Living To The Limit

Chapter 2

Suddenly, the elevator door opened. Two girls stepped out, laughing and talking together. When they saw me, they stopped. 

"What are you still doing up here?" One of them said, twirling a blonde lock of hair around her index finger. She asked the question rather rudely, making me a little surprised and taking me a moment to answer.

"We're on the patrol duty today. We're going on each floor to check for kids late for breakfast. You better get down there." The brunette warned before I could answer the blonde girl. "Or we'll call Mr. Gates."

I nodded and followed them into the elevator. One of them clicked the "1" button, and the elevator quickly took us down to the first floor. When we got out, there was a lot of noise. The ceiling was high on the first floor. The floors were fake marble. The corridor was long, and halfway down were large windows that let me see all the children inside, sitting at tables and eating food. It was a cafeteria.

I hesitantly walked down the corridor to where the door to the cafeteria was. It was a wooden door with posters up on it, giving news of upcoming events and such. One of the posters, an orange one, caught my eye.

All New-comers-

If you haven't done so yet, please pick up your schedules by the end of the day. If you have any questions about your schedules, please report to room 207 and speak with Mr. Person. Thank you!

I hadn't picked up by schedule yet. What did they mean by the end of the day? I hated being confused. I got a funny feeling in my body; the blood running through my veins felt cold and my knees shook ever so slightly. This only happened when I was uncomfortable, or a little scared. I was scared. I didn't know what to expect from this place, and right now I wished I was back home in Colombia with my father when I was five years old.

"Hey, get out the way." Someone said from behind me. The boy shoved me out of his way and entered the cafeteria. There was a lump in my throat.

No, Audrey, don't cry. Be tough. Be cool.

I sighed and went into the cafeteria. It was larger than it looked through the window. There were tables all the way down to the back. In front by the door was a line leading to two women who were handing out a variety of foods from the display. Every table was filled with kids my age and a little older, laughing and talking and eating comfortably. 

The only thing I saw to do was get on the line.

As soon as I got on, the one girl that was on the line got her lunch and walked away. One of the cooks, a woman with a baseball cap, short hair and tanned skin, smiled at me. 

"Pick a food. You can only have up to three different foods and a drink. If you don't like the foods here, you can take a peanut  butter jelly sandwich." She said to me. She sounded as if she said this numerous times a day and it was programmed into her brain.

I scanned the foods. There was coleslaw, blueberry muffins, grilled cheese sandwiches, and waffles. I looked back up at the lady, who wasn't smiling anymore. She actually had a puzzled look on her face.

"I'll just have some waffles and orange juice." I said quietly. I knew I should say please, but didn't. I never said please to my mother just because she always asked me to, and it became a habit.

The woman held out her hand. She must've seen the confused expression on my face, because she said: "Your ID card, please. I can't give you breakfast without it."

"Oh, umm, I don't have one." I mumbled. There must've been a poster on the door about ID cards, too.

"Well what's your name?" She asked.