introvert | c.b

pt 2: cafeteria

i walked to the familiar seat in the cafeteria, my usual group of friends sat at their unassigned assigned seats (much like the entire lunch hall). i had spent the last 5 years with these people, some were my friends, others were just acquaintances. but we were there, every lunchtime, sat in the exact same spaces.

i had met most of these people through my studies, productions, some even through sports and others at parties or social gatherings. gradually we became a group, getting bigger and sometimes smaller over the years at high school. even though i was surrounded by these people, i had no emotional attachment to any of them. i felt rather alone in that matter.

the lunch hall sat the entire school, the noise was sure to deafen you at first but you somehow got used to shouting above it during conversation.
i was busy trying to listen to jayden, a boy i had met during one of the school's productions, talk about his recent audition— when art class boy walked past.

he smiled sheepishly at me as he nodded in my direction, his cheeks lifting up, almost covering his eyes. his hair wasn't covered by his beanie this time though. i noticed he had a few curls at the back of his head and his side parting ruined his sleek fringe as it separated naturally, leaving a gap. i followed him with my eyes as he sat down on a table for 6 but only him and the blond boy filled the spaces.

it was finally coming to the end of lunch. i had just about had enough of conversations about boys and parties. the fake laughter that left my tonsils the entire time somehow fell believable, i even fooled myself at one point.

i packed up my lunch, saying bye to my friends as they left to get ready for last period, i got up and walked towards the clearing section— thinking much too deeply about how much i didn't want to fall in front of everyone. as i looked at art class boy and his friend again i noticed a group of boys on the table next to theirs taking pictures of them and sniggering. a rush of anger flared my entire body, i don't know why i felt so obliged to defend the two boys but they seemed too weak to do it for themselves.

"shove that phone up your ass and quit taking the piss out of them." i spat at them, their heads turned like owls as they stared me up and down.

"and what are you going to do about it?" one of the boys questioned, cocking an eyebrow. he swung his phone left and right using his fingertips, teasing the photo that had been taken.

i grabbed hold of the phone from his fingers and skipped over to the bin.

"what the fuck!?" he shouted, his delayed reaction mean't he had no time to snatch it back from me, getting up from his seat in aid to retain his phone. his friends 'oh'ing and 'ah'ing in amusement.

"i'm going to do this." i smirked, dropping it into the trash can filled with mush that was food and liquid alike.

i dropped my used food bag into the trash can, neatly placing it on top of the mush and the phone, before walking over to art class boy and his friend. their eyes were wide, mouths slightly ajar.

"hey, sorry about that. if they do anything else to you just let me know. i know a few people who can sort them out." i joked, tapping my nose and winking. we all looked over at the guy who was now buried deep in the trash trying to find his phone.

"little does he know he's looking in the wrong trash can." i scoffed, rolling my eyes. the two boys burst out laughing, almost falling from their seats.

"i'm sam." the blond boy coughed, wiping a single tear from his eye. he looked back at the brunette who gulped nervously.

"colby." he added, messing with his fringe.