Connor has other friends, actually!

It was what Connor thought of as "his crowd" - not outright rejects, but the nerdier end of the highschool spectrum. Which didn't, he strongly believed, mean they weren't awesome people. Mostly guys, he had to admit, and he'd become a little distant since he'd really started dating Joan, but they were great guys. And some girls.

Nate, for instance, was calling out Connor's name with an unfamiliar Asian girl in his lap. Nate was Connor's best friend, and this was an intriguing new development.

Connor stopped, turned, and headed over to the more crowded table. This didn't seem to please Joan, or for that matter Alison, but Connor figured that jealousy was doing wonders for his relationship with Joan. He'd rather have Alison angry at him than awkwardly affectionate, too.

He sat down, and nodded to the new girl.

"Hi, I'm Connor, Connor Jones." he said, leaving the question there.

"Oh, I'm Sherie", she said, turning in Nate's lap to face him. Nate had a massive grin on his face, probably helped by the beauty rubbing her butt on his crotch.

"We know each other from the band," said Nate. Connor frowned at him.

"I thought you quit band?" he asked.

"Oh, not the marching band!" exclaimed Nate, "I kind of joined a metal band." This, thought Connor, might explain the Slayer tanktop that Shiree or Sherry or whatever her name was was wearing.

"Don't you play the clarinet?" asked Connor. He was in a bad mood, and he didn't like finding out that Nate was off having adventures without him.

"Yeah, but I'm working on the bagpipes." said Nate, hugging one arm around Sherie's stomach. The tanktop, already tight fitted, now threatened to slide expose all of her plain black bra. Geez, I meet Nate's girl, and I'm already checking her out, thought Connor what's gone wrong with me?

"We're a folk-metal band." said Sherie, matter of factly, "It's the new thing!"

As Connor wolfed down lunch, Sherie gave him a lecture about a bunch of oddly-named Scandanavian bands he'd never heard of, from a genre he didn't care about now he'd heard about it. If it gets Nate a cute girl like that, it must be good, he thought, then immediately felt guilty for thinking about how cute Sherie was. They'd barely met, and she was his best friend's girl.

He looked away and caught sight of Joan and Alison approaching the table.