Picky Eater - A short story

Chapter 4 - Annoyed

The tension between the two never stopped growing, that is until one decided to speak up. "Was...what happened during lunch necessary?" She asked with a tone that shows slight worry for her friend. Of course, Abby had to approach the topic as carefully as possible. It is not easy to approach a topic so directly to her friend Claudia, let alone confront her about an issue. But Abby tried her best: at least she put in the effort. There was always one thing in return though whenever she brings up topics like this. Silence. And a lot of it, at least for the next 5 minutes. "I mean, you did put on quite the show there! Like wow, you gained uh" she paused, scanning the room to notice some people whispering and pointing in their direction. "So much attention from it!" She concluded, trying her best to not sound negative towards her friend.

Despite her efforts, Claudia was always just focused on her own thoughts, never listening to Abby, nor noticing that a few people around her are pointing at her and whispering things about her. And those whispers definitely were to do with what happened earlier. Still, she tried not to unintentionally bring up the topic, after all, she just wanted to stay quiet for now. So she just listened to Abby who occasionally talked and didn't nod or shake her head in response, showing neutrality, she was so supportive of her own idea, but also didn't want her friend to feel disappointed. But to Claudia, her own opinions and decisions mattered to her most, and no one was going to be in the way of them. Even though others persuade her, in the end, the only person that would make up her mind is herself.

"Did you see what a fit she made over the school lunch being bad?" A male student whispered loudly, who was sitting behind the two girls. Right now, they were in their mathematics classroom, and their teacher was just teaching them about equations. Definitely not as fun as what the lesson could be, but at least the teacher wasn't the boring and strict type, Claudia thought. The brunette was more focused on the trash-talking behind her back- literally, and how much she wanted to leash at them for doing so. And just as she was about to turn around, Abby nudged her arm gently as a signal. As if to say that shouting at them isn't worth it. And very unusually- no, rarely, Claudia listened to that advice.

"Yeah, she wasted a lot of food. Like, the whole plate, man she is so not grateful!" Another Male student behind them added, and Claudia narrowed her eyebrows, anger boiling up in her as the brunette clenched her fists up. At this gesture, her friend once again gently nudged her on her arm, before continuing to take notes from the board. Luckily, Abby to the rescue once again. Claudia sighed and rolled her eyes, and picked up a pen before starting to scribble in her notebook where her notes would have been. She clearly wasn't calm, and because of this, Abby decided not to say anything, instead, she would allow Claudia to get some silence for her to calm down.

Ring. Ring. Ring. The school bells rang and everyone in the classroom scrambled for their backpacks. After all, the whole day finally came to an end and they were able to leave and get back home. Abby grabbed her backpack with excitement before turning to her friend but frowned upon the sight of her just dazed out. So being the good friend she is, she moved closer and used her arm to give a little bit of a quick wave in front of the brunette to get her snapped out of it. It was at this point where Claudia finally snapped out of the daze she was in, and came to her senses. Just like what everyone else did 2 minutes ago, she snatched her backpack off the ground and stood up from her chair, before heading to the exit almost immediately. Perhaps she felt embarrassed, Abby thought with a shake of her head and smile, followed with a chuckle that couldn't be heard from the brunette that already exited the room.

"You must be feeling hungry, lets go get some milkshakes at that nearby shop!" Abby suggested, a wide grin on her face as she threw her arms up in the air out of excitement. Abby liked sweets and desserts too. But she, unlike Claudia had a balanced diet. Although no one seemed to mention it at all. No one went like: "Oh wow Abby, you're so fit compared to that loser over there!" At least that kind of tone was what the typical popular girls in the school would have used to mention it.

"This tastes good. I'm very glad we got this instead of anything else." Claudia simply stated, sipping on her pink colored milkshake. Probably strawberry flavored. Abby was holding a yellow milkshake, presumably banana flavored. "Yeah! Glad you're feeling better." She said with a smile as she looked over at her friend. Indeed, the sweet sensation of the milkshake allowed Claudia to calm down from earlier. Abby sure did know her well.

"Ah, home again, finally!" Claudia exclaimed loudly, dropping her bag to the ground before she ran up to her room in steps of 2. "Social media checking time." She told herself, before flipping open her laptop and typing in the password, causing it to direct her to Twitter instantly. The brunette moved her cursor and clicked on the news panel to check up on daily news. But the first headline caught her attention for a brief while. "CAE suffering from food shortage...thousands have passed away in just an hour." She read aloud and seemed to be lost in thought before she shook her head and kept scrolling.

Little did she know, that news headline would be a very important part of tonight.