This Diary I Found

10 :: Cafeteria Chaos

CHAPTER 10: Cafeteria Chaos

You've never really been in a real friendship if you have never been in a fight with your pal.

In mine and Louie's case, we've fought a lot. Most of the time, I was the one who made the first move at trying to make peace. To be fair, I was the one who instigated most of our fights so...

Louie's been avoiding me all week. Any attempts I've made to apologize have been thwarted by a simple change of directions every time he saw me. I chased after him, sure, but that never really works if you're an out-of-shape noodle try'na catch an athlete.

But today, I got lucky.

I've convinced London to help me. That in itself is a remarkable feat since London can be such a hard-ass at times. I guess this just proves how persuading a pack of gummy worms can be.

She was able to get Louie into the cafeteria for lunch. When they settled down on our usual table, I stepped in.

"Trevor?" London feigned surprise as I approached. "This is so coincidental, we were just talking about you!"

Louie shot her a glare but spared me any gaze at all. He kept his head down. Wow, his lunch tray must have been really interesting.

"What were you talking about?" I went along with London's play as I took a seat across her surly older brother.

"London was just telling me of how I could eat here at the cafeteria because you were supposed to be at detention or something?" Louie spoke up. "Guess she lied."

"Glad to hear your voice again, buddy," I jested, testing out the waters if he's still hostile.

"Not your buddy," he grunted. I guess he still is.

"Oh, come on, Lou," London tried. "Don't be like that."

"Stay out of this, Donnie," he snapped.

"Why?!" London retorted and suddenly, I've started a crossfire between the Steffenson siblings just by uttering two sentences. She continued, "Why are you so mad about what happened between Trevor and me? I'm not even mad. Why should you be?"

"You don't get it, okay?" Louie said through gritted teeth and turned to me. "Best friends don't sleep with the other's sister. That's like a cardinal rule of the bro code."

"Screw the bro code!" exclaimed London.

"It's sick!" Louie snarled. "You're 16, London."

I scoffed. "What the hell, man? You were 15 when you lost yours to Rachel Davenport." If he was gonna pull out the age card on London, then he shouldn't have been such a hypocrite about it.

"Rachel Davenport?" London questioned with an unimpressed tone.

"Shut up," Louie spat. "And you!" He jabbed a finger at me. "You don't get to join in this, okay, you fucking pedo."

Now, that was just uncalled for. "Two years!" I exclaimed. "I'm only older than her by two years, Louie."

"I don't care."

"You're being unreasonable," I said, "Just tell me why you're so mad about this."

"Yeah," London supported. "Tell us."

"You're not good enough for her!" Louie boomed, landing a hard fist on the metal table. A few eyes in the cafeteria lingered on us. "She is the only sister I have. And I will eat my limbs first before I see her waste her time on someone like you."

"Lou-" Donnie was about to defend but I stopped her.

Louie had a point. London Steffenson was aimed for success. With their family wealth, her mental aptitude and tendency to overachieve; it was no secret that she was going somewhere. Me, on the other hand... well, I'm a nobody.