As hard as it was sometimes to tell when Izzy was playing or not, this time it showed loud and clear. That smile on her face coupled her words directed to me were pretty direct, and I found myself grinning despite being the butt of the joke.

“I could be subtle if I [i]wanted[/i],” I muttered, but even to my ears the attempt to sound sullen failed miserably. I was too pleased at the mood beginning to lighten – life was so much easier when everyone was happy. Even being put down by Hana shortly after didn’t dampen my mood; I wasn’t expecting much else anyway, most of the time girls thought I was joking when I did put that foot forward. I usually went along with it for sake of making things less awkward.

Of course the promise of being introduced to some of her ‘prettier’ friends made me color a little. [i]Oh[/i]. So maybe she did realize.

The others were beginning to get friendlier, or as friendly as they were going to be to a stranger intruding upon us. Feeling rather accomplished I let the others introduce themselves and even make remarks about being helpful as I instead moved to sit and draw my backpack around in order to rummage through it. All of this excitement and I hadn’t even got to eating my lunch yet. Luckily it was always packed – cafeteria food was never healthy and I had to stay in shape. Nothing says ‘I buy pizza every day for lunch’ like being last in a track meet. By the time I had unwrapped my sandwich and took the first bite Hanna was leaving though. Trying to leave, I suppose, since she face planted in the attempt. [i]Wince.[/i]

“Dude, she’s going to be a jock in no time,” Jake quipped, and I was quick to swallow the food I had in my mouth in order to comment – I was going to help Hannah up as well but she was quick to be back on her feet.

“There’s a guy on the tennis team who can’t go more than five feet without tripping over air. It’s quite amazing to watch him compete – you’ve never seen athletics like his acrobatics to get to the ball after falling flat on his face. He does surprisingly well.” It seemed Hana leaving was put on the backburner as Sarah got her turn with the girl, stalking towards her like some sort of urban predator. Maybe it was just that I never felt threatened around her, but it was quite amusing to watch actually, like a puppy barking. I better not ever tell Sarah I referred to her as a puppy though.

She did seem to have something brewing in her mind though. Knowing me? I’d probably go along with whatever crazy plan she had working up in her mind. I’d like to think of myself as reliable, if not too great at the whole [i]making[/i] the plans part … or some of the references she was dropping.

Besides, it’d be nice to be more open about our friendships.

“If you’re really set on that Hana,” I finally added and turned my attention back to the girl, “I’m with Ray – just tell me if us jocks get too pushy. Me and my buddy Ryan can muscle them back into line - he'll be confused, but he'll do it.” Oh, I’m really getting better at English now that I can make [i]puns[/i]. That was a pun, wasn’t it?