The Popularity Project

Playing it Smart

Before I even knew it, it was already lunch time--Not typically my favorite time of day. Because neither me or my mom puts together a lunch bag at home, I'm one of those kids that wait through half of their lunch period in the lunch line. The other thing about lunch that I hated was the food. But at the same time, it's not a news flash that cafeteria food is normally on the downsider.

Somehow I manage to squeeze my body through the classroom door frame, along with six other students.....not to mention the rally of elephants trying to push their way through as well. Once I survive the classroom mayhem, I stand in the hallway. All around me are people jumping up and down and screaming. Omigash, you guys saw each other last Friday. What's the big deal?

Of course there are some sneaky little beavers trying not get caught riding the elevator instead of taking the stairs to the cafeteria.

I limped my way down the stairs with my fingers plugged into my ears. Subconsciously walking down the stairs was always a complete fail.....especially when there's a practically deaf football player yelling at the top of his lungs in conversation with the person right next to him.

Ugh, the echo in the stairwell.

At last I reached the food court and the indoor cafeteria. I reached in my pocket in search of lunch money. Turns out, my memory was still in tact. I remembered to insert exactly $3.50 for my lunch.

Since I always take FOREVER to get out of the mountainous stair well, I was consistently the caboose of the lunch line.

"Is it Taco Tuesday," I whispered to myself remembering that it was Monday. They never had anything good on Mondays. Since I was short, I couldn't see past the crowd of people surrounding the food line.

Great. This will take forever.

And then, suddenly, in the midst of all of my meal misery, I heard voices behind me. It turned out that I wouldn't be the last person in the lunch line today. I knew that there were two people behind me, but I didn't bother looking back to see who it was.

"Ugh, look at this line," moaned the unfamiliar girl voice.

"I know right. I'm starving," said the unfamiliar guy voice.

Finally I had someone that could relate to me. It really stinks watching all the other kids already feeding their faces while you're still stuck waiting to touch a lunch tray.

"Hey, whose that chic standing in front of us?" asked the guy voice.

" I think she's the new girl. Oh yeah, now I remember, she's that brunet that's in our Pre-Cal class," answered the female voice.

Turns out, I was wrong about me. People have acknowledged my existence. I had no idea who was behind me, but if someone were talking about you, wouldn't it be nice to find out who they were?

"Do you remember her name?" asked the female voice.

"No. I can't even remember how to spell my last name some mornings," the unfamiliar male voice replied.

Expecting that their conversation about me would be done at any given moment, the female voice said something that changed my destiny as an invisible person.

"Hey! New girl!" She shouted.

I turned around, shocked that someone bothered to speak in my direction.

"Me?" I ask.

She didn't even say 'yeah' or 'hi, what's your name?'. She just looked at me.

"Do you wanna eat before lunch ends?" She asks with the most blunt face in the world.