k-12: the shadows

༺ lunchbox friends ༻

alexis

alexis sat down at her friends' table in the cafeteria, in between celeste and crybaby, setting her tray down on the table.

"hi guys," she smiled.

crybaby rested her head on alexis's shoulder in greeting, while celeste nodded briefly at her, not allowing her attention to stray from what angelita was saying.

"...but anyway, i don't see why people are so scared of death," elita shrugged.

"there's nothing to fear," magnolia nodded.

"you start in the womb and you end in the tomb," crybaby put in.

"and then you're given a whole new body, and get to do it all over again. death isn't the end," alexis agreed, taking a bite from the food on her tray.

alexis thoroughly enjoyed every moment spent with her friends. they could have serious unprejudiced and reflective conversations such as this, or they could muck around and have light-hearted fun together; or anything in between. she'd never experienced that with anyone else before.

however, from time to time, she did find herself missing the close sistership she had once shared with isabel. for several months, now, the two hadn't said a word to each other, neither physically nor mentally; however, both knew that their other was missing them as much as they were missing their other.

thinking about this made alexis feel the sudden need to move around.

"just gonna get some water," she mumbled, pushing her chair back as she stood up and hurried back over to the canteen.

as she was pouring herself a cup of water, alexis felt someone tap her on the back and spun around to see no other than kelly stood behind her, smiling innocently.

"hey girl! won't you sit with me," the taller blonde greeted, one of her arms snaking around alexis's shoulders. "table in the back of cafeteria c. we can be friends if you wanna be... but only till the clock hits three."

alexis shrugged kelly's arm off of her shoulders, frowning. "i'm good, thanks, i think i'll just-"

"you'll come? great!" kelly clapped her hands together in delight, making alexis feel distinctly uncomfortable. "after lunch we can walk to class; talk about the boys that we wanna smash... talk about ways to get a little more cash-"

she leaned closer in, making sure alexis was the only one who could hear her as they began to walk.

"after that, i'll ignore your ass."

alexis was guided to the table where kelly's group of populars sat. to say the least, she was thoroughly unimpressed. however, she was almost curious as to what kelly felt that she had to offer alexis.

she was sat down between kelly and a girl named lucy. alexis rested her head in her palms in frustration as the girls surrounding her began conversations about how big they thought the boys they were crushing on were.

"why did you bring me over here?" she asked loudly, making the whole table fall silent.

kelly shrugged lightly. "your sister's nice, we figured you would be too. were we wrong?"

alexis didn't answer; instead, she stared directly at isabel, who looked away uncomfortably. she hadn't said a word since alexis sat down at their table.

after a moment, the conversation started up again, as deathly boring and repetitive as before.

alexis felt something pulling her to look over at crybaby's table; her friends were staring at her with black eyes, their faces a mixture of confusion and disgust.

alexis rolled her eyes and stood up dramatically, causing everyone sat at kelly's table to fall silent and stare at her again.

"i don't want lunchbox friends," she announced. "i want someone who understands."

kelly's jaw dropped. "excuse me?"

"come to my house, let's die together. friendship that'll last forever," alexis replied sweetly.

kelly took a deep breath, as though she was trying to contain herself. "what is that even supposed to mean... freak?"

alexis rolled her eyes and shook her head, her eyes flickering for a moment so brief that it could've easily been missed. "you wouldn't understand."

she was about to walk off when she noticed one of kelly's friends sat at the table, fleur, staring at her with almost admiring eyes. they flickered into darkness for a moment, and alexis nearly gasped.

okay, i'm gonna get you out of here, she thought to fleur. i'll get my friends to- create a distraction, and then while everyone here isn't paying attention, you can move to my table. you deserve better than kelly. got it?

she smiled in relief as she sensed a firm yes.

she mentally called for her friends' attention, her eyes travelling to their table.

guys, i've found- another one of us on this table. i need to get her out of here without kelly seeing, can you create a distraction? like, uh...

a food fight, she heard crybaby's mischievous voice chime into her mind excitedly. the girl grabbed a sandwich off her dinner tray and, without hesitation, lobbed it across the room, where it bounced off of a random girl's face.

"food fight!" a boy screamed at the top of his voice. almost immediately, the room dissolved into chaos, with food being tossed around the whole room.

"are you fucking kidding me?" kelly shrieked, covering her hair with her arms as she hurried out of the room.

the whole of her gang followed, with the exception of fleur and, to alexis's surprise, isabel.

the twin sisters' gazes met for a moment, and a whole wordless conversation ran between the two in an instant, before isabel shook her head and hurried out of the cafeteria in pursuit of kelly.

alexis shook her head in disgust before grabbing fleur's hand and guiding her over to the table that all of her friends were sheltering under.

"this is fleur, she's one of us," alexis greeted, squeezing in between crybaby and magnolia.

the other girls greeted her happily, and then there was a few moments of silence between the girls as they all watched out at the chaos surrounding them.

"so... what're we gonna do about world war three out there?" angelita asked sarcastically.

everyone turned to look at crybaby, who had started it.

"uhhh... whoops?" crybaby offered.