Sad Girl

thirty three - you've changed

Song of the Chapter: Talk - Tori Kelly

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CAMRYN's POV

I was hoping when the lunch bell rang and I headed to the cafeteria, I'd feel relieved from school, from my thoughts, from the stress of these state tests coming up.

Lately, that's all the teachers have been talking about. This is what you need to know. If you can't learn how to do this, you might as well fail. These test scores will say a lot about who you are as a student.

I wanted to groan every time I heard something like that.

I get it. Everyone gets it. That's enough. I'm stressed already.

I bunched in between my classmates as we all attempted to fit through the door at once. I guess they felt exactly how I did. Lunch was our escape from reality.

Plus, we could talk all we wanted. And we could laugh and have fun with our friends. It was the best thirty minutes of the day.

I used to dread lunch. I hated being around too many people. I hated having to actually talk. It wasn't very hard having JC around, but when I stopped sitting with him, everything was different.

I mean, I still talked to Caroline and Sam and Swathi. It was just... different. Their conversations aren't interesting. They joke around sometimes, but not often.

I made it to the cafeteria before most people got there. I sat at our normal spot: in the middle of it all. I didn't mind sitting and waiting for them while everyone piled in.

I looked around. I wondered what was for lunch, but still, I wasn't hungry. I was never hungry these days. I guess school does that to me.

I could see JC in the lunch line with his buddies. He looked good today. Like himself. His outfit seemed very well put together. He was wearing dark jeans with a button up red shirt. His hair looked messy as always, but it really suited him. I wondered if he meant to look nice today.

Who cares? He's a jerk and I'm tired of him and his lies. Why am I focusing on his looks when I can focus on his disrespectfulness towards me?

I hate him. I wish he'd just go away. Please go away. Get out of my head. You're too much of a manipulator.

All at once, Swathi sits beside me, and Caroline and Sam take the seats across from me.

"Guess who is taking me out on a date today," Swathi begins. I look to Caroline and Sam, and then I realize that statement was only towards me. Both Caroline and Sam looked worn out, like Swathi was talking their ears of moments before.

"Uh..." I think. Is she still with JC? I don't even know. She seems to be hung up over that guy Logan, but maybe they're just friends. "Who?"

She slaps my arm. Ow, Swathi. You know what's under these sleeves. You have got to know that hurts. I flinch, but she's too caught up in her happiness to notice.

"You're supposed to guess, dummy," she insists. "Whatever. I'll tell you anyway. Logan's taking me out to dinner."

"And his friends are tagging along too," Caroline adds sarcastically. She unzips her lunch box and pulls out a cup of yogurt.

"Shut up, Caroline," Swathi sneers jokingly. "The point is I'm hanging out with him and I really like him."

I feel as if I'm the only one that's totally confused. "Wait, you guys are together? Since when?"

Caroline used to have the biggest crush on him. I'd say they were a perfect match. Both cocky and well-known to the student body. They were both rich and good looking and had a lot of friends. They were into each other at one point. I'm not sure what happened.