>>151248575
obviously he knew paulo was there, he just didn't give a shit. the table being close enough to watch them was directly acknowledged in the track team's perspective of the face slam and it was james that sat closest enough to the table to eavesdrop on them and jump in to recruit mike for track.
what we know about james:
>started off being tight with Paulo
>transferred schools months ago, dropping Paulo, and had an entire relationship with Felix that ended in a way that left Felix grumpy and the rest of him thinking hes got a tendency to be a flighty jerk
>This is probably when he started really obsessing over Mike, dropping Felix
>makes his move on Mike, drops him, now obsessed with David
this doesnt really come off as a plot plot hole, just telegraphing that he was bad news from the beginning