He notices the frayed smile but has no idea what to do about it and so is going to just be friendly and act like he didn't. That seems probably like an okay way to react.

"Thoroughly mediocre, which is good enough, really."

He's not even really tracking that he's lying.

Hailey certainly doesn't catch the lie either.

"At least someone's breaking even today. Maybe lunch will cheer me up though."

And that's when Maya and Sable arrive, one sitting smoothly next to Joshua.

And the other dropping heavily to the seat next to Hailey. "Hey there, Joshua," she greets with a smile.

Then she blinks for a moment on seeing how frayed the girl is. "Oh no. What happened?"

She takes a slow breath. "Fuck... Sue in English gave me some shit about being a quote 'parentless tranny freak,' unquote," she explains in a low hiss, just loud enough for her girlfriends and new friend to hear. "She was quiet about it, didn't seem to think anyone else would have her back, but the bitch grabbed my shoulder and pulled me to face her when I ignored her."

She scowls. "Don't know how she found out. Managed not to punch her, though."

Sable sighs and offers Hailey a hand. "Good job."

She takes it and squeezes. "Thanks," she whispers.

Oh, Hailey's trans too. Well, the question is now just- are she and her friends the kind of people that think nonbinary people are valid, or are they not? Being good to Hailey is not proof they will be good to him, necessarily. He'd guess they would be but he kind of did just meet them this week. He does not yet know, and so will keep his secret for a little while longer.

"Well, it sounds like she's a seriously shitty person. Sorry you had to deal with that."

"Thanks, Joshua," she replies with a slight smile.

"Ugh, why's it so hard for some people to just accept differences?"

Maya squeezes Hailey's other hand, and strokes Sable's back gently. "Not everyone is you, love."

"Also some people just suck," Hailey snarks. Then she turns to Joshua. "If there's another infodump saved up in that brain o' yours, I could really use a distraction from thoughts of that bitch."

He has never been more prepared for a request in his life.

"You know, I do, actually!"

And he can launch into some of the background of the Second Punic War! The state of Rome and Carthage. How Rome really wasn't thought of as civilized, exactly, by the older civilizations of the southern and eastern Mediterranean. And then more and more and more stuff, building the background, setting the scene, introducing all the people involved.

This manages to evince consistent smiles from Hailey throughout the meal, though she still gets subtly twitchy whenever anyone gets too close to their table. She asks a few intelligent questions here and there, and listens intently.

Maya and Sable participate with some interested questions as well.

And Joshua might catch Sable giving him a grateful smile or two for taking Hailey's mind off things.

He does his very best to take Hailey's mind off things. Here, have some information about how Hannibal was Absurdly Invincible On The Battlefield How The Heck Did He Keep Doing That. And then some information about the Fabian strategy! Pioneered by Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, he of uncommon sense and a very cool name. If you can't beat the guy on the battlefield stop trying and use attrition! The Roman public haaated that and proceeded to, after Fabius' dictatorship ended, immediately vote in two new consuls who ran headfirst into Cannae and lost a noticeable fraction of the entire Roman population in one battle. They, ah, went back to using the Fabian Strategy after that.

Hailey cackles at the Fabian strategy and how the Roman public fucked around and found out. She approves of Fabian.

He was wise! Also his name was so cool.

And then he moves on to the rest of the war! The bit in Spain! The conclusion in North Africa! The greater detail that has been forgotten in the ten years since the history of Rome was the author's special interest!

He is getting a good grade in infodump, a thing both reasonable to want and possible to achieve!

He is getting such a good grade in Infodump, and all three girls are very visibly pleased with him. Lunch passes quite pleasantly. Sable even wonders aloud who will have the next infodump for the group. She's grinning while she says this, so this addition of infodumps seems to be quite appreciated.

Hailey offers to brush up on the group's choice of either historic serial killers, or Genghis Khan.

He votes so hard for Genghis Khan that he temporarily forgets to be visibly radiating a sense that it is Allowed to want something else. There is a correct answer and it is GENGHIS KHAN, do they know about Subotai, do they know- waaait no he will not infodump that would be Infodump Theft. Also it's near the end of lunch.