Lunch time. Alex sighed as he made his way over to the table where his friends were sitting. It's now or never. The woren had been spending a lot of time thinking of just how he'd apologize to Ellen. He had wanted to bring her a gift, kind of a way to help soften the blow when he went to beg for her forgiveness. However, after the event at the flower shop, the woren had decided that bringing his girlfriend some flowers was not the best course of action. Just hope she likes cherries as much as she likes cherry blossoms. Alex's ear flicked lightly as he looked down at the little package of chocolates in his hands. With another sigh, he walked up to the table, his tail flicking nervously as he stepped up to Ellen. "Ellie?"

Ellen Johnson was busy talking to Brad and didn't seem to notice her boyfriend behind her. That was no surprise. Alex's timid voice had been so quiet that most of the table didn't even notice he was there at first. The woren cleared his throat and tried again. "Ellen?"

The Persona User paused momentarily and for a moment Alex thought she was going to reply. However, he was greatly disappointed when she simply took a sip of her drink and continued talking with Brad. His ears flicking uneasily, the woren fidgited around with the box of chocolates in his hand as he tried once more. "Ellen?"

This time Ryan, who had been sitting across from his sister, looked up to see an uneasly Alex standing behind his girlfriend who didn't seem to notice him there. Ryan put down his sandwich for a moment and reached over to tap his sister lightly on the arm. "Hey, Ellie, I think Alex is trying to get your attention."

"Oh?" Ellen looked over at her brother. "Alex here? Funny, I don't hear him." This earned a few odd looks from some of her friends as Ellen took a sip of her drink. By now most of the table had noticed the uneasy Alex standing behind his girlfriend. Most of the table, except of course Ellen. Kate leaned over to Diane who was sitting next to her, her ears flicking lightly.

"Why isn't Ellen responding to your brother?"

"Hrm?" Diane watched the scene for a moment before shrugging and replying to her friend. "Alex did somethin' that got on Ellie's nerves. Guess she's just not ready ta talk ta him yet." With that, the younger Brandshire sibling went back to her lunch.

Alex sighed loudly and finally held out the box of chocolates he had gotten for his girlfriend. "Ellie, look... I'm really sorry about what happened, and I want to make it up to you. If you'd just let me-"

"Oh?" Ellen whirled around in her seat to look at her boyfriend, her gaze was less then welcoming as she eyed the uneasy woren and Alex seemed to shrink back under her look. Finally the Persona User traced her glance down to the box of chocolates Alex was holding and she suddenly glared back up at him with a judgemental look. "And I suppose you stole these for me too?"

Alex's ears batted in disbelief and any confidence that had been built up in the woren was immediately drained away by the harsh tone in his girlfriend's voice. The others sitting around the table had all now stopped to watch what was going on between the Persona User and the woren. Alex fidgited with the box of chocolates again uneasily. "Love..."

"I told you!" Ellen snapped at her boyfriend. "Don't you dare call me 'Love' right now, Alex!"

"But..." Alex was now desperatly seeking any words to calm her girlfriend down. "But... Ellie, can't we just-"

Ellen's tone of voice and her look suddenly became very cold as she glared up at her boyfriend. "I told you, I don't talk to criminals." With that, the Persona User promptly turned to her friends, offering all of them a polite smile as she spoke, her voice holding a fake sense of curtesy to it. "Will you all excuse me a second?" Before anyone could say anything, Ellen Johnson stood up, grabbed her things, and disappeared into the crowd of students in the cafeteria, leaving behind an amazed table and a confused and hurt Alex Brandshire.

"... Ellie?" The woren watched her go, the box of cherry covered chocolates still held loosely in his hands.

"Wow." Ryan blinked in amazement before turning to Alex. "What'd you do?"

"I dunno what he did," Brad shook his head and picked up the fish sandwich that he had taken from the school's food court. "But I have never seen Ellie that made."

Ray glanced over at Brad and made an uneasy face. "Um.... is that one of Lunchlady Kester's fish sandwiches?"

The Persona User looked over at the dragon. "Yea? Why?"

"Wow..." Ray stared at the teen for a moment, then glanced down at the sandwich in his hands, then looked back up at him. "You're a very brave man..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Lunchlady Kester's food," Frank started to explain to his friend, "gives whole new meaning to the terms 'Mystery Meat,' 'Tuesday Special,' and 'Tuna Fish Surprise.'"

"Really?" Brad grinned. "Well now, we only live once, right?" And with that, the Persona User bit into his fish sandwich.

Everyone around the table simply stared and waited.

"Hrm..." Brad began to chew. "Not so bad yet... yea, hey, infact I think- AUGH!" Suddenly, he raised his hands, gripping at his neck and began to cough uncontrollably. Kate let out a startled cry as the teen began to flail his arms in the air. "GAH! POISON!" It was about that time that everyone caught on to Brad's little game, and they watched as the Persona User continued to fake his choking. "Life.... fading..." With another cough, Brad fell from his seat and began to dramatically crumple to the ground. "It's all... going black... senses... dulling..." With that, he collapsed to the ground, motionless. Everyone at the table exchanged glances, and Yuki opened her mouth to say something before she was suddenly interrupted by Brad again who was once again trying to struggle back onto his seat, his grip apparently greatly weakened by the danger that was Mrs. Kester's fish sandwich...

"Handsome young man... dying alone..."

"Brad! Grow UP!" Yuki rolled her eyes at her friend as she picked up her own fish sandwich. "Come on, the food here can't be that bad." The Japanese teenager then took a bite from her sandwich. Before she even started chewing a sour expression appeared on her face and she set her sandwich down, politely pushing the tray away. "Um..." her gaze wandered to Ryan who was sitting next to her and she looked at his home brought food for a moment before glancing up at him. "Ryan... do you mind sharing???"

The woren just stared back at her blankly before finally giving up the rest of his sandwich with a sigh.

"Hey?" Brad was back up in his seat, brushing himself off as he looked over at Ryan and Yuki. "What about me? You can't expect me to keep eating this stuff, it almost killed me!" A box of chocolate covered cherries dropped down infront of the Persona User, startling him greatly as he looked up to see a defeated looking Alex slowly walking away. "Um... thanks?" The teen called after him as he left.

Lucy sighed as she stood up from her seat and grabbed her books. "Guys, I'm going to go look for Janet. Guess I'll see you all later."

"Alright." Ray nodded.

"Good luck, Lucy!" Yuki smiled at the windian, knowing the reason why Lucy was heading off to find Janet. Lucy returned her smile with a nod and left the table in search of her friend.