The Anyway Clause

We're Related, Not Family

"Family quarrels are bitter things. They don't go according to any rules. They're not like aches or wounds, they're more like splits in the skin that won't heal because there's not enough material."

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jane

I casually strolled into lunch and headed straight to the bay of student microwaves. From my position, I could see the entire cafeteria while I waited for my food to warm up.

The "smarties" had their table speckled with various lunch bags with cafeteria trays scattered about amongst them. The smarties consisted of the MATHletes, AP/dual credit kids and various academic clubs, most notably the Mock Trial team.

The foreign exchange students mixed in with our "international" kids who were American by birth but they were in the different cultural clubs such as Spanish club and Greek club. PH had a lot of Greek kids due to the massive Greek-American community. Most of the German implants landed at Baxter High after zoning.

The band table was filling up fast and sat across from the show choir kids. It was like a whole section of nothing but musical kids and musically adjacent people in one area. Looking in that direction I saw Lauren and Emma Lee, another valued member of the robotics team, enter with the new girl tagging along. I liked Lauren and Emma, I really did. But I wasn't so sure about the new girl. I was so happy to hear the microwave ding, so I could disappear into the mass of sporty and random popular kids surrounding my normal seat, that I nearly burned my hand on the bowl.

I dropped in my seat just in time to avoid having to talk to them. I had spent my morning feeling the life slowly drain out of me as my teachers droned on about things I am sure are important to someone. But it was Thursday and we didn't have school Friday or Monday so it was practically Friday and we got a longer weekend, could they really expect me not to let my mind drift away? Of course not!

Instead I doodled in my notebook which led to some decent robot upgrade ideas I would've loved to run past Lauren and Emma if new girl was elsewhere. And I even managed to keep a steady stream of conversation with Scott. It was mostly sarcastic comments about class and mocking our fellow students while also discussing the current economic climate which turned into a conversation about investing in our future.

It wouldn't seem like it, but for two high school kids, Scott and I stayed informed. With Nan being a corporate powerhouse and Scott's dad being a top-notch doctor constantly in corporate circles our dinner conversations were more about politics and less about clothes and shoes and sports. Okay, Scott did talk quite a bit of sports with his dad; I'm pretty sure it's a guy thing. My sports talk didn't expand further than pro football and basketball.

You'd think that was pretty solid but it paled in comparison when I used to sit and listen to Scott and his dad move easily from pro soccer to hockey and even a little rugby talk mixed in before seriously considering Olympic sports; they could talk about everything from Michael Phelps to A Rod to Cam Newton (the one point of conversation I could actually contribute to) and land on Gabby Douglas or Memphis Depay (this guy was totally worth a Google Image search because like I said before, I'm gay not blind).

My heart did its usual flutter as I approached the table and saw Hailey toss a smile in my direction before returning to her conversation. I swear that girl drove me wild so effortlessly it was mind blowing. Our seating arrangement had developed organically. Hailey sat next to me with her BFF Brittany to her right. Scott used to sit next to me until he realized it was easier to make faces and kick me under the table by sitting across from me with Cole next to him, across from Hailey. A few kids that were in GSA and drama sat around our friendly foursome with cheerleaders to my right within decent distance of their leader and a few athletes to Scott's left. It was an oddball group of popularity but it was us.