An Alienating Secret

Lunch Time Chatter

--Anith--

I sat down with my lunchbox and opened it up. Pizza!!! Mom's really the best. I took the two slices out of their clear plastic bag, got a paper plate from one of the cafeteria ladies, and heated my food up in one of the available microwaves for students.

Like almost every day of last year, I was doing my microwave process while the rest of my friends got their food from the cafeteria line. It was a good use of time since we could all sit down at once.

I watched my friends as I waited for my food to finish heating up. Ava, Rosie, Jenna, Raya, and Brie. Together we made the SuperAwesome 6. It was really sweet, but I felt some dread in the back of my mind. Would everything be the same this year? What would happen if I broke away from the norm, and made a new friend, or got closer to some other classmates?

Wow, Dad was right. I really am wishing for a change.

At that moment, the microwave started beeping and my friends came out of the line with their plates full.

"Hey, Anith, everything OK? You look a bit flustered." Raya noted as she stepped towards me. I knew I couldn't hide anything from her; Raya was too observant. But I tried to anyway.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I took out my pizza.

Ava smiled at me. "8th grade. Can you believe it? Only one more year until high school!"

"How about we get through this year first before we think about the next one?" Jenna lifted an eyebrow. She was always the one to stop Ava from jumping the gun.

"Yeah, I agree." Rosie smiled sweetly. "Does anyone have resolutions for this year?"

"Like New Years Resolutions?" I asked.

Rosie nodded. "Mine is to study really hard and get A minuses in all my classes."

"Ooh, I have mine!" Ava exclaimed excitedly. We generally started moving to our table as she told it, "I want to make at least one new friend this year."

I broke into a smile. "Great! I do too. I wasn't sure if I was the only one."

"I was thinking about Maria. We've known her for so long but she's never really joined our group."

Raya pointed out, "Ava, that's not making a new friend. It's connecting more with an old one." She turned to me as she sat down in her usual seat. "Who were you thinking of, Anith?"

"The new student, actually. Conner."

Jenna almost laughed. "The German who eats lobsters with raspberries?"

Right at that moment, Conner happened to walk by with his plate. He paused and looked at us. I stared back awkwardly. Jenna had her seat facing away from where Conner stood, but noticed something was off.

"What is it? What are y'all looking at?" She turned around and jumped a bit in her seat. "Oh, hey... Conner, right?"

"Uh, that's me..." Conner tried to smile. Some boys called to the new kid from their table, inviting him to sit with them. Conner seemed relieved to go. "So, yeah, see you... sometime...?" He turned, shaking his head slightly to himself, and sat down with those boys.

We all breathed a bit lighter with Conner gone.

Jenna sighed. "Too bad he heard us."