In South Africa there is a lot of wild life and so at an early age, I was tought the food chain, or the circle of life if you want to be all Disney with it. First, there are the large animals like elephants and giraffes which sort of just mind their own business, then there are more peaceful animals like antelopes and gazelles, then there are people, and then, there are lions, lurking in the tall grass waiting to kill anyone or anything, man or animal that it sets its eye on, that's kind of what the cafeteria was like, as I followed behind Harry and Niall who were both clutching trays of food as they led the way to their table.
"Now where you sit in the cafeteria is crucial," Niall informed me, looking over his shoulder, "Because you've got everybody there, you've got your freshman, sporty girls, preps, jv jocks, Asian nerds, cool Asians, varsity jocks, unfriendly black hotties, girls who eat their feelings, girls who don't eat anything, desperate wannabes, burn outs, sexually active band geeks...."
"The greatest people you will ever meet," Harry interrupted, blowing me a kiss.
"And the worst," Niall finished, setting his tray down and taking a seat at an empty table, "Beware of the plastics."
Sitting down opposite he and Harry I followed their gaze to a table at the center of the room where three boys were sat.
"Why are they called the plastics?" I asked.
"Because they're like Ken dolls," Harry said with disgust, squirting a ketchup packet onto his burger, "Girl's think they're the shit for some reason, not that I care but..."
Niall rolled his eyes, "You see that one there, with the blonde hair?"
"Yeah," I said, nodding.
"That's Luke Hemmings," he elaborated, "One of the dumbest people you'll ever meet. Harry sat next to him in English last year."
"He asked me how to spell wiener," Harry said with a mouthful.
Raising my eyebrows in surprise I laughed a little.
"That Asian looking one," Niall continued, "That's Calum Hood, not Asian by the way half kiwi and half Scottish or something weird like that."
"He's totally rich because his Dad invented Krave cereal," Harry added, rolling his eyes.
"Calum knows everyone's business," Niall said, "He knows everything about everyone,"
"That's why his hair is so thick," Harry added with a grin, "It's full of secrets."
"And evil takes a human form in Michael Clifford," Niall spat with disgust, "Now don't be fooled because he might seem like your typical obnoxious, douchey, man whore, tool box, player, but in reality he's so much more than that."
"He's the king of the school," Harry mumbled with his mouthful again, "students, teachers, animals, everyone loves him, someone once keyed the words sex god into his car. Those other two are just his little workers."
Suddenly a small group came and sat down at our table without asking, but judging by the way Harry and Niall didn't even flinch I figured this is a normal occurrence.
"Who's the new guy?" a tan skinned, dark haired guy asked.
"Hey guys, this is Ashton," Niall said, "Ashton, this is Zayn, Liam, Louis, and Josh."
Glancing at each of them in turn I recognized Louis as the guy who had tripped me.
"Sorry about earlier," he chuckled, opening a bag of chips.
"Don't worry about it," I mumbled.
"So what are you guys talking about," Liam asked, opening his water bottle.
"Michael Clifford," Harry informed him, "How to explain Michael Clifford."
"Michael Clifford is flawless," Louis mumbled with his mouthful.
"He has like six pairs of beats and a silver lexus," Liam added.
"I hear his hair is ensured for ten thousand dollars." Zayn said.
"I hear he gets illegal hair dye, from Japan," Niall said sounding mildly impressed.
"I hear his favorite movie is Forest Gump," Louis informed the table.
"One time, he met Jennifer Lawrence on a plane," Liam said.
"And she told him, he was handsome," Zayn added.
"One time, he kicked me in the crotch," Josh concluded, "It was awesome."
Raising my eyebrows I turned away from the table to glance over at the plastics and to my surprise found all three of them staring back at me.
"Are they looking over here?" Liam asked, stunned.
"I don't know," Zayn replied, "They can't be."
"They almost look like they're staring right at Ashton," Harry mumbled.
Suddenly Calum Hood rose from his seat and began walking towards our table.
"Oh my God, do you think he's coming over here?" Liam cried.
"Just play cool," Niall hissed.
Immediately we all turned to look down at our food. Focusing hard on my peanut butter and banana sandwich it took me a moment to realize that Calum was standing right next to me.
"Hey new boy," he greeted.
Startled I looked up and found him smirking back down at me in amazement.
"We want you to come have lunch with us," he continued.
I nervously looked across the table at Harry and Niall who nodded at me and jerked their head towards the plastic's table.
"Go on," Louis hissed.
Swallowing nervously I rose to my feet.
Smiling, Calum turned on his heel and with every eye in the cafeteria trained on him, wove his way through the various tables to his own with me following nervously behind.
