Living High School to the Fullest (Completed)

Chapter 6: ***Lunch with the Populars***

Chapter 6

Our next day in school was all about lunch. Emma and I have come up with some kind of master plan.

In order to be able to rotate between tables in the cafeteria without being bullied or bodily harmed in any way, we have to set an example: challenge the Alpha first.

In our case: The uncrowned king of Jefferson High, Nick Evans. And the rest of the populars.

If they tolerate us at their table, nobody else will dare to say or do anything.

If they don’t tolerate us - well. Then we will just have to wing it somehow.

Emma was all excited, because finally watching Mean Girls with pre-rehab Lindsay Lohan seems to pay off. I hope she’s right. I hope movies can really teach you something for life other than making criminals aware of all the evidence they have to get rid off if they don’t want to get caught.

To acknowledge the social status of our soon-to-be lunch friends, I dressed the part. I was wearing a soft black tee with the words Undercover Girlie printed in pink letters on it. Plus my favorite pair of jeans. I even managed to put my shoulder-length hair up in some kind of bun which did not resemble a bird’s nest like it usually does. And I used some mascara.

Emma dressed up a bit as well. Her favorite red tank top, black skinny jeans, her favorite pair of black boots she only wears for special occasions and the long silver earrings she bought for the winter ball last year.

After we paid for our food, we made our way to our regular table. A necessary detour to let our friends know that we won’t be joining them today. If we had told them before, we only would have had to face 20 questions. This way, it’s nice and easy. Like pulling off a band-aid. We would talk to them and do some explaining after our little social experiment.

There they were, Dinah and Brian, waiting for us. Aaron was nowhere to be seen.

“Hi!”

“Hey there.”

“Hey guys. Listen, we’re sorry, but we won’t be able to join you for lunch today. Catch up with you later, okay? Bye!” I hastily let them know, slowing down a bit, but never stopping.

“Um,” Brian said baffled, but Emma and I just kept on walking.

Phase 1 completed.

“Remember, just pretend to be confident. Show no fear. If we pretend to be confident, they will think that we are confident. And that will irritate the hell out of them,” Emma whispered.

Okay then.

There was our target. Lucky for us, there were exactly two empty seats at the very end of the jock table. One less thing to worry about.

I took a deep breath and put on my best fake smile. Almost there.

“Hi all, do you mind if we sit here? Thanks!” Emma addressed the table, never giving anyone a chance to answer, smiled and sat down right next to Mike.

I followed her example and took the seat across from hers, right next to Dan.

Huh. Considering that Em really didn’t want to do this, she sure didn’t act like it. That girl is good. She simply oozed with confidence.

Phase 2 completed.

“So Sarah, have you decided on a topic for your biology project yet?” she asked me, ignoring the stares from the populars, while starting to eat.

“Nope, not yet. I was thinking maybe something along the lines of cross-breeding flowers,” I played along, grabbing a fry.

See, according to Emma and her movie wisdom, we simply had to engage in our very own conversation so that the popular didn’t feel like they have to talk to us. Makes it easier for them to tolerate us, because they can simply ignore us.