All About You / Luke Hemmings

One: Lunch

AILAINA

Brrrring!

There goes the bell. Do you know what that means? Lunch.
I close my notebooks and put away my pencil. Finally, time to eat. I'm starving. I sling my backpack around me and begin to head towards the door along with my other classmates.

"Hold your horses, class. I still have to give you your assignment." Mr. Brown adjusts his eyeglasses and skims through his textbook.
The entire class groans. "Oh, relax. You guys will eat soon. Unit 2, pages 243 and 244, all odd numbers," he announces as he writes the assignment in the corner of his chalkboard. "Don't forget! I expect to see your homework done by Monday. No excuses."

Everyone leaves the class without a word. The halls begin to fill with people throughout years 9 to 12. I head to my locker to put away my things and to grab my wallet.

It's junior year and two-thirds into the first semester. Let me tell you, junior year is not the same as sophomore year or freshman year. Classes get harder, studying becomes more stressful, and your social groups become smaller. I'm not complaining, though. I've got a pretty rad group of friends. Small, but it's all I need.

"There you are, Ailaina! Hurry up, let's head down to the commons now so we could get a good spot in line!"

That's my best friend, Calum Hood. We met on the first day of freshman year. I've just moved into town and he had switched from a small private school to a public school so I guess you could say we were both trying something new. Ever since then we've been inseparable. Except for during the classes we don't share, of course. Calum is really smart. Like, straight-A level smart. He is musically inclined as well. He's also very athletic. Calum has been playing soccer since he was 4 and only stopped so he could focus on his studies throughout high school. Even though he stopped playing soccer, he still goes to the gym on his spare time to keep in shape. That being, a ton of girls fall for him. He doesn't care, though, which is quite weird because you'd think a guy would love having girls drool over him. I wouldn't blame them. After all, he is very attractive. I'd be lying if I said I have never had a thought about him myself. But Calum's just a friend. Don't get me wrong, as much as I love the kid, it'll always be platonic. We know each other way too well and I think we just work better as friends rather than lovers. He's really sweet, caring, and he's super supportive. I wouldn't want to lose a friend like that.

"Gotcha, let's go."