Young and Foolish

Chapter 13: Mysterious Brunettes don't like Cafeteria Meatloaf

Ryder's POV: 

School was rather boring. I held empty conversations, zoned out at the textbooks and whiteboards, only ever really focused in on the clock ticking away. And every second was meaningless. 

But there was one thing I was looking forward to today, and that was lunch time. Mainly because Sarah would be eating lunch with us. It's not that I was excited about her or anything, but I really enjoyed hanging out with her last night. 

Usually, it was just Colby, Annie, and I, and with the two of them, it was easy to feel like a third wheel. Either the two of them were being awfully sappy, or Annie was teasing me. I hope that with Sarah around, the two of them could focus their attention on her, rather then me or each other. 

And, well, she was pretty too, so I'll hand her that. Easy on the eyes in a very natural way. A lot of the girls in this town were into bold coloured makeup and brightly dyed hair. It was often quite distracting when talking to them. The more popular a girl was here, the brighter and bolder colours she wore. 

Annie, luckily, didn't care much for the neon and glitter, and I hoped Sarah didn't either. 

When the lunch bell finally rang, and I headed around to the cafeteria, I was relieved to see she hadn't taken to the 80s fashion-loving fad. But I rolled my eyes as she winked at a couple people and complimented them on their clothes while making her way over to our table. It didn't seem like she was interested in wearing it herself, but it was clear she liked seeing it on other people. 

Well, it was a good thing that she was easy-going and optimistic. She wouldn't be making many enemies in this town. She made it to my table with a cafeteria tray in hand and sat between Colby and me. I would've preferred if she sat between Annie and me, because Annie was always trying to poke at me and rile me up. 

"Is this what they usually serve in the cafeteria?" she asked, gesturing to her caesar salad, french fries, and a grilled cheese sandwich. 

"Nope, there's tacos on Tuesday's and pizza on Friday's," Annie answered, already trying to steal Colby's fries. 

"So no meatloaf?" Sarah asked, half incredulously. 

"Maybe once a month or so, not often." I scooted my tray of food further from Annie so she wouldn't be able to give me her salad. Sarah let out a grand sigh of relief. 

"Oh, thank goddess," she cried, "my old school had the nastiest meatloaf they'd serve everyday, and it was just the worst." 

"I totally remember that!" Annie giggled, "someone started a rumour that it was made out of the kids that went to detention, and I had nightmares about that for years." 

"But wouldn't you have noticed that no one that went to detention went missing? And you're in detention all the time nowadays," I said. 

"Ryder-babe, it just so happens that young children are very gullible, and when I found out that detention is not a human-mulching machine that turns children into cannibal lunch, I easily got over my phobia," she replied in that awfully patronizing tone of hers. I rolled my eyes at her. 

Colby handed Annie a juice box, and she gave him a smooch on the cheek for it. Sarah practically made heart eyes at their antics. 

"So where's my dear Teddy? I've missed him so much," Annie fawned dramatically, like she was talking about a past lover. Oddly, Sarah flinched. 

"He's not here, actually," she explained slowly, not making eye contact with anyone. 

"Oh,"Annie replied dejectedly, and then perked up, "well where is he then? I made that boy promise to save his first french kiss for me, and I'm still expecting him to follow through." Colby raised an eye at her. 

"What?" Annie looked at him incredulously, "he's cute as hell, babe. You'd want to kiss him too if you saw him." 

"I'll have to decide that for myself," he ruffled Annie's hair and they both looked at Sarah expectantly. She still hadn't answered Annie's question. She fiddled nervously. 

"Teddy is," she paused to swallow, and I could tell that Annie was mildly confused at her behaviour, "he's at a boarding school," Sarah finally finished. Annie frowned. 

"Who is Teddy anyways?" I asked, finding it hard to keep silent. I didn't even know why I was so interested in Sarah's life. 

"My twin," she replied. Why was her twin in a boarding school if she was here? 

"Is he there for some sort of whiz-kid genius special program? He was always such a smarty pants," Annie cut in before I could ask. 

"Yeah, a special program, I guess," Sarah replied, before shoving a large spoonful of food into her mouth. 

"Good for him!" Colby grinned, "do you actually want math lessons from me, or does smartness run in the genes?" he teased. 

"Math is totally not my strong subject," she swallowed down her food and smiled easily. 

The conversation flowed easily after that, and I was grateful Sarah was around. I knew she'd be a fun addition to our little group.