The Bystander

Chapter Eight

Alyssa

Lunch had proven to be a difficult task, with the exception of having Noah by my side. He couldn't get me into the lunchroom without any sort of protest on my behalf, this was the first time I had actually been in the mess hall. It was everything I had expected, loud voices. Food all over the ground, different types of stenches. It was horrible, disgusting.

The table I was now sitting at, consisted of three types of males and females. Quiet, drops a sentence now and then types. Loud, arrogant and slightly annoying types. And the cellphone types.

As usual I didn't bring any lunch with me, it was for the best. But of course Noah had something to say about that, so lunch consisted of little arguments here and there until I was forced to eat half of his chicken roll. As much as I told myself I hated it, I couldn't help but enjoy it the moment the taste hit my buds. No matter how hard I tried to hide the fact, there was no way I could eat anymore.

"You need to bring lunch to school everyday, it's not healthy for you to not eat during the day." Noah scolded with a frown on his face.

Ha! You don't need food, matter of fact you should stop eating altogether!

I looked down in frustration, placing the remaining sandwich in Noah's hand. I avoided the questioning look he gave me, which was automatically replaced with one of determination. "Eat the sandwich Alyssa."

I gave him my best glare, my decision didn't falter but neither did his. "Eat it, I mean it Alyssa."

No, I wanted to snap at him.

His eyes darkened, which frightened me a bit. I could see he was genuinely worried for my health, but why couldn't he see that this was good for my health?

He split the sandwich, taking a bite and passing me the other. "Eat, I won't ask again."

"Y-ou can't tell me what to do." I stated firmly, feeling otherwise irritated by his overprotective behaviour.

He sighed, frustrated that I didn't hesitate to tell him off. "Fine, but please at least eat this banana? Everyone loves bananas! Ooh, that sounds dirty." He snickered.

I rolled my eyes, resulting in another round of chuckles from the table. This surprised me to no end, now I could feel my anxiety increase. I'd never spoken to any one other than Kelly and Noah.

My cheeks threatened to flush but failed to do so due to my caramel skin tone. "I-I'm not h-hungry."

"I swear to the Lannister's that if you don't eat I will shove this banana down your throat. Yes that threat was intentionally dirty." He said with a cheeky smirk, holding the banana in front of me threateningly.

I almost cracked a smile at his dry humour. "Fine." I sighed sadly, taking it from him. Ignoring the sound that threatened to rumble from my stomach, slowly I ate.

Listening to the different conversations around the table, I began to eat with everyone else. Noah noticed instantly, a wide grin spread across his face - but he made no move to question it. "So Alyssa, how come we've never seen you around school?" A red haired girl asked curiously, at first I thought she was going to be rude but the smile on her face changed my mind.

Tucking a piece of hair behind my ear, I swallowed my courage and answered. "W-well the cafeteria i-isn't really my scene. I'm mo-ostly in the l-libra-ry."