Confusion

Lyndsey

I walked out of my fourth period class ready to get to lunch. It was my first day at this school and it was, so far, going very well. I had met some more or less nice people who told me that they would wait for me in the cafeteria with a special seat with my name on it. I walked into the cafeteria and looked around for my new friends so that I could sit down.

“Lyndsey!” I heard a voice call. “Over here!”

I looked to my left and saw the two girls from my earlier classes and breathed a sigh of relief. I smiled at them as I made my way toward their table.

“Took you long enough to get here. We thought you had gotten lost or something,” Tyler said.

“Yeah, we were about ready to send out a search party,” said her friend, Abby.

“Well, I’m here now and I’m starving. What’s for lunch?” I asked as I stood up and started walking toward the lunch line.

“Pizza or tacos. Get the pizza if you you’d rather not die a most painful death,” said a voice that didn’t belong to Tyler or Abby.

I turned around to find a girl with an eyebrow piercing. She stood with a certain air of confidence that seemed to say ‘mess with me and you’ll fucking regret it.’ I remembered a time when I once longed to be a girl like her; I still do, even now. There was just something about these girls that I always thought was very interesting. The way they never seemed to care what people said about them or what anyone thought about them or how no one, it seemed, could just walk all over them and get away with it. Something I had always been jealous of was how no matter where they might be, they could all just kick back and have a good time with one and other.

You know those groups of girls in movies who could do anything a guy could do and have a great time while looking awesome doing it? Well, she was that kind of girl.

“Is there something you wanted?” Tyler asked in an irritated voice.

“Not really. But do you see how long this fucking line is?” she asked pointing behind her. “There’s no way in Hell that I’m waiting through all of that. Besides, I thought that I would come and meet your new friend,” she said, smiling at me.

“Well she doesn’t talk to trash like you,” Tyler said, stepping in front of me.

I stared at the back of Tyler’s head wondering if I had heard her correctly. How could someone be that rude?

“And how would you know?” asked the girl. “You haven’t even known her for a day. And I think she can decide for herself who it is she wants to talk to. So, I’m Scarlett, if you were interested. What’s your name?” she asked me.

“Lyndsey Sanders,” I answered her.

“Well it is certainly nice to meet you, Lyndsey,” Scarlett said.

“Hey, bitch!” someone shouted.

All of us looked over to see a boy and a girl holding up a pizza box.

The girl looked much the same as Scarlett except she was a bit shorter. She also seemed to have a bigger build than Scarlett even though she was still very skinny. The boy standing beside her was tall and very muscular with short black hair. He had a bit of chub on him but it only made him that much more attractive.

“I thought she didn’t bring any?” Scarlett said stepping out of the line.

“Well obviously, she did, so hurry the fuck up!” said the girl walking away.

When Scarlett had swerved through the endless amounts of people, I heard the boy ask, “Who’s the new girl?”

“Just another one of Tyler’s minions,” she answered him using her hand to wave his question off.

Minion? What on earth did that mean?

Once the three of us had paid for our lunches, we walked back to our table. Tyler and Abby introduced me to all of the people sitting at their table-which was a lot of people. How many people could possibly fit at these tiny tables?

“Hey, I saw that grunge girl talking to you guys. What was that about?” one of the boys, Dustin, asked.

“Ugh! Do not remind me!” Tyler said rubbing her temples. “She just randomly walked up to us and started talking to us about cutting in line. Thankfully, she finally went elsewhere.”

“It was awful!” Abby said, joining in. “She even tried to talk to Lyndsey! Be thankful that Tyler was there or there’s no telling what might’ve happened to you,” she said to me.

“Yeah, really. Believe me, Lyndsey, you do not want to hang out with grunge kids,” Tyler said placing her hand on my shoulder.

“Umm… I’m sorry but what does grunge mean?” I asked.

Most everyone at the table laughed.

“I keep forgetting that you’re new here. Grunge is the lower class people who are just no good, rotten, low down, juvenile delinquents who wear too much eyeliner and ugly clothes. They live down by the pier in really old, beaten down… houses, if one can call them that,” she said chuckling.

“The girls and that boy from before are some grunges,” Abby said. “However, you haven’t seen a grunge until you’ve seen Korey.”

Tyler kicked Abby under the table and glared at her.

“Who’s he?” I asked. Tyler and Abby chuckled.

“She is the girl who is standing right behind you.”

I jumped in my seat and spun around. Behind me stood a tall girl with long hair as dark as a raven’s wing that flowed down to her shoulder blades. She had very pale skin and a very slim body. To add to her great figure, she wore black tight skinny jeans with a small gold chain with what seemed to be a corset. Who in their right mind wears a corset to school, I ask you that?

“What do you want, grunge?” Tyler asked in a hard voice.

“Nothing much, square. Just came to tell you that I won’t be needing a ride today because I’ve got an audition to go to,” she said, not seeming to notice Tyler’s sour attitude.

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. Now if you don’t mind leaving because I don’t want to be seen talking to you,” Tyler said looking away.

“I always look forward to these sisterly heart-to-heart conversations of ours. They always leave me with the greatest feelings of love,” Korey said smiling as she walked away.

“She’s your sister?” I asked Tyler incredulously.

“I try not to dwell on that fact,” she replied.

“But you two look nothing alike!” I said.

“Thank God! I don’t want her to look anything like me because then it would be obvious that the two of us are related! Ugh! I can’t believe that I’m related to a grunge! It’s so wrong on so many levels I lost count. I mean, look at them!” she said pointing to a table in the corner of the room. “Korey thinks she’s so cool dressing like a slut every day and that’s the same with that fat girl, Lynn.”

“I don’t think she’s fat. She actually has a really pretty figure,” I said to her.

“Uh, did I ask for your opinion? No, I didn’t. So would you mind staying quiet long enough for me to say something?”

Okay, that would not fly with me.

“Excuse me but no one-and I mean no one-talks to me like that! Got it?” I asked standing up from her table.

“Where do you think you’re going?” she asked, clearly pissed off.

“Anywhere that isn’t here,” I told her.

“Do you have any idea how many people would kill to sit at this table with me?”

“Honestly, I couldn’t give less of a fuck than I do now and if there are so many people who want to sit with you so badly I will gladly give my seat up to them,” I said walking toward the door.

The two us had apparently been yelling very loudly because from across the room I saw Korey, Scarlett, Lynn and two other boys applauding me. Feeling the need to put on a good show, I swept my arm around me and leaned forward in a dramatic bow and strutted out of the cafeteria. Too caught up in my own world and that feeling of being a bad ass, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and collided with someone when I stepped around the corner.

By crashing into him I made him drop his bag along with the two books he had been carrying in his arms. The two heavy books that had landed on my foot which cause me to start jumping on the other foot like an idiot while I tried to grab my injured foot with my hands as to stop the pain which in turn caused me to completely lose my balance. As I felt gravity begin to take its toll, I flailed my arms wildly to try and grab onto something to stop my fall. That something, however, ended up being his shoulder and since our collision had left him just as unstable as I had been, he ended up falling on top of me.

“Ow, okay that really hurt. Umm… not meaning to be rude but would you mind moving? You’re kinda on top of me and this floor is really gross,” I said stating the obvious.

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” he said as he helped me up from the floor.

“Your welcome, Lieutenant Sarcasm,” I said saluting him.

He laughed in response.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“I’m the one who fell on top of you and you’re asking me if I’m okay?” he asked chuckling as he bent to pick his bag and his books off of the floor. “Well, my shoulder hurts like Hell from where you attacked me but other than that, I’m good,” he said smiling. “What about you? I didn’t hurt you did I?”

“Aside from the throbbing and swelling in my foot from when you dropped your outrageously heavy books on it and the agonizing pain everywhere else on my body from you falling on top of me and not to mention the fact that I’m covered in dirt from laying on that floor that really needs a good sweeping, I’m just peachy,” I said smiling at him.

Laughing, he said, “Well, that’s good to hear. I’m Zacky, by the way.” He extended his hand and waited for me to shake it.

“Lyndsey,” I said shaking his hand. Instead of letting my hand go right away like I thought he would have, he let our hands hang there for a moment before he continued.

“Are you new here?” he asked finally letting go of my hand. Even after he let me go, I could still feel his warmth running up and down my arm, distracting me from some to the pain in my foot.

I must have looked really stupid because after a moment or two one of his eyebrows rose and he leaned forward. “Lyndsey?” he asked, concerned.

“What?” I asked, snapping out of the daze I was in. “Oh! Your question! About me! At this school! Umm… being new… right?” I asked feeling like a complete moron.

“Right,” he said, chuckling.

“Umm… Yeah, I’m new here. I-It’s been really cool and all. Cause, you know, I’ve met... people, and... stuff…” Oh God. Someone just shoot me now.

He laughed again and I knew that my face had gone tomato red. It was at that moment that the bell rang and a humungous horde of people came swarming out of the cafeteria.

Instead of being polite and walking around me (Why on earth would she do that?) Tyler purposely bumped into me, making me lose my balance again but this time Zacky caught and steadied me. I was about to thank him when I felt someone patting my back and said, “Just because she called you out for the bitch you are doesn’t mean you can just be rude to her like that and expect to get away with it,” Korey said, glaring at her sister.

“Whatever. It’s not like you’re going to do anything,” Tyler said walking off.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” Korey murmured. “Just ignore her. It’s pretty easy to do,” Korey said smiling at me. “Now, can I just say that you’re my new best friend because of what you said in the cafeteria?”

“Umm…” was all I said.

“I see that you and Vengeance have been along quite nicely,” said Scarlett. “He’s not bothering you, is he? I know from experience that he can be a huge pain,” she said resting her arm on my shoulder.

“Nice to see you too, Scar,” he said frowning.

“Aww,” said Lynn. “Let’s turn that frown upside down,” she said in a voice you would use to talk to a dog. She reached her hands to his face.

Zacky, sensing what it was she was going to do, tried to back away from her and said “Don’t touch me,” as he tried to swat away her hands. It was no use. Lynn grabbed the corners of his mouth and pushed them upward making him give a demented smile.

I laughed at the unamused expression on his face which caused him to actually smile.

“Always remember, Vengeance, it takes more muscles to frown than to smile,” she said pointing to her own smiling face.

“True but it only takes four muscles to reach out my arm and bitch slap you,” Zacky said smirking.

“Like Hell!” she said. I laughed again.

“Excuse me for interrupting,” said an annoyed teacher, “but the five of you need to get to class.”

“What class do you have next?” Zacky asked me when we started walking again.

Thankful that I had bothered to memorize my schedule this morning, I was able to answer him without any more awkward pauses. “Math with Mr. Bell.”

“Me too!” Korey, Scarlett, and Lynn exclaimed in unison.

“You’re lucky. It may be math,” Lynn said with a shudder, “but Mr. Bell’s class is pretty much a blow off class.”

“Well, today is turning to be good day, after all,” I said smiling when I felt Zacky’s hand brush against mine.