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SHE was the only one that could set him off his game. Meaning, she was the only one that could get him to shut up while the rest of his new found friends struggled to get Richie Tozier to do so. Her name being Calla Azucena Mayta, (or "Cam" for short) the proud Peruvian artist of Derry Junior high.
It was lunch time and the halls of Derry Junior High were known for getting pretty hectic when that bell signaled for students to head to the cafe, especially on Pizza Friday. However Cam was in no rush to get to the cafeteria, hating the idea of sitting in a room with a bunch of kids that she didn't care to get along with. It was just not her scene. It was some sort of rule to force kids into social experiences with others but Cam always had a problem with following the rules. Lunch was only twenty to twenty-five minutes and being a ninth grader one might not understand why Cam would prefer to spend her lunch elsewhere instead of other kids her age but Cam felt that she didn't need to explain herself to anyone. She had enough doing that with the school's guidance counselor.
Since Cam was well-known for her art around the school she always managed to head down to the art rooms where she could finish up or get a head start of whatever she was working on at that time. Thankfully Mr. Townsend was fond of her work and often let Cam use his room while he tended to other things around the building. Cam preferred when Mr. Townsend was out of the room, that way Cam could work in silence and not hear Mr. Townsend sing badly to one of Prince's songs. Plus she liked the quiet and being left alone. It was something she became adjusted to, there was nothing wrong with good old solitude despite whatever her father, step-mother, and therapist thought.
After fifteen minutes of working on a water-color piece, Cam sighed as she rested a damp paintbrush against the easel examining her work. Before she could make any critiques on her own piece her stomach growled, which meant that Cam wouldn't be able to wait until school was over to get some sort of snack on her way home. Sighing Cam tilted her head back, rolling her head around to release any tension back there. She dreaded having to walk through the cafeteria doors, being one of the few that entered the place late to find something in the kitchen of purchase. Deciding to just get it over with, Cam hopped down from the stool her height immediately decreasing; leaving her at her 5'1 frame. She loosened the smock tied around her petite torso making her way throughout the spacious classroom to retrieve the keys to the room before locking up to head to the lunch room.
Exhaling Cam approached the loud room, heading through the open doors quickly giving a few polite waves to the teachers that were keeping watch over the room as she walked by the lunch tables where kids goofed off and gossiped with their friends. Something Cam remembered having once. Entering the lunch room she smiled at one of the lunch ladies that kept short conversations with her, knowing how the young girl rolled. The woman who liked to be called Ms. Stella; the only nice lunch lady in the kitchen, maybe it had to do with the southern hospitality thing she had going for herself but anyone of the kids would be lucky to come into her line. The rest of the ladies were either a) horribly rude and rush around the kitchen giving kids what they thought they wanted instead of listening for what they wanted or b) hated their job. Which showed. Ms. Stella always kept a smile on her face and referred to all of the students as her "baby angels."
