Regina and her two friends were total big shots on campus—everything they did drew eyes.
So when they ditched Mike like that, pretty much everyone in the cafeteria noticed.
Most kids were just sitting there with popcorn-eating grins, staring at Mike like he was the main event, standing there looking all "lost."
Thanks to Regina's little prank, Mike was basically getting the cold shoulder from the whole room.
Of course, there were a few girls shooting him sympathetic looks too.
Mike, though? He was chill as ever. All those weird stares didn't faze him one bit. He scanned the cafeteria, and his eyes landed on little George eating alone in the corner.
So he grabbed his tray and plopped down right across from him.
George acted like he didn't even see Mike at first—just kept his head down, shoveling food.
It wasn't until most of the attention shifted away from Mike that George finally glanced up, then said warily, "Dude, you're in deep trouble. Regina's nickname around here is the Queen Bee…"
(Queen Bee: the one who rules the hive, never short on followers.)
Then, in a low voice, George started filling Mike in on Regina's legendary status: she'd been on the cover of the local fashion mag, lived in a big standalone house with loaded parents, and was the leader of the school's "killer bod squad," or whatever they called the hot girls' clique.
George went on and on, but when he looked up, Mike was just casually chowing down on a fried chicken leg, looking totally unbothered.
This wouldn't do. Seeing Mike wasn't grasping how serious it was, George nodded toward a table closer to the middle. "Check it out over there."
Mike turned and immediately spotted a tall, athletic guy with a sunny, all-American look.
"See him? That's Aaron Samuels, senior, quarterback and captain of the football team." George leaned in, dropping his voice to gossip mode. "And get this—word is, he's Regina's ex…
So if you don't wanna stir up trouble, stay far away from her."
Football's huge in America, so a star like Aaron was basically school royalty.
Mike was the new kid—if he pissed off Aaron, whether he wanted to try out for the team or just keep his head down and study, things could get rough.
"I'm good. Catch you later," George said. He'd done his duty warning Mike and didn't wanna draw more attention, so he grabbed his empty tray and bounced.
Mike watched him go, munching on his chicken while he thought it over.
His IQ was already north of 150 now—high school classes were a total breeze.
Thinking about George's warning, his mind drifted to football. Maybe picking it up as a hobby wouldn't be a bad idea.
With that in mind, he glanced back at Aaron. Just then, the guy looked up too, and their eyes met across the room.
No sparks flying, no death stares—just two dudes giving each other a friendly nod before looking away.
Mike figured Aaron seemed pretty decent.
Right then, a girl carrying a tray suddenly slammed into the edge of his table—hard.
The bang was loud. Mike steadied his sliding tray, but a few grease spots still splattered onto his sleeve. He looked up, annoyed, and saw yet another smoking-hot blonde standing there.
"Sorry… sorry…" she stammered, scrambling to pick up her spilled lunch while apologizing nonstop.
"It's cool. Just watch where you're going next time~" Mike said. She looked genuinely flustered, not fake, so he wiped off his sleeve with a napkin and let it slide.
The girl finished gathering her stuff and noticed Mike's casual suit probably wasn't cheap. Feeling bad, she offered, "I'm really sorry. How about you give me the jacket and I'll wash it, then bring it back clean?"
"Thanks, but I'm good," Mike turned her down politely.
She seemed touched that he was so easygoing. "I'm Katie Horan. If you change your mind about compensation, come find me in senior hall."
Katie Horan was sixteen. She'd grown up in Africa following her wildlife biologist parents and had just transferred in as a senior this year.
Home-schooled her whole life out in the bush, she wasn't used to public school rules at all.
She didn't know you couldn't snack in class or that you had to ask permission to use the bathroom.
All that, plus her kinda frumpy clothes from living in the wild, made her seem weird to everyone. In the two weeks she'd been here, this pretty girl hadn't made a single friend.
She stole one last glance at Mike eating, then headed out of the cafeteria with her tray.
Unlike laid-back Mike, sensitive Katie couldn't find anywhere to sit inside.
Someone like her—an outsider—had to eat alone outside where nobody would bother her.
As she passed Mike's table, her knee suddenly throbbed. She stumbled, let out a yelp, and pitched forward—straight toward him.
Mike jumped up fast, catching her with one arm and grabbing her tray with the other.
A big red apple rolled off the tray…
But Mike's foot flicked out quick, hooking it and sending it right back onto the tray.
He looked down—and the girl in his arms was staring up at him like he was some kind of hero.
Mike (in his head): This is straight out of a teen rom-com.
If he didn't know her backstory, he might've thought she was faking it to get close because she was into him.
He set the tray down, helped her into a seat, then casually waved his hand like he was plucking something from the air.
[Logical Thinking +1]
[Skin Quality +1]
What the heck kind of random stats are these? It was the first time he'd picked up anything like that.
When he absorbed them, Logical Thinking merged into his Intelligence, and Skin Quality went into Constitution.
But neither one actually bumped up his base stats.
Shrugging it off, Mike looked at her and asked, "Want me to walk you to the nurse's office?"
Katie was checking her knee. Growing up running wild in Africa, she knew her way around scrapes and bruises.
After flexing it a bit, she saw it was just a little swollen with a small scratch—no big deal.
She pulled out a Band-Aid from her pocket, slapped it on, and smiled. "Nah, I'm fine.
And… thanks for the save earlier~"
She thought for a second but couldn't quite find the right word to describe it.