Lunch for the bored and hungry.

The cafetorium is a combination cafeteria and auditorium. There's enough space for chairs to arranged to view any kind of assembly or speaking arrangement, but during the day it also acts as a cafeteria, complete with angry lunch ladies and poor food. Vending machines are scattered throughout the place, but this is generally the social centre of the school.
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Grand Moff Hissa
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#16

Post by Grand Moff Hissa »

((I'm pretty sure Chris isn't at the same table as everyone else. Chitoryu, if I'm wrong, let me know and I'll edit to fix it.))

Andrew introduced himself and asked their names. Reika quickly replied. Kimberly did so as well, settling simply for "I'm Kimberly." Her last name was difficult for most people to pronounce, and she got a little sick of sounding it out. She had decided, way back in elementary school, that if she ever got married she would pick a man with a simple last name, like Smith or Adams or something.

She had just taken her second sandwich out of her lunch bag when something loudly bounced off the table. It was an orange of some variety. Some of the other people at the table, the ones Kimberly had been ignoring, shrieked. She continued to ignore them, and ducked down off the bench. She followed the orange to its resting place a few feet from their table, grabbed it, and popped back to her previous position just in time to see book-boy (Chris, she realized as she saw him more clearly, his name was Chris) gesture to some other people near his table, shouting that they were the guilty parties, not him.

The fruit hadn't annoyed Kimberly, at least not seriously, but it wasn't the sort of thing she appreciated either. She mouthed, "Thanks," to Chris, then glanced around quickly. No authority figures were looking her way. Good. Ignoring Reika, Andrew, and everyone else, Kimberly took aim and pitched the orange back at the boys.

She missed cleanly; the fruit bounced a couple of feet to the left of them and dropped off the table, then rolled a little away. She felt a quick flash of aggravation at her failure, then shrugged. Whatever. Those guys weren't worth the energy to be annoyed at. She turned back to the people at the table and said, "So, where were we?"
chitoryu12*
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#17

Post by chitoryu12* »

Chris rubbed his head from the whack it took. It wasn't a problem at first, but now it was starting to ache a bit. He had been having an interesting year, that was for sure.

"Are you okay?" he heard a girl ask. He looked over at the table the tangerine had nearly hit, and saw a tiny Asian girl looking at him with concern. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said, pinching his thumb and forefinger together in the universal sign of "OK."

His attention was caught by a sudden motion from the girl next to her. As he watched, she promptly picked up the errant fruit and hurled it back at them. He yelped slightly (cursing himself in his mind for making such a stupid sound) and ducked, covering his head on instinct. Fortunately, the poor tangerine's second flight was just as badly aimed as the first, and missed by several feet.

Chris shook his head at the whole debacle. Within two months, he had tripped the biggest bully in school, got the crap kicked out of him, got a girlfriend, found a date for prom, beaten up a bike thief, and nearly got hit by a tangerine twice.

Why does my life always have to be so damn interesting? he thought to himself as he checked his watch. He had plenty of time to head over to the library and hop on a computer. He was a big fan of the TV Tropes Wiki, and felt like surfing for more tropes and perhaps adding something under the Troper Tales section for Improvised Weapon. So he zipped up his lunchbox, tossed out his trash, and heaved his massive backpack onto his back as he left in search of a safer room.

((Christopher Carlson continued elsewhere))
Tythanin*
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#18

Post by Tythanin* »

Before he could even get a reply from the two girls, he heard a sudden "Watch out!" before a tangerine nearly hit his hand. Flinching, he nearly spilled his pills as his hand wrenched back. Capping it and throwing a scowl in the direction the projectile had come from, he slid the bottle back into his backpack. 'At least it didn't hit my food. Ugh, tangerine spaghetti...now that would taste horrible.'

The guy from before pointed to the culprits, proclaiming his innocence. At the moment, he didn't really care. It hadn't caused any harm, at least, and that was the least he could ask for. And besides, there were girls to talk to instead. That was much better than shaking a fist at some kids who were goofing off. He looked up at the others, nodding at both Reika and Kimberly as they introduced themselves. He stuffed another forkful of spaghetti into his mouth as he watched Kimberly throw the tangerine back, only to have it miss completely. He swallowed and wiped his mouth, grinning at Kimberly's question.

"I guess we just finished introductions, but we could move on to...uh, I dunno. Classes?" He shrugged. "Unless throwing tangerines around is suddenly the brand new thing."
Rocky*
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#19

Post by Rocky* »

Reika, being the worrywart she is, was glad when Kimberly's poor aim made it so the flying fruit missed anyone. She didn't say anything out loud, but the look on her face would clearly show her relief. Her attention was returned to Andrew, who had asked something about classes.

"My classes are going fairly good. Although it's usually the stuff I do after school that I have to worry about." she said, leaving it at that to allow Kimberly to get a word or two in.

As she was listening to the conversation, Reika finished up the last of the apple that she had been given. She then sat, her head moving back and forth between her other two companions, depending on who was speaking at the time.
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Grand Moff Hissa
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#20

Post by Grand Moff Hissa »

Chris slunk off after Kimberly returned fire. He hadn't been her target, since he hadn't thrown the tangerine, so his departure struck her as a little odd. Of course, it was always possible that he had thrown the thing, and wanted to get clear before anything else went his way. It didn't really matter to her, though.

As Andrew answered her question, Kimberly noticed him putting a bottle away. It looked like some sort of pill bottle. She wondered about it for half a second, then stopped paying attention. He probably just had ADD or something, like half the other kids on the planet. Kimberly knew plenty of folks who popped pills, both legally and otherwise, and they seemed to be cool and not in about the same proportion as everyone else. Hell, she'd even done some drugs with one of her exes most of the times when they hung out. She was mostly over them now, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, right?

Andrew asked about classes, and Reika said hers were alright, again referring to her after-school life. She then paused, and Kimberly took the opportunity to start a little rant.

"Classes would be fine if they didn't give out so much homework. I mean, it's like, I get nearly an hour of math work every night, plus essays and worksheets and stuff. The only way I survive is by skipping the stupid ones."

That wasn't actually true; Kimberly spent a lot of her free time doing homework and blew assignments off only infrequently. She couldn't say that, though, even to new acquaintances. She had an image to maintain, after all.

"Besides," she continued, "There's not any good reading in English class these days. I wish they'd give us a real book to read, like 'Dracula' or something."

She then turned to Andrew and said, "How 'bout you? How're your classes?"
Tythanin*
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#21

Post by Tythanin* »

"My classes? So far, so good, I suppose." He replied with a smile after finishing his last bite of food. Wiping his mouth with his last napkin, he leaned back in his chair and sighed happily. "It was a rough start at the beginning, but I think things are shaping up for me now. I'm looking for the end of the quarter, really, and not because of prom. Mostly cause I don't have a date for prom yet, actually..."

He laughed awkwardly, running a hand through his auburn hair. He hadn't meant to let that slip. Now he probably looked like he was desperate for a date or for someone to go with. Well, he'd deal with that if it came. He doubted either of the girls were either interested or were free either...his fault for taking so long to ask someone. He drank the rest of his Pepsi, trying to think of something else to talk about. '...Well I already broached the topic. Might as well go with it.'

"So...how about you two? Going to prom? Excited?"
Rocky*
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#22

Post by Rocky* »

"I'd like to go. But I don't have anyone to go with. No one has asked me, and I haven't asked anyone. I figured at this point, everyone would have a date." was Reika's response about prom.

As the conversation continued, Reika felt a vibration in her pocket. Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she flipped it open and read the text she had just recieved. It was from her sister Reiko.

Had an accident. Going to hospital. Don't tell mom.

Reika practically shot out of her chair when she read the text. The look of worry on her face would immediately tell the other who something was up. She gathered her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Then almost as an afterthought, pulled out a pen and a scrap of paper from her pocket and hastily scribbled something down.

"Hey, I gotta run, but I enjoyed talking to you two. Here's my cell number, feel free to send me a text or whatever." she said before ripping the page in half and handing each person a half.

From there, she moved as fast as her tiny legs could take her, first going to the attendance office to sign out, after explaining the situation, then out the front doors and onto the first bus that would take her where she needed to go.

(Reika Ishida continued in My Mild Traumatic Brain Injury)
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Grand Moff Hissa
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#23

Post by Grand Moff Hissa »

Andrew said his classes were going well, then segued into a discussion of Prom, though he said he wasn't that excited. Prom. It seemed to be on everyone's mind these days. Kimberly was interested too, of course, but she'd never been the sort to go all-out on school dances. She briefly entertained the idea of dressing up as Carrie, including lots of dribbling red, but quickly decided against it. After all, there was no point buying a ticket for a dance only to be turned away at the door.

Reika said she wasn't going with anyone yet, then said she had to go and made a quick exit, leaving Andrew and Kimberly with her phone number. Kimberly frowned for a second, hoping everything was alright with the short girl. She'd seemed nice enough.

"I hope she's okay," Kimberly said. "She looked a little nervous there."

Then, not feeling like dwelling on the negative, she added, "I am going to Prom. I've got a dress picked out and everything."

Actually, she was probably just going to wear an old dress, something black and long and lacy. The sort of thing that only looked good with far too much eyeshadow.

Then she had a thought. Andrew had said he needed a date, right? And Reika needed one too, didn't she? Smiling, Kimberly held her hand up, palm out.

"Gimme a high-five," she said. "A cute girl without a Prom date just gave you her phone number."
Tythanin*
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#24

Post by Tythanin* »

Oh hey. Reika didn't have a date...she was pretty enough, that was for sure. She was short though. Really short. It'd...probably look really weird if he were going to go to prom with her. Hell, he probably was like a whole foot taller than the girl. That alone would make things hard enough to do but...well, there was always time. And he was sure he could adapt. Possibly.

'Wait why am I already thinking that she would agree?' Andrew thought to himself as Reika answered her cell phone, frowning in concern when the other girl suddenly leapt out of her seat. 'Bad news?'

Reika hurriedly scribbled down her phone number for him and Kimberly and Andrew took it, bringing out his own cell and punching in the numbers to save for a later day. He looked at Kimberly and nodded, still frowning a bit. "Yeah, she was really in a rush."

He grinned when Kimberly mentioned that now he had a date for the Prom. He still wasn't certain he would ask the Japanese girl (after all come on she was like...tiny compared to him), but there was always the possibility. He obliged and gave her the high-five. "Thanks for the support, Kimberly. I guess I'll be seeing you in prom, then?"

He looked down at his watch, wincing a bit. "Oh...damn, I was supposed to report early to my next class. Well...maybe I can get there if I really hurry. Thanks for the company, but I really have to scoot."

Andrew quickly threw away his trash and deposited the tray in its appropriate area before sprinting off.

((Andrew Mitchell continued in My Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.))
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Grand Moff Hissa
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#25

Post by Grand Moff Hissa »

Kimberly grinned as Andrew returned her high five. Maybe she'd just successfully played matchmaker. Maybe not. It didn't really matter. Besides, Andrew hadn't picked up that Kimberly didn't have a date either. Not that there was anything wrong with Andrew; he just wasn't her type. Anyways, he and Reika would make an adorable couple, if things did work out.

"I'll see you there!" she cheerfully replied.

Andrew then took off, saying something about going to class early. Kimberly shrugged, waved goodbye, and returned to her food. She'd just about polished everything off by the time the lunch period ended. She stood up, left the table, and walked to her next class, already ready to be done with school for the day.

((Kimberly Nguyen continued in Angst and Sullenness in Saint Paul))
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