Homeroom 23

Chapter Two: Rock, Paper, Scissors

As it turns out, being invited to a 'popular kid' party is quite difficult when you're a journalist who only hangs out with losers. I knew for a fact that I would only have two periods after lunch to somehow get an invite, and one of those periods was journalism, so in reality it was more like one period. Because of that; I tried my best to make lunch count, meaning I didn't go back to my table.

I have nothing against the other journalism kids—I really don't—I just decided that sitting there and having to pretend to care about their fruitless "debates" was probably bad for my overall wellbeing. As I walked across the room with my hood pulled up so nobody could see the ranch that was possibly still staining my head. I got a couple stares from kids who must have seen and remembered the whole ordeal, but for the most part no one paid me any mind as I walked to the center of the room; or at least, not until I got close to the center.

"What, is she trying to give an anti-bullying speech to Xavier?" I heard a couple kids laughing at jokes similar to that, but they werent hard to ignore. It wasn't until I was standing directly behind Xavier at his table that I realized I had an actual problem; I didn't know what to say. Maybe If I had had a little more time I could've come up with a genius speech or a heartwarming story that would have opened all of their hearts and convinced them to be kinder, but the thing is that I didn't have any more time.

"What the fuck is up with you?" One of the boys turned his head around to stare at me with a half-smirk half-confused look on his face.

"You back for part two already?" Xavier laughed leaning back in his seat.

"By the looks of it she hasn't even gotten it all out yet!" One of the girls laughed, pointing at the hood that was covering my head.

By this point, I had no idea what the appropriate thing to say would be, but I knew I couldn't just stand there looking dumb.

"No I'm just...I'm just looking for...something..." I moved my head from left to right dumbly, accidentally making eye contact with a few of them—including Daniel— and then pretended to find something out of the corner of my eye. "Oh! There it is! Uhm thanks for your help, I got to go, thanks, bye!"

As I ran to the spot where the thing I supposedly found was I heard a girl say, "Well I hope she finds her dignity; I'm assuming that's what she's looking for." As the other kids snickered with their agitating voices at the joke all I could think to do was stare at the floor for a minute. I knew they were probably only saying those things to get a rise out of me; and what's even worse was that it was working. If I kept at it like this there was no chance I was getting invited. There was nothing I wanted to do more than punch Anthony and Noah in their faces for giving me this responsibility; but instead of relishing in my own sorrow and self-pity I made a mental checklist for myself.

Don't embarrass yourself in front of everyone again; especially in any way involving ranch.

Be totally nonchalant and cool for the rest of the day

If steps one and two don't work as planned; break in through the back door.

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With my newfound sense of direction there was only one place to go; Fourth period..! I wasn't very excited about it either, but when the bell rings there's really nothing you can do about it. I got my wits about me and wandered to one of the two exit doors that kids were flocking out of; and made a conscious decision to choose the one opposite to Xavier's table.

I walked through the main corridors of the school before I got to the double doors with the faded sign reading ELECTIVES over it. Stepping into the hallway you could immediately tell that the school did not put too much money into any of their extracurriculars. Compared to the sleek and constantly renovated modernism of the main hallways; this place looked like—i'll say it—a dump. The doors were all old and some of the wallpaper was peeling. To be fair; by regular school standards this wouldn't be that bad, but it stands out in sharp contrast to the rest of the school and its facilities. It isn't hard for most people to recognize that the school would much rather dump money into the sports programs than the band or orchestra.