What We Lost In The Winter

Chapter 9 (Part 2)

I run to my locker where I discover that I'm not the only one who's going to be late. There are three girls standing in that general area, but I'm too far away to make them out. As I approach the trio, I see that it’s Teagan from science, Delilah from LA, and one other girl who I fail to recognize. I stop in front of my locker and start the combination.

“Hey, you’re the new girl, right?” one of them asks me. I look up. It’s the one I don’t know.

“Um, yeah,” I say quietly, looking up from my current challenge.

“Hi,” is all she says. No name, no welcome to Redo, just hi. And for whatever reason, it felt good that not every single person wanted to know everything about me.

“Caroline! Be nice!” I hear Teagan snap. I was back to getting into my locker and grabbing my lunch box. Camden Lacosse had told me our school food was terrible— my sandwich-from-home was all thanks to him. I stand up to find the three girls were still there, even though they weren’t waiting for anyone.

“Becca, you ready?” Teagan asks.

“Yeah.” I nod before the realization falls on me. They were waiting for me. They were waiting for me. The four of us walk down the hall and into the cafeteria. Our lunch room consists of six long tables. We turn into one table and my companions put their lunch bags down. They disperse among the large group of girls at the middle table, and there wasn’t an open seat next to any of the people I knew. I see Taylor Rosales and the girl from my LA class, I think her name was Jade, at one end of the table. There’s an open seat next to Taylor, but I don’t want to sit there. From what I can tell, she doesn’t like me very much.

“Okay, um, there’s a seat over there, next to Makenna. Or by Jamie. Or Summer—,” Teagan stands up and scans the table for the precious open spot.

“It’s fine,” I cut her off. “I can sit by Alex or someone.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, that’s fine,” she sits down awkwardly. I look around the room for my friends— they’re found on the other side of the cafeteria.

“Are there any seats left?” I ask once I’ve made it to their table.

“Yeah!” someone smiles. It’s Addison, the chinese girl in my science class. There’s an open seat between her and someone else. I put down my bag and take a seat.

“Hi! I’m Micky,” the other girl smiles. Lydia sits to her right, and seeing them together makes me notice how similar they look.  They have the same light brown hair, round face, green eyes. Part of me thinks they might be related, but I doubt it.

“I’m Becca,” I return the smile. How many times have I said those words today. I’m Becca. Most commonly used statement ever.

“I’m guessing you’ve met almost everyone at this table, seeing as how Alex and Lydia kept asking where you were,” Micky says. I look around the table. She was right. I knew almost everyone. It consisted of Alex, Addison, Micky, Lydia, Gabi, Nicole, Bria, and Kamryn. There were only three I didn’t recognize. I was shocked to see how many people I already knew. There are other people at the table of course, but they aren’t really paying attention to us.

“I don’t know you! I’m Nevaeh,” one girl says.

“I’m Christina!” shouts another.

“I’m Ari, I’m in your math class,” says the final. And that was that. I now knew the entire lunch table.

“Alright, Becca, I have a super important question,” Gabi cuts into the conversation.

“What?” I ask a little nervously.

“What were you doing over at that table?” she gestures to where Teagan was sitting.

“Teagan wanted me to sit with them,” I say quietly. Hopefully it was okay.

“And you turned them down?” she stares at me like I’m a maniac. Maybe I am. I have no idea what I’m getting myself into.

“There weren’t any seats,” I shrug.

“You used to be homeschooled, right? That’s what Alex told me,” Bria jumps in and changed the subject.

“Yeah,” I sigh. That’s another question I’ll be asked a lot.

“Okay. So let me explain something. That table, where you were invited to sit at, is where all the popular people sit. That’s important. If I tried to sit there, it would be social suicide,” Bria begins.

Lydia cuts her off, “Bria, that’s not a good message to be giving the new person.”

“Shut up, Lydia,” she snaps and then turns towards me, “So anyways, they’re popular. We’re not. We coexist in peace. They keep to themselves, we keep to ourselves. It works.”

“Do realize that Bria’s little speech is not saying that they are superior to us. I personally believe that we don’t have a spot on the imaginary social ladder. We’re just sorta there,” Addison adds.

“And don’t think that the whole popular slash not popular thing prevents you from talking to them. Teagan’s really nice. Eva and Ari are like best friends, It’s not like we can’t talk to them or anything.,” says Nevaeh.

“Eva’s not my best friend,” Ari protests.

“She’s pretty high on your friend list, then,” Nevaeh concludes.

“Well, she’s not at the top,” Ari finishes. Is this Eva they speak of Eva Hudson? Possibly. There could be numerous Eva’s though, and Eva Hudson wasn’t outwardly friendly or anything.

The lunch period goes on, and everyone keeps talking. I try to follow, but get lost instantly. However, I can’t shake the feeling that these are great people I’m surrounded by. They’re accepting me. And that’s all I was hoping for.

Do you guys even like my question of the chapters? It really means a lot when you answer them, but I usually only get comments from one or two people. And thanks to those two, you know who you are. It really means a lot. But anyways, please comment. I don't care if you say this story is horrible. I just don't want to be writing for no reason. If this story sucks, please let me know and I'll try to make it better. Your opinions mean so much to me. 

Question of the Chapter: Did Becca make the right choice? Is it a good thing she sat with Alex's table? Or should she have gone with Teagan?