The Rift Between Us

The Other Side

After fourth period ended, Dan walked outside, having stopped by the closest snack locker to grab something to eat.

Back in fifth grade, he and his friends had learned about what went into school lunches and popular fast food restaurants. It was on that day that they decided to never eat a school lunch again. At first, it was hard, because Dan didn't have any place to carry a lunch box rather than his backpack. He really did not want to have to carry around his lunch box, or a paper sack.

Then, in ninth grade, Isaac noticed that a bunch of lockers around the school didn't have locks on them. He opened them and found out that they were empty, causing him to have the brilliant thought to convert them to snack lockers.

This year, they had three spread throughout the school: one on either end and one in the middle. On them were three identical locks, all responding to a master key. That, in turn, was copied out, and stuck into zipped pockets in backpacks or inside pockets of coats.

The two on the ends were full of snacks that Dan and his friends could eat in class, such as unwrapped granola bars and unpackaged fruit snacks. The one in the middle was full of junk food, mostly because it was closest to the lunch spot. They stocked it with chips, cookies, popcorn, and even had a few lunch boxes full of candy bars.

The rule was if one took anything from the locker, they had to replace it in two weeks. If one didn't, then they would lose their key until they could pay it back, and then for two weeks after that.

Dan sat down between Sienna and Amy, completing the circle his friends had made.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey Dan," Amy said, putting out a fist. He bumped it, making his way around the circle to do the same with all of his friends.

"So, who's everyone's partner?" He asked, preparing for the worst. Everyone but Amy looked at their lunch, suddenly very interested in whatever was uneaten.

"Come on, guys. It's not that bad," Amy said, trying to cheer everyone up. "I'll start. I got Hannah Davis. She looks like she's in the photography club."

Dan went next, "I got Sam Michelson. He's captain of the football team, but he doesn't seem too bad at all."

Everyone shuddered, before looking to Sienna, the next one in the circle.

"Hallie Grant."

Isaac raised his head. "Colin Hinton," he sighed. "Director of the Drama Club."

"At least it's not D&D," Sienna said comfortingly.

"Whatever," he shrugged.

Whitney groaned. "Sage Williams. She's a cheerleader."

Josh seemed really interested in his lunch, and didn't immediately go after Whitney. Dan and his friends all stared at him until he eventually said, "Um, I got Tyler."

Whitney and I both gasped. "Lucky!"

"I feel bad, man." Josh said, looking over at me. "I know how much you wanted him to be your mentor."

While I did feel a little sad, I was happy at least that someone in our group had someone tolerable. This would make the whole friends group thing easier.

"Guess I'll be seeing more of you, then," Whitney said, elbowing Josh in the ribs.

"And maybe I'll see more of you, Whitney. After all, football players and cheerleaders," I said, leaving things to the imagination.

Finally, they all turned to Ethan, who said, "I got this guy named Matt Blackwell. He doesn't have anything special tied to his name, but he seems pretty chill."