After Katie's knee was all patched up, she thanked him and started to grab her tray to leave.
She wasn't used to school life yet, and it showed—she came off as super sensitive and kinda timid.
Mike shook his head when he saw that, pushed his own tray across the table, and said, "Katie, if you want, you can just eat here with me."
"Really? That's awesome!" Katie blurted out loudly, looking totally thrilled.
In the animal world, sharing your territory was a big sign of acceptance and friendship.
But she quickly realized this wasn't the African jungle, and her reaction had been way over the top.
To avoid freaking out the boy next to her, Katie calmed down and said in her most even tone, "I mean, you're a really good person."
In her mind, complimenting someone was another way to show kindness.
But in Mike's book, getting called a "good person" by a pretty girl usually wasn't a great sign—it often meant friend-zone territory.
Still, thanks to cultural differences, he got what she was trying to say.
"Thanks for the compliment. You're a 'good person' too," Mike said seriously, then smiled. As she looked confused, he sat down across from her and kept eating his lunch.
This move? Classic: fight fire with fire.
Katie didn't quite get why Mike called her a "good person" too, but she could feel his friendliness loud and clear.
This was the first time at school someone had eaten lunch with her, and it felt amazing.
In that warm vibe, Katie figured she should keep the conversation going.
She glanced up at the handsome boy across from her, then at the mountain of food on his tray, and complimented him again: "You have such a big appetite~"
In the animal kingdom, only the strongest got the most food and the heartiest eaters.
To her, saying someone had a big appetite was high praise.
But in civilized society, being a big eater often just made people think "glutton."
Mike paused with his fork and knife, looked up at the girl, and saw how sincere she was.
This girl genuinely had no idea her "compliments" could be awkward.
"I'm going through a growth spurt," Mike said flatly, then gave her a pointed look before digging back in.
Subtext: Nice one, but let's not do that again.
He overestimated her, though—Katie still couldn't read social cues like that.
Sure enough, when he responded, it fired her up even more.
She sneaked another peek at his handsome face and kept chatting: "What grade are you in? How come I've never seen you around school before?"
Mike didn't even look up this time, just scooped up some seafood rice and said casually, "Eleventh grade transfer student. I just enrolled today, so yeah, normal you haven't seen me."
He was really enjoying the seafood rice. Sure, it was cafeteria food cooked in huge batches, but the ingredients were fresh, portions were generous, and the flavor was solid.
This seafood rice? Totally hit the spot for Mike.
Meanwhile, Katie was on a roll and didn't pick up that he was brushing her off.
Hearing he was a transfer student too, she got secretly excited and started sharing her own experiences: "Being a transfer is tough. Changing environments makes everything feel uneasy. New teachers, new classmates—it all takes time to get used to..."
With her strong need to open up, she pretty much spilled her entire two-week transfer student journey.
By then, Mike had moved on to his massive beef burger.
That burger was solid too—especially the thick, juicy patty in the middle.
Katie didn't even need responses from him. She switched topics and started talking about where she'd lived before: "Did you know Africa has more wildlife than anywhere else on Earth? You can see elephants, rhinos, lions, hippos, giraffes..."
Seeing how animated she got talking about Africa, Mike nodded along while munching on an apple.
After the animals, she moved on to local tribal cultures.
Finally, with a little proud flair, she bragged, "My family has handmade crafts from the Zulu and Maasai tribes—they were gifts for my mom from the locals. If you're interested, I could take you to my house to see them sometime."
All that talking and sharing brought back her sixteen-year-old energy. Most of that earlier awkwardness had melted away.
Mike finished his lunch right then, cleared his tray, and said, "Sounds cool. If I get the chance, I'd love to check them out."
With that, he grabbed his empty tray and stood to leave.
"Wait~" Katie instinctively started to grab her tray to follow.
But she'd been so busy chatting that she'd barely touched her food.
Growing up in Africa, she'd learned never to provide food waste.
So between leaving and staying, she chose to stay and finish eating.
When Mike glanced back, Katie's eyes darted away for a second, then she flashed a bright smile and said, "We've been talking this whole time, and I don't even know your name!"
"Mike Quinn. It was nice chatting with you," Mike said politely, then turned to go.
Watching his back, Katie suddenly felt reluctant and called out again: "Mike~"
Mike, a few steps away, rolled his eyes internally: What is this, a soap opera?
This time he didn't keep walking. He calmly came back, set his tray down with a clack, looked at her, and said, "Yeah, what else?"
Katie didn't catch his impatience. She fidgeted a bit and asked, "Um... we know each other's names now. Does that mean we're friends?"
"Of course~" Mike nodded, then asked, "Anything else?"
Getting that yes—her first friend at school—made Katie's mood skyrocket.
She covered her flushed cheeks and said, "Nope! See you later, Mike~"
Right then, Mike was surprised to see several glowing orbs pop out from Katie.
[Memory Attribute +3], [Logical Thinking Attribute +3], [Skin Quality Attribute +1]...
She'd talked his ear off earlier and nothing dropped. But the second he agreed to be friends, she handed over a bunch like it was nothing.
Mike: This girl's worth keeping around.
He absorbed the orbs, smiled, and said, "Cool, see you later~"
...
At the same time, little Sheldon—who'd failed to make friends despite following Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People—was returning books to the library.
There, he ran into Dan, a Vietnamese classmate who also had no friends.
Both loved exploring the universe and rockets, so they hit it off instantly and became each other's first friend.
Then, the two of them ate their lunches together right there in the library.