That Little Box That Beats In Your Chest

After a relatively long morning, Lacey finds herself standing at the doors leading to the cafeteria. She can see Rian talking with three other boys, one of which being the one Rian went to see at the beginning of the day. Lacey considers her options: one, go sit with Rian and his friends and intrude; two, go eat alone at a different table, and hope someone decides to eat with me; or three, eat in the bathroom. Option number three was appealing to her, but seeing as she had gone to the bathroom between her first and second class, she knew what it smelled like, and she had a feeling it would be hard to keep the food down.

She pushed the doors open and walked in, keeping her eyes trailed on the ground. As she ordered, she decided she would at least try to make some friends on the first day. Rian noticed her while she was paying, and waved her over with a brilliantly white smile. Lacey returned the smile with a small one of her own, and slowly made her way over with her tray. She got closer to the table, and saw Rian move over, and tell the same to the boy sitting next to him. She sat down, said hi, and waited for the questions to bombard her.

‘’Hey Lacey, so this is Zack, Jack and Alex.’’ Lacey was sitting next to Rian, and Rian was next to Zack, she was sitting across from the two boys named Alex and Jack. Zack seemed like the quiet type, silently eating his lunch, and barely looking up from his meal when she sat down, only glancing her way to mutter a quiet ‘hello’. Lacey could tell immediately that Jack was the loud outspoken one in the foursome, as she was greeted by a ‘hey, I really like your shirt. And your shoes.’ His dark hair, and dark eyes contrasted with the bleached chunk of his hair, but it suited him. Alex was what Lacey would call a ‘ladies’ man’. He had great hair, a straight smile, and very nice eyes. He seemed very confident, she noted as he adjusted the beanie resting on his head.

Lacey responded with a ‘’Hi, I’m Lacey.’’

‘’That’s a cool name! I wish I had a cool name like that!’’ Jack nearly yelled.

‘’Whoa Jack, calm down, let’s not freak out the new girl.’’ Alex responded.

‘’Anyways,’’ Rian said, turning to face Lacey, ‘’you feeling up to talking? Cause I’m sure these two’’ he motioned to Jack and Alex ‘’are already lining up questions in their heads…’’ He laughed, most likely finding his mental image of Lacey answering questions thrown at her at speeds faster than the speed of light, hilarious.

‘’Sure, I guess I can.’’, she replied. Lacey picked up an apple, shined it on the bottom of her shirt, and made eye contact with the two boys in front of her.

‘’Ok, well I’ll start cause I’ve known you the longest.’’ Rian piped up. ‘’So, what brings you to Baltimore from Canada? And where in Canada are you from?’’

‘’Montreal, and my family and I wanted a change of scenery.’’

‘’Fair enough,’’ Alex said ‘’now, I already don’t approve of your shirt, Batman is the best, but…’’

‘’Batman is shit. Superman has real superpowers. Batman is just rich.’’ Lacey turned to look at Zack, and smiled. She could tell he had good taste to like Superman over Batman.

‘’Whatever, dude.’’, Alex answered. He turned back to his meal, and continued eating. Lacey could tell Jack wanted to burst, he seemed like he really wanted to ask a question.

‘’You’re my first Canadian friend!! That’s so great! But, um, I have a question too! Can I see your bracelets?’’

Lacey’s head snapped down in panic, thinking her bracelets had outed her. Thankfully, there was nothing anyone could see. She brought her wrist closer to Jack’s outstretched hand, and let him look at them, but taking care not to turn her hand. She didn’t want to have her inner wrist facing Jack… As he pointed out his favourite ones, Lacey smiled to herself, though her heart had yet to stop beating so fast. This seemed like a nice group of people, but she immediately darkened at the thought. ‘First impressions aren’t always correct’…

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After a thorough questioning, Lacey felt pretty worn out, but she was proud of the initiative she took to make some friends. At the end of lunch, she followed the guys out the door, and went to her locker. Rian and Zack followed her, and as she was getting her supplies out for the afternoon, Rian informed her that Zack would be taking her to her next class: math. She wasn’t looking forward to it, but knowing she had someone she knew, even just vaguely, comforted her a little. Rian said bye, and left Zack alone with Lacey. She figured she should say something to break the silence, so she commented on his love for Superman.

‘’Yeah, he’s the best superhero, not like Batman. He’s self-made. He isn’t defined by money.’’

‘’I like that answer, it’s so true.’’ As they made their way to math, Zack was silent. Thinking he would ignore her during class, she started making her way to the back of the class, but Zack stopped her.

‘’If you aren’t that great in math, you might want to sit near the front of the class, the teacher isn’t that loud.’’ Lacey thanked him, and followed his advice, sitting in a desk across from Zack’s. ‘That was nice of him.’ Lacey thought, as she got out a pencil to write down what was already being written on the board. Zack had been right, she could just make out what the teacher was saying, and she was in the fourth row from the front.