𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 - jack brewer

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 1

LYDIA CLARK SAT at the round cafeteria table surrounded by her three best friends, Milton, Jerry, and Eddie. Lydia stared down at the tray in front of her, pushing around her mystery meatloaf and the sad excuse for a salad that sat on her plate. She continued to converse with Milton about what they were doing in algebra next block, graphing functions were the bane of her existence but luckily for her, Milton Krupnick, math geek extraordinaire was her table partner. The two were far too engrossed in their conversation to notice Eddie call over the new kid.

"Hey, new kid!" Eddie called waving over the new boy in Seaford High. At the sound of Eddie's voice, Lydia looked up from her uneaten meal. The new boy was jogging over to their table. What a surprise... she thought to herself, no one usually accepted their invitations to sit with them.. hence the empty seats.

"Uh... What are you doing Eddie?"Jerry asked, "We save that seat for cheerleaders, models, and prom queens." Jerry smirked as he spoke.

Lydia couldn't help but snort at her best friend's words, moving her tray over so that the new kid had more room. "Which is why it remains empty, Why would prom queens, models, or cheerleaders want to sit with you, dweebs." She laughed to herself ignoring Jerry's glare, the roll of Milton's eyes, and Eddie's pout.

"Well I'm none of those, but I'm Jack, so how do you guys all know each other?" Jack introduced himself, and Lydia was thankful that now she could stop calling him "new kid" in her mind.

"We're friends, we do karate together after school." Milton explained, "Lydia's a second-degree black belt!" Milton loved bragging about his best friend, in his mind, Lydia could do no wrong and vice versa. The two had been best friends since kindergarten, Milton starting karate when she begged him to join in 6th grade.

"We don't just do karate Milton, these fists are registered weapons, in fact, I've already gotten a few calls about joining the Navy SEALS." Jerry boasted puffing his chest out. Jerry always stretched the truth, one time in 4th grade he told Mindy Renner that he was running for President of the United States...

"Navy SEALS? You're afraid of baby seals!" Eddie laughed at his friend, elbowing him in the side as he did. The newfound group of friends continued to laugh and joke until Milton was hit in the head by a flying meatball.

"GAAHH" Milton groaned turning around to look at the culprit despite the group already knowing who threw it. The Black Dragons always had it out for the Wasabi Warrior kids, they were rivals, and stronger than them.

"That's awesome! A kid from the Black Dragon dojo just whaled you with-" Jerry was cut off by yet another meatball flying through the air, hitting him in the temple. "Not cool man... Not cool." He crossed his arms and pouted.

"Aren't you going to do something about that?" Jack asked."I thought you guys knew karate?"

"We do.." Milton said standing up to go over there, he turned back around instead, "But they know it better..."

"Not better than me. Frank won't fight me because I'm a girl." Lydia glared at the curly-headed boy sitting at the table across from them."And a good thing too, I'd love to pummel his as-" Milton slapped his hand over Lydia's mouth effectively shutting the girl up.

"It's cool, I got this." Jack stood up, his chair scrapping the floor with a sharp noise. He walked over to the Black Dragons table making Lydia's heart drop to her stomach. She was gonna miss the new kid, he was kind of cute.. so sad he had to be dumb and die.