Short Story Collection

Popcorn

It was 2:17 pm, and Luciana was starving. She had to sit through another class period before she could leave for winter break, and that was another hour at the least. Grugleerthshhh. Her stomach growled loudly. The math classroom was silent because she was supposed to be taking a math test, but the hunger was more than she could bear. One more question she thought, clutching her stomach. Luciana circled the letter "B" on her test booklet and put her head down. The hunger hurt so much. "Luciana?" Luciana opened her eyes and saw her math teacher kneeling down next to her desk. "Do you need to get some food?" Luciana didn't open her eyes. "I don't know." The teacher reached into his pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "Go buy some food. I won't count you absent. I'll even talk to your 7th period teacher. Who do you have?" "Mr. Parks." The teacher put a hand on Luciana's shoulder. "Go ahead. You've finished the test?" Luciana nodded. "Have a good break, Luciana." He said. When Luciana got up, heads turned as she grabbed her things and exited the building. Luciana walked right out of the main building without any second glances from anyone. Where should I go? Luciana thought. By the time she had completed the short walk off campus, she was exhausted. Resting on a park bench, she could see a small cafe across the street, and decided to go there. Making her way to the cafe's small porch, she immediately regretted her decision. Out front, she could see many of the most popular kids in school. Harrison Peters, Matthew Jacobs, and Kylie Mason all sat outside, laughing. "No, I actually didn't have to take any semester tests. Unlike you two, I didn't skip today." Harrison said, playing with his fork, smiling. "I didn't skip either you know. I just took my history test and just left. Nobody stopped me." Matthew said casually. "Who knew I made friends with such good students." Kylie said playfully, nudging Harrison in the shoulder. As Luciana entered the cafe and stood in the line for the counter, she felt a little jealous. She had never had a boyfriend in school, and was a little desperate. But she couldn't bring herself to talk to them. They were rich, and she was a girl who had to depend on her math teacher to give her money to eat. "Miss?" The barista said. Luciana looked up. "Are you going to order something?" Luciana locked eyes with the barista before looking up to the menu. Everything looked so tasty, even the things that Luciana usually despised. "Um...can I have..." Luciana couldn't decide. "What would you recommend? I'm really hungry and...need some fuel I guess?" The barista put a hand on her chin. "You know, the potato soup in the bread bowl with a peach tea is quite filling. How about that?" Luciana nodded vigorously. "Please!" The barista put her order in, and she said "$7.89" Luciana shakily handed the barista the twenty. "That's all I have." "No problem." As the barista was getting change, Luciana noticed that her name was Sarah. A nice name for a nice girl who couldn't be that much older than her. "Here you go. $12.11 is your change. It's gonna be a minute, but here's your tea. Is there a name for the order?" "Um...Luciana." Luciana then thanked the barista and took her cup to a small table in the corner. Out the window, she could see Harrison waving goodbye to Matthew and Kylie, who were holding hands. Harrison almost looked sad. He came inside the cafe and sat at the opposite end, parallel to Luciana. "Um I have an order for...Luciana?" Another barista said. The barista handed Luciana her food and then went back to work. The second Luciana sat down, she dove into the soup, letting the warmth of the meal allow her to smile. It had been a while since the last time she smiled. When Luciana finally looked up from her food, she realized that the bowl was almost empty. She was still hungry. "Okay... so I have $12.11 to spend and two other mouths to feed..." How could I have been so greedy? Luciana thought, putting her head in her hand. "Sam won't eat much...but mother..." This was bad. She had spent too much on herself, and Luciana knew it. "Hey, this is totally random, but you're in my math history class, right?" Luciana's eyes went wide. In front of her stood Harrison Peters, who was resting a hand on her table. "Um...I believe so." Luciana said, a little flustered. Why are you so flustered? You don't stand a chance with him... "I was wondering if you still had the answers to that assignment we did last week...the Early 2000's timeline?" Luciana thought this interaction was beginning to get strange. "Y-yes I do. I can get it out if you want." She said as she began to dig through her backpack. Why on Earth was he asking for an assignment if grades are already final? "Here. It's a little crumpled, but it's still legible, I think." Harrison took the paper and held it in his hands. "What did you get on it?" He asked. Trying to answer in the most casual way possible, Luciana said "I got a 100." At this, Harrison smiled. "Guess you're pretty smart?" He said, pulling up a chair. This was beginning to get more awkward than Luciana had intended. "I like to think so. But my grades have been slipping lately-"Graaaaaaaaagle. The growling of Luciana's stomach interrupted her, and she felt embarrassed. "Are you still hungry? You don't look full. Do you want to go somewhere else?" Luciana was unable to respond. But she shook her head. "I-I can't Harrison. I've got to get home." Harrison nodded and stood. Pushing in his chair he smiled. "I'll see you after break then?" Luciana smiled too. "Yeah, I guess so."