All Those Other Girls

Those Girls

Math was a blur. I couldn't focus, mostly because of Mindy. She kept smiling and looking at me. I didn't know why, but what I did know was that my teacher was not happy with my mind absence in class. I didn't really care, anyway. I mean, it wasn't like I was good at math, but I normally did have my head in the game, so daydreaming was unnatural for me.

The bell rang, dismissing us to lunch. I stood up from my seat and met Mindy at the door.
"That was hard." She said, sighing.
"Yeah.." I said, wishing I had payed more attention.
"Hey, I know I kinda just met you, but would you want to sit with my friend and I at lunch?"
Oh crap. How was a supposed to do this? I couldn't just come out of my shell and make friends. Could I?
"Did you hear what I said?" Mindy's voice brought me back to reality. I blinked.
"Oh, umm..yeah I guess that's fine." I replied. She smiled.
"Great! Follow me." She said, leading me out the door.
We entered the cafeteria. It was loud. As always, of course. I was used to sitting at the table in the back, with some people from my math class, but I had never talked to them. Mindy led me to a table near the front after we got our lunches. She sat down right away. I stood there, not knowing where to sit.
"Come on. Don't be shy. Sit here." Mindy said, motioning to the seat next to her. I sat down. There were a couple of girls, and a couple of boys. I only knew them from Latin. Mindy turned to me.
"So, this is Andrew and Jake." She said, pointing to the two boys sitting on the other side of the table. Jake waved. Andrew just kinda stared at me, then gave me a weak smile.
"Laura, Emma, Claire." Mindy continued. She pointed to a blonde, a brunette, and a strawberry blonde girl. They waved, shyly. I gave them a meek smile.
"And then there's Zoey." She referenced to a small girl with black hair and brown eyes sitting at the end of the table.
"Guys, this is Zia." She said, pointing to me. I waved. They waved back, mostly the three girls (Laura, Emma, and Claire). The rest of them just kind of stared at me. I felt like I didn't fit in, but I wanted to make Mindy happy.
"So, did you guys hear about the new science teacher? She's transferring here from France!" Mindy started the conversation.
"Wow, actually?" Lauren replied, leaning in to listen. Mindy nodded. They all started chatting. I just sat there. I didn't know what to do. It wasn't like I had fresh gossip to share with them. I started to think about other things. I was looking at the ceiling, thinking what to do when I got home, when a hand tapped me on my shoulder.
"Zia?" I heard a voice. The voice interrupted my daydream, and I whipped my head around. Well, after I turned around, I instantly wished I didn't. There was a boy standing in front of me, smiling. Lucas.