Zephyr ducked his head slightly, his raven black hair falling across his dark blue eyes. Darn. How could he be any worse at this. He glanced up as the girl behind Sophia, obviously a friend- Izzy, maybe? He thought that was the name. Kept elbowing her. +I guess we all have annoying friends+ he thought with a concealed smile before definitely looking surprised at the response. He had to remind himself not to look like he just saw a fish in a tree, so he quickly collected himself. As the girl- Izzy.. he hoped he was thinking that right- turned around, Zeph couldn't help but wince slightly at the loud volume. "Uhm... you're acting like I'm a famous celebrity or something. At this point I'm literally just the guy that face planted into the floor and sits alone at lunch." He pointed out with a small snort, running a hand through his hair. Well, he liked that last one. Still, word of this would get around fast- gossip always did when things happened with popular people- so maybe, just maybe, a bunch of not the smartest blonde girls would stop following him around like they were tethered to him. That would be great.

Sophia gave off a soft laugh at Izzy. "Calm down!" She gave her a little shove backwards. "Ok ok but still!" She looked at Zephyr "you are one of the most popular guys in the school and you're asking Sophia?" She looked at Zephyr, her eyes burrowing into his. Sophia shook her head and waved her hand in front of her face. "Earth to Izzy. Izzy?" The girl shook her blonde hair. "What?" Soph gave her a look and Izzy sighed. "Fine. Talk later" the girl walked away, leaving Sophia and Zephyr.

Zephyr lifted his eyebrows slightly, a faint tint of a blush spreading across his cheeks- well, one of them, the one that didn't look like... bad. "I'm not one of the most popular guys in school anymore. I've been demoted." He snorted before continuing. "Aaaand Sophia is much more human than some of the girls out there." His mind flitted over to Lydia with a wince. His gaze shot around for a second before landing on Sophia. "Well... thanks. And I apologize beforehand if this brings unwanted attention to you. I have to admit it is kind of shocking you said yes. Why?" Zeph had to ask that- he was genuinely very curious. He tilted his head a little.

Sophia lowered her gaze "no one has ever asked me to go to a dance... much less even talk to me. The most male conversations I have had has been between me and Blake. I don't know if you know who he is, but he is one of the best wrestlers. He hangs out with me and we've been friends since kindergarten. He's like a brother to me but he's pushing me to far. I hope you don't mind, but I have two reasons for accepting. One: because no one has ever asked me, and Two: maybe it can keep Blake away and finally make him understand that I don't see him as more than a brother. " she shook her head and looked up at Zephyr.

Zephyr couldn't help but be a tiny bit surprised at that. His first thought was +Even Blake?+ but her next words explained that. "I know who he is. I've watched some of his wrestling practices before, as two years ago I was in wrestling. He is good." He agreed quietly before letting her finish. "I don't mind. Really, there's almost always alterior motives. If YOU don't mind, this all started on a dare- a double dare, in my defense, but it only gave me the idea. Don't worry, I asked you because I wanted to and not because of a dare." He smiled faintly. "In any case, I'm surprised no one has asked you before for one, and for two eating is rather important to me so I might have to go do that." Zeph joked. "See you later."

"Thank you. Can I sit with you then? Izzy told me she had some friends she wanted to sit with and I don't want to sit with Blake so..." Sophia kept her eyes downcast so he wouldn't see the hurt in her eyes when he rejects. She knew it was going to happen.

Zephyr was a little bit surprised at that too- the concept of having this thing called a friend had kinda flown out the window after Pete. Peter was really his only *friend*. "You can sit wherever you want. I do feel like adding, though, I don't know why everything thinks being *popular* is so awesome. You have this thing called a friend, right? Izzy seems like a friend, You said yourself Blake was your friend for a long time. Well I only have one *friend* and he's about as not popular as you can get. Hilarious kind amazing guy though. Take Lydia, on the other hand, who may be popular and may have girls following her around like puppets wishing they could be her and guys now hyperventilating because we broke up, but she doesn't have any real friends, and in my opinion she's become really rude and snotty lately. In short, I wish I was much more like you. Anyways sorry for rambling on that was probably REALLY boring." He shook his head slightly and started walking towards the cafeteria. "Aaand I kind of forgot if I answered your question- I'm pretty sure I just gave a very vague not real answer, so sure. I would like it if you sat with me. Just prepared to have no one in miles of you. No one really likes me right now." He joked with a small grin, the first real smile he had in a long time.

"I don't mind it." Sophia replied "no one ever sits with me except for Blake occasionally and Izzy." She closed her sketchbook, but the bottom corner of her drawing was poking out. She held it close to her chest as she walked beside him. Sophia could feel eyes burning a pattern into her back as they passed people. It made her slightly uncomfortable, but she was used to being uncomfortable. She pulled her backpack higher up her shoulder. "Where do you sit?" She asked with a tilt of her head

Zephyr nodded slightly- he wished he had that luxery. He didn't glance around and headed straight to the cafeteria, heading to a back table to put his few things down. "Usually over here." He answered, turning to walk back up to the front. After he got his usual meager rations of food, he went back. He never ate much at school- if he could, he'd only have 1 big meal a day.

She followed him up to the lunch line, grabbing her lunch and gulping down two large spoonfuls before pulling out her sketchbook. "I usually draw when I eat..." she pushed her lunch to the side and doodled a little, taking small bites between strokes