The Love Box

Chapter 3

I entered the cafeteria and stood in line. My mind processed my dream. Had it been real?

I wasn’t even tempted to look on the other side. When I got to the front of my line I grabbed a tray and accepted the food. They all said; I care for you, and I said; thank you.

Once again I found my way to my friends table. They had just sat down and began eating. I would have the whole breakfast time to listen to their conversation. We ate and I was silent.

I didn’t have much to say. The big events that happened I couldn’t tell them. They couldn’t know about the boy from my dream or the one in the laundry room.

“We should ask when school’s going to start up again,” Lizzy said excitedly. She had always loved school. “It has been forever.”

Sadie and Courtney nodded. It had been a while since we had school. That was the longest summer we had ever had.

I looked around the cafeteria and my eyes trailed to the other side. It was normal at first. Then I saw him.

The boy from the laundry room. He stared back at me.

It amazed me that we made eye contact from so far away. My friends gasped.

“What?” I asked as my attention retreated back to them.

They smiled at me.

“You like a boy,” Courtney said quietly.

I shook my head, “No I just saw him in the laundry room earlier,” They didn’t believe me.

“Sure,” Sadie said as she ate her food.

I ate my food and said in between bites, “I don’t even know what liking a boy means,” It was true. We weren’t taught what it meant to like a boy. Boys weren’t a subject of matter on our side. They weren’t supposed to be acknowledged, but why were we allowed to see them if we weren’t supposed to acknowledge them?

My friends and I finished our food and then we walked to the library. It was my favorite place besides the box. Courtney, Lizzy, Sadie, and I visited the library at least once a day.

I looked on the other side. Like yesterday young boys ran around and played. There were no men to inform me of my rule breaking. I was glad.

I wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet and do as I pleased.

My friends read as they had the day before. I watched as the boys ran.

There were three of them. One would chase the others and the others would run away. When the chaser tagged a boy then the others avoided him. I had never experienced the game before, but my mom had talked about it once. It was the game of tag.

I had always admired the boy’s adventurous and fun ways. At times I wondered what my life would have been like as a boy. It certainly would have been more fun.

My attention faded back to our side and I looked at the shelves of books from the seat I sat in. They were fully stocked. Most of them were textbooks. I had read most of them. Textbooks weren’t as fascinating as other books, but they were books.

Courtney sat down her book and grabbed the deck of cards as she had the day before.

“Let’s play a new game,” Courtney said as she began to shuffle the deck.

“What game?” Lizzy asked as her and Sadie sat their books down.

All of us looked at Courtney with questioning gazes. What had Courtney came up with?