The plans had been formed rather easily - Melli saw Simon in the hallway, and after giving a friendly wave, he stopped her and asked her if she wanted to go to dinner, so they could catch up. They hadn't exactly had any time to themselves as friends since she'd arrived, and even before that, it had been a long time since they'd been able to spend some quality time together. The two were suprisingly close, considering they were cousins, but that was how their family was - tight-knit, perhaps too involved in one anothers' lives. But with an enthusiastic agreement, she set the time to meet as 6:30PM.

She dragged in perhaps a little late, and at first, she didn't spot him. After grabbing a tray of food, she chose to check the courtyard - and there he was, having reserved an empty picnic table in the corner under the shade of a towering tree. Shrugging, Melli headed his way - normally she didn't have the opportunity to have a picnic table, but she supposed that was the benefit of having a cousin who was a senior.

"Hey," Simon said with a friendly smile - he'd gotten his food, as well, but he had only started eating. "I'd started to think you'd forgotten."

"I just didn't expect you to be out here," Melli said, nodding as she sat down across from him. "I guess I usually eat inside."

Simon smiled a little, shrugging. "There's a lot more to observe out here. Certainly more interesting. I figured you'd appreciate the entertainment." He was grinning a bit, his eyebrows raised.

"You mean the gossip?"

"Something like that." Simon and Melli continued to chat, swapping stories about people they'd met - and in particular, discussing a particularly hilarious incident involving some girl he'd met in Music Literature. Her class, he said - but he didn't bother mentioning the name. Little did she know...

Ecce was not in a good place right now. Not only did he get his ear yelled off by Mara at night AND in the morning, but she blew him off at lunch AND dinner. After class and band was out, he had tried to talk to her, at his friend's suggestion, but that wasn't going to happen. She was playing her little game with him. Being unattainable and distant when he wanted to be with her. The moment he became unavailable she'd be jumping all over him, too. That was just how she was.

He wasn't even hungry, but he knew he had to eat something. He had found some tiramisu in the cafeteria. He only ever ate that when he was depressed, at least, in front of Simon. He wandered around, looking for a place to sit. All the band kids were sitting in filled tables, and he couldn't sit with Mara and her friends outside. As he exited the courtyard, he glanced around. Not a soul in sight he knew. He was about to just take it to his room and eat alone when he spotted Melli and Simon under the shade of a tree.

Wordlessly, he moved and set his tiramisu and coffee down on the table, sitting down beside Simon, slightly in front of Melli. He didn't look happy at all. In fact, for the first time, Ecce actually looked visibly upset. He took a long drink of his coffee, staring over the rim of his cup into the darkness. Not the darkness outside, but the darkness that was enveloping his heart ... /emo.

"Hi." he finally said, his voice echoing slightly inside the coffee mug.

Shell shocked was probably an appropriate word to describe exactly how the day had left Morgan. After Music Literature, and more specifically the incident that happened afterward, she had sort of been wandering around in a ghostly state - confused, befuddled, and above all, embarrassed. It hadn't taken long for Simon's words, and more specifically his thoughts to sink into her brain but when it had she turned probably the brightest red she'd ever been in her life. It wasn't even a color comparable to an overripe tomato. Had he really thought that? She had rewound their conversation and with much disdain realized that she had in fact sounded like she was trying to seduce him. It was very much not in her nature, something that everyone pretty much knew from assumptions alone, but what if Simon really was under the impression that she was some skank?

It was enough to break what was usually a rather high, rather impenetrable wall. The brunette was normally not so easily shaken - in fact, she very rarely appeared to care about anything at all - but this was something that she couldn't stop thinking about. Why did it bother her so much? She assumed it was because she had spent two whole years working up a reputation of sarcastic and venom-tongued ice princess and it was probably about to shatter. She knew nothing of Simon's standing with the rest of the school - he could probably have spread the entire thing within seconds of walking out the door. But was he like that?

He didn't seem it. In fact, he seemed to think the entire situation was hilarious which meant that he obviously didn't take offense to it. That was... a start, at least. And what was even more confusing was his offer as he practically scurried out of the door - hang out? She didn't... really do that, though she probably needed to. The bigger question was, though, was what he expected from such an offer. After all, she had practically sounded like she was giving away an entrance into fun Morganland - and that wasn't the case at all.

Still, the girl knew she had to shake it off. Chances were that whatever happened, happened, and she'd get over it anyway. It wasn't like she held any real connections to anyone in the school anyway. So after another class she managed to wander into the cafeteria and find something to eat - specifically an apple and a salad - and started to make her way to her room where she always ate. She wandered through the dining hall and out to the courtyard, passing by filled up pinic tables and spots on the ground before almost making it home free.

Simon and Melli were pretty engrossed in conversation - so much so that they hadn't noticed Ecce from across the courtyard. That is, until he sat down with them, and suddenly they grew quite silent, watching him. He didn't seem too well - both of them noticed that - though Simon hadn't really had the opportunity to find out what was on Ecce's mind. He had a suspicion, though - last night Mara's fit had been quite the show, and he imagined that their routine had suffered today because of her anger. Melli already knew what was going on, thanks to lunchtime, but she had no idea she was the cause of it...

"You feeling any better?" Melli asked unnecessarily, cocking her head in concern at Ecce. It troubled her to see that he was still upset about it, for quite a few reasons. One being, of course, that he was so worked up with the girl at all, and two? Well, she didn't like seeing him upset, of course.

"Was there a reason to feel bad?" Simon asked casually, though his voice was full of concern, as well. He glanced over at Melli, who smiled sheepishly, nodding. Simon understood fairly quickly what was going on, but hoped Ecce would continue regardless.

However, as he looked over at Ecce, he spotted someone else over his shoulder - someone quite familiar. Simon grinned slightly, nudging Melli's hand quietly and pointing so they wouldn't interrupt Ecce - but Melli didn't catch on to the whole 'quiet' thing. "Morgan!" She yelled out cheerily, motioning for her to join them. Simon was nodding over Ecce, as if to confirm the invitation.

But they immediately piped back down so as to listen - Morgan would likely be able to pick up on the somber situation when she got there. Simon was having trouble not grinning, though, especially considering what had gone on before...

"No, I'm not." he said, rather harshly, though his eyes widened in surprise at himself, quickly looking away. "Sorry. I don't need to take it out on you guys. " he said with a sigh. He sliced into his tiramisu, his comfort food, taking a bite out of it. He watched as Melli waved down one of her friends, a female. He glanced over at Morgan, soon returning his attention to his dessert.

"I tried to talk to her." he started, picking up his coffee and taking a long drink. Obviously it didn't go so well, judging by his demeanor. Ecce only ever ate tiramisu when he was depressed. Clearly, things had not gone as planned. Melli's advice didn't work too well.

Though, it was no fault of her own. That was just how Mara was. She had hoops that she wanted him to jump through, and if he didn't, well she would just be mad at him. When she got over her madness, she'd come to him and of course he would welcome her back with open arms, like always. Unfortunately for her, they were about to have some problems. Serious problems.

"It didn't work." he said, taking another bite of his 'dinner'.

He looked at Simon. "Mara." he said simply, sighing. "You were right last night. She was mad. Still mad, too."

Oh God. Oh God.

She hadn't seen them, that much was obvious, but when Melli called out her name across the vast courtyard, Morgan could spot her bright and cheerful face immediately. Not only did she see Melli, however, but Simon and another man - perhaps Ecce Homme? - as well. He was grinning, for good reason she knew, and for a brief second she thought about running away. Running, ha - what a funny thought for the female. She had never been one to run away. Still, the thought was oh so tempting and as she watched him nod his head in agreement to her own invitation, she felt deflated. She liked Melli - genuinely liked her - which was saying a lot for her, and she actually enjoyed Simon's company as well. But her mishap earlier, the situation that came undone and escalated was still very, very fresh in her mind. Like a wound, she fully expected it to be salted and poked out if she went over there.

Still, she wanted friends. No, God, she needed friends, and she really didn't want to ruin things with the only two people she'd really talked to throughout her years, so begrudgingly she made her way over and plopped heavily on the bench beside Melli. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, however, the guy she was still a bit unfamiliar about spoke, rather harshly, and she felt a bit taken back. Had she came at the wrong time? She shot a questioningly look over at Simon as if to say, 'should I leave?' before glancing back to Ecce. He seemed highly upset - damn near depressed, even - and she imagined it had something to do with Mara.

Morgan had to suppress a grimace when her thoughts were confirmed. Mara. She hated Mara. Mara was essentially the queen bee, top dog, highest piece of steak on the food chain and Morgan? Well, she didn't even come close. They were both essentially classified as bitches, though for different reasons. And for that, it was always a good idea to avoid the girl in question altogether. Getting two people who in essence would hate each other based on basics alone... well, it wasn't a good idea. So when Ecce continued speaking, mentioning that she was mad, really mad, Morgan had to suppress a snarky comment in return. In fact, she was beginning to wonder how she could sit here by Mara's boyfriend without talking trash about her. So to distract herself, she tried to make a plan.

Her options were limited, though. Melli seemed engrossed in Ecce's words, and she didn't really know what to say to Simon. So she did the only thing she could think of... she ate. Nom nom nom, apple?

Simon found it very difficult to suppress his grin as he noted Morgan's reaction; she didn't seem too inclined to sit next to them for a moment. It shocked him when Melli knew her name already, actually - he didn't realize she'd known her. He'd only nudged her to show her who it was they had been laughing about just moments before, but judging from the happy look on Melli's face, she already knew her. They were already friends... hm.

Melli was pretty darn preoccupied with Ecce, though - she offered Morgan a small, though warm and inviting smile as she sat down, happy to have her around, but otherwise listened to what he had to say. "I'm sorry," she said, looking back over at Ecce. "I shouldn't have told you to talk to her..." Then again, if she couldn't handle a conversation about their issues, then they didn't need to be in a relationship in the first place.

"Mmm," Simon muttered, looking at his best friend. "She was pretty angry at the apartment last night, I noticed. I assume you caught up with her." As he spoke, he noticed the look on Morgan's face, and he shook his head so that she wouldn't leave. Besides, she just got here! Why would she leave? "Perhaps it's time for a break?"

Melli made a bit of a face at Simon, as if to say 'don't go there,' and glanced over at Morgan, shrugging her shoulders. Gossip, of course - hopefully Morgan wouldn't mind too much, at least for now. Maybe they could cheer Ecce up pretty soon... She reached over with her foot, grazing Ecce's, hoping that little bit of physical contact might cheer him up. Holding hands with him seemed to do some good earlier...

"No, no... It was good advice. If it were anyone but Mara, it would have done some good." he said, stabbing his tiramisu and bringing another bite to his mouth. He glanced at Morgan, nodding at her. He knew of her, knew that she was on Mara's shitlist of undesirables, but that was about it. Unlike Mara, Ecce was nice to fucking everyone, even people who genuinely seemed to dislike him, like William. In turn, Ecce was well-liked but avoided most of the time because of his association with Mara.

"I did catch up with her. You didn't see her come back with me, did you? No. All of that just to tell me she didn't want to see me that night after all." he said, shrugging. "Not that I was in any mood to be with her after she yelled at me." he said with a heavy sigh. He looked at Simon, continuing. "And this morning, at breakfast, she gave me another piece of her mind. I've been dealing with her shit all morning." he said, his knuckles white as he held onto his fork. He took another sip of his coffee. "And at lunch, I tried to sit with her. I've never not had lunch with Mara. She told me she was still mad and that I should go sit with my band friends. So, Melli sat with me." he said, glancing at Melli, offering her a faint smile.

"I tried talking with her after band, but she wouldn't have any of it. And so, here I am." he said with a sigh, having caught everyone up in one fell swoop. With the exception of Toby, of course. But then again, Toby would probably just say 'fuck her!' anyway....

Her foot grazed his own and he blushed just the slightest tinge of pink. His foot nudged hers in return. Another bite of tiramisu found its way into his mouth. Things were getting better, he supposed.

"Yeah. Maybe it is time." he mused.

Simon was a little surprised at how his lunch with his cousin turned out - what was originally meant to be some private time with her had instead turned out to be yet another group lunch. That isn't to say he minded, though - Ecce was his best friend, after all, and he and Melli were clearly friends; he recalled that night in the apartment, when they first met, and how Ecce seemed extremely affectionate. Maybe something would happen, if they broke up - he wasn't sure, but either way, he didn't like Mara.

And there was Morgan, too. He watched her for a minute, his lips barely upturned into a smile; he felt strange, though, almost like Toby. Usually he wasn't the type to bring something like that back up... he'd have to let it go, for her sake. He didn't like to be an asshole, after all, regardless of how fun it might be to tease her. Besides, it might get to her even more if he completely disregarded it... But why was he even thinking that way?

As Ecce nudged Melli's foot back, she blushed a little; her foot grazing his had been almost involuntary. She'd made a vow to herself already not to make much more physical contact with him - for god's sake, he kissed her on the cheek! What did he expect? Of course she had a crush on him, regardless of the circumstances... maybe she could talk to Morgan about it later, get some things off of her chest.

"Don't think about it," Melli said seriously, perhaps a little confidently. "You'll bring yourself down even worse. Enjoy dinner, you know?" She smiled a little in spite of the situation, shrugging her shoulders.

"She's right, Ecce... you shouldn't let her get to you like that. That's exactly what she wants." He raised his eyebrows as if to say, 'she's-a-total-bitch-and-you-should-fucking-kick-her-to-the-curb-now.' Or something like that.

Ecce didn't have a fucking clue as to what extent her feelings were towards him. He just thought she was a sweet, kind hearted girl that did these things for just about everyone she was friends with. You know, one of those actually nice people he occasionally ran into. On the other hand, he was beginning to become quite aware that he was growing quite fond of her. Fond in the same way as he was with Simon, with the exception that Melli was far prettier than Simon.

Though, Simon was very pretty.

"Yeah... Maybe you're right." he said, staring down at the last bite of his tiramisu. In one fell swoop it was gone, and he drank the rest of his coffee down. He had fruit and some cereal back at the flat. If he got hungry later, he could eat that. Having tiramisu and coffee for dinner wasn't a horrible choice. He needed the sugar to lift his spirits. That, and good friends.

As he looked to Simon, he saw that look. He knew that look. Simon had been giving him the 'she's-a-total-bitch-and-you-should-fucking-kick-her-to-the-curb-now' look since the two of them had started dating! Perhaps he would listen to Simon, listen to Melli, and leave Mara. Could he really do that? It wasn't going to bother him now, though. He was safe, and with friends.

He looked over at Morgan. "Hi. You're name is... Morgan, right? Hi." he said, waving to her. Mara had told him so many lies about her. Of course he knew her name. 'Look at that Morgan girl...' followed by a string of insults would usually come out of Mara's, or her friend's mouths as Morgan passed by just out of earshot. Sure, Ecce had never taken part in it, but he had been complacent in his ignoring of the catgirls.

She felt... awkward, and a little out of place. These three were all clearly very close friends and she was just a bystander. Why had she been called over again? Better yet, why had she accepted that invitation. She knew that it wasn't that big of a deal - she was used to being on the skirts of things rather than being involved - but she wasn't entirely sure how exactly she felt about Ecce. She hated Mara, she knew that much for a fact, and had she been left alone in a room with the girl she'd probably end up going for her throat, but Ecce?

Well, she didn't know. He seemed nice enough - funny, sentimental even - but he was dating her. Didn't that alone say something about his character? Was he trustworthy? Well, to Morgan, was anyone? Still, what had he done to her personally? And, he seemed to be well liked by both Melli and Simon, and despite her better thoughts, she liked them enough to trust their judgment. She couldn't base her like and dislike list on associations, could she?

Morgan dismissed the thoughts entirely, taking another hearty bite of her apple and crunching away as they waded through his relationship problems. If she didn't like Melli so much, she'd probably throw out a few, 'Yeah, you should probably cut her lose cause she's actually a bitch, don't know if ya know that or not,' comments. But something had caught her attention, and despite knowing Melli for a very short amount of time, she could tell that she seemed rather... enticed by Ecce. Did she... did she have a crush on him? Morgan was generally pretty good at reading people but she didn't want to jump to conclusions.

Luckily Ecce stopped her from doing just that. She nearly jumped from the picnic bench in surprise as he spoke and she looked up mid apple crunch to meet his eyes. Coughing as she struggled to swallow her food - damn she was just a ball of nerves today, wasn't she? - she nodded and laughed nervously. "Yeah, sorry. I was trying not to interrupt - I'm sorry if I did. But yeah, Morgan. You're Ecce, right? It's cool to meet the other top senior,' Morgan flashed Simon a grin before realizing the situation at hand and went back to eating her apple. Damn what a tangled web we weave, eh?

Maybe maybe maybe... Melli made a face as he said "maybe" again - why didn't he just dump that bitch? However, she immediately started to feel a little guilty, as she knew it just wasn't that easy. And, after having figured out her crush on him earlier in the day, she also knew that the only reason she was irritated at all was because she wanted him for herself.

Wait, what? Did she actually want to be with Ecce? Of course not! She just had a silly crush that would fade away in a couple of days, right? A week, at best - certainly not any longer than a month, anyway. Otherwise... well, she wasn't sure what she'd do, especially if he stayed with this... Mara person. That name was vaguely familiar, too; she pondered who she might be. Perhaps they had already seen one another. That thought struck her as odd - there were lots of pretty girls around the school, certainly.

Simon grinned at Morgan as she spoke, remembering their conversation and the awkward situation that followed. At least she didn't think he was some kind of pervert for following her in the first place... Perhaps she hadn't thought that much into it yet. At least, he hoped so - he wondered absently what he would have done had she been actually referring to what he thought she meant. But that thought made him blush very slightly, so he chose not to think of it, and instead looked to his best friend.

"Morgan is in my Music Literature class. She also should be in choir with you... she recently told me that she'd teach me to sing." He glanced at Morgan, though his face was still turned to Ecce, and grinned slightly.

"Yeah. We're the top two, Simon and I. Followed by, I think William? I don't know, he's a nice guy, though. " he said. Of course Ecce would think he's a nice guy. Ecce always assumed the best in people. Ecce was also often wrong, especially since he had been in a long term relationship with Mara for ... what, four years now? Maybe he was a little naive. Too innocent for her.

Simon knew way more than the other girls, though. He had to put up with Mara being over quite a bit last year, if he recalled correctly. This year must have been terribly refreshing, only having to deal with her that one time she stormed into their flat looking for Ecce. Hell, Ecce hadn't hardly seen Mara this entire school year, save for lunch that one day. Things were crumbling beneath him regarding their relationship, and part of him was okay with that. He just needed to jump to stable ground before the floor fell out beneath him.

"I've seen her around." Ecce nodded. She had probably been in choir all the years he had been. He couldn't recall whether she was an alto or a soprano, but he was a tenor. He looked at Simon at his words and smiled. "You'd be a good singer, I'll bet. When they announce this year's musical, you should audition with me." he said. Ecce seemed completely serious about this. Like Morgan, he believed most people could sing. Tone deafness was relatively rare in his experience, and even then most of the time it could be trained (beaten) into them.

Yeah. Ecce was definitely way too innocent, in spite of Mara's influence.

Besides, you'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to see that Ecce had a thing for Melli -- whether he realized it or not. He smirked at her from across the picnic table, his foot nudging hers again. Perhaps he was only acting this way because she actually responded to his advances? They weren't really advances, but... he was certainly flirting, even if he didn't realize it.

Morgan nodded and set down her apple, fairly sure that she could stop using it as a distraction scapegoat for now. Truthfully she hadn't even been hungry to begin with - her nerves were working her every last thought, which was particular unusual for the female - but she had needed something to do while they discussed something that she wasn't particularly up for throwing her two cents in. She nodded at Ecce, feeling strange with all the conversation she'd been having that day. "Yeah, I've seen William around but I don't think I've ever met him." He didn't seem too nice to her, though she was probably the exact opposite of Ecce in that regard - where he assumed the best, she automatically saw the worst.

Since Ecce had been so upset, Morgan had honestly thought of herself in the clear. Simon, despite his slight staring paired with an attempt to hide a growing grin, hadn't really brought anything up about the incident after Music Literature. She figured that maybe he had forgotten, or perhaps he had decided not to say anything, but her expression quickly changed from relieved to panicked as soon as he mentioned even the slightest hint. She felt like she was about to start blushing like a child again and immediately went to dive into her salad, though what Ecce said surprised her. He didn't know? He didn't know! She smirked at Simon, tilting her head and nodding at Ecce. "You should audition, Simon. I think you'd do great."

Briefly she wondered if that was risque or could be lumped into what happened earlier, but she didn't get much of a chance to say anything to disagree with it. The sudden weight of an arm slapped on her back and she whipped her head around right fast to see a familiar face. It was a face that she'd not only seen before, but had told off quite a few times. Nicholas. There he was, standing behind Morgan and Melli with his arms draped around their shoulders, though he seemed far more interested in Melli than he did in the girl that he had classified as the school's bitch after she'd rather rudely declined his advances her freshman year.

The courtyard had always been his place - in fact, the meeting in the lunch room earlier had been a mere accident. In the courtyard he could pretty much do what he wanted - smoke, drink, mack on girls - you name it. It was no wonder he'd decided to scour the area during dinner. What he hadn't expected, however, was that his newly found virginal flower would be outside. And this time, she wasn't alone. It didn't matter, though, and he made that clear as he hugged her shoulder with his arm, leaning his head close to her ear and smiling as he spoke. "Why bonjour mon amour. What brings you outside this time? Were you looking for me?" Shooting a look at Morgan to tell her to get the hell out of his way, he was quickly met with rather sour glare and a set of eyerolls so deep that she looked like she was about to have a damn seizure.

Yet she moved, for whatever reason - perhaps because she didn't want to cause a scene - and circled the table before sitting down next to Simon, suddenly very interested in her food again. Today was just not a good day for her - she wanted to tell Nicholas to get lost, to screw off, to go back to whatever hellhole he'd slimed out of, but she had held her tongue thus far and she figured now wouldn't be a good time to make such a stellar first impression.

Nicholas slid into Morgan's spot and scooted up rather close to Melli, glancing around at the faces at the table. Simon and Ecce - his classmates, but aside from that, he knew very little about them. Simon was some random nerd and Ecce was Mara's boyfriend. Mara... Ah, Mara. There was a woman that knew how to get what she wanted. Nicholas appreciated that, among other parts of her. But she wasn't as important right now. Lifting a hand slowly, Nicholas brushed a stray piece of hair from Melli's face before flashing her a signature grin. "I see that you took my advice - isn't it nicer to have company rather than stick your nose in a book?" He glanced over at Ecce and Simon like he was about to talk to them, but truth be told he wasn't paying any attention to anyone but Melli. "Silly princess was sitting by herself at breakfast but why would such a gorgeous girl be alone? You guys should see the..." he paused before smiling again, this time less innocently, 'diamond in the rough, the untapped resource right before you."

Simon was too busy grinning stupidly at Morgan to notice the guy over her shoulder - that is, until Morgan noticed him, as well. He was just about to make some dumb quip about "auditioning," though he hadn't quite figured out how to twist that one around, when the local idiot from his class seemed to preoccupy himself with not only his new friend, but his cousin, as well.

Simon knew this guy - what with his need to compile information on all the students of the school for his own, silly expanse of knowledge, he'd certainly eavesdropped a few times here and there. He'd heard plenty about Nicholas Spencer, so much so that he could practically author a biography about the guy. But Simon usually didn't jump the gun with judgments - he also heard a lot of false information about Ecce before he met him, and he was sure similar rumors about Toby were floating around - so he simply watched his classmate like a scientist making observations.

Melli, on the other hand, seemed to jump out of her skin as he spoke in her ear, straightening up immediately and her face draining of color for the moment. She hadn't been expecting him; her reaction was more of shock than of flattery. "You have a talent in scaring me," Melli said as he moved to sit down next to her - wait, where was Morgan going? Morgan was her comfort!

She was mostly quiet, though, as he continued to speak - particularly about her book and... wait, what? First off, she blushed lightly because he was touching her face, moved a stray hair behind her ear. And secondly, what did he mean about an untapped resource?

Was she so terribly obvious? Sure, their conversation that morning had certainly revealed that she had no interest in boyfriends, but she felt quite silly suddenly, realizing that she, perhaps, sounded like a girl who had never messed around - or worse, who had never kissed anyone! And, honestly, she was both of those, but to make it in high school, you can't admit that so willingly.

"You don't know that," Melli said sourly, trying her hardest to keep her composure. Honestly, what bothered her the most about his statement is that he was saying it right in front of Ecce. Would Ecce laugh? She remembered his declaration just a week ago - "blue panties!" - and blushed deeply, knowing that, likely, Ecce already knew how innocent she was. Was that undesirable to him? Wait... why was she so stressed out about what Ecce thought?

Ecce nodded in agreement. Simon would do well. If he wasn't that great, he could learn to be great. Singing wasn't that hard, after all. Ecce looked over to Morgan -- she seemed pretty nice, in spite of everything he had ever heard about her. Then again, everything he had ever heard about her had come from Mara and her hen party, so a lot of his 'files' on people were quite biased. He didn't have a habit of taking those 'files' into account when actually forming opinions of people, though.

Simon, for example. He heard multiple times from multiple sources that he was a complete and total nerd, completely unfun, with no personality. Now, he had already learned otherwise, but to this day he heard those rumors floating around. He also heard plenty of times that he hated Simon, which was completely not true. He also heard rumors about -- what the fuck was this guy doing? Nicholas, was his name.

He had heard a lot about Nicholas. He was a bad news bear, from what he had heard. Cigarettes, alcoholism, a total slutbutt, you name it. Granted, Ecce wasn't perfect, hell, he had been known to toke up himself. Less dangerous than cigarettes but outright illegal for anyone. He was also known for smuggling alcohol -- never to Nicholas, of course. Maybe that was why Nicholas didn't like him? He never hooked him up?

He draped his arm over the two women and began to cuddle Melli. Right in front of him. Granted, nobody knew that he was even vaguely interested in Melli as a person, much less a romantic interest, save for Simon and maybe now Morgan. And he was already dating Mara... Wait, what in the world was he thinking? He didn't even know at this point. His eyes narrowed at Nicholas for a moment

"Women are not resources to be used and abandoned when you're done with them." Ecce said, rather pointedly. He glanced at Melli, clearly not happy with this guy. How in the world had she run into this guy? Were they dating? He sincerely doubted that. If they were, he was making it QUITE clear that he did not approve in the slightest.

If it hadn't been for the fact that whenever Nicholas spoke, he made sure that he was heard, Morgan was pretty sure everyone else would be able to hear her muffled whispers about his character. She had noticed that whenever the guy had started speaking, it was like word vomit just pouring out on the table. And at his mention of Melli being an "untapped resource", which was so out of line that it wasn't even in the same damn universe anymore, she couldn't help herself as she groaned rather loudly in protest. "Well there goes my appetite,' she hissed, dropping her fork in the middle of her salad and looking away. To say that the brunette hated Nich was an understatement - she absolutely detested him. He was everything in a male that struck one of her many nerves, and she usually did pretty damn well to avoid him. Not today, though.

Today, he stood draped over Melli like a new winter coat, playing with her hair and purring into her ear. "Ah, perhaps I worded that poorly. I am not, how do you say, implying that you are anything but a fresh and new soul in a tired world." A groan could be heard from Morgan again as Nich sat there, rather pleased with himself - he'd won that one, hadn't he? Well, for then, at least. Of course someone always had to come and ruin his parade. It was as if the constant bitching from the girl in the corner wasn't enough, but his fellow classmate just had to speak up. Did he have feelings for this girl? But, wait, wasn't he with Mara? A particularly smug grin formed on his face and he shook his head, rather amused with the situation. "Ah, but Ecce, you wouldn't know anything about untapped resources, now would you?" Hoping that the comment would at least baffle the blue haired guy for a while, Nicholas turned his attention back to Melli.

"Are we still on for Saturday, princess? I sure hope so, I've already started making out a map of all the places I'm going to take you. You'll love it - this place really has a lot of hidden treasure areas. Peaceful, relaxed, you know, places you can go to escape when you need to."

Melli didn't have much to say - she noticed the look on Ecce's face, and it made her feel a little strange, as if she was doing something wrong. Was it really such a big deal that she had a friend who was such a flirt? She glanced at Nicholas, blushing lightly as he practically purred into her ear. It was easy to understand what Ecce was saying - that Nicholas was only after her for the chase - but she knew better than to get caught up with a guy like that, right? Besides, Nich had been rather nice at breakfast, and had the capability to be her friend, in her mind. Always the best in people.

Simon, on the other hand, was merely watching the situation unfold, an eyebrow raised. Observations, observations; he watched the way Melli blushed, and he wondered if she possibly had some silly crush on Nicholas - but there had been a lot to indicate that she had a crush on Ecce, instead. Perhaps that's why she was blushing at all... he glanced at Morgan, smiling lightly at her appetite comment. "I'd have to say the same," he said rather stoically.

Melli chose to keep her mouth shut as Ecce and Nicholas shot words back and forth. It wasn't any of her business, right? Right-- although the fight was partially about her. So instead, she merely chose to answer Nicholas's question.

"Yeah, if that's still cool with you," she said quietly, looking down at her tray. "It'd be nice to get to know the area a bit better." In her mind, Nicholas was actually being nice, not trying to manipulate her into, well, sleeping with him.

Mr. Homme was not happy, clearly. He was having girlfriend trouble, and apparently now not-girlfriend trouble. He didn't like Nicholas, he decided, for sure. He could only see this ending badly for Melli. Nicholas was the type to gobble innocent girls up and spit out the bones, leaving them heartbroken. He had seen it many times, or at least, heard things. If he had any say in it, he'd prevent that from happening. But it already looked like she was getting pulled into his web.

He glanced to Morgan as she spoke. He wasn't hungry either. Simon agreed, and he glanced at his friend. Nicholas' words were syrupy sweet, and Ecce's upper lip twitched when he spoke directly to him. He didn't have to mince words with Ecce. He knew very well what he was getting at. However, if anyone was using up resources in his relationship, it was Mara. Not him. His knuckles were white as he gripped his fork. As Melli spoke, he glanced at her and then back to Nicholas.

"Ya, vas harosho panimayu." he snarled out in Russian. What in the world had he said? Obviously he didn't really want Melli to understand it, or Morgan. His fork slammed onto his plate with a clang sound as he stood from the picnic table. He gathered his dishes and began to leave. "Dosvedaniya." he muttered out, a goodbye in Russian. It was far easier for him to sound angry in Russian than it was his mother tongue. He left, heading to the dining hall to drop off his dishes. He'd then swing by his room to pick up his cello as well as a few books, heading straight for the practice rooms. He had some anger to hash out on the strings.

The end all be all to Nicholas' intentions had either been to piss Ecce off so much that he left or to just shut him up entirely. This was, after all, not his property, not his picnic table, and not his girlfriend. He had no right to so selfishly hog all of the underclassmen women to himself, but yet he seemed to be doing just that. And judging by the way he got so angry, so frustrated at the entire situation, he seemed to have some sort of feelings for this girl. Even better. But oh, what would Mara think? And where was the queen, anyway? Ah, either way. Nicholas inwardly shook his head and returned his attention to the female before him. She remembered their date, and lucky for him, actually admitted to wanting to go still.

Take that, Ecce.

But it didn't take another round of low blows to send the top senior off and Nicholas watched, amused, as the very Ecce Homme stormed off after uttering some complete nonsense. Feigning shock, he looked around at the faces sitting with him at the table. "My, what is wrong with him? You'd think he'd seen a ghost. Anyway, princess, I'll be in the courtyard Saturday so,' he stood, placing a kiss on her cheek before turning his back, 'if you don't change your mind before then, come find me. I promise, it'll be worthwhile." And like he'd entered, Nicholas vanished, going to do whatever it was that he did in his free time.

Morgan groaned again and shook her head. "Creep..."

As Ecce began to speak in Russian, Melli knew something was off, terribly off - as if she couldn't tell by the expression on his face in the first place. But what was he getting so worked up over? Nicholas was just a friend of hers, and either way, what difference did it make even if he wasn't?

For a moment, she simply sat in place, astounded; she shook her head, her brow furrowed. Simon's own eyebrows lifted as he began to understand the situation a bit more intimately... Ecce never usually spoke in Russian unless he felt particularly passionate about something. And that type of anger was certainly passionate. The very fact that his best friend just up and left like that was his first clue - he had feelings for Melli, no matter how small they might have been at that point. He smiled in spite of the situation at hand... what had been going on while he wasn't paying attention?

Melli blushed considerably as Nicholas kissed her cheek, bidding them all goodbye; what had she done to merit two kisses on the cheek from two different boys in one day? As she thought of that, combined with Ecce's reaction just now, she blushed even more, though she wouldn't allow herself to think on it too much. She didn't want to get her hopes up or anything - at this point, he was still with Mara, after all.

"Hmmm..." Simon speculated aloud, now that it was just himself, Morgan, and Melli. He was especially curious as to Melli's seeming silence, and he was just about to inquire as to how she felt when she, herself, dropped her fork on her plate, sighing.

"I have homework," she said rather absently, her brow furrowed. She wouldn't meet Simon or Morgan's eyes. "I'm gonna go... work on that. Yeah."

And with that, the girl left as well, leaving just the two of them.

"Well," Simon said. "I guess it's just me and you, huh?" He smiled lightly, though his brow was furrowed in concern, as well. "That was... something, huh?"

As Morgan watched the entire scene unfold from the corner of her eyes, she wondered if perhaps this was why she didn't melt herself into many social crowds. Despite knowing that they weren't normally such a dramatic bunch, she felt very out of place and quite... awkward, even, at dinner. The brunette watched Melli carefully, observing her face and her expression. She looked... confused? Maybe. Flustered was a better word, though. Perhaps even a bit heartbroken. Why though? Because Nicholas had left, or because Ecce had? At the beginning of dinner she was almost sure that she'd had some sort of feelings for Ecce, but now? Now she was just damn confused.

But she didn't stay long. No, much like Morgan expected, Melli retreated as well. The entire thing seemed to leave a bad taste in her newfound friend's mouth and Morgan assumed she was just upset. Too bad she didn't know which flat she stayed in else she would have searched her out and tried to talk. Maybe she'd be somewhere else later? She'd have to go exploring, she figured.

Morgan glanced around, noting the suddenly empty table, and finally her eyes met Simon's. He had, apparently, already settled in on the fact that Melli and Ecce were not coming back. She sighed and nodded slightly, looking back at her food. "Interesting would be an understatement. I can't say that I expected that." Truth be told, she didn't know what she was getting into when she'd sat down earlier - now, at least, she was aware of what to expect on later dates.

Simon nodded as Morgan spoke, thinking to himself. Nicholas was often the type to, of course, lure in virginal women just as he'd just about said while talking to Ecce earlier. Melli had, for the most part, seemed to brush off his advances, otherwise approaching him as a friend only, but it still seemed to bother Ecce... it was becoming quite apparent to him that, not only did Melli have some sort of feelings for Ecce, which by this point was extremely obvious, but Ecce did to some degree, as well.

"Did you get the feeling that there was a lot more communicated than what was said?" He lifted his eyebrows as he looked over at Morgan, realizing that that question was quite confusing. "I mean, did you feel like there was a lot more to that confrontation than just that conversation?"

He sat for a moment, thinking; he had mostly finished his food by now, so he wasn't too terribly inclined to stay there, other than this time spent with Morgan. For some reason, he certainly enjoyed being around her... perhaps she was just different from most of the girls he knew around this school. Not only was she smart and independent, but she had a temper to boot - and was quite innocent, on top of all of it. It was intriguing.

"I suspect that Melli has feelings for Ecce, at least," he said with a sigh, taking a sip of his water. "And judging from that reaction, Ecce may be starting to feel the same way. I'll certainly have to pry and figure it out, anyway."

Simon and Morgan disturbingly seemed to be on the very same wavelength and as they both sat there in silence, it was obvious to the brunette that they were thinking about the very same thing. It was both strange and a relief - strange because she had only met Melli, Ecce, and Simon recently but she could already see what was going on between two of them, at least, and a relief because hell, at least his mind was on something else for now. The girl glanced back across the table where Melli had been sitting and thought for a second. When she'd sat down at watched the way Melli had talked to Ecce, she was certain that the girl had feelings for him. Now? She was kind of thinking maybe Nicholas could work his magic on her as well.

That worried her, honestly, but she couldn't do anything about it now. Despite being rather rough around the edges, Morgan tried not to confront people without good reason. She'd wait, for sure, but waiting and watching was all she could do. Blinking, she turned to Simon and nodded the first time he spoke before smiling as he repeated himself, clearer this time. "Yeah, I got ya, I felt it too. I thought I suspected it when I sat down but that last little scene just... cleared everything up. They definitely have something going on but..." She paused and chewed on her lower lip for a second, thinking pretty damn hard about a romantic relationship that didn't even involve her, 'I suspect they have no idea."

Shrugging, Morgan gathered up her food and its remains before scooting it to the side and resting her elbows on her table, her chin perched firmly on her hands. Glancing over, she locked eyes with Simon briefly before wondering how on earth she'd managed to go from anti-social to potentially playing matchmaker. It was funny, really, in an ironic way. "If you want, I can try to tickle it out of Melli... and you can work on Ecce." Morgan nodded to herself, pretty damn sure her plan would work. And with that out of the way, she wondered... what she was even still doing there? Hadn't she just been practically avoiding Simon earlier? And now, here she was, holding common chit-chat like it was nothing. Maybe he'd forgotten?

Simon thought silently for a moment about his cousin, about the blushes that crossed her cheeks just earlier and her reactions to Ecce's words. He shook his head as Morgan mentioned that neither of them knew - he knew his cousin better than that, after all. "Nah, I think Melli realizes that she has some kind of feelings for Ecce. There were clearly some thoughts running through that slow mind of hers," he said, laughing lightly, though his expression was still full of thought. "I'm sure Ecce doesn't know. He doesn't know most emotional things unless they hit him right in the face - and even then it's usually still not apparent to him." He sighed.

"Likely Melli doesn't realize Ecce is starting to have feelings for her, though," he speculated, looking down at his tray. "She's always been a positive person, sure, but she seems to prepare herself for the worst." He lifted his eyebrows at Morgan as he offered her these observations, shrugging his shoulders. Perhaps he was full of shit - he never knew, sometimes.

"But I certainly agree that we should work on them. I should definitely have a conversation with Ecce, eventually." He looked over at Morgan. "Though I never suspected you and I would play matchmaker together. I thought you were going to teach me how to sing?"

With that, he winked lightly, smiling as he stood to dump his tray. "So are we hanging out tonight or what?"

Morgan shrugged, figuring he was probably right. After all, despite not knowing their relationship, it was fairly obvious that they had some sort of preestablished relationship prior to Morgan meeting either one of them. Obviously, he likely knew Melli way better than she did. She had, after all, only met Melli once - and while they certainly did click well together, it didn't mean she knew anything about the girl. But there was one thing she was good at, perhaps the only thing socially that she had a feel for, and that was reading people's emotions. It was clear, to her and to Simon, that Melli did feel something for Ecce. Ecce was the same way, really - but that was a matter she was a little less worried about.

Morgan flashed a nod and a smile in his direction, agreeing with her first statement. They would need to work on them for a multitude of reasons. One being that Morgan actually liked Melli - surprisingly enough, she seemed like a nice enough girl and the brunette could see her actually forming a friendship with the teenager. Because of this, she wanted her to be happy. Everyone deserved that, at least, right? And reason number two was, well, a little more selfish. Morgan hated Mara. Despised her, even. While she knew nothing about Ecce or Ecce and Mara, or how their relationship worked at all, she knew that she would love to see nothing more than Mara's social life burn. One girl should not have that much power.

"I never thought I would be playing matchmaker at all, honestly. Ever. In life. But, well... the way she looked at him, it was pretty obvious that it's either make or break her heart on this one." Morgan looked distant for a second, wondering really deeply why she even cared so much. But the idea of seeing someone so happy like Melli heartbroken... well, it was enough to make her sad by proxy. "So, partner, I guess we have ourselves a mission."

Morgan snapped back to reality in time to hear Simon's singing comment and see him stand, and shortly she followed suit a bit embarassed about his words. She figured it was probably time to leave anyway - go back to her room, study, turn in for the night, forget the whole thing happened - but he said something that made her blink in shock for a second. Smirking, she tilted her head and shrugged. "Well, depends. What are you up for?"