Dream Journal

Crazy Lunch Ladies at the All-Night Party

The All-Night party was here. It would be a night filled with junk food, fun, games, and parental-supervision-free stuff all night long. It was held in the cafeteria of the school. A large, cement room- windowless, of course- filled with picnic tables and snack buffets. Some of the picnic tables were stocked with video games, some with donated magazines, and a few others with boy and girl-friendly things like nail polish and footballs.

I noticed immediately upon arriving that the room was already segregated with the different groups of kids. Preps were tossing footballs and punching each other. Nerds were reading People magazines and doing word puzzles. The misfits were doing the strangest things, like painting each other's faces and playing with bug nets. My friends were looking over magazines and casually chatting. I sat down beside one of my friends, who offered me a drink of her juice.

"No thanks," I said as politely as I could, to which I got the reply of,

"Don't act like such a stranger. Geez."

My friends and I talked for a while, read some magazines, and chowed down on pizza and popcorn. The lights dimmed at about eight o'clock and a movie started to play on the projector screen across the room. Though no one was really watching it.

"I'm going to get a pretzel," I announced after my stomach rumbled. It was free anyway, so why not.

I hurried over the food buffet to the end of the line and grabbed a juicy, hot pretzel from beneath the glass. The woman working the buffet didn't seem to happy that I cut everyone before me, but all those girls were after fruit tidbits, salad, or popcorn. I rolled my eyes at them.

"Don't forget this," the woman said and thrusted a salsa cup at my hands. I absent-mindedly took it and went back to my table. I ripped a piece of my pretzel off and held it over the cup of gleaming red dip.

"Why did you get salsa? You were supposed to get cheese," my friend said to me. I smacked my hand against my forehead and carried the salsa cup back to the counter. I pushed everyone out of the way and craned my neck. I watched as a fat girl carried away the last cup of fluid gold cheese. I narrowed my eyes and looked behind the counter. There sat a vat of bubbling cheese and empty cups.

"Do you have any more cheese?" I asked the lunch lady working the buffet. She pushed her glasses up her nose and glared at me.

"Make-do with your salsa. We don't have any more cheese."

"I'm looking right at it," I said and rolled my eyes. "Can't you make any more?"

The lunch lady tapped her nails on the edge of the buffet. After contemplating it for a moment, she said, "no."

"Why not? That's your job, isn't it?" I retorted. My patence was beginning to wear thin. The woman curled up her lip in a scowl.

"That isn't my job. Just eat your salsa, little brat." I balled my fist at the ugly lunch lady, with her wannabe platinum blonde hair and thick, blue eyeshadow.

"I'm going to get ahold of the principal tomorrow and we'll see what your "job" is," I said and turned around.

"Listen, you brat: threaten me one more time and I'll have you kicked out of here."

I rolled my eyes at the woman and headed back on my way, "whatever, bitch."

Then, a tight-fist with long, sharp nails clenched around my arm. I yelped as the nails dug into my flesh and I lashed out. My balled fist connected with the lunch lady's ugly nose, and I felt the bone break against my knuckles.

The lunch lady screamed out and fell back. Much of the lunch room didn't seem to notice over the noise and lights. Not even my friends noticed. I gasped and ran back to my table, forgetting the cheese and the salsa incident. I didn't want to be suspended. I couldn't be suspended. I was entering a college program next year. I was on the honor roll. I couldn't be suspended.