Right then, what's my strategy? For a moment, Andrew considered joining Lizzy in talking with the two Goth kids.
Nah, 'I'll act like you don't exist' is a pretty firm 'No thanks, I'm not interested.' Not gonna harass her. He looked around, assessing the emergence of group-formation.
There's the Goths and Lizzy, there's the Royalty, he thought, noting the apparent alliance of Mona and Sebastian,
the Band, consisting of Sierra, Jason Miles, Will Treaty, and maybe Lizzy if Sierra drew her back into their group.
Too bad I cannae carry a tune in a--hang on! he thought, feeling an electric jolt run straight to his heart when he saw the lovely honey-haired girl sitting by herself writing in a book. He'd expected her to have at least two of the smooth operator types competing for her attention by now.
She wouldnae want some bloke just marchin' up and bootherin' her. He'd seen girls who were reading or fiddling with phones or otherwise engaged in activities that said 'I'm busy, leave me alone!' on a train get irritated with guys who either didn't clue in, or ignored the signal and tried to hit on them anyway.
But she's here
to meet people, isn't she? Maybe she's just writing 'cause everybody else decided she's out o' their league too, an' what else is she gonna do? But she is
out o' my league! Aye, but so is any girl I'd love, as long as I've got nothin' t' offer her. What am I doin' worryin' 'bout girls anyway, I need t' be winnin' the money for Michael! But the game is about
...'findin' love' somehow or other, so however it's rigged, it's not like I can just not
talk to any girls is it?
Andrew's inner argument continued: he could follow Lizzy and meet the Goths--and have her think he was a creepy stalker. He could try to suck up to the Royalty (
Hell no), or suck up to the musical talents (not quite as bad, maybe a 'no' on the level of Purgatory). Standing around by himself was an option made of fail. So that left...Aria.
His nervousness mounted with each step as he approached her.
"Ah...excuse me... My name's Andrew MacCallister. Would ye mind if I, uh...joined ye?"