DEFINING ANDREA WOODS

Chapter IV

"Andrea!!" someone shrieked into my ear, and I sat up in alarm.

It was Cass of course. The only person stupid enough to interrupt my five minutes cat nap.

It's her natural talent to frustrate heaven and hell out of any living being with a soul. So yeah, she is one of my crazy tight friends.

With a scowl at her mischievous grin, I snapped my head in her direction.

"What do you want now?".

"Mr. Williams said to wake you up. You're in biology already" she said much to my dismay.

I whirled around to meet Mr. Williams's gaze. Whoops. It seemed he was collecting our assignments already.

I hurriedly put on my shoes and walked briskly to the front of the class, dropping my assignment folder on the others that were there already. I looked at my watch as I went back to my seat, which Cory was not quick enough to pull out before I caught him from the corner of my eye. Luckily for me, it was only five minutes into the period.

He was shaking his head in amusement at my slightly ruffled hair... I could sense it. Well, scratch that. It's not like having to sit through nine forty-five-minute classes happened everywhere on the globe.

The final bell for the day's after-school session went and I watch the remainder of my classmates throw up their hands in jubilation and give off loud whoops of delight. I shook my head at them. I mean come on; it is Friday.

I grabbed my bag and stuffed my things into it, headed for the door as fast as possible. I did not want to meet long lines in the cafeteria especially not on Macaroni 'n' cheese 'n' cheese and two more cheeses day. Four different kinds of cheese with the occasional mozzarella.

I made my way to Brittney and Alicia's class. They were just as eager to get to the cafeteria. Carolyn was already panting from her sprint down the stairs.

We walked briskly as I did the math with Brit. We were exactly five minutes shy of early which means the cooks were not yet packing up. I picked up the pace with the girls on my heels, bursting through the doors and navigating our way to our new table.

I was radiating anticipation as the cooks came out of the kitchen and the minority of students flowed in torrents through the double swing doors. The student in charge of welfare and distribution in the student council raised a hand to hush everyone's chatter, her eyes darting around menacingly for anyone who chose to defy. She then cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry to dash your hopes to the ground this fateful afternoon," she began, "I know we all rushed here today but I am afraid to say that we will not be having our desired delicacy today due to some mix-ups in the order of cheeses".
A loud rumble erupted. With a smirk, she raised both hands and all went quiet.
"Rather than macaroni 'n' cheese and three more kinds of cheese," she paused long enough to taste the tension, "we'll be having macaroni and cheese and..." students were leaning forward in their seats on bated breaths "...five kinds of cheese!"

Talk about sweet relief.

*******

That was the best lunch I've had since seventh.

I just had to get the rest of these coolers to the washroom and then I can help Cass stand on her feet again. Alicia and the girls were waiting too.

I dumped the three coolers with me and moved to the exit when I heard the door swing open again. On instinct, I slipped away as fast as possible. If it was a senior, I'd rather they didn't catch me in a place where work was stacked on every side.

I heard footsteps that didn't seem weighed down by dishes or follow the swishing of a skirt. Then came the whistling I couldn't identify but seemed oddly familiar. I looked up at the large cauldrons shielding me from view and hoped they wouldn't call his attention as I crouched further down. I heard another sound that made my blood freeze.