The Long, Hot Summer [RETIRED]

Chapter 12

More drama, because I'm chaotic like that. But there may be a surprise inside...

After my first class, I was going to skip lunch and hide out in the library like I've found myself doing a lot lately, I felt more comfortable there than under the scrutiny of everyone's eyes in the cafeteria, especially now that I was on my own, but today Bubba was not having it. It didn't matter that I had just ate not even two hours ago, he was ready to eat again, and after that one time I suffered after skipping lunch I was not going to deny him. Especially because now he could kick me to tell me when he was hungry and right now he was kicking the shit out of me. I would have went somewhere off campus for lunch, but at this point in my pregnancy, it was very likely I wouldn't have come back because I definitely would have taken a nap in my car until my doctor's appointment.

"Ok Bubba you can stop beating me up now, I'm going to get you some food," I whispered as I put my books in my locker to lighten my load before walking to the cafeteria. On the way there I passed Lamman talking to his football friends. We briefly made eye contact before I looked away but in that split second I could see so much sadness in his eyes. But alas, that wasn't my burden to bear, I had enough to deal with on my own. When the time was right, we'd address that. But until then I had my own scarlet letter to deal with.

I made it to the cafeteria and stood in line to buy something to eat. Here we could choose between the standard school lunch or other options you could buy, like chicken strips, cookies, chips, juice, you know, stadium food. Or as I like to call it, safe food. I rarely ate the school lunch, I loved myself too much to do that. Once it was my turn I ordered some chicken strips, fries, and a juice, and the lunch lady was kind enough to give me extra chicken.

I thanked her and paid before grabbing my food and going to find somewhere to sit. Luckily for me since this was first lunch the cafeteria was never full so there was always a lot of empty tables. I found a table in the corner on the other side of cafeteria closest to the exit so I went over there and took a seat, placing my bag on the table in front of me to hide my stomach because it was poking and it poked even more when I was sitting. It was also a good cover up for me to use my phone, because technically we weren't allowed to have our phones out, but that's never stopped us before.

I put my ear buds in my ears, covering them with my hair and played some music while I ate. Music makes me happy, food makes Bubba happy, so the combination of the two proved to be very peaceful. I could tell the cafeteria was filling up because the noise around me was now louder than my music, making me have to raise my volume. I looked up and took in my surroundings, my eyes immediately landing on Bey and her crew. She and Nicki had their backs to me so they couldn't see me but Teyana and Megan could. They were all laughing at something, having a good time and I felt a pang in my heart but I disregarded it; I missed her, but recent events have shown that maybe we were better off apart, you know, maybe our friendship had run its course. That was a tough pill to swallow, but it was clear she had moved on so I needed to do the same. I looked away, twisting the ring she gave me around my finger in thought for a moment before focusing my attention back on my food.

I had practically inhaled almost all of my food, I don't know if I was hungrier than I thought or Bubba really liked what I was eating, but at this point I was convinced it didn't matter what kind of chicken I was eating, he just loved chicken. I'm hoping that's the case because if it is, I just saved myself a lot of money, because those Chic-fil-a orders do add up quickly. I was getting full but I still had a chicken strip left so I sat back and enjoyed it while rubbing my belly, because I could feel Bubba moving around and I needed him to relax a little bit, because sometimes when he moved around a lot it made me have to pee and that was a long walk to the restroom.

I grabbed my phone to change the song when the chair in front of me was pulled out. I looked up and was surprised to see Teyana taking a seat. I smiled as I paused my music and took out my earbuds, "This is a surprise, hey Tey," I greeted and she grinned.