Survival [completed]

Public announcements

My first day back is anything but miserable. Everyone was staring at me. After Tristan dragged me out of school like that on Friday and me missing the whole week after, rumours and stories had spread throughout the whole school. The teachers however, knew the 'real' story. I was down with food poisoning. Fortunately for me they all had assumed I was feeling unwell on Friday and hence left early and didn't mention it to my parents. I had dutifully done all the homework, and recieted my allaby to alomst everyone who walked by and stopped to ask what happened. Tristan suggested I record my answer and replay it everytime someone asks me. I wouldn't be lying if I said I didn't think it was a bad idea. 

"Hey Star, is true you got HIV and was so emotionally unstable that you tried to commit sucide but failed and had to stay at home to recover?" A random guy came up to me and asked me as I qued with Tristan for my food. I gawked at him at his elaborate story. I have heard, preganancy, STD, accident, leaving the country, drug stories to explain my one week absence but seriously this was extravagant and really annoying. I looked behind me at Tristan, who by now was so annoyed with almost anyone who even cared to ask. I didn't know if I wanted to laugh or punch the guy who asked me the question. But before I could decide, Tristan was doing something that made me want to melt to the ground, or run far away from the school. He had walked over to a table and stood up on the bench, 

"Alright, GUYS!" He called to everyone. The football team had seen him and they shouted for everyone to shut up. I pushed myself back to the counter and looked down. My hair fell around me and I placed my hand over my face, trying to hide my face. Then I realised that was a bad idea so while everyone settled down, I moved out of line and slowly inched my way to a pillar and hid behind it. The cafeteria was dead silent. Even the lunch ladies were quiet and had stopped serving people. "Many of you have come up to us and asked us what has happened to Star over the past week. Thank you for your concern. She appreciates it a lot. But honestly, all your theories are wrong. She just had the common case of a gastric flu. That was all. She is fine now. So please stop with the crazy stories." Tristan shouts to tell them. I could not believe he was doing this. I didn't know if I should melt at his gesture or beat the living day lights out of him

The cafeteria erupts in chatter and then someone shouts "Then why does she have a bandage on her left hand?" That does it for me, I turn and run out of the cafeteria. I didn't really have in mind where I was running to but I just ran in the direction my legs took me. Also I wasn't really paying attention to where I was going, I was busy looking down. So, it isn't a surprise that I crash head-first into someone. 

"Whoa" The person calls and pulls me up as I fall backwards. 

I give a small scream from the shock but stop myself immediately. Not wanting any more attention drawn to me. I look at the person I bumped into and realise it's Mr Stone. "Sorry." I tell him. 

"No worries, are you late for something?" He asks me. 

"Erm...no..I was just...going..." I look at the direction I'm running in and see that it's to the Freshmen block. I had nothing to do there. The Freshmen's homerooms were there and they had their classes there too. 

"Running from someone?" Mr Stone asks me smiling. 

"No. I was just leaving the cafeteria really quickly." I tell him resigning to the truth. 

"Yeah, that was quick, you want to hide in my class for a while?" he asks me smiling and walking back a few lockers and turned to his classroom. I had completely forgetten where his classroom was. 

"Sure." I say to his back as I follow him with no other option. 

"So tell me why were you running out of the cafeteria, usually kids run into it not out of it." Mr Stone says  as he sits on his desk. I sit on a student's table across from him.