what was wrong.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Should I have said something else?"

Davina had learned about some expected behaviors in public from Jaiyana. Jaiyana had never mentioned the expected response for when a guy asks for her number. Besides, that was the first casual conversation she was having with a guy her age. The others, although not much, had always been school related.

"I expected a little more resistance on your part. You shouldn't just give your number to guys like that," Leo said.

Davina thought over his words and nodded slowly. "Because they're strangers?"

"Because you don't know who has their mind in the gutter and is seeking a little fun."

"How could someone have fun with my number?"

Leo blinked. "Not your number. You."

"So they'll have fun with me by getting my number?"

"That's a...not really...what?"

Davina couldn't help but wonder if she had broken him.

"Davina, you're pretty," he started.

She didn't respond. Well, she didn't know how to respond.

"Compliments are very awkward."

"This is the part where you say thank you," Leo said amused.

Her eyes followed the stripes on his sneakers as she muttered, "Thank you, Leo."

Davina began to think of the blend of colors on his shoes. Maybe she should try making plushies with that combination: orange, purple, a little white. The image began to form in her head. She nodded in satisfaction, ready to head home to get started.

"Did you forget something or someone, Davina?"

Davina turned around and looked at Leo. Only then did she remember that they were having a conversation.

She began to feel the familiar red on her cheeks from embarrassment. "Sorry, what did you say?"

He stepped closer to her. "Nothing except that I want your number."

She looked at the closing distance between them. Surprisingly, she felt comfortable. She wrote her number on a post-it note from her locker and handed it to him.

He grabbed her hand and pulled her to his chest. Her freeze instinct activated. She waited in silence and stillness to see what he would do.

"How do you know I'm not looking to have fun with you?"

"In my knowledge, having fun is a good thing and if it is bad, it would be stupid to reveal your plans before I divulge my number."

When Leo's laughter filled the air, that was when Davina noticed that the hallway had become eerily silent. Her eyes met the first stranger's and she looked down immediately.

"They're staring," she whispered under her breath. Leo heard her.

He put up her headphones and hoodie then slung an arm over her shoulder. "Come on, keep your head down and walk."

Davina obeyed and soon felt herself being transferred to the arms of a softer, more familiar person.

Jaiyana guided her to her car, pushing through the mass of frozen people like they were oddly located low branches in a forest.

When Davina was safely behind the window glass of the passenger's seat, she looked up and saw Leo still standing at the school's entrance. When he caught her eyes through the see-through glass, he waved then waited for her to return the gesture before he re-entered the school.

"I'm thinking chocolate, popcorn and Squid Game," Jaiyana said as she started the car.

Davina nodded and muted her friend out, thinking about the first stranger in sixteen years who had been able to touch her on the first day they met.