Coma White

Lunchbox

Chapter 1 - Lunchbox

There was a new girl in school. The cafeteria was buzzing with the news of a strange new girl starting a third of the way through the year…in eleventh grade. Brian glared out across the cafeteria, surveying all. The popular girls and the Jocks had quieted somewhat and were peeking occasionally at the corner window to Brian’s right. He raised a curious eyebrow as his cousin, Chad, sitting next to him, elbowed him in the ribs.

Annoyed, Brian turned to him. “What?” he asked harshly. Chad said nothing. He just pointed down the length of the cafeteria to the corner window that had the ‘populars’ all animated. With a resentful sigh, Brian leant forward. In the corner window seat was a girl…that Brian had never seen before, and he felt his mouth go dry. Dark red hair hung in loose curls to down around her shoulders, framing her pretty face, heeled black boots, slender legs clad in dark blue jeans, studded black belt hanging off one hip, and, under her black leather jacket, a tight-fitting Black Sabbath shirt.

When Chad finally spoke, he sounded as if he was in awe of her. “So, whataya think?”

Brian stared at her longer than was technically necessary to make his assumptions. “Damn…” he eventually said, eyes slightly glazed over. “Is that the new girl?”

“Yep.” Chad nodded. “She’s something, isn’t she?!”

Brian nodded as he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, two of the popular girls, cheerleaders, rose from the laps of their individual Jock’s and headed towards the new girl.

This time it was Brian who nudged Chad in the ribs and nodded towards the two. As Chad smirked Brian muttered, “This should be…interesting.”

***

Jessie Talon stared blankly out the window beside her, wanting desperately to be anywhere but where she was. She’d already had two red-neck looking boys from a younger year ask her who’d died. Idiots. A loud bang echoed around the cafeteria over the chattering voices of students only pretending to eat, and Jessie, reluctantly, looked towards the commotion.

Some poor kid had been tripped near the large centre table…which looked to be populated by only Jocks and Cheerleaders, so there was no doubt why the kid had been tripped. He scurried away from the table with the remainder of his lunch and made towards his friends. To get to them, he had to pass her. He looked up at her as he drew nearer. He was a classic geek with thick, Buddy Holly-style glasses and clothes his old-school religious mum had obviously picked out for him. He looked terrified of her. She couldn’t really blame him, bad days like today tended to make her look perpetually angry…and therefore scary. He looked down again as he walked past, eyes glued to his trainers.

Jessie felt sorry for the poor kid; he had to be only in seventh grade, so she spoke to him, “Hey kid,” she raised her eyebrows at him when he stopped and turned slowly, terrified, to face her. “You okay?”

The kid half looked over his shoulder, then at his shoes, then, finally, at her. With a small, nervous smile, he nodded. “Yeah, fine…happens all the time.”

“Hmm…” Jessie frowned at the ground for a moment. It was the same. No matter where she went, the majority ruled…and they were cruel. Well, whilst she was here, she might as well make a friend…if only for her mothers’ sake. She looked up with a half-smile of her own. “Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be any good at calculus and trig at all, would you?”

The kid smiled proudly and nodded. “Yeah. I do advanced trig and calculus…my teacher has me doing twelfth grade stuff at the moment.”

“Would you mind helping me out with my eleventh grade problems?” Jessie asked with a friendly smile. “I’m absolutely rubbish at both and I need someone to tutor me…I mean, you’re probably a busy guy but-”