The Price of Friday Nights

three

LUNCH FINALLY ROLLED AROUND and to say I was relieved was true, but I was also very nervous. Mel had been nice, but I had no idea to what extent 'nice' would cover.

Dodging out of class from the mass of people weaving to their lockers and pushing to lunch, I caught up to Mel who was strolling through the crowd with ease.

I huffed and blew a strand of my hair from my face, "how do you deal with all these people shoving?"

Mel laughed, "You get used to it. After about a year, it gets easier."

A year?! Dang, so that means I'll get a grip on things by the time I graduate from here... good to know.

I followed her from the cafeteria line down to the red lunch tables that were practically empty, with an exception of a couple people milling around, and took a seat across from her. It seemed that everyone was still taking their time in the hallways.

"Looks like we're the first ones here" She stated and turned around, "Madeline, relax, you'll be fine, my group of friends can be rowdy, but I promise you, they're all really good people," sensing my tense demeanor towards my lunch. I may have stabbed the jello a little too hard.

"Well hello! Who do we have here?" I tilted my head in time to see an attractive being slide in the seat next to Mel. 

"Madeline Jacobs, I'm new here. Nice to meet you. " I responded quietly.

"Well Madeline, I think that name a little too long for it to roll off my tongue. Can I call you Mads?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, everyone can call me that!"

"Mel, I like her already!" He garbled, taking a massive bite out of his sandwich. "I'm Jake by the way. So, how has your first day been?"

"It's been pretty smooth, much to my surprise. I guess I'm getting the hang of it." I started as the lunch room became more and more packed.

"So what brings you down to sunny LA your senior year of high school if you don't mind me asking?" Jake asks.

"Well, I'm from Florida, that's about it, I guess, my step-dad got promoted, so we relocated and now I'm here," I replied.

"Flo Rida, that's cool Mads. I'll catch up with you all later I actually have to talk to someone real quick, see you around!" He assured, before crumpling his sandwich wrapper and walking over to the table where the bunch of cheerleaders and jocks were milling around. 

"He plays football," Mel told me as a shorter, rounder-faced girl sat down next to us, "Oh, Ames, this is Madeline, she's our new girl." 

"Hey Madeline, I'm Amy Reed. It's very nice to meet you!" She offered smiling at me, "Mel, have you given her the rundown of the school yet?"

"The run down?" I questioned, was the school so complicated in it's social hierarchy that I needed a run down? Oh boy, I was in for a real treat.

"Oh right, I totally forgot! Okay, Mads are you ready for this?" She said as she faced me dead on.

"Yeah, I guess?" I replied, slightly worried about the load she was about to spill.

"Riverwood High Crash Course: 101. 

1. Amy and I are cheerleaders, but we don't sit with that table over there because it's way too much stress and contrary to popular belief there are cliques in our team as well.

2. The jocks here are for the most part nice, for example, Jake and Logan, Logan is the kid over there heading to our table, who's also my boyfriend. But some of them, are just too big-headed for our tastes.