Taking a water out of the cooler, she reached the lunch lady, giving her lunch number to her. “1089.”
“You can charge the first week only, Elle, then you need to either put money in your account or bring money with you every day.” The lunch lady spoke louder than Elle thought necessary. “We are not going through this again this year.”
Elle didn’t think she could have felt any sicker. “I will.” She moved over so Chloe could give her number.
“1072.” Elle knew she could have, in fact, gotten sicker at the look on Chloe’s frightened face knowing they would have to make it to their table now.
Elle started walking to their usual spot. There were several tables scattering the cafeteria. The studious students used the tables closest to the lines; they weren’t picked on, just ignored really. The tables in the back of the cafeteria were used by the popular crowd. Elle and Chloe, on the other hand, had always eaten at the same table for the past three and a half years—the one closest to the door. This table was in-between the two sides but closest to the studious side. Just one table full of nerds separated Chloe and Elle from the popular kids. The robots.
Elle sat with her back to the door; she liked the full view of the cafeteria. Chloe sat opposite of her; she wanted the back of her head to the rest of the world.
“Did you sleep last night?” Elle asked sympathetically. Elle knew Chloe never slept much with the nightmares, but today she looked like she hadn’t even slept a full hour last night. She looked pale, almost ghostly. Her black hair was now dull as it attempted to conceal the right side of her face. She noticed the hollows under her stark, gray eyes.
“Not much. I really didn’t want to start school back up, I guess.” Chloe forced a smile for her friend.
Elle looked at Chloe sympathetically. “Don’t worry, Chloe. This will be our last semester of high school. Then, we don’t have to see the robots’ faces ever again. Besides, maybe forty-five minutes will go quicker than we remember,” Elle said, trying to make light of their situation.
“We were gone three weeks, Elle, not three years,” Chloe replied lightly.
“Hey, a lot can happen in three weeks. Robots could have asked for a heart over break.” They both laughed over that.
“If that was the case, then my whole high school career was one long nightmare and I will wake up right…” Chloe squeezed her eyes shut and opened them a second later, “Now. Well, it looks like no one asked Glenda the Good Witch for help.” Elle laughed hard and Chloe couldn’t help joining in. Elle was glad when Chloe loosened up.
They both began eating their lunch while Elle carefully looked at the robot’s tables. That side was actually pretty diverse. You had a few athlete tables consisting of a full football team table and the rest being a mixture of baseball, softball, basketball and soccer. This left just a few tables.
Her most hated table was the fashionista one, who only bought designer labels and were all mostly cheerleaders. Cassandra was, of course, the head of that table. The table adjoining Cassandra’s consisted of the filthy rich, and I mean, filthy. They were all boys with the head being Sebastian, which was Cassandra’s twin brother. Elle shivered in fright at not only the sight of him, but the sound of his name.
This brought you to the final table, which Elle really couldn’t describe. Three guys had always sat there; one was Nero, who was basically the king of Legacy Prep, and the other two were his crew, as the school liked to call them. The big one was Amo and the smaller one was Vincent; both were seniors, as well. However, Elle noticed a new boy sitting with them.
He must be a freshman. Elle wondered who he was. All she could see was his dirty-blond hair from the back.
She suddenly felt like someone had stepped in her personal space. That was when she realized she had made a huge mistake—she’d dropped her guard.
“I have been looking for you all day. I have a little mess and I needed the waitress to clean up for me.” Cassandra took Elle’s plate and pushed it off the table. Then the high-pitched screech of her voice started back again. “Go on, clean it up, waitress.”
The whole cafeteria grew silent at her words. That word waitress made Elle’s skin crawl, and yet it might as well be her birth name here as far as they were concerned.
Elle thought about the two options she had. Option one: blatantly ignore it or pretend you didn’t hear it; and option two: respond with either a witty response or a few short words. She chose the first then stared at Chloe, wishing she hadn’t by her panicked expression.
“Bitch, I know you hear me.” Cassandra took Chloe’s plate and held it above her head. Chloe quickly tried to move out of the way, but two of Cassandra’s fake blonde bimbos moved to stand on either side of her, forcing her to sit back down. “Clean up the mess like a waitress is supposed to do, or the little freak will have her own mess to clean up.”
Freak was the only other word that made her skin crawl more than waitress.
Elle felt a washrag hit her face, courtesy of Sebastian. She took a moment to see Chloe wringing her hands. She didn’t want this for her.
Okay, this couldn’t be worse. Of all days to have the three messiest foods. Elle swallowed her pride and picked up the washrag. Then she really swallowed her pride when she got down to clean the mess up off the floor.
When Elle was done shaming herself, she walked over to Chloe. “Come on, Chloe. Let’s go.” She held her hand out. She knew Chloe would never take it, but she would get the message to get out of there.