"Oof!" I gasped, doubling over. I lifted my eyes to see who had hit me. Of course. I smiled weakly.

"Hi, Smelly Ell – " Wham! Eli's fist made contact with my shoulder.

"You poop! You can't just pick on him!" He yelled. Each word was interjected by another punch. Eli's face was full of rage, his features contorted in anger. I narrowed my eyes, winding up. I thrust my fist towards him, aiming for the stomach, but he caught my arm and flipped me onto the hard cafeteria floor. My vision swam.

"Now how do you like it, Gilblegh?" He asked, his voice mocking me. He was leaning over, hands on hips. His baggy green shirt looked even more huge in comparison to how thin I could see he was. I struggled to get up, but Antonio and Matthias were behind me, pulling me up.

Out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted Ludwig slump into his seat. Poor him, embarrassed by his big brother already.

Eli stood in front me, arms crossed. "You are so not awesome, Gilblegh Beilspit." He smirked. I couldn't believe he'd just sworn at me.

"This means war, Smelly Ellie Hederfarty." It wasn't very original, but it was all I could think of.

He raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Just what I – " Before he could finish the threat, someone interrupted us.

"Boys? Please follow me to the office." I turned around. It was Ms Bella, and she did not look happy. Eli's eyes widened, pulling his face into an expression of innocence.

"Oh no, Ms Bella! We were just playing." Eli turned and grinned at me. "Friends?" He offered. I gaped. After all that, this guy wanted to be friends?

I shrugged and matched his smile. "Sure." I said, as if it didn't really matter. He winked, turning back to the teacher. We both smiled angelically.

Ms Bella stared at the five of us. Roderich's legs had given way, and Matthias and Antonio were backing away slowly. The rest of the room was carefully ignoring us. Eli and I stood, facing Ms Bella with our hands on hips. I had to admire the guy. It took guts to do this, and until now, I'd been the only one brave enough to do it. Matthias was brash and crazy, but he was also a coward. He always ran when danger showed up. Maybe Eli was a better choice of friend after all…

Ms Bella pulled me out of my thoughts. "Whatever you say, you still caused a scene." She snapped, all her sweetness gone.

Eli's face fell, and I felt the same. Mom was going to strangle me.

"Principal's office. Now." She practically growled. Eli grinned ruefully at Roderich, who looked sympathetic, and I waved at my friends. They still looked nervous, and I shook my head. Thanks, guys.

Eli smiled at me. "At least it's us, yeah?" He said. I decided I liked his voice.

"Yeah. Very… awe…suss?" I tried out the word he'd used earlier. I had never heard of it before. As we followed Ms Bella out of the room, my lunchbox and Eli's left abandoned on our tables, the brown-haired boy laughed.

"The word is awesome. It means, y'know, great." He explained, and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about. I just nodded. It sounded like a good word.

As we neared the door to the now-familiar office, Eli turned to me. "I was here this morning." He whispered. I laughed.

"I know, I saw you." His green eyes widened. "That was you?" I just laughed harder, gesturing to my odd eyes and hair.

Realization dawned in Eli's face. "Oh, yeah. How come you look like that, anyway?" He asked me. I started to say, "Albinism," but Ms Bella interrupted.

"You two! Wait here." She pointed to the two chairs by the door to the principal's office, which was at the back of the school office. I made a face. These particular chairs were famed for having every bad kid in the history of the school sitting in them. Eli plopped down, and I followed suit.

Ms Bella shook her head at us. "You boys had better get your act together quickly." We nodded, acting innocent again. Our teacher sighed, her face softening. She smiled briefly, and then left.

I sat and kicked my feet on the polished floor. The office was as haphazard as the rest of the school. Papers were filed everywhere, and the secretary's desk was piled high with folders and note paper. One light blinked, and the door to the principal's office was hanging on its hinges.

Eli and I didn't talk, but instead tried to make the worst face at each other. Just as I was puffing up my cheeks, pushing up my nose and crossing my eyes, I heard a cough from behind. "And just what are you doing?" I looked straight up into the face of the principal. His brown curly hair framed a tanned face and crinkly brown eyes. He looked pretty nice. Apart from the fact that he was frowning at the two of us with a very serious expression.

Talking to Mr Vargas didn't take forever though, and soon enough Eli and I left with the promise of a call home if it happened again. As we headed back to class, my new friend stuck his tongue out.

"That was cool," He chuckled. I raised an eyebrow. "C'mon," He laughed at me. "Where's your sense of awesomeness?" He asked. I smiled slowly back at him. He grabbed my arm and together we ran back to the classroom. It was pretty awesome.