Lindsey was a normal teenaged girl when it came down to the details of her everyday life. She went to school and walked on two feet like most everyone else did. She listened to music and played soccer with her friends. Not to mention she was one of the popular girls in the school, which surprised her because she was one of the quiet kids.
She sat down with her friend, Alyssa, at the lunch table one day. There weren’t any tables that were left empty before either of them got into the cafeteria so they sat with a boy who was left alone all the time. “Hello.” Alyssa smiled to him.
The boy looked up from his tray and at the two girls. “I-I’ll move.” he said quietly.
“No it’s okay.” Lindsey said before he could get up. “You don’t mind if we sit with you, right?”
The boy just looked at the two girls. They were completely gorgeous and he couldn’t believe they were sitting with him. “Um… No it’s okay.” he said after a minute.
Lindsey smiled and nodded a little to him. “You’re Marcel right? We have AP English and AP Business Math together.” she said quietly.
Marcel nodded a little and pushed his glasses back up his nose. The two girls smiled to him. “I’m Alyssa and this is Lindsey.” she introduced herself to him, tagging Lindsey on because that was just what she was used to doing.
The two girls left their books and purses on the table, out of the way, and went to get their lunches from the lunch line. Lindsey always waited until last to get her lunch, not wanting people to know she got free lunches through the free and reduced breakfast/lunch program. Marcel watched them go up to the line and then went back to eating and reading a book, flipping the pages with one hand while he ate with the other.
A boy a few tables away got up and walked over to where Marcel was sitting. “So how much do you have to pay them to sit with?” he asked, smirking.
“I-I didn’t… Th-they just asked if they c-could sit with me…” he said quietly, closing his book and moving his chair away from the boy.
“Right, so if I ask them how much you paid them to sit with you they would tell me the same thing?” he asked, doubtful.
Marcel just nodded as Alyssa came back from the line. Lindsey was still trying to decide between the tray lunch and a salad. She ended up getting the salad and paid for an extra ranch dressing packet. She walked back as she tucked a strand of her ginger hair behind her ear. Alyssa sat down in her seat. “What do you want, Andrew?” she asked, looking at him.
“How much did this loser have to pay you girls to sit with him?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Lindsey sat down as he asked his question. “He didn’t, unlike you tried last year.” she said calmly, crossing her knees. “And Marcel isn’t a loser.”
Andrew turned red and stammered for a moment. “You’re just crazy. I just wanted to help out with your family’s situation.” he told her.
Lindsey looked him in the eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she said quietly.
He smirked as he looked at her. “You know. Because your dad is dead and your mom can’t afford to pay for your lunches and your sports.” he smirked to her.
Lindsey got up and ran out of the cafeteria, leaving her books, purse, and lunch behind. Ashley glared at Andrew. “That was so uncalled for!” she told him.
Marcel picked up Lindsey’s things and put his books on top of hers and ran after her, her purse in his book bag and lunch on top of the pile of books. He found her hiding under one of the staircases and sat down next to her. “I thought you might want your lunch…” he said quietly, holding out her salad box with the ranch dressings and a fork.
She looked at him for a second and shook her head a little. “No… I don’t.” she whispered, looking down.
“Was what he said true?” he asked quietly, setting her stuff down between them, her purse included.
She nodded a little. “My mom doesn’t have a very good job and my father was killed in a war.” she said quietly.
He nodded a little and looked down at his lap. “Well, if you ever want to talk to someone, I’m always free.” he smiled, looking up at her after a moment.
“Thank you, Marcel.” she said quietly. “That means a lot to me.”
He nodded and stayed with her the rest of the hour. Lindsey ended up eating her salad after a few minutes and gave Marcel what was left of it when she was done. Marcel thanked her quietly and ate the rest of the salad, as he hadn’t ate much of his lunch when he’d left. Alyssa found them after a while and sighed. “There you are. I was starting to think you’d left.” she said quietly, putting her hands on her knees and doubling over to talk to them.
Marcel didn’t say anything. He was reading the book they had been assigned in English. Lindsey had fallen asleep with her arms around her legs. “Hello? Earth to children.” Alyssa said slowly. After a few more moments of silence she sighed and screamed, “LANDSHARK!”
Lindsey jumped at the screaming and looked up. “What happened? Where’s the fire?” she asked, looking around slowly.
“Well if you mean your hair, it’s on your head. Other than that, there is no fire, Red.” Alyssa told her.
Lindsey smiled a little. “Why did you yell landshark then?” she asked Alyssa.
“Because neither of you were talking and I though you both died.” Alyssa said, kneeling down in front of them. “Come on, class is going to start soon.”
Marcel shook his head a little and closed the book he was working on. “I’ll see you in English later.” he told Lindsey. “I have some last minute errands to run before lunch ends.”
“Well you might want to hurry. Class ends in five minutes.” Alyssa said.
Marcel nodded and stood up, grabbing his book bag. “Bye…” he said quietly and ran off.
“He seemed nice.”
Lindsey nodded a little in agreement. “come one. Let’s go. I don’t need to get a detention for being late again.” she said quietly.
“What did he say his name was?” Alyssa asked.
“Marcel.”
“Isn’t he the boy that gets bullied all the time?”
“What was your first clue?”
“Well Andrew wasn’t bullying him more than he was you this time.”
The two girls were walking to their lockers at this point. “What was that about anyway?” Alyssa continued on when Lindsey didn’t say anything back.
“He’s a jerk. Who knows what it was about.” she said quietly after a few minutes.
“Why didn’t you tell me you have financial problems? I thought we were best friends. How did Andrew even find out?” Alyssa asked after a minute.
Lindsey looked down and explained the story of how her father had been killed and her mother lost her job when she was trying to take care of a six year old Lindsey all by herself. Lindsey didn’t understand what had happened and she thought everyone’s daddy’s died when they were little. She didn’t know any better. Her mother never managed to get a full time job again and ended up working part time jobs and sometimes could manage a seasonal along with it.
“That’s why I’ve never met your father?” Alyssa asked after the story had been concluded.
Lindsey nodded to her a little and closed her locker. “I just didn’t want anyone to know. Andrew only knows because we used to be friends when it happened.” she explained.
“What happened there?”
“I’d rather not get into that story.”
The two girls started walking to their class and over heard someone in the boy’s bathroom crying. “I wonder who that is.” Alyssa said quietly, stopping Lindsey.
“Well whoever it is, it’s a boy. And we can’t go in there.” Lindsey whispered.
“I realize it’s a boy, silly.” her friends retorted. “Should we wait?”
“No. We can’t be late again.”
Alyssa sighed and nodded, taking Lindsey’s arm and walking with her to their next class. They didn’t know that if they had waited, maybe things wouldn’t have been so bad for the boy who had been crying in the boy’s restroom, but they never would have imagined what happened after the bell rang would ever happen in their school.
