—

Valerie's eyes shined brightly as she walked into the crowded cafeteria with her lunch in her hand.

She excused herself as she maneuvered through her fellow students and towards the table that her two closest friends sat at.

She watched as Demetri nearly jumped out of his skin as she unexpectedly plopped down in the chair next to him.

"A warning would have been nice." He scoffed, watching her roll her eyes at his dramatics before deciding to ignore him and instead focus on the boy next to him.

"Hi, Eli."

He smiled softly, his voice as quiet as his presence alone, "Hey, Val."

"Hey, Val." A deeper, more flirty and confident voice cut in, the smile clear in his voice.

"Hey, Auggie." Demetri switched the tone of his voice to sound more feminine.

He was met with deadpanned looks across the table. Hoping he'd earn at least one laugh, he looked at Eli for some back up only for the Moskowitz boy to shake his head.

"I was waiting in the hall for, like, five minutes. Why didn't you tell me you were already here?"

"I did." Valerie hummed, not at all phased by her boyfriend's inability to check his phone.

"Hey, look at this." Demetri nodded on the direction of a boy looking around for somewhere to sit.

Val, more than happy to make a new friend, gasped, "We should invite him over."

"No, we should not." August disagreed, reaching forward to take the carrots off her plate, giving her his grapes.

"Looks like we won't have to." Demetri said.

"Is it cool if I sit here?"

Demetri winced, "Ooh, table is really blowing up right now. I can put you on the wait list, but it's probably next semester at the earliest."

The boy frowned, stepping away as his cheeks grew red with embarrassment, "Okay."

"He's kidding. Sit." Val gestured to the empty chair in between August and Eli.

"Miguel." The boy in questioned let a small smile slip.

"Demetri." He introduced himself, "Eli. He's a man of few words."

He then carried on, "This is August."

"Oh, I know August." Miguel nodded. That earned looks of confusion.

"He's my neighbor." The Lawrence teen pursed his lips, already knowing what's coming.

Valerie gasped, "You made a new friend and didn't tell me?" It was ridiculously rare of August to be friendly with, really, anyone. It took over two months for him to get used to Demetri and Eli's presence. And he still wasn't the biggest fan of the former.

"He's not my friend."

"And his girlfriend, Valerie." Demetri continued as if he wasn't interrupted. Valerie smiled politely at the Diaz teen.

Miguel pretended not to look offended by August's words, turning to look as popular girls, Yasmine and Sam walk past their table,

"Dude, don't torture yourself, those are the rich girls."

Miguel was curious, "Do you ever talk to them or...?"

Valerie scoffed out a laugh as if he had just told a joke. Never in a million years would she catch herself having a conversation with Yasmine. Sure, Moon was nice but that was usually when she didn't have her evil blonde friend staring over her shoulder.

She never really spoke to Sam either, especially after realizing she had practically dropped her closest friend, Aisha, for the same people that bullied her.

Val thought it was insane.

While their group never really bothered Val, or August for that matter, it was always questioned why the couple chose to hang around Eli and Demetri.

If they wanted to, Valerie and August had the ability to completely take over the 'cool' table and make it their own, but they just weren't the type of people to pick on others for fun. And that seemed to be all Yasmine's table had to offer.

"Oh, yeah, all the time. We hang out after school. Make out, give each other hand jobs."

Val scrunched her nose in disgust while August simply shook his head in amusement.

"Eli here is homecoming king. Gets laid more than the actual couple sitting at our table. Isn't that right, Eli?" The boy hid his smile.

It didn't take Miguel to long to realize that he was teasing him, "Talk to them?"

"You realize what table you're sitting at, right?" August added, wondering if Miguel truly was blind enough to not notice that he'd practically sealed his spot at the 'losers table'.

"You've pretty much signed away all hopes of losing your virginity before college."

"Not exactly." Val shrugged, "I'm a nerd that hung out with you guys before dating August and now look at us."

"Yeah, but you're hot." Demetri dismissed her.

August raised his brows in agreement, more happy than annoyed that the teen called out his girlfriend's beauty.

A small gasp came from Eli's corner of the table, "Oh, shit, Yasmine's looking at us. Probably just making fun of me." He lifted his sweater covered hand up to his face to cover the scar on his lip.

Val and August shared a look, feeling sorry for the boy.

Personally, August thought it made him look badass. And truthfully, when he first met Eli, the scar wasn't even what caught his eyes first, it was the ridiculously itchy looking sweater the boy was wearing. He was more concerned of whether it was actually comfortable, or not.

Though, he knew it couldn't be easy growing up like Eli did. Because when people like Kyler noticed something slightly different about someone, he made it his mission to ruin that persons confidence completely.

And since high school students tended to want to fit it rather than be left out, they hopped on board with hurting others so they wouldn't get it instead.

"I don't think they're making fun of you." Miguel shook his head, glancing back at the table, "I mean, just because they're hot doesn't mean they're mean."

"You clearly haven't spoken to any of them." Valerie said, knowing that once Miguel got the chance, he'd understand exactly why the table of the schools most popular was also considered the most hated.

"I don't care if Yasmine is the meanest girl in school. I'd kill all four of you just to get her to spit in my face."

"That's disgusting." Val cringed.

"What? You not into that?"

"No, i'm not 'into that'." She mocked him, "Do you know how dirty the human mouth is—"

August cut the girl off before she could go into her, very common, five minute rant, "We don't need to get into it."

"Yeah, well, if you don't make a move, you're never going to have a shot with her."

"Did my dad tell you that?" August asked, finding it funny how Miguel was using his father's advice.

"He did, actually—"

"True, but i'll also never suffer humiliating rejection. I'm at peace with my depression. Last thing I need to be is suicidal."

"Sixty-nine percent of men get rejected before the first date. And the rejection is more than likely silent...As in ignoring them." Valerie stated, looking at Eli for confirmation, only earned a hesitant nod. He wasn't completely certain she was correct but he doubted she was off.

"Which means Demetri has a, very low, thirty one percent chance of getting Yasmine to even look at him." August snorted, "But, I mean, that could change...right?"

Demetri glared at the couple, though only one of them was making fun of him, he couldn't help but feel like whenever Val dropped some random fact, it wasn't ever working in his favor.

The sound of a chair scraping against the floor caught their attention. The groups eyes grew wide as Miguel stood up.

"What are you doing?"

"Striking first." He responded vaguely, giving none of them the chance to say anything before he was out of their hearing range.

"Strike, what?" Valerie furrowed her brows, "As in—"

"Karate? Yeah, he's been hanging out with my dad." August sighed, watching as Miguel returned to the table.

"So, how'd it go?"

—
A/N: S6 pt. 1 was so good