Forever & Always

Chapter 4

I'll skip over the monotony of the rest of my classes before lunch, which is where things get a little more exciting. Basically, the teachers in the rest of my classes made the assumption that I wanted to be introduced to everyone in the same way that I was in English this morning, so I basically went on what felt like a headlining tour the entire morning. By the time lunch came around, I felt like everyone in the entire school knew me, but only as "the new girl", completely the opposite of what I was hoping to achieve today. 

Finding the cafeteria was the easiest thing I had done all day. All you had to do was follow the sound of elated teens who were finally set free from their educational prison cells. I went in and grabbed a tray. I wasn't very hopeful that the school lunches here were going to be any better than the ones back in Pennsylvania, and by the time I got up to the line, I found myself to be completely right. None of it looked the least bit appetizing, so I grabbed a tiny wrap and bag of chips from a small fridge off to the side and paid. Then, I had every new kid's worst nightmare of a realization: where the hell do I sit? I scanned the room, hoping to find a familiar face that I could introduce myself to. I could fake being nice and personable if it meant not sitting alone. Unfortunately, like I said, after the first press conference about my transfer this morning, I stopped paying attention, so none of the faces in the crowd of people looked at all familiar to me. That is, until I saw a crooked pair of black glasses. 

I practically ran over to Sara who was sitting eating a piece of pizza at a table by the corner, looking at something on her phone. She looked up as I approached the table and smiled at me. 

"Hey, Riley!" she said with a wave. "Here, sit down," she insisted, moving her bag so I could take the seat next to her. 

"I am so glad I found you," I said pitifully. "Today is not my day, man." 

"Aw," she laughed a little. "I'm sorry. High school sucks man, but at least it's senior year." She elbowed me jokingly. "We'll be out of here soon. The sentence is almost over!" She asked about my first impressions of everything and I told her all about my issue with the secretary and the bitchy girl and the principal this morning. 

"Wait, who was this person again that was messing with you by your locker?" 

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"Describe her to me," she said, taking a bite of her pizza. 

"Well," I said, trying to remember her face, "she was pretty and blonde. But very bitchy. She was dressed kind of like a cheap hooker." 

Sara snapped her fingers after that last part. "I know who you're talking about and you are about to realize how cliche your life has just become!" 

I didn't like the sound of that. "Okay, spill it," I frighteningly said. 

"That's Annie Sims," Sara explained. "She's one of the bitchiest people you will ever meet. And one of the most popular, which is what is so cliche that you decided to pick her to fight with on your first day here." She took a sip of water while I groaned at the news and continued to explain my new awful situation. "Her family is not rich by anyone's standards, but this area isn't really known for money. However, they have some money, and her parents are involved in everything so she practically gets out of all trouble as a result. Oh good, here she comes now." 

We both turned and saw her walk into the cafeteria with one of the brainless girls from this morning trailing closely behind her. Watching her from a distance made me notice that she looked bitchy with just the way she walked. Entitled and bratty. Nothing about her made me feel bad about the way I spoke to her this morning. 

"Oh God, I feel like I'm entrenched in some poor remake of Mean Girls," I moaned, putting my face in my hands. 

Sara patted me with fake sympathy. "It could be a whole lot worse, you know that, right?" I looked up. "I mean, she just threatened you," she explained. "I've seen her in action of terrorizing people's lives. She can be a pain in the ass. A cliche queen bitch, if you will. But you haven't seen anything yet, and since school just started, it's likely she'll forget about you altogether."