7632/Better Than School Food

Better Than School Food
Date of Scene:	31 August 2021
Location:	Cafeteria - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	Eve meets Mark at lunch. Mark helps a younger student who is being bullied.
Cast of Characters:	Mark Grayson, Eve Wilkins

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Mark Grayson has posed:
Class just got out for...what, like thirty minutes to an hour, for food. Normally, Mark eats with his best friend William - but the poor sod was home sick. So Mark was eating at the cafeteria by himself. In school, he's not exactly one of the popular kids. But he -is- considered to be one of those 'superhero nerds' who could probably tell you about everything Superman has ever publically done in his life.

Or Batman, or Wonder Woman for that matter.

He was on the phone with someone, probably his dad. "Yeah, I'll be home in time for dinner. William is home sick from school, so I might try and drop off some food to him. What? No, I'm not going to a party. No, I don't really want to either. Yeah huh. Yeah. Love you too, bye."

He hangs up his phone and promptly head-desks the dinner table in front of him. Thankfully, he doesn't seem to have hit his food, but he straightens himself up and begins to work on his meal some.

"What a day." He mumurs to himself.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Eve Wilkins steps through the doorway into the cafeteria, though her attention is more on her phone than on the room itself. She has a pair of books and a tablet held against her torso in the crook of one arm, and a reusable lunch bag dangles from that hand.

The other hand manipulates Eve's phone as she moves to the side to not block the doorway. She takes just a second or two to read something and then lowers the phone, giving a tiny shake of her head. She heads over to a vending machine, using her phone to pay for a cold juice box.

Beverage in hand, the young redhead makes her way over towards the open tables. She's by herself, which isn't unusual. She's not standoffish and is generally viewed by people as being pretty nice in general. But she also doesn't seem to spend much time seeking out others her age. She's made a few friends since she came to the school last year as a junior, but doesn't seem particularly close with anyone.

So it isn't surprising when Eve heads for one of the tables that is mostly empty rather than seeking out people she knows. She moves to the other side and end of the table where Mark just took a seat by himself. "Mind if I sit here?" she asks, and will get a confirmation from him before taking the seat there at the other end.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark just ate his food happily, but what caught him off guard was -the- Eve Wilkins. She was, like, the hottest girl in school. All the guys (and some girls) were nipping at her heels, or so the rumor mill went. Mark kinda gulped a little bit when he found himself staring. You know, someday, he'll be cool enough that she'll want to sit at his table.

Of course, he's been saying that for quite a while now and it hasn't happened yet.

But maybe one day he-oh god, is she coming towards his table, why is she coming towards his table? Did he wake up in an alternate universe like literally half of superheroes ever have?

"Uh...do you have the wrong table?"

Mark asks, then he mentally slaps himself. "I mean, hell yeah. You can sit. Though uh, you can sit next to me if you want. Or I can sit next to you. I promise I don't have any illnesses, regardless of what bullies have suggested..."

and this kid gets -bullied-.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
If Eve gets a tiny smile, it is triggered by warm amusement and kept small enough it shouldn't add to any self-consciousness that might be felt after Mark's stumble in his reply to her. "Thank you," Eve says, the girl's green eyes swinging over to meet Mark's gaze and give him a grateful smile as she takes her seat on the bench.

The juice box - grape juice - is set down, her books going to the side. One is a chemistry book, the other is for American history. Eve opens up the purple lunch bag and looks inside. "And today's mystery meal is... sandwich," Eve says as she pulls out a tupperware sandwich container, setting it on the table, and then withdraws an orange and a package of peanut butter crackers and a small bag of Sun Chips.

The container is opened and Eve lifts the bread to check the contents. "Cajun chicken. Better than school food at least," she says. Then peers at the sandwich more speculatively. "Maybe," she amends before picking up the sandwich.

Eve takes a bite, and eventually says in a light-hearted tone to Mark, "So are you sure about that? Not having any illnesses I mean. Aren't you friends with William, kid in my Chemistry class who is out sick today?"

Mark Grayson has posed:
I mean, can you really blame him?

The guy is a -loser- by public high school standards. Girls don't talk to him (supposedly) and his locker is supposedly riddled with Omni-Man posters and even one or two about the famous Teen Team! Of course, add in just about all of the most popular heroes from the Justice League and the Avengers and you have Mark Grayson. To him, it's like God finally gave him a fist bump and said 'This one's on me buddy'.

So Mark is feeling stupid levels of anxiety right now, a slight touch of sweat hangs on his brow, and the guy is -terrified- to so much as look at Eve right now.

She might smell fear.

So, Mark scooches a little bit closer to where she's sat, if but to make talking easier, and he clears his throat when she asks him a very simple question. "W-well, uh, pretty sure. I feel great. The cafeteria food is absolute garbage though, am I right? I think we got the leftovers of the leftovers." William? Fuckin' love that guy.

"Yeah, William's actually my best friend." He has a sneaky suspicion that William totally set this up. Sneaky bastard. "He's out sick today, think he might've caught a fall cold." He remembers his manners.

"I'm Mark, by the way. Mark Grayson."

Eve Wilkins has posed:
The young redhead eats slowly while Mark talks to her. If she senses his nervousness, nothing since that tiny smile has given any indication of it. "Good, don't want you coming down with it," Eve replies. "Speaking of, you probably need this more than I do," she says, picking up her orange to indicate what she's talking about. Once she knows Mark is looking towards it, she gives it an easy toss up in the air over to him to catch.

Eve opens up her juice and takes a sip. "Eve Wilkins," she replies to him. "Think we had homeroom together last year," she says, though the seating had been alphabetical, and 'Wilkins' put her on the other side of the room from 'Grayson'.

"Seems like a nice guy. We are paired up for one of the chemistry labs next week," Eve says. "Oh, speaking of that, if I send you my notes, would you be able to pass them on to him?" she asks pulling her phone out of her pocket as she does.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark -wishes- his hands weren't shaking so he could actually eat. But he clears his throat and...well, at least he tries. He tries to eat one of the potatoes on his plate, half of it gets into his mouth and the other half falls off of his fork. "Crap." He mutters with his mouth full, and realizing everything he is doing wrong, he swallows hard, quickly wipes his face, and looks at Eve. "Uh...sorry, I promise I know my manners."

Thank god she doesn't have super hearing or something, because his heart might literally be about to burst.

Then she throws an orange at him and he catches it with his left hand...which falls into his right...which falls into his left, which finally falls into both of his hands. A bit of sudden juggeling for a second as he smiles at her. "Hah, thanks." He takes a big bite of the orange and it tastes -delicious-!

Though as she talks about William being her partner for Chemistry, Mark feels a pang of jealousy.

'THE FUCK, WILLIAM?!'

But maybe it was just for the -excuse- for Mark to have interactions with Eve. "He's a cool guy. If you send me his notes, I'll 100 percent give them to him, yeah." Oh. My. God.

Was he about to get her number?!

Eve Wilkins has posed:
"Nice catch," Eve says in a purely complimentary tone as Mark snags the orange with second effort. She sets her juice box down then and unlocks her phone and has Mark input his information, then sends him a text ("Vitamin C is important!") so he has her number.

The books are slid off her tablet and Eve unlocks it and finds her notes in it, then sends Mark a link to them. "Hopefully he's better by next week," she says of William. "If not I can do it and send him the results. Chemistry is a really good subject," she says, the final comment in a matter of fact tone rather than a bragging one. In fact it is followed up with an exhaled sigh. "One of the only ones, at that," she says with a rueful smile.

Eve turns back to her sandwich, the girl's eyes no longer on Mark for the moment, giving him a few moments to be less self-conscious. Her face is in profile to him, giving a view of her delicate, pleasing features while she's not observing him.

Across the room, a few voices rise in volume as Todd, one of the larger boys in school, shoves a sophomore in line ahead of him, causing the boy's plate to clatter to the floor. Todd laughs as he walks past, going over to sit with some of the boys on the football team.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Oooohhhmygodohmygodohmygod.

Eve Wilkins just gave -Mark Grayson- her number?! What parrelel universe is this? Did Mark die of a heart attack, ressurect by the power of Grayskull, than immediately get killed again and wake up in heaven? This is unreal! He doesn't snatch the phone out of her hand though, he just -carefully- takes her phone, inputs his information as best as he possibly can, then hands it back to her.

The text message makes him smile, and he texts her back. "All the vitamins are needed! I think."

Then he chuckles. "I can help! I'm not uh, the brainiac that William is, but maybe I can do it with you and William can facetime? I don't want you to feel like you have to do twice the work, ya know?" Even if Chemistry probably comes extremely easy to her.

Then she looks away and turns to her sandwich. Oh yes, while she does that, he's checking her out from foot to face. God must exist if -that- exists. Or some kind of other supernatural force where they thought 'yeah, let's put Eve Wilkins on earth and make her a frickin' supermodel' was a great idea.

Mark's a believer.

Then there's Todd. Fuck that guy.

Todd knocks a kid over, and in an actio nthat might surprise Eve, Mark stands up from his seat and goes over to the kid who got knocked down. "Hey man, you alright? Don't sweat it, I'll cover your lunch." He tries to help the kid back up, fully knowing he might incur the wrath of the Todd.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
The student, a skinny kid named Gary that is two years younger than Mark takes the offered hand as he rises. He dusts himself off, thankfully the food didn't end up on him. "Thanks," Gary tells Mark while he casts a careful glare over towards Todd after a glance confirms the larger boys back is to him. "That's really nice of you," he tells Mark.

Eve watches Mark go over to help Gary, eyes lingering there as the younger student is helped up. Her attention goes back to Mark though. As he shows the kindness to the younger boy, Eve takes note of the dark-haired senior. Not an unpleasant face, and if he's not quite as muscle-bound as Todd, he's not a pipsqueak either. Even if he does get picked on for his hobbies.

If Mark notices the redhead looking his way, Eve gives a tiny nod of her head towards the table, seeming like a suggestion to invite the younger boy to the table.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Ah, Gary.

One of the only kids tortured more by Todd than Mark himself. Just last week, Todd decided to give Mark a new form of lunch in the form of a knuckle sandwich for not immediately handing over his lunch money. He helps Gary up, and seems completely unaware of Eve giving Mark the once over. No, he wasn't as muscular as Todd, who looks like a linebacker and a roided-out bodybuilder had an unholy child.

But he was a handsome guy. Good Viltrumite genetics making Mark a solid looker, even if he wasn't the most handsome man on earth (since he was still growing into his features), when he's older? Yowza.

But its only now that he finally looks Eve's way, almost as if asking a quiet permission from her, and he gestures Gary to Eve's table. "Here, let me grab you some new food. Looked like you grabbed up some pasta and a soda, yeah? head over to that table and I'll be right back."

and so Mark goes to the vendors again.

Todd don't notice him, Todd don't notice him, please don't let Todd notice him.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Gary looks over towards the table that Mark gestures at. He sees who is sitting there, and the spot with Mark's food that is empty that must be where Mark was sitting. His eyes widen just slightly and he looks back to Mark. "Um, sure, ok," he says. Gary glances back to the table where Eve sits and then making his way over with all the self-consciousness that a teen can muster.

Eve flashes a smile to the younger boy. "Hey there. It's Gary, right?" she asks him. Which gets a second widening of the eyes from Gary. "Yeah it is, how- Er, I mean, yeah, thanks." Eve gestures for him to take a seat on Mark's side of the table, which he does.

The young woman looks up again then, eyes seeking out Mark and his progress on getting Gary another lunch.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Gary and Eve aside, Mark turns his glance to Eve a few times as he's getting the food, maybe a reflection of the intention Eve has when she seeks him out. He smiles at her, and mouths a slight 'sorry' if she feels a little weirded out to be left alone with Gary. Honestly, Gary's not even a bad guy...

He's just one of the guys that's killing it in calculus and several other AP classes. Sheesh.

Guys like Gary make Mark feel dumb as hell, but he has the food in his hands. Todd seems to catch him in his eyesight, but thankfully, he seems to leave him alone. If anything, because he's headed for Eve's table and he doesn't want to look like a -complete- dickwad in front of the beautiful young woman.

"Here you go, Gary."

Gary might try and offer repayment for Mark, but Mark will just shake his head. "Don't even think about paying me back, by the way. Todd is a dick, and from what I've seen, you're a cool guy who likes math."

SOmetimes, kindness goes a longer way than showing off how many muscles you have.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
Eve makes small talk with Gary while Mark is bringing the food over, asking about his classes, and whether Mr. Westdorf is as strict a teacher as they say. Thankfully she came to Happy Harbor as a junior so didn't have his class.

"There you are," Eve says, green eyes reflecting the soft smile she gives Mark as he returns after helping the smaller boy. She doesn't offer verbal praise for his actions, but that smile he earned says plenty.

Eve turns back to her own food as Gary thanks Mark for the meal. "Alright, thanks man. Yeah, he's kind of a dick. Maybe he'll get hit in the head with a football or something. Or his gnads, even better," Gary says as he starts eating. Eve covers her mouth slightly to hide her grin.

A chirp comes from Eve's phone that she left on the table after exchanging numbers with Mark. She checks it, the soft smile giving way, lips pressed more into a straight line as she sets the phone back aside after reading the text. "How much time do we have left?" she wonders aloud about the lunch period, checking the time on her phone, and then taking another bite of her sandwich slightly more hurriedly, as if realizing she needs to get to her food if she's going to finish in time for her next class.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark returns with the food, and the smile she gives him makes Mark's cheeks flare a brilliant red color. "H-Hey, sorry if I took a minute..." Mark's hand rubs the back of his neck as he becomes a bit flustered by the attractive woman's smile towards him, even if his eyes retreat from hers, they swiftly come back to her.

"Maybe we could-"

Doh! Damn phone runing his five seconds of courage! So he distracts himself with Gary. "Hah! Nice." He offers Gary a fist bump, the impact being met with the 'explosion' motion from Mark, who's mainly just trying to be fun at this point.

As soon as Eve's eyes are back on him though, Mark seems to stiffen a little bit, but he notices the small things. She's in a rush. "Uh...probably like seven minutes? What's the rush, if you don't mind me asking?" He might just have to text or call her. "Everything alright?" Please please please don't tell him he scared her off. That's pretty much his nightmare.

Seriously. Scaring off Eve Wilkins is right next to drowning.

Eve Wilkins has posed:
The redheaded teen eats a little more quickly than before, though not in an unseemly way. "Have a quiz in American History and I want to spend a few extra minutes reviewing my notes before it," she explains between Sun Chips.

The sandwich is soon worked through and the rest of the chips. "Let me know how William is doing," Eve comments to Mark as she finishes up her meal and sips the last of the juice. "Hopefully he's feeling better soon."

A smile is given to Mark, and then one over to Gary before the vivid green eyes swing back to Mark. "And good luck on not catching his cold," she says with a soft chuckle as she rises from the bench.

Her books are collected and the sandwich container goes back in her bag, the rest kept in a hand so she can relay it to the trash can on her way out. "Alright, enjoy the rest of your lunch boys," she tells them with another of those soft smiles. She lifts her hand to them to say goodbye and then turns, heading for the doorway with a last glance over her shoulder to them.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Oh okay, thank God.

Mark thought he just scared Eve Wilkins. Though as she seems to start to pack up, Mark does his best to try and help her out if she accepts the help. "Yeah, I'll let him know you said hi. I'll uh, see you around, yeah?" He watches Eve finish packing up and she seems to smile at him. He tenses up. She's smiling -at him-.

Mark blushes once more. "I'll do my best." and she's rising from the bench and taking off.

She gave him a LOOKBACK!

Mark watches Eve walk away. It's a 'he hates watching her go and loves watching her leave' kind of situation, but when she looks at him, all he can do is look at her eyes. Not any other part of her.

"Gary, I'm gonna do something stupid and ask her out. What are my odds?" He asks Gary without even looking at him.

Mark was starstruck. Even if he's going to be late for class if he doesn't start packing up either!

Eve Wilkins has posed:
The younger boy watches Eve depart as well. The redhead rarely dresses flashy, wearing simple jeans and a t-shirt but the look definitely works on the very fit young woman. Gary turns away and back to Mark only when Eve is out the door and out of sight.

"Um," the sophomore says as if he's trying to think of an appropriate answer. "Maybe you should just be like Han Solo, and 'never tell me the odds'?" he suggests, giving a shrug and a small grin after his answer.

Mark Grayson has posed:
Mark seems to gulp a little bit, and he takes a deep breath.

"Yeah, I'm gonna ask her out. I mean, she didn't hate me....yeah, I'm gonna ask her out." He finally gets around to sending that text to William. "William! You absolute bastard, you're the best friend a guy could ask for."

All William sends back is a wink and thumbs up emoji. Of course Mark sends him the notes he needs.

...but William got him in the door, and so help him Mark's gonna ask Eve out on a date..and probably get told no, but the effort counts!