I texted back.
                              
Sure! Meet you guys at the tree after last period. If I survive that is x
                              
My phone buzzed again. The kid next to me raised an eyebrow at me. Yeah, that's right, I'm popular. I raised my finger in front of my mouth to tell him he couldn't tell the teacher.
                              
He pretended to zip his mouth shut. Good boy.
                              
I opened the new message. It was Code.
                              
K 
                              
Yeah, wasn't expecting more than that. Having a text conversation with a group of people is exhausting. I got another text. Jake again.
                              
Snake's coming too. If you're dying of boredom think about my hot body to make time go by faster Jilly ;) x
                              
Gross. I texted him a knife emoji, he'd understand. My phone buzzed once again. I almost dropped it since I was already holding my phone and I was surprised by the sudden movement. That would've been real smooth.
                              
Gwen had texted again.
                              
Yay! <3
                              
I guess she decided to ignore my jab at Jake.
                              
After that my phone stayed silent. I was relieved. I mean texting with one person was fine but with three or more is just chaos.
                              
The prospect of going out to lunch made time go by even slower. I didn't know it was possible.
                              
When last period was over I almost ran outside. Almost. I'm a lazy person.
                              
Gwen was the only person standing at our tree. See, I can be on time. Especially when food is involved. When she saw me approaching she smiled and gave me a hug. Whoa there. I didn't really do hugs but I guess I could make an exception.
                              
I could use one. I hadn't been in the best mood this week. I didn't even know why. It wouldn't last long though, this Friday it was Snake birthday so his party would cheer me up.
                              
After everyone arrived we headed to our little lunch place. We always ate at the same place because it was only a block away from school. Plus, it had decent food.
                              
The restaurant Code's family owns was nearby too but we rarely went there. It was more of a fancy restaurant and we just wanted to pig out on burgers and milkshakes. We were classy like that.
                              
When we arrived it was pretty crowded. All five of us were shoved into a booth. I was sandwiched between Gwen and Code and sitting opposite Jake and Snake.
                              
Huh. How had I never noticed their names rhymed?
                              
It was silent at our booth. Nobody was saying anything. Why? We take food very seriously. I guess we were all hungry.
                              
"Oh hey Jill, I've been meaning to ask you who the guy was at the party last week." Gwen said, turning to me. I honestly had no idea what she was talking about.
                              
"Mm?" I hate that people always start talking to me just when I'm taking a bite out of my food. Seriously, just wait a few seconds. It's like when you're at the dentist and they're shoving something in your mouth and then they casually ask you a random question about your day.
                              
"When I uh... When we were leaving, you were talking to someone."
                              
Gwen told the guys about the hottie she'd hooked up with but she had left the Jacob part out. So they didn't know she kinda grabbed me and ran away.
                              
I remember the guy. He was the cute surfer dude. What was his name? Mark? Mike?
                              
"Oh Michael! He was alright." He'd totally slipped my mind. It's weird how you can have a nice conversation with someone and then never see them again. I guess that's what I like about talking to strangers. You're part of their life for a brief moment and then they disappear. The mystery is appealing.