Kara's Cross

The line for lunch is rather long, but I decide to wait for Maddie. I am already nervous enough about the lunchroom situation. She is in a different fourth period than I am, so I am not sure where she will be coming from. Maybe Mason will have this lunch, too. I wouldn’t mind seeing him again; he’s a nice enough guy. It doesn’t hurt he’s kind of hot.

I hope she isn’t already in line somewhere. Scanning the sea of students, I fail to locate her, so I look up and down the hallway again. I see her coming down from the upstairs area. She is at the very back of the crowd. Unconsciously, I smile, excited to see a friendly face. Moments later, she gives me a wave as she approaches.

“Are you waiting for me?”

“Of course!” There was no way I was going in there alone and finding a place to sit is not an activity I am looking forward to in the least.

“Let’s get in line. I’m hungry. Do you feel like eating or is your stomach still messed up?”

“I’m fine, Maddie. I’m pretty sure I’m back to normal, now.”

All things considered, that’s true. My headache is gone and my stomach is only telling me it wants some food, so I am assuming the best. In terms of being here in school, I’m not sure how I am yet. As far as positives go, I have made one friend, two if Mason counts, and have only thrown up on one teacher.

“Omigosh, Kara, look over there.” Maddie is nodding her head in the direction of the tables on the far side of the room, near the windows. “Those are the girls from the bathroom.”

Not exactly sure where her head is guiding me, I scan the general area until I see the table Maddie is telling me about. Six girls are sitting at the table, the three from this morning and three more I’ve never seen before. The girl who did all the talking, I assume the leader, is sitting with her back to the window, positioned to see the entire lunchroom at once.

“Well, we were going to see them sooner or later, Maddie.”

“I know, but it would have been so much better if they would have had a different lunch.”

“Maybe they won’t see us. The lunchroom is big. Let’s hope for the best. Besides, they can’t do anything to us here, there are teachers around.”

“I hope you’re right,” she mumbles.

We finally make it to the lunch counter and grab our trays. The lunch they are serving today is a cheeseburger deluxe, but it looks like an ordinary burger. The fries look good, though. I scan my ID at the front register and turn to look for a table while I get some napkins and ketchup from the condiments station. There are only a few tables left. A couple of them are by the girls from earlier and there is one over by the tray return. Easy choice. I sit down with my back to the tray conveyor belt facing the rest of the tables. Maddie comes up and sits across from me.

“So, what are you going to do after school, Maddie?” I pour some of the ranch dressing for my salad on my ketchup and mix it together using one of my fries before putting the fry in my mouth.

“I don’t know. I’ll probably just relax at home. Why?” She answers while staring at the fry dip I made. “Is that good? I’ve never seen anyone do that before.”

“I love it. My dad made it for me once a long time ago and I’ve been hooked on it ever since. You should try it.” I slide my plate a little closer to her.

She puts a little onto a fry and tries it.

“You’re right, it is good,” Maddie informs me while finishing her bite, then wipes her mouth. “Why did you ask about after school? What are you doing?”

“My dad was going to take me out to dinner to celebrate my first day of school, but after this morning, he’ll probably make me stay home and go to bed early. I was thinking I could ask him if you could come over and hang out for a while after school, if you wanted. He might let me do that.”

She smiles and nods.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun. I’ll have to call my mom after school, but it should be okay. My parents both work until after 6 o’clock on weeknights.”

“Maybe you’d like to invite us, too?”

Jumping at the sound, I spin around to see the girl from the bathroom standing beside our table, her cronies on either side. They must’ve seen us when they came up to put their trays away. This is not good. Maddie is looking down at her lap, silent.

“No, thanks,” I reply, trying my best to sound confident, “I’m not allowed to have more than one guest at a time. Could you please let us eat our lunch now?”

“Well, maybe your girlfriend here can just spend the afternoon with us. We had to go to class before we could finish our bonding this morning. You wouldn’t mind, would you little mouse?”

She takes several fries off my tray and dips them before putting them in her mouth. After swallowing, she sticks out her tongue and makes a gagging sound.

“That’s gross, mouse. I can’t believe you let me eat that.”

She grabs the milk off my tray and takes a sip.

“That’s better. Milk is good. I bet it would even make that nasty dip taste better.”

I watch helplessly as she pours the rest of the milk onto my plate and uses the bottom of the carton to mix it all together.

“Please leave us alone,” my voice wavers.

“Did I ask for your opinion, mouse? You had better watch yourself or you’re going to see what happens to mice who squeak too much. Now, as for you, slut, are we going to get together after school?”

Maddie remains motionless, her gaze fixed on her lap.

“Hey, slut, you better answer me, or maybe I’ll just come over there and make you talk.”

Seriously? This is all happening again? It’s as if the world is mad and I’m the reason. I can’t do it again. I’ll black out in front of all these people. Not that it will matter, my dad will never let me attend school again if I do this. Why won’t they just leave?

“Last chance, slut.”

No! They’re not going to back off. I can’t let them hurt Maddie. Not when I can do something about it. It’s going to hurt more, but I am going to have to make them forget everything about today.

I focus on the trio of girls, concentrating all of my attention on making them forget.

“Is there a problem here, Shayna?”

A new voice breaks my concentration. One of the school security guards is standing by our table, right beside Maddie.

“No, Miss Reese, I was just welcoming some of the new freshmen to the school.”

“Don’t feed me that, Shayna. Go back to your table and wait for class. I’m going to be watching you closely this year.”

Shayna’s eyes narrow and she scowls in Maddie’s direction, but begins walking away, nonetheless.

“Thank you.” That’s an understatement. Miss Reese, will never know how much she saved me.

“Just be careful. Those girls can be trouble,” she looks at both of us long enough to drive home how serious she is being.

“We’ll be careful, Miss Reese,” I respond alone, Maddie remains frozen, staring at her lap. “Thanks again.”

Miss Reese walks away in the general direction of Shayna and the other girls. When she is out of earshot, I take a deep breath.

“Maddie, you can relax now, they’re all gone.”

She finally looks up again. She hasn’t been crying, but judging by the way her eyes are glistening, she must have been close.

“I’m sorry, Kara,” her voice is just above a whisper, “I got so scared when they came up to us… I just froze. I wanted to help you out, but I couldn’t move.”

I had felt slightly annoyed at her lack of response. I risked everything to help her this morning. Seeing how scared she is reminds me how vulnerable we all can be. If I didn’t have the ability to make people do what I wanted, I would have no defense against those girls either. If I were in her shoes, I’d probably react the same way.

“It’s alright, Maddie,” I reassure her, “we’ll figure out something to do together in case we ever meet up with them again.”

I hope that we think of something which allows me to stay conscious.

“I don’t know what I could possibly do Kara, but I’ll believe you.”

We sit quietly for the rest of lunch, alone at our table. I glance at the kids around me, talking and laughing. My stomach twists as I realize I am more of an outsider now than I was before I came back to school. I wonder if I even belong here. Maybe I am not meant to have friends and be a part of any group. The entire reason I fought with my dad to be here is so I could learn how to fit in with other people. The truth is, I had envisioned becoming the most popular kid in school, but after today, I should probably be happy if I don’t end up least popular.

The bell ending lunch rings and Maddie and I grab our trays and set them on the conveyor belt. We both have English next period, so we walk together toward our classroom. The dream of popularity still looms largely in my thoughts.

“Maddie?”

“Yeah?”

“I thought of something we can do when you come over this afternoon.”

“What’s that?”

“We’re going to figure out how to become the most popular kids in school.”

She looks at me with wide eyes before breaking out into a ridiculous fit of laughter.

“Right, Kara,” she manages to get a few words out between laughs, “the two of us are going to become popular. Why don’t you add become millionaires to your plan, so it seems even more realistic?”

“I’m serious, Maddie. I think we can do it. We’ll start planning after school.”

Maddie has frozen in place and looks like she is studying me to find the punch line to my story, but can find none.

“C’mon, Maddie, you’ll make us late for class.” I lightly tug at her arm. “You can tell me how crazy I am later.”

She finally blinks back to life and follows me into class. I’ll prove the idea’s not crazy.