Going Under

Chapter 2

As I look closer at him, I realize his eyes are wide and he keeps looking between me and whatever the hell is going on inside the cafeteria.

"I think there's a fight going on."

I hug my lunch closer to my chest and glance into the lunchroom. Sure enough, two kids are going at it. They look to be freshman and they're swinging so forcefully that it's throwing their own balance off. No one makes a single punch. It's amazing how bad these freshmen are at... well making any sort of contact with each other. It's like watching birds do a mating dance.

I look back at Ronan who's staring at the boys with a look of confusion in his eyes. I start to laugh hysterically and he turns towards me. When he sees that I'm barely holding it together he chuckles.

"It is pretty sad isn't it." Ronan says this with so much defeat in his voice that I almost instantly forget he ran into me a couple seconds ago. Instead I laugh again and agree.

"I'm still trying to figure out if they're actually trying to fight each other, or if they're performing a handshake they made last period and they keep forgetting what to do."

Ronan bursts into laughter and I laugh along with him.

He takes a deep breath and says, "You're going to lunch right now, right?"

I nod and peer back into the cafeteria. Teachers have showed up but no one has actually broken up the ... fight yet.

Ronan smiles at me and tugs my arm. I look back up at him. "Great, I have lunch now too. Let's go eat somewhere else."

I go to protest, but my anxiety gets the best of me and I end up following him. I catch Tyra's eye across the courtyard and point towards Ronan. She throws her hands up and I shrug, pointing at him again. She whispers to Lyla who gives me a thumbs up. I smile and give her a thumbs up back. Turning around, I come face to face, or more like chest to face, with Ronan, who's looking between me and the two girls and smiling. My face turns beet red, and I'm secretly cursing myself over and over. I really really hope, for the sake of my sanity, that he did not just see that.

"Are those your friends?"

I swallow and glance away from him back in the direction that my friends left.

"Oh, uh, yeah they are."

He chuckles and starts walking again, this time beside me.

"They seem cool."

I laugh at his comment. They aren't exactly 'cool.'

"Oh yeah super cool."

Ronan laughs and sits us down at one of the tables that's covered by an awning. I sit on the opposite side of him and open my lunch. Doesn't this guy have anyone else to sit with?

Ronan pulls out a sandwich and starts golfing it down. I stare in amazement as he finishes it in four bites.

What the hell just happened?

I don't realize I've said that out loud until he starts laughing.

"I ate my sandwich."

I smile and nod, completely and totally forgetting any sort of social skills I acquired through highschool. There's an awkward moment of silence and then:

"I never apologised for running into you-- sorry."

I finish swallowing. "It's okay. I would have never forgiven you if I'd fallen into a puddle, but I didn't so it's all good."

He grimaces and pulls out a bag of chips from his bag.

"I really am sorry about that."

I smile at him. "It's okay, trust me if I was mad at you I would not be sitting here right now."