"Kai! You made it!" Nick cheered, rushing over to me so he could help me set my tray down onto the table. I thanked him with a small smile and dragged a chair over to the table, taking my place next to him.

"Go on, introduce yourself," he urged with a warm smile. "They're not going to bite you."

I cleared my throat and looked up at the people in front of me. I did recognize the girl seated there right away as Hailey - Barbara's girlfriend. She shot me a welcoming grin and stuck her hand out towards me for me to shake, which I did.

"You're Kairo, right? I've heard a lot about you," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

I let out a forced chuckle, "Yeah, um.. and this is-"

"Ethan," Ethan stated, cutting me off. "I'm Ethan Ivanov, only the hottest guy in the world. No biggie."

The group immediately burst out into a fit of laughter, and Ethan looked quite offended - as if he'd actually meant what he had said, and knowing Ethan, he probably did mean what he had said.

I then glanced over to the guy sitting beside Hailey - I recognized him as well. Austin Nguyen, Hailey's twin brother. Also the star quarterback of the school's football team. Him and Hailey, though twins, looked nothing alike. Austin had dark hair that fell above his chocolate-brown eyes, and he had a whole forest for eyebrows. No joke, they resembled caterpillars. His skin had a golden tint, a result from having spent so much time under the heat of the sun and his lips were slightly chapped as well.

Hailey, on the other hand, had pale skin. Her eyes were slightly lighter in colour than Austin's and so was her hair which barely touched her shoulders. She was also taller than Austin who stood at a staggering five foot ten, or a hundred and seventy seven centimetres. Her skin was also coated with acne scars along the side of her jawline and across her cheekbones, but I thought that acne scars actually made people look good in a way.

Needless to say, even with a few imperfections here and there, the twins shared a breathtaking appearance.

"I'm Austin," he said with a lopsided grin. "Nice to meet you, Kairo - did I say that right?"

"Yeah, you did. You can just call me Kai though," I suggested, returning the smile.

"Where the fuck is Rhodes?" Nick grumbled. "He's always so late."

"Rhodes?" I questioned. "Who's that?"

Before Nick could answer, a voice from behind me spoke, "That would be me."

I quickly turned around but the boy had already made his way over to the table and taken his seat in between Austin and Nick. I turned to face them once again and when I locked eyes with the owner of the voice, my heart nearly dropped. My stomach began to twist itself into tight knots and my throat ran dry - followed by a sudden sense of embarrassment taking over my entire existence.

"Who are these people?" he questioned.

It was the same guy whom I'd seen at Alexandria's locker.

"I'm Ethan Ivanov and this is Kairo Alden," Ethan said upon noticing my state of panic. "I hope we aren't being a burden to you guys."

"You're not," the guy, or Rhodes as Nick called him said. "The more, the merrier. It's pleasant meeting new people anyway."

"Where even were you?" Nick snorted, shoving a french fry into his mouth. "Feels like it's been centuries since I last saw you."

Rhodes hummed in response. He wasn't looking at Nick, though. He wasn't even looking at his tray of food. Rather, his eyes seemed to be locked on me for whatever reason there was, and it was making my squirm in my seat - out of discomfort.

Suddenly, I heard Ethan let out a cough from beside me as if he'd choked on his food. I quickly slid over a glass of water over to him and began patting him on the back, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine- uhh.. Kairo, can you come with me for a sec?"

"Wha-," I began in an attempt to protest, however he'd already begun dragging me away from the table and over to the corner of the cafeteria. "What was that all about?" I questioned once we'd come to a halt.

"I just remembered his name," Ethan stated. "And this just in: we're fucked. We're fucked, you hear me?" he grabbed me by the shoulders and began shaking me as if I were a machine that had shut down, "F-U-C-K-E-D."

"Calm down," I groaned. "What's the big deal about his name?"

"It's Alexander Rhodes, you stupid walrus!"

"So?"

"You idiot," Ethan exclaimed, smacking me on the side of my head. "You've been leaving your damn love letters in HIS locker!"