Turns out I still have some dedications from ages ago, oops, so this one is for this cool little human... drum roll please ...Doelie247!!

***

"Hey, Trent?"

"Speckles."

I roll my eyes. "Hey, Speckles?"

"Yar?"

"Yar? Really?"

"Yar."

I laugh, shaking my head slightly. "You, Mr Trent Speckles, are one strange ginger bunny rabbit."

"You're calling him strange?" Hunter mutters lowly, voice muffled by the way his head has collapsed onto his arms.

"So, do you get what we're doing?" I ask Speckles, completely ignoring Hunter, which succeeds in making Speckles' grin even wider.

Yeesh, if he doesn't stop smiling, I'm afraid his mouth is gonna fall right off his face.

"Eh. Something to do with, um, something."

I nod my head. "Thanks, I totally get it now. Like, to the A plus standard, you know?"

Speckles grins again, slightly bashful this time. "I wasn't really listening. Sorry."

"That's fine, I mean, it's not like I was." I laugh.

"Hey," Speckles starts, wiggling his eyebrows, "you wanna pop by my table at break?"

Hunter groans into his arms.

"Sure!" I smile brightly.

Hunter groans again.

Hehehe....

***

By the time break rolled around, I was sure Hunter was about to explode with frustration, and, hopefully, but probably not, jealousy.

Speckles and I had been fake flirting all through the lesson, pausing every now and then to do our work. Luckily, it was quite simple due to (I learnt his name!) Mr Ephimus being a relief teacher and all.

Speckles and I walk out of class together, Hunter trailing somewhere behind his exuberant friend.

"So, Julie, what do you think you'll be ordering from this fine establishment's food facilities for lunch?"

"Why, Speckles, as much as I appreciate the extensive range of food provided by said fine establishment, I brought my own means of lunch today. You wanna save me a seat at your table?"

"Oh, of course." Speckles shakes his head in mock disappointment. "Though it is such a tremendous tragedy that you shall not get to partake in the mind numbing wonders induced by the school lunches."

"Yes, such a shame. Alrighty, then. I'll see you in a minute, I guess." I smile at Speckles, before smirking at Hunter. "See you soon, Hunter."

Hunter grumbles something in reply that I don't bother listening to as I flounce off to my locker.

"Julie! How was- "

"Oh, it was great. Mr Ephimus was just outstanding at teaching-"

"You know what I mean, silly." Brenda laughs.

"Yeah. I do believe I have very nearly wormed my way into his life."

"Mr Ephimus?"

I raise an eyebrow.

"Kidding. That's my girl."

I wink, then turn to open my locker.

When I open the locker door, I am nearly blown away. My lunch looks beautiful, almost sparkling in the light. As I reach in to cradle it softly in my hands, I turn to Brenda.

"My precioussssss."

"You are so creepy. What the hell have you got that's making you go full Golem, hey?"

"This!" I proudly hold out my carefully packaged lunch.

"Uh..."

"Do you not understand what this is? The meaningful-ness and magical-ness of this sacred treasure?"

"No, actually, because it seems as though your sacred treasure is wrapped not only in glad wrap, but also bubble wrap."

"Oh, right. Well, whether you can see or understand its sacredness or not, you can believe me when I say it is absolutely precious and life-changing."

"Ok, I believe you."

We start walking down the hall, me carefully cradling my lunch in one hand, and fixing my hair with the other, ensuring all Golem-ness has been completely eradicated.

And I learned that impressive word in English last week.

'Eradicated' that is, not 'Golem-ness'.

When we reach the cafeteria, I turn to Brenda, gesturing to our table with my head as we walk. "I'm not sitting with the group today, I got invited to Hunter's table." My satisfied grin has increased tenfold as I reach up to fluff my hair.

Brenda gives a little laugh, jokingly checking me out, "You do work quick. He invite you himself?"

"Eh, it was Speckles actually, but I'll take what I can get for now."

"Fair enough. Well, I'll keep the rest of the group content despite your heart breaking absence." She lets out a small yet dramatic sigh, placing her hand on her chest.

I giggle, giving her a gentle shove. "Might be hard. I'm pretty irreplaceable."

"Sure are, girl." She nudges me. "Well, I'll peel off here, go get him, tiger." A wink, and Brenda slips off to our regular table, while I curve slightly to head towards the empty seat Speckles saved me.

Which just so happens to be between him and a grumpy Hunter.

***

Twenty minutes and my delicious lunch later, and I have befriended just about all the guys on the table, except for three who left as soon as I arrived - all exes of mine, oops - but have made absolutely no leeway with Hunter.

Instead, while I have talked to everyone and tried to be as nice as possible, he has eaten his food and thoroughly ignored me.

Rude.

I mean, it's not like I'm out to break his heart or anything.

Well, actually-

I mentally slap myself. Don't.

"Julie? Hellooooo in there?"

I snap back to reality. "Hm, yeah? Sorry, Joanes. I was off somewhere else."

"I'll say." The gruff voice comes from my right, and I nearly do a double take at the fact Hunter has finally spoken. Though I can practically hear him roll his eyes.

Ew. The thought of that is actually really gross.

Speckles reaches over me and flicks Hunter in the head, earning a grunt from him and a giggle from me. "What crawled up you this morning?" Speckles shoots him a questioning glare - I'm not quite sure how he does it - and frowns.

Hunter gives me a look from the corner of his eye before returning his gaze to his friend. "Wouldn't you like to know."

"I would!" I pipe in with a cheery tone and sweet smile, looking at Hunter with all the innocence of a five year old with their hand in the cookie jar.

I'm rewarded with a burning glare so hot with annoyance that I doubt I'll have to go to my wax appointment next week.

"You." His gaze holds level with my wide eyes, and my eyebrows furrow at his tone.

Wow, he actually went there.

"Yeah, I'm me. And you're you. Which, to be perfectly honest, I'm not really sure is a good thing." I lift my chin up, making sure to hold his stare, keeping the sweet smile plastered on my face. He scowls in response and instead of making another biting comment, turns his back to me to talk to one of the other guys.

The only other person on the table aware of our interaction is Speckles, who shoots me a confused look. "Pardon my manners, but I feel like there's some... tension there."

"Tension? You mean where your friend is strung as tight as a rubber band round an oak tree?"

"Well, not quite what I was referring to... but sure, we can go with that."

"In that case, then yes. There is a lot of tension there." I chance a quick look at Hunter's back, a thought striking me. Sure enough, his back is hunched slightly, muscles wound as tight as a fishing reel. I quickly lean over to whisper to Speckles.

"You wanna do me a favour?"

***

Two minutes later, unbeknownst - yet another word from English - to Hunter, Speckles and I have stealthily swapped seats, and his hand is raised near Hunter's back, waiting for my signal.

At my nod, Speckles starts to gently trace patterns on Hunter's T-shirt, and I have to fight back a giggle. Barely a few seconds after first contact Hunter's back stiffens as he sits up straight, and for a few moments he sits perfectly still. Then, with a low noise in the back of his throat, he whips around and grabs Speckles' wrist in his hand, a scowl on his face. He opens his mouth, presumably to yell, when he realises it's not me behind him. His eyes dart between me and Speckles, and then he drops Speckles' hand like a hot coal, staring at him like his hair not only looked like, but actually caught fire.

Glaring at Speckles, he practically snarls at his friend. "Did she put you up for this?"

A few seconds pass, and Hunter offers yet another glare, this time in my direction - probably the twentieth I have received today -, and I stuggle to keep a straight face.

Another few seconds later, and I fail miserably, locking eyes with Speckles for an instant before we both dissolve into laughter.

Hunter's scowl only deepens, and he slams his hands on the table before standing up, gaining the attention of the other loud members of our table, who we had managed to go unnoticed by for the past five minutes, thankfully meaning they missed out on some of the drama.

"That's it."

I look up at his tone, which is practically murderous, and simply watch as he stalks out the cafeteria.

A collective 'ooooh' is heard from around the table, and I find myself faced with several expectant stares, probably wondering why I haven't hurried after the 'main attraction' of lunch.

I roll my eyes before getting out of my seat and calmly making my way out of the lunch room after Hunter. On an impulse, as I pass the lunch line, I purchase a cup of chips as a peace offering, hoping the enticing manner of food will calm him down.

Knowing how angry he was when he left, I'm gonna need a white flag of some kind.