gone ✧*｡ luke a.u.

4: may 9th 2011

ELLIE

FRIDAY, MAY 9TH, 2011

Ellie hated sitting in the cafeteria.

It wasn't even much of a cafeteria, to be honest—just one of the few places at her school where you could eat indoors during lunch. There were benches crowded everywhere, and most of them were disgustingly messy, covered with spilled food or old gum or who knows what else. The whole place was loud as hell, too; it seemed like every single kid in there shouted their words, as though it was a contest to make the most noise.

She could never fathom why her friends liked to sit in the cafeteria, where the air was stuffy and the noise was too much. She had protested numerous times, but it never really worked in her favour. They preferred inside to out. She preferred outside to in.

Ellie liked them, though. She wasn't super close with any of the friends that she sat with -- she'd never tell them anything, and they'd never get in heart-to-heart discussions or talk about their innermost secrets -- but their company wasn't bad. They were nice to her, so she was nice to them.

Naturally, Maxie's fiery red hair made her impossible to miss, and removed the tangle of nerves which came from the search for familiar faces in a crowded place. Ellie gravitated towards where she sat.

The seat beside Maxie was taken by freckle-faced Ciana, who, admittedly, was one of the nicest people Ellie had ever known. She could begrudge the other girl nothing when she treated everyone so well, generous with everything she had, flashing her crooked teeth whenever she smiled. The day had dragged endlessly on, but still Ellie found the energy to smile a greeting back at Ciana as she sat down beside video-games-obsessed Wesley Jordan. Now, as usual, he was fully engrossed in his DS.

"Where's Zac?" Ellie asked, with a quick glance around the cafeteria.She couldn't see the fifth member of their party anywhere.

Maxie shrugged. "With Lindsay, I'm guessing. It isn't as if he ever goes much place else."

As hard as she tried not to show her disdain, Ellie couldn't help but scrunch up her nose. She couldn't quite understand Zac's infatuation—not because of Lindsay herself, who was a nice enough girl, but because the idea of being so utterly obsessed with someone seemed almost inconceivable. Her parents had tried to love, and had wound up crafting a broken home instead. 

Perhaps Zac had never seen the despair which came from love, because he had remained head-over-heels for Lindsay for eight months already, and spent almost all of his time glued at her side. Sometimes Maxie would joke that they'd forgotten what he looked like when he wasn't sucking face with her, but even Ciana had to admit that her jokes held an ounce of truth.

All the same, everyone except Ciana got annoyed at Zac for spending so little time with them and so much time with his girlfriend, who was drop-dead gorgeous and had friends in high places. Then again, Ciana was a softie, and was so much more open than Ellie that they sometimes couldn't quite get along. Either way, they were friends at the end of the day, which Ellie supposed was all that truly mattered.

"You guys need to stop being so hard on Zac," Ci said now. "It's cute."

"It's not cute," grumbled Maxie. "It's irritating. He acts like a lost puppy. I mean, what—"

"Hey, guys!"

They all looked up as Zac took a seat on Wes's other side, holding a giant wrapped piece of cake that Ellie guessed was his lunch. For someone who ate so badly, he had the body of a twig, long and skinny and sharp.

Maxie's eyes went wide as he sat down and she shut her mouth fast, looking like a deer in the headlights. Ellie had to choke back her laughter. She knew what Maxie had been about to say. "Oh, hi, Zac," she offered, fighting away a grin.