High School War Zone

3. C'mon, It's Just Some Syrup

^Drawing by one of my friends :D

Drew went up to a table at random.

Just kidding.

People tend to use the word "random" to describe their actions when what they're doing really isn't that random, in an attempt to sound silly and funny.

But that was besides the point, and probably didn't make any sense anyway.

Drew was not random, and knew that in high school there were the girls you couldn't sit with without getting your backpack tossed in the dumpster when you turned your head, and there were also the weird kids who would have nothing in common with her.

She chose a table that had only two girls sitting across from each other. One reason for this was because it was a table meant for six, and the fact that the two were taking up the entire table made them seem cool. Another reason was that Evelyn was one of the two girls.

"Can I sit here?" Drew asked, already putting her hand on a seat.

The two immediately nodded their heads.

Drew thumped her tray down next to Evelyn, "Hello again."

Evelyn nodded at her.

"Hi," the brunette said pleasantly. "I'm Abigail, what's your—"

"Drew," Drew interrupted, "and I remember you from Spanish."

Abigail was delighted, "Ooh really? I think I remember you too. You kept rolling your eyes so I thought you were having some sort of seizure. I was about to tell Profe, but then you stopped so I thought you were fine."

Drew paused. Should she leave or stay?

"Oh shut up Abby," Evelyn snapped. "You'll annoy her to death." She turned to Drew, "I'm Evelyn, as you know."

Stay it is. "Yeah, and I'm Drew Gedaway."

Evelyn looked ready to ask something, but Abigail beat her to it. "You're the one from Canada, right?"

Drew wondered why it was such a big freaking deal that she was from the maple leaf country. "Yeah, what about it?"

"It snows a lot there, eh? You like maple syrup?"

Drew pointed at her with her chicken wing, "I swear, if I hear one more Canadian stereotype from your lip gloss mouth, I'll shove this piece of chicken straight down your gullet and dip it in your gastric fluids."

Abigail went quiet.

"That's disgusting," Evelyn murmured.

Drew mimed dunking her food into Abby's stomach, "How's that for syrup?"

Abby shook her head, "I'm going to be sick."

There was a silence as Abby poked at her food.

Drew examined her plate, "The food looks pretty good."

Abigail nodded vigorously, completely recovered, "So much better than my old school's. Half the food served had been in the fridge for more than six weeks. I snuck into the kitchen once to see. And the meatloaf, ugh. The lunch ladies actually reuse old meat for that!"

Drew raised an eyebrow, surprised by this stereotype commonly found in books, "Really?"

"Mm hm, can you believe that—"

"Yeah yeah," Drew cut in. She was slowly finding out that if you didn't interrupt Abigail, she was never going to shut her mouth. "But what's this about you sneaking in?"

"Oh, that. It was nothing. I just walked in when nobody was there, that's all. Last year on April Fool's, I pretended I had rabies." She giggled at the memory, "The cafeteria was completely empty in less than a minute."

Drew's opinion of Abigail shot up five miles. She whistled in appreciation, "So you're an actress?"

Abigail shrugged, "A writer, really. I love writing stories. And reading them." She gestured at the table, and Drew took note of two fantasy-type books beside her tray. "But I like acting a bit too, I suppose. You know my mother's a magazine editor, and she—" Abigail launched into a in-depth explanation of what her family does. She didn't say it in a boring way, but still, she talked too much.

Evelyn blew air out of her mouth and waved a chicken wing around, "Not sure how she ended up sitting with me. We went to summer camp together. We weren't really friends, but whatever."

While Abigail continued to be oblivious that nobody was listening to her talking, Drew asked, "So Evelyn, you're not a new student, right?"

Evelyn shook her head, then continued to indifferently bite at her lunch.

"Then I've got a question for you. Why isn't there a girls's soccer team?"

"There would be, if enough girls joined," she answered. "The girls at Luckford are more into softball and volleyball. Those have girl teams."

"What about the other sports?"

Evelyn scrunched up her eyebrows, no doubt trying to figure out why Drew was asking this question. "There's a boys soccer and basketball team. Lacrosse and american football are banned here. Caused too many deaths."

Drew blinked, momentarily derailed, "Um, what?"

Evelyn cracked a smile, "Joking."

"Hilarious," Drew rolled her eyes.

"Those two sports were also banned at my old school," Abby put in unnecessarily. "Why are you asking, Drew?"

"I'm joining the soccer team."

Both of their mouths dropped.

Abigail burst out, "Is that allowed?"

"Well, it's only a boys team because no girls would join. My mom talked to the coach during the summer and apparently it's okay. My mom even sent him a thousand video recordings of me playing to make sure he doesn't change his mind."

"So you're good," Evelyn concluded.

Drew smirked, "The best."

Abby snorted, but she was obviously not annoyed in the slightest, "You're not very modest, are you?"

"I only speak the truth."

Abigail made a groaning sound, flinging her head back. She shot back up, "Drew, someone's checking you out."

Drew raised an eyebrow, being careful to not let her eyes leave Abby's face. "Boy or girl?"

Evelyn coughed suddenly, and Abby answered, "Boy, duh. Otherwise I wouldn't've noticed. It's Wilby Blue. I'm quite sure I got his name right, because I had Algebra with him. He was paying very close attention to the board, I remember. He's sitting with Dennis."

Drew looked past Abby and zeroed in on a baby-faced guy with loosely combed back brown hair.

He saw her looking, jumped, and did a nervous wave at her before returning to his food.

"Adorable," Drew commented. She wasn't quite sure what to think of this. Hardly anyone saw her as being pretty, and Abigail was the real looker in this group.

Abby raised her eyebrows at her calmness, but dropped the subject. "Right, well, we've hit the half-way mark for lunch. There's another twenty minutes left if you guys want to like, go out and do something? Walk around or...I don't know. Something that's not sitting here in the cafeteria."

"I can play soccer, right?" Drew brightened. 

"Yes," Evelyn answered, "if the field isn't taken. But if it is, you could play at one of the courts."

"Right, then!" Drew picked up her lunch tray, balancing it on the fingertips of her left hand. "Let's go."