"Huh?" Alin would say, noticing that his hand was on his head. Lowering his hand, he shook his head. "I'm really sorry, I've been out of it all day. I'm okay, I don't need to go." He didn't argue when she helped him carry his books, though. He wanted to tell Serena what was bothering him, but he was deeply afraid that she'd make fun of him. There were others who had it much worse than him, they didn't go around complaining about it and moping around, so he shook his head and forced a smile onto his face. He gently grabbed his books back from Serena, thanking her quietly. He would just hide it, he decided, he could let his emotions out when he was alone.

"Okay, I-..I..." Even after all the kindness Serena had already shown him, he still found it hard to think that someone like her would go through the trouble of being friends with him. Could Serena really care about him as much as she said she did? He felt horrible about worrying her, but he couldn't lie to her, not ever. Even if he tried to, she'd see right through it, he was a horrid liar. He released the forced smile from his mouth and looked her in the eye, not pretending anymore. "It's just the things that the caretaker at the orphanage said to me before I left, they just really bore into me this time. I don't know why, he'd said it all before and it didn't bother me nearly this much. I'm just being a ninny, I know, and I'm sorry. It's just hard for me not to believe them when my entire life I've been told that no one would ever want me." They still had a little bit until class started, and Alin put his hands up to cover his face. "I'm sorry, please don't hate me, I'm being a selfish idiot."