Hours

4- Monday, May 14th

12:27 PM

I sit at our usual table during lunch, eating my usual cafeteria-purchased lunch, having our usual conversations about teachers, boys, school, prom, literally anything that can penetrate the din of the cafeteria. Lindsay sits to my left, Ashley to my right, both dark haired with golden tans and light eyes. Luckily, Amelia isn't here today for whatever reason, sparing me from explaining why I chose to work with 'that emo kid from the back of the class.'

Lindsay and Ashely are the first people I really talked to at the start of my freshman year, as both of them were in my art class second semester. We hung out a few times that year, but in Grade 10 we basically decided upon a silent agreement of sitting, eating, and working together whenever the chance arose. We've gone out to see some movies, had some sleepovers, had FaceTime chats, but that's the extent of our 'friendship'. Maybe they would call us best friends, but I certainly would not.

Katrina was the last person I considered a 'best friend', or even a 'true friend'. We had gone to the same elementary school, grew up together, and even got our ears pierced together. We had met in kindergarten when we were paired up to do a scavenger hunt together. To this day I still remember the way her crimson hair had bounced as she ran down the halls, both of us invigorated by the prospect of being unsupervised for even a moment like we were breaking a rule.

"Kayla?" Lindsay questions, waving her fork in front of my face. "Hello?"

"Hmm?" I ask, looking between her and Ashley. "Sorry, tuned out, I guess."

"No kidding," Ashley laughs. Her laugh was envious, light and easy and pure. It was the other thing, aside from her looks, that drove boys crazy. "We asked what you were doing this Saturday?"

"We were thinking of going to the drive-in." Lindsay puts in, smiling.

"We have a drive-in?" I ask, astonished. Sure, I don't get out a lot, but we have a drive-in?

"Yeah," Ashley says, "It's not too far away. We were thinking of going there this weekend, Saturday night, perhaps. Are you busy?"

"No, what else is there to do?" I ask rhetorically. "What time are you guys thinking?"

"Eight?" Ashley says, or rather, questions. "Sound good?"

I'm about to reply when I notice a darkly dressed figure exiting the lunch line with a tray half full. Black hair, black hoodie, dark jeans; Micheal. A pair of white earbuds snakes out of his drawn-up hood, standing out against the darkness of the hoodie. As I watch, a pair of people break away from a table lining the wall of the cafeteria, following Micheal as he drops of his tray, picks up his uneaten lunch, and exits the cafeteria. The two figures are instantly recognizable, one with long black strands of hair, the other with a tattered mess of mauve hair. Andy and Alisa.

"Earth to Kayla." Lindsay's voice floats back to me again, and I snap back to our conversation. "Jeez, what is up with you today?"

"Oh, sorry, you asked about time?" I say, watching as Alisa and Andy leave the cafeteria, trailing Micheal like a pride of hungry lions.

"Yeah." She says, looking concerned. "Eight?"

"Yeah, no, totally, sounds good- awesome." I brush her off, distracted by Micheals sudden disappearance.

"Are you okay?" Lindsay asks eventually.

"Yeah, you've been acting really out of it." Ashely pipes in. "Are you sick? I can get you some Advil..."

"No, I'm okay," I say, standing, "Just... need some air." I leave the table before they can question me more, striding out of the cafeteria quickly.

Once in the hallway, I move more cautiously, listening for Andy or Alisa's voices. Eventually, around the start of the athletic hall, I hear them. Micheal specifically.

"Are you blind?" He demands, aggravated, "I didn't buy anything from you two. I'm not into that stuff; I'm not dumb."

"Well someone bought something," Alisa says, voice rough from smoking out in the parking lot during second period. "And that someone told us you'd have the money that they owe."

"Well I have no clue what the hell you're talking about, and I don't have your money!" Micheal says, voice low. "If you'll excuse me-"

I wince as something slams into one of the lockers, making a loud bang. I have no doubt that it was Micheal himself who was hit into the lockers since it's highly unlikely that he would take on Andy or even Alisa.

"You may not know what we're talking about," Alisa snarls in a deadly tone, "But you still owe us money. Your name; your problem."

"I'd recommend getting it by the end of this week, Micheal," Andy sneers his name, making it sound like an insult. "I'd highly recommend it."

Realizing the conversation is drawing to a close, I scramble to pull out my phone, playing around with it so it looks like I haven't been eavesdropping. A few seconds later, Andy and Alisa stride past me side by side, not even giving me a second glance.

I peer around the corner slowly and see Micheal sitting at the base of a locker, head in his hands. On the ground around him are the scattered remains of his lunch, a salad, likely the 'special' for the day. Something about the image makes my heartthrob, more than it ever has for any 'Stop Bullying' poster ever has. Maybe it's because it's real, maybe because I know his fate... Whatever it is sends me back to the cafeteria and into the lunch line. I see Lindsay and Ashley looking at me, then back at each other, a look I could never comprehend passing between them. I square my shoulders, pulling out my wallet and searching for a twenty. I don't even know what I'm doing until I have the day's special in my hand and am exiting the cafeteria once more. Before I round the corner I pause, pulling a pen out of my bag. I scribble something quickly, before walking down the hall, passing Micheal, and heading into the girl's bathroom.

I'm sure Micheal will look up once I'm gone. Maybe he did before I had even entered the bathroom, or even before I passed him. Either way, when he looks up, he'll see a tray full of the lunch that was spilt all over the floor by Andy and Alisa, and a hand-written note upon a wrinkled napkin.

Do you want to talk?

555-516-2649.