Lovers & Enemies

Chapter 9: Laugh some, Cry none

Lovers & Enemies

© 2011 Kaci Lancaster

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                Later on that day, everyone in the second level were released to lunch half an hour earlier due to a leak in one of the science labs. Apparently, two girls were texting instead of paying attention to their lab, so the chemical overflowed and they didn’t notice. They were sent to the office to give up their phones and talk about time for a detention.

                Walking with all of the other kids in my grade felt strange. I hadn’t walked with my whole class, let alone my whole grade, since elementary school. Usually we were just released to lunch.

                I was still receiving many curious stares from my classmates in the hallway and the regular classroom. I’m guessing that they still haven’t had any new students in their grade in a bit.

                When I got to the lunch room, I went straight to the line to get my meal. I looked over at the menu and read that today’s lunch was lasagna. “Seems fine to me,” I heard somebody say behind me.

                I looked over my shoulder and saw a girl. She had dark brown hair, almost black, and a heart shaped face accented with blue eyes. Now that I think about it, she looks kind of like me. The girl smiled.

                “Hi,” She held out her hand and I shook it with a smile. “I’m Aubrey.”

                “I’m Alex,” I responded and looked over my shoulder to see that it was my turn to order. Without turning my back on Aubrey, I shuffled my feet over so I was standing in front of the lunch lady. She frowned. “I’ll just have the regular.”

                The lady shrugged and turned around to get a tray. I looked over at Aubrey and she giggled. Not knowing what she was talking about, I turned back to the lady. She had put lasagna, a moldy apple, and a small bag of carrots. She lifted the tray over to me. Eyeing the apple, I cautiously grabbed the tray from her and walked over to the cashier. I handed her my new card proudly and she smiled at me. “Here you go, Alex.”

                “Thanks,” I said and turned around to wait for Aubrey. She had only the lasagna on her plate. “Why didn’t you get all of it?”

                She laughed and walked forward with me, but stopped. “Since you’re a noob, I’ll tell you what goes down, alright? Okay, when you get the regular, you always-never mind. Just don’t get the regular. If you get what’s for lunch, and not the extras, then you can only get the main meal or the regular. You can’t order like fries or some shit.”

                I shrugged and took a bite of one of my carrots.

                “Wait!” Aubrey reached out and smacked the carrot out of my hand and onto the tile of the lunch room. “And don’t eat their carrots; they always buy the ones that are six months expired…”

                I felt my face scrunch up in disgust. “Eww.”

                “Yeah.”

                I sighed and looked down at my tray again. Aubrey set her hand on my shoulder and pushed me toward the trash can. She picked up the apple by the stem and threw it in the trash along with the old carrots. “Thanks,” I told her and she just waved me off. “Do you want to sit with me and my friends?”