"Aiden... Aiden... Hello, Aiden."
A voice broke through his thoughts.
"Huh?" He blinked and looked up from his notebook. "What's up?"
Angela sat across from him with a concerned expression. "You've been out of it for a few minutes now. Everything okay?"
They were all sitting at a round table by the window, rain misting the glass as it looked out onto the street. Jessica and Eric were focused on their homework—Eric explaining a few corrections to Jessica with exaggerated patience.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Aiden said, scratching the back of his neck. "Hey, do any of you know much about the Cullen family?"
Jessica's head snapped around so fast it was like she'd heard a secret code word.
"You want to know about the Cullens? Why?" she asked, narrowing her eyes like he was a toddler caught sneaking candy.
He shrugged off the look. "I met some of them today. Just hadn't seen them around before, so... I got curious."
Jessica leaned in a bit. "Okay, well... they're Dr. Cullen's kids. Or foster kids. Moved down from Alaska a couple of years ago."
"They all roll together," she added, tilting her head. "Like, everywhere. Which is kind of gross considering they're, like, brother and sister."
"Jessica, they're not related," Angela cut in gently.
"Still weird. They live together." Jessica rolled her eyes.
"The big guy—Emmett Cullen—looks like a linebacker or a lumberjack. The girl who's always with him is Ellise Armand. Super shy."
"And the one with the pixie-cut hair? Alice," she said, twirling her pencil. "She creeps me out sometimes."
"Why?" Aiden asked, now more intrigued.
Jessica frowned slightly. "She just... looks like she knows stuff. Like, sees through people."
"Like a gypsy?" Aiden guessed.
"No. Like a witch," Eric cut in, followed by a terrible cackling laugh. "A-ha-ha-ha!"
That got them all laughing for a second.
"But seriously," Jessica continued, catching her breath, "the tall one with curly hair is Jasper. He always looks like he's starving—or like someone just electrocuted him."
She stood and did a stiff, wide-eyed impression of him, earning another round of laughter. Angela just shook her head.
"And then there's Edward," Jessica said, with a dreamy sigh. "Always brooding. Always staring off into space."
"No one's good enough for him," she added, twirling a strand of hair and staring off by herself like she was remembering some romantic tragedy.
"I guess he's Batman or something," Aiden muttered.
Eric snorted, but the girls didn't get the reference.
"You're forgetting one," Angela said, snapping Jessica out of her daze.
Jessica's face darkened. "Oh. Right. Rosalie—the ice queen."
Aiden raised an eyebrow. "What, you don't like her?"
Jessica crossed her arms. "Let's just say we don't see eye to eye."
"Yeah, well, that's probably literal," Aiden teased. "You're like a foot shorter than her, shorty."
Jessica shot up, playfully furious. "You did not just—!"
He was already out of his seat, dodging as she came around the table.
"Stop it, Rachel! Calm down!" he yelled, laughing as he looped around the chairs.
"Who are you calling Rachel, Ross!?" she shouted back, chasing him.
"I'm more of a Chandler, thank you very much! Eric's Ross!"
Eric looked up just in time to shake his head and go back to his homework.
An employee tried half-heartedly to stop them, but when they didn't listen, he retreated to get the manager. A minute later, the manager came out, arms folded, giving them the look that said sit down before I ban you for life.
They returned to their seats, still laughing.
Despite the chaos, the moment lightened everything. And for the first time in a while, it felt like Aiden actually belonged.