Lights Up

Welcome to The Freakshow

Hello hello hello beautiful people. Author here. This is one of my favorite chapters so far, because we introduce a TON of new characters. All Spanish in this chapter comes straight from google translate, so if there's any readers out there who actually speak Spanish and find a mistake, let me know so I can fix it. Also, I listened to Tuck Everlasting again, so I have renewed feelings of its greatness and that it shouldn't have closed so soon. NOT THAT IM BITTER or anything. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Dia's POV

The next two classes passed quickly. Math was uneventful, to the point where I barely remember anything that happened. Oops. Third period was orchestra. I was originally nervous for that class, a bunch of rich kids with their fancy instruments and racist comments. Then the director, Miss Taylor, basically cemented her place as my favorite teacher. Let me paraphrase. Basically her whole rant was;
"I don't care how expensive your instrument is, or how many years you've been taking private lessons. In this class, you will be judged on your playing ability and your work ethic. If you have an issue with this, take it up with me after class, though there is no guarantee I'll actually listen to you. Now, let's tune."
She was really cool. Now the bell rang, I've gone to my locker, and it's time for the oldest test of strength and endurance in the history of high school. Lunch.

So I made it to the cafeteria, great. There are kids everywhere. There's a table full of boys in letterman jackets tossing around footballs. Another table has a couple boys and one girl wearing letterman jackets. Their table is covered in books and papers and at least five different calculators. There's a table full of kids wearing marching band t-shirts, and a blond boy with a lollipop sticking out of his mouth is turned around talking to a short black haired boy sitting at a table with a bunch of girls wearing customized dance team jackets. What is it with this school and customized jackets? At the front of the cafeteria is a smaller table. This is occupied by three girls wearing expensive clothing, who seemed to be silently judging the whole room. Weird. My National Geographic narration of the cafeteria was interrupted by me noticing a silver crutch waving in the air from the back table. That must be Crutchie and his friends. I make my way over to them, and sit in the empty seat that Crutchie saved for me. Alright, let's see what we're dealing with here.
Crutchie is sitting on my left, and on my right is another boy. He has dark hair, and is wearing a t-shirt with a space cat on it under a pink sparkly vest. There are at least twelve different pride pins on his backpack, and a pair of tap shoes is close to falling out of it. Next to the tap shoe boy is a dark haired girl wearing the coolest jacket. It's covered in patches, and the back is custom painted. Ok, I want one. Next to the jacket girl is the only other girl at the table. She has frizzy brown hair, like the kind that could be beach waves if you tried, but she didn't try. She's wearing a theatre tech t-shirt and playing on her phone. Next to the frizz girl is another boy. Santo cielo, he's cute. Come on Dia, no crushes, too late. He's got super curly hair almost down to his shoulders, and lots of freckles. Lots. Of. Freckles. Oh, I'm screwed. Next to Freckles is a blond boy in a blue polo shirt. He's playing with a fidget cube in one hand and talking quietly to the boy next to him. This boy, the one fidget cube boy is whispering to, has long hair also, even though his is pulled back. He's wearing a grey hoodie and painting his nails. The final new person at the table is wearing a beat up newsboys cap, and an art department t-shirt. He's also holding hands with Crutchie under the table. Ahhhh, so THIS is the boyfriend. I can see what Crutchie sees in him. He's cute. Oh shoot, they probably think I'm awkward cause I've been internal monologuing instead of introducing myself.

"Hi, I'm Dia. Thanks for letting me sit here."

Freckles speaks up. "Anyone who calls Eacker a muggle is automatically in my good books." He smiles at me. Gah, shouldn't it be illegal for someone to be that cute?