the story of ksimon

dinner

29, june 2006

It was now five forty five, the school dinner was set to start at six and Jake's party was set to start at about seven.

All the year 8's were meant to go on several school buses that would take them to the restaurant, payed by the school.

The five ended up on the same bus, Simon sat beside JJ, Hannah beside Jenna and Will a seat behind them by himself.

"Where the fuck are we going anyway?" JJ asks, fiddling with his hoodie.

"No idea, some rich ass restaurant that Thompson payed for with his gambling money." Simon commented causing all of them to chuckle.

For the whole fifteen minute bus ride was spent by often conversations between the group, but mostly listening to music on their MP3 players.

Once they finally arrived, all the students exited the bus in the least orderly fashioned way you could think of. Everyone wanted to get out of the heated, smelly bus as soon as possible.

When the group walked in, they were met with the amazing smell of the buffet that lingered the are.

"Mad," Simon whispered, looking around at the beautifully decorated place with the amazing smell. Somehow, Simon's fingers had ended up being intertwined with Hannah's as the two continued walking to their table.

Before their eyes was about five empty tables that sat about twelve. Simon took a seat in the middle of Hannah and JJ. Will was on Hannah's right and Jenna was on JJ's left.

"Where are the menus?" JJ yells, startling everyone. The teacher turns around quickly and scolds Jide, telling him to shush.

Meanwhile, every single student was stifling a heap of laughter.

Soon enough, the several waitress' began to hand out menus to each student. According to the teachers, we were allowed to order one dessert, one appetizer and then the main course. Drinks weren't allowed to be refilled as it costed an extra pound.

"I'm going to get the baked teriyaki chicken meal." Jenna announced.

"I'm going to get this slow cooker beef pot roast thing," JJ says, continuing to scan the menu."It looks like it has a lot of chicken, and you know I love chicken."

"I think I'm going to get the same thing as you, Jide," Simon says, pursing his lips. "Looks good."

"I'm going to get the lasagna," Jenna says, a wide smile on her face. "Lasagna never disappoints me, it's some good shit."

In a matter of ten minutes, every order had been written down. The only thing there was left to do was wait.

"Oh fuck off are we going to have to wait thirteen years for our food." JJ groaned.

"Jide, each table had their own waiter or waitress, I don't think it will take that long." Hannah comments and JJ scoffs.

"But it's not like every table has their own chef, is it?" JJ spat, making Hannah sink into her seat. Simon turned around and gave her a soft smile.

Okay, so maybe things were still rocky on the edges.

They all knew they would be waiting for a while, so they took this time to engage on their own conversations. Simon was having a fun conversation with Hannah, until he was rudely interrupted by a tap on the shoulder.

Simon spun his head around and came face to face with a pair of bright green eyes. In front of him was a girl who's in most of his classes, her name was Elena.

"Hi?" Simon says, having his greeting come out more like a question. Elena tucked a small piece of her brown locks behind her ear and blushed a bit.

"Can I speak to you?" Elena asked. "In private?"

Simon looked at Hannah who was looking away from him, pursing her lips. Simon looked to his left and saw the others with confused expressions.

"Yeah, sure." Simon answers, getting up from his chair and following Elena to the corner of the restaurant.

"So," Elena said, clearing her throat and fiddling with her fingers. "Most of the girls have dates to Jake's party and I don't. I think you know where this is going, but I've kind of liked you for a while now. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me, as my date."

Simon blinked three times, not being able to comprehend what he had just heard. He thought the guys were supposed to ask the girls out. Simon had never been asked out before, and he didn't know what to do.

Simon had always been awkward around girls. He struggles saying no as it is, let alone to a girl. He knew that saying yes would interfere on what he had planned for later that night, but he couldn't just let Elena walk away with a broken heart.

"Sure," Simon spat out, snapping out of his daydream. Elena broke into a huge smile before wrapping her arms around Simon.

Simon looked behind her to see if anyone was looking. When he saw that everyone's attention was diverted somewhere else, he wrapped his arms around her as well before breaking the hug.

Elena gave him a small wave before walking back to her table. Simon sighed and shook his head before walking back to his table slowly.

Simon slumped down into his chair and slammed his head onto the table, grabbing everyone's attention.

"You alright there, Si?" Hannah asks and Simon rises his head, looking at her and nodding. Simon turned to JJ and tapped on his shoulder, grabbing his attention.

"Jide," Simon whispered. "I fucked up. I fucked up real bad."