School

Throughout the school day, I kept to myself.  In the morning, when time permitted, I went to the library and returned a few books to check out a few more.  Picking out the books took quite some time, so I had to hurry to class afterwards.  I went through my classes with the same plain face as always.  Nothing particularly sparked an interest for me except for my third class of the day which was literature.  We took our time analyzing and discussing a book we read.  I sat in silence and listened to the other students and the teacher.  Afterwards, we participated in activities relating to the book. 

Next, I went to lunch.  The cafeteria at Pine Middle School was ten times more crowded than the group home despite the fact that there were two separate lunch times.  Hundreds of starving kids rushed to the lunch line.  I strolled toward it, not really in a hurry.  A few kids ran passed me only to be yelled at by a teacher standing nearby.  I joined the back of the line, and soon, others crowded behind me.  We all shuffled forward through the line, grabbing the foods we liked and then paying at the register.  Every student owned a unique lunch number, and the group home paid for all of the CHC kids.  I typed in my number on the keypad, ignoring the fact that I probably touched the germs of everyone else who typed before me.  I just went on my way down the hallway leading to the library. 

In front of the library, the hallway opened up with benches along the walls, one of which I decided to seat myself on.  Once a person sat down on a bench, he or she owned the whole thing.  That was how things worked.  No one would dare to sit on the bench with another student even if it had enough space for four more people.  The only exception was friends " which I had zero of.  I picked up my chicken patty with cheese, mayo, and lettuce and took a bite.  As I was chewing, I noticed a boy sitting by himself on a bench diagonal from mine, munching on his own lunch.  He felt my stare and glanced up.  This was supposed to be the moment when the other person, me, turned away awkwardly.  But no, I didn’t follow social rules.  I continued to look right back at him.  He stopped chewing.  I stared into his eyes.  After a moment, his gaze wavered.  Then he looked down at his food, and I started eating my sandwich again.  That was middle school life.

I took a few more bites of my chicken patty before setting it down.  I reached for the milk carton and noticed something red on my pointer finger.  When I looked more carefully, I realized that it was blood.  My eyes narrowed.  I took a napkin and dabbed at the blood until it disappeared.  I watched my finger until a bubble of red started to ooze out from the tip of my fingernail.  Suddenly, pain began to form in the spot.  I frowned and stuck my finger in my mouth in hopes to stop the bleeding and the discomfort.  When I pulled it back out to look, I was disappointed to see my other fingers bleeding too.

            After finishing my food, I went to the nurse’s office, and the nurse bandaged up my fingers.  She scolded me about cutting my nails too short even though I hadn’t cut them in a while.  I sped out of her office and spent some more time reading in the corner of the library with the colorful cushions.  While my eyes were glued on the page, time flew by, and the time for my last class, science, arrived.  I jumped off the cushion and stuffed the book in my backpack, speed walking out the library and down the deserted hallway to my classroom.  When I entered the room, most of the students were already in their usual chairs, facing the left side of the room where the teacher’s desk was placed.  I sat in my seat against the wall furthest from the entrance just as another student ran into the classroom.    I glanced back.  It was the red head again. 

She frantically looked around the room for a spot, and her eyes landed on me.  My heart nearly jumped out.  I peeked at the empty seat behind me in horror.  When I stared back at her, the excitement in her eyes dimmed.  She lowered her gaze and wandered to a seat in the front of the classroom.  I couldn’t help but watch her in confusion.  I thought perhaps she would have eagerly seated herself behind me, but instead, she appeared to have lost her enthusiasm for a friend.  For the rest of the time, the red head gazed down at her desk and kept her hands in her lap.  When class ended, she stood up and left without a word.