I worked last night at Adam's father's restaurant. It wasn't too much work, but Adam, who sat in one of the corners with his laptop and stacks of papers (I was pretty sure he was only pretending to work) caught the attention of many of the passing girls. Several asked if they could be moved to a table closer to him, for the "view." I complied, since the tables around him weren't mine to wait on, and I'm pretty sure my co-worker, a collage age guy, wasn't against serving lots of girls.

"Whatcha doing?" A pretty girl said to Adam, attempting to talk to him, maybe a get a chance to slip him her number.

"Deciding who out of new freshmen will be asked to join the Four Lords." Adam sighed and the girl looked confused. "It's quite hard, since I've whittled the numbers down from twenty-something to seventeen." He rand a hand through his golden hair.

"Can I help you?" The girl asked.

"Me too." Said her friend. "I want to help too."

"So do I." Girls from the closest tables were scrambling to assist the boy who only looked like an angel.

"Let me."

"I'd love to help."

"Please."

Adam waved them all away. "Ethan, come here."

I walked through the now-seething mass of girls to his side. "What do you want?" I asked rudely. "I have work to do."

Adam turned his laptop so it faced me. "If you had to pick either one of these for the Four Lords, who would it be?" On the screen, two pictures popped up, one of a beautiful blond boy and of...

"Geoffrey?"

"Alright then. Geoffrey it will be."

"No." I almost shouted. "Not only will adding Geoffrey to the Four Lords lower their coolness factor by at least a hundred points, but I don't think I can spend an hour every weeknight and some weekends with a boy who only speaks in poetry."

"Alright. No Geoffrey." Adam clicked something else. "How about of these two?"

"The guy on the left has braces. No way."

"But they're diamond studded."

"Still, braces are not cool." Then I stopped myself. "Am I really telling you what's cool or not? Are you teasing me or something?"

Adam cracked a wicked grin. "Of course not, Nathi."

"Hey, that name is only for my friends to use." I said coolly. "Stop using it."

"What? Nathi?"

I nodded.

"Alright, but then you better start calling me 'master' again."

I considered "accidentally" spilling something on that expensive laptop, but thought better of it. If I lost my job here, I might not be able to get another where I could be gone for a week with very little notice and not get fired. Adam actually comes in useful sometimes.

"How about you just make me an official member of the Four Lords and then you don't have to worry about this?" I told him.

"I'm sorry, Nathi, but, in order to be a true member, you have to not be poor. Anyway, there would still be an opening, because Alex isn't coming back."

"Oh, yeah." I said sadly. "I never did figure out why."

Adam chuckled. "Do you ever read the newspaper?" And, after a few clicks with his wireless mouse, Adam turned the laptop toward me and I read the story.

NEXT TIME: THE REASONS WHY ALEX CAN'T COME BACK