A Moment with Her

Very True

The bell rang and according to Ripley's schedule; it was time for lunch. She quickly grabbed her things and put them inside her backpack. The crowd of shuffling people trying to get out of the tiny classroom tousled her around until she accidentally bumped up against Elias.

"Oh, hi again," Ripley said, smiling as she looked up at him.

Elias couldn't help but get a small flutter in his chest when he looked down at her.

"Hi," he responded. Ripley smiled and began walking at passe with him. This made Elias quickly pause his music in hopes that she was going to talk with him.

"I wanted to say thank you. I was going to say it earlier, but you disappeared," She said tucking her hair behind her ear "and I would have felt bad if I told you, next class." Ripley finished.

"Don't worry about it. It just made sense since we were going to the same place, anyway." He said a bit sharper than he intended.

Ripley nodded once, taking note of his tone.

"Oh, I also wanted to say I like your sweater." She said awkwardly.

He raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. He knew that Anime was something that most people either pretended they didn't watch or hated. 

In a defensive tone, he asked her; "Are you making fun of me?" Her eyes widened in shock.

"What? No, I just really like that show. I love the plot and the characters and themes, everything!" Ripley continued to ramble on as she spoke animatedly with her hands "and I'm not really into superhero stuff, but they managed to make something amazing out of this show don't you think?"

Elias looked at her for a moment before opening the door for her as they made their way into the East building.

"Wow!" He said slowly "You. Are. A. Huge. Weirdo." He said to her. Ripley looked up at him and then laughed.

"Awe, thank you, you're so sweet," she said in a sarcastic tone while grinning.

As they walked together, Ripley noticed the way he limped and how his upper body slouched to one side despite his backpack hanging from his opposite shoulder. She initially didn't notice this before, but now wondered if his defensive tone in the way he spoke came from being picked on at school? Or was it due to something else?

"So, where are you heading now?" Elias asked.

"Um, I don't know. Maybe lunch… but I don't know." she said, trailing off.

"Are you new to this school?" Elias asked.

"Um, yeah, I moved here from Pennsylvania," she said softly.

"Oh, wow, that's like on the other side of the country. How big of a change is that from here in Washington?"

"There are a few differences but I didn't get to spend a long time in Pennsylvania so you can take my opinion with a grain of salt". She said again briefly looking down at her feet. 

"So who are you going to sit with?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said nervously as they walked closer towards the lunch area.

"You can sit with me if you'd like."

Elias knew what it felt to be alone, so without even thinking he invited her to sit with him?

"Although I have to warn you, I'm not exactly the most popular person here. If you don't mind, then you're welcome to come right ahead."

This made Ripley scoff.

"Oh, is this one of those schools were a group of kids thinks that this is there chance to live some bizarre movie role in real life? Because if it is that's cringy."

Elias tilted his head back and laughed.

"Yeah, some people do but everyone else is just doing their own thing."

"That's embarrassing! I mean dude was in public school you try talking to the wrong person in some type of way and you're gonna get hit."

Elias's eyes widened in surprise he wasn't expecting someone so calm and shy to be so blunt. 

"That's … a very true statement." He said nodding slowly in agreement.

So they went to the lunch line and bought their food as they spoke. Elias already had food that he packed before leaving his house this morning but today he decided to make an exception.