The Big Bang

Chapter 3 - The Cafeteria

I was on my fourth subject and introduction now . The thing was, Ledge was my classmate for these four classes. It was a good thing that I did not mention the dead dog now. However, he always found a way to tease me . After fourth subject, the high-pitched and annoying metallic bell sound finally rang, ringing its loud voice for everyone in the whole school to hear.

I went to the cafeteria on the first floor. It was located directly in front of the entrance door after a long walk.

Instantly, a huge swarm of people were to be seen. They were wearing a huge array of clothes. Jackets, shorts, skirts, t-shirts, and the occasional oversized flannel polo shirts like mines. They were in groups, with people chattering, laughing, and having a good time all throughout. The fact that they were so close might be because of the fact that most of these people have already been around since Grade 1 or even pre-school, knowing that it's a small town.

Some were carrying huge phones, others small ones. Most of them were messaging, playing, or talking while doing something with the device.

A row of yellow lights were the source of light in the cafeteria. The seats were about seven for each round table. People of different cliques, clichés, and stereotypes were grouped.

There was the obvious punks, with dyed purple hair, the heavy black makeup, and the piercings. Not to be someone who stereotypes people but this is definitely and obviously the punks. They were talking about something funny though, seeming as the one with the red-streaks and black hair laughed with her whole, wide mouth open. The others had long hair, some having spiky hair, and the leader had a long, flowy ones. He was of pale skin, long nose, and a never-smiling mouth. He snickers occasionally though, to show that he is giving attention.

I went to the lunch lady's. A wide array of food were present. Chicken curry, hotdogs, milky pasta, and a brown sludge of something I didn’t recognize. It smelled nice though so I took the brown sludge. I also took salad and a yogurt drink.

Now, here comes the difficult part: choosing a seat. In technical terms, it is the easiest thing to do. However, in high school, you don't get to pick a seat, the seat chooses you. Not unless you are the leader of a clique or something. Or if you're terribly influential or just a plain bimbo.

The leader of the punks was talking now, obviously with something sad. All of their faces immediately went to this attention, even though it might be boring. Knowing how high school works, only 1/3 of the people in the group actually cares and the rest only want the name and the reputation. That's what keeps them listening to the leader's cat story or his totally boring vacation.

I looked at the right and saw the famous girls from earlier. They looked quite normal though, a bit of a violation from the high school code. I thought they were supposed to be like raunchy, right? Whatever happened to 90's movie clichés? Where is the Breakfast Club's different clichés?

On the left was the nerds, but of another variation. They were the ones you approached for hard stuff in class, but don't expect them to be nice to you. They're Nerd Type A, the selfish nerds. I'm still looking for Nerd Type B, the loser ones.

The Nerd Type A usually talks about socialism, the hazards of capitalism, and the most likely politically-correct in their opinions. Yes, I would sit with them, if I was a little more of a socially-aware, but no. Unfortunately, I do not have a political stance yet, so sitting with them, with the boys having clean cuts, the girls having a headbands and them wearing polo shirts buttoned up to the neck, would be most unfortunate. And I'm not even saying that they would be nice to me, so better yet pass the opportunity. Also, one of them, the one with the blue headband and red hair, looked at me meanly as I stood up lonely with my sad, brown soup and yogurt drink. Geez.

After seeing the tan jocks with their varsity jackets and equally hot cheerleaders, I took a seat that no cliché sat on. It was green, with plastic chairs circled around it. Call me lonely but forgive me if I do not fancy myself as a commoner.

I dreadfully pulled my seat and placed my tray on top of the table. It was then that I realized the mistake I did.

On my instant right was the table of what I thought were normal people. However, I failed to recognize that one of them was Ledge. Grave mistake, I know.

“Hey, Odee.” He says while smiling. He is in his territory right now, full of confidence because of an instinct of familiarity with his faceless friends who will most likely be common people later on at life. Not that it's a bad thing.

“Hey” I replied flatly.

“No one eating with you?” He says, stating the obvious. I replied with a tone of approval.

“You can sit here, with us” he says. The group he was eating with was engorged in their own conversation, thankfully.

“I'll pass, Ledge.” I said, taking my first spoonful of the brown soup. It was sweet, sour, and salty at the same time. It was an Asian soup of some kind, given its strong emphasis of spice. There was also chicken and potatoes, both of which tasted stellar. My old school lunch lady could not even go in this level.

“Call me Keith” he says. He follows with, “You sure you'll pass?”

His persistence is charming, I admit, but too much calls for temper tantrums. I gave him a hum of approval to end the conversation.

After a while, one of the girls from the famous table approached near. She had long, slender, and model legs. They were quite tan, which made it look sexier. Her blonde curls with the pink tip were swaying in the air as she was walking. Her blue eyes, flashing with delight (or just plain contact lenses), were nearing me. I braced myself for the possible encounter. What would this woman want with me?

However, just as she was close to conversational space, a thin, tall woman with a simple, skirt, and long hair, brunette hair, blocked her way. She was also headed towards me. She had brown eyes, milky white complexion, sharply rounded nose, and a heart shaped face. She looked pretty and simple.

The blonde haired girl stopped and gave the pretty one an insulted face. The pretty girl responded with a middle finger. So much for cute and simple. I was liking her now.

After that silent fight, the girl smiled and walked towards me with a confidence of a cat. She was confident in a simple way, a kitten dressed in simple fur.

“Hi!” She said in a sweetly light voice. She was smiling with her eyes somehow closing and her cheekbones rising. A genuine smile from someone other than Keith, finally.

“Hi.” I replied in an interested voice.

“Your name is?” she asks me as she took the chair beside me and settled her tray. A salad same with mine but with double servings and coke. It was opposing, but I'm not supposed to judge at first glance.

“Odee. You are?”

“Stacey. Nice to meet you. I heard there was this new girl in school, that’s you, then.” She says.

“You must have found the wrong girl, then.” I say, which she laughed at. I followed with, “Are you best friends with that girl?” I ask, raising my chin towards the blonde, pink-tip haired girl.

“Yes! She's absolutely the best friend of the whole school. She bullies everyone. Totally best friend material. Her name's Dev” Nice banter. I might’ve been talking with a friend already.

“You mean, the school slut?” I ask. To this, she paused for a second, obviously bothered by the term, but recovered with, "mostly just bully."

“Damn. This school is full of coming-of-age book characters.” I replied jokingly. The salad tastes good as I took my first bite. The coleslaw was fresh and the thousand-island sauce was perfectly mixed.

“You could say that better. Also, would you like to invite my friends of another stereotype group to come? They're shy with talking to new people, so they stayed by that side.”

She pointed to the right and I saw two people earlier that I didn't notice.

“Of course.” I say as I took a bite out of the salad.

Stacey raised her hand and invited the two people.

One of them was a medium-height boy with dark skin (nicely taken care of, might I say), nicely cut hair, a blue polo shirt with a green jacket hanging off by a knot on the front and white shorts. He partnered it with white shoes. A fashionable boy, might I say.

The other one was a small ginger with freckles on her rosy face. She was smiling, her braces evident. Her eyes were green and she wore a pink shirt that said “Mama Bear”. She partnered this with simple orange pants. She was of normal weight, obvious optimism, and a bit of too-much energy evident in her aura.

“This one's Doran and this one's Cass.” Stacey introduces them like a mother talking to another one. I greeted both of them.

“You're pretty, might I say.” Doran says as an introduction. I said a thank you in reply.

“He's gay”, Cass says, snickering silently as she did. She shakes her whole body whenever she laughs.

“Hey, that was supposed to be a surprise,” Doran says while laughing and taking a seat.

“You're not fooling anyone, Dory” Stacey replies while smiling.

They were pretty close already, I'm guessing. Doran shares some of his food to Cass, who was begging without stop.

“Can I have some of your soda, p'ease?” Cass asks Stacey.

“Not a chance, kid.” Stacey says coldly. Yep, these guys are definitely close.

“How's the place?” Doran asks, to keep the conversation going.

The school was quite simple. With its people and structure, it looked like it will be a part of everyone's memory that they will be nostalgic about for a while and then forget later.

“It's okay. Kinda’boring actually.”

To this, Doran smiles.

“Finally, someone with enough guts to say that. This place is a shit hole, to be honest.”

I totally agree. After half a day of spending hour in this place, I began to understand Doran's negative point of view. Grumpy teachers, common people, and a dull design.

“Hmm. That's why we're going to leave this place one day. Not just the school but the town too. Get a life in the city,” Stacey says.

If only they knew how the city is much worse. But for someone tired of seeing the same trees, smelling the same breeze, and meeting the same kids, it might be better to go to the city, with its fast running time, the busy people, and the city lights that never sleep. Whenever I think of it, I always flash back to the time when I was beside the bay one night, alone and taking pictures by myself. I've always been interested with the dark magic of the city, with how it is able to shine brightly in the midst of darkness and despair. Money consumes the city, but happiness is still evident in it. I remembered that I specifically gave the pictures to a high quality print shop. It was on the first page of my album. My favorite set.

“Oi,” Cass waved a hand in front of me. “Yer' spacin' out,” she says in a Scottish accent.

“Yeah, we ended on getting the hell out of the city,” Stacey reminds, taking her last spoonful of the salad. She was already drinking her coke when I replied, “You wouldn't wanna go there. I came from there and it's exactly the same.”

Stacey smiles. “Well, aren't you the optimist,” she says.

“I'm going to be a designer someday, someone who would actually be appreciated not only by three nutheads,” Doran says with pride. By the three, I assumed that it was meant to be Stacey, Cass, and another person I didn't know about. Well, he definitely can add me on that, seeing his fashion choice.

“Speaking of three, hey Cass, did you see Charlie?” Stacey says after taking her last gulp. I realized that I still have a lot of food so I quickly ate my last bits of salad to head on to the yogurt.

“Nawp. Might be in his hidey-hole.” Cass replies while chewing on fries. She makes the fried, fatty food look like a delicacy.

“You should meet one of our other friends, Charlie. He's nice too, just like us,” Stacey says with a laugh.

“Yeah, but more weird,” Doran adds.

“Weird's fine.” I reply. The strawberry yogurt was bursting with sourness and sweetness. Delicious.

“What do you do, Odee, for fun?” Doran asks.

I thought for a while then answered, “I do photography. Sometimes poetry, sometimes soccer, but mostly photography.”

To this Doran replies, “Is that all?”

What was he asking for? I mean that's pretty much the only things I do. Read internet articles? Edit photos in my computer? That wasn't such a big deal as to say.

“Yep, that's all.” I say.

To this, the three looked at each other with menace and excitement. Then they huddled up, chairs squeaking, and whispered to each other. A buzz of different words said in high pitch were traded. It ended with Cass saying, “Yep.”

“What was that about?” I asked when they finally turned around. They all had glistening eyes and a matching menacing smile. Naughty kids.

Stacey smiled for a while before saying, “Well, we've noticed that you barely do anything really so we’re asking you to hang along with us. For like this year. It's the last year anyways.”

The poor social skills of these kids were showing. Not that I knew much about it anyways.

“Erm. That's kinda weird. You don't usually say that to people. I mean, don't they hang out naturally?” I say gently. Did I come out as a bit too straight-forward?

“Oh, so is that a no?" Doran asks with a bit of disappointment.

I thought for a while. They weren't so bad, plus they're weird. I wouldn't mind being associated with them.

“Hmm, okay. It's not like I have a lot of options anyways.” I say, smiling.

“Yay!” Cass says excitedly. Doran and Stacey trades happy glances. The scene was all too awkward.

I wondered if I did the right thing by doing that. They look nice though so it's not so bad. Guess I belong to Nerd B now, which was great. And that's not even sarcastic.

After a while, the bell signifying the end of lunch rang. We quickly stood up from our seats and headed to our class. My next one was PE, meaning I'd have to stretch. I wore the PE uniform that they gave us and immediately headed to the open field.

It was a heated day of sweat and orange clothes. The environment was covered in a filter of orange, quite 90's and vintage, given the old architectural structure of the school.

The school's gymnasium was quite spacious, enclosed with metallic wires that seemed flimsy against flimsy force. The grasses were well-tended, green flowing everywhere with the afternoon sun. Bursts of laughter and snickering were heard everywhere, mixed with the occasional whistles and the sound of shoes against grass. It was a day for a flurry of activities.