New Horizons

[squirrel96]

I know what you did.

Persephone paused, staring at the send button but not yet placing her finalizing touch. She let out an exasperated sigh and shoved the phone in her pocket, crossing her arms across her chest instead. It was no use sending now. She was standing in a lunch line; two minutes from now she'd be sitting at her usual lunch table making stilted small talk with the shallow girls she didn't understand why she was still friends with. They were familiar. She was the more edgy, "out there" one and it worked in the group. She'd never really had reason not to be until now.

She needed something to do with her hands. She looked down and they were balled into fists, not so lightly digging into her palms so she unclasped them. To busy her hands she took out the black hair tie in her pocket and placed it between her teeth before bending forward and flipping over her hair to gather in her hands. Once she smoothed out the brown hair and made sure there were no bumps she came back up and hit her elbow into the kid standing behind her.

"Shit!" she said, the hair tie slipping from her teeth in the process and falling onto the no doubt disgusting cafeteria floor. Her elbow stung in pain.

"I'm sorry, are you okay?" Persephone asked the kid as she reached down to pick up the hair tie, no longer bothering to hold her hair into place. It was going to fall wherever it liked despite her best intentions, just like her emotional state lately.

 

[musicman993]

"I know what you did" said the teacher.

"What's that?" Elijah replied, competitively as ever.

"...just get out of my class"

"Alright, cya tomorrow"

Elijah slyly left the classroom and headed for lunch. He had been asked to stay after class more times than he could remember. He felt thankful yet disappointed that this exchange was one of the shortest encounters of this
kind that he had ever experienced. Perhaps Mr. Dillow was losing his touch. Either way, Elijah was looking forward to going to lunch.

He got in line, fairly late as per usual. What did it matter?

As he was standing in line daydreaming about nothing, he noticed that the girl in front of him seemed anxious.

"This poor individual, she seems lost. It's a pity that nobody around here knows where to go...least of all me" He thought to himself. "Whatever"

She had nearly lost Elijah's interest completely after a few long seconds went by, but then she put her hair tie in her mouth...

Elijah stared at her, feeling attraction to her mouth and her sweet oral fixation, but it went as quickly as it came. "Just a girl being a girl, so it goes. It's nice to watch though..." He thought.

Elijah rationalized his subtle careful staring by admitting that he ought to be looking forward when standing in a line and observing the attempts of his peers to break the mold was always interesting...so, two reaching excuses

Elijah got carried away and didn't realize the line was moving back when he suddenly grasped out his trance and heard, "Shit!" "I'm sorry, are you ok?"

Elijah was stunned by the fleeting physical sensation he felt and he was equally moderately amused to look into this girl's eyes and feel her as she truly was.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said, as she was getting up from retrieving her hair tie.

Elijah felt like he was seeing her for the first time as she was, not who she wanted to be. Playing with her hair and asking if he was alright made him see not a confused teenager, but a girl who might have
been a little bit younger and less scared. Who might have flown instead of walked. She seemed to glimmer in a way that didn't draw Elijah's attraction or interest, but he cared about knowing she would be ok: presently and
in her lifetime.

"It was nothing, but you hit me kind of hard. Are you ok?...oh, and...you might not want to put that back in your mouth"

 

[squirrel96]

"I'm fine." Persephone replied, still pissed about the unsent text message and now the pain in her funny bone.

She scrunched her eyebrows over his snarky comment and on another day she'd ignore it, on another day she'd turn back in line and forget this know-it-all even existed like she was taught. But today Persephone was tired of putting up with people and the words tumbled out of her mouth like vomit.

"I'm not an idiot, I don't need your infinite wisdom telling me what to do," she retorted and looked directly into his eyes. Dark gray, and they didn't reassure her. She twisted the tie around her hair into a low side ponytail and moved up in the line.

 

[musicman993]

"As you wish, but thank you for the high compliment"

Elijah felt attacked but like ping pong balls striking a battleship, the words came and went and he had little recollection of their landing. He swiftly resolved to attempt to correct this error, however, since he
felt interested in this girl in a way that he was unsure how to define....which made it all the more interesting.

"I'd never take you for an idiot, heh, and my wisdom doesn't go too far beyond what I've been taught"

 

[squirrel96]

"Smartass," Persephone said to herself as she moved up further in line.

She didn't like him but didn't really know why. He was decently attractive, his glasses covered his eyes a little, though that did make him less intimidating or intense. She couldn't tell if he might come across that way without the glasses. Imagining without seeing proved difficult.

Finally she was far enough ahead that she could grab a tray and plastic utensils. She never knew what she needed so she took a fork, knife, and spoon. Getting close enough now she impatiently lifted her heels off the floor to try to get a better look at today's measly options.

 

[musicman993]

"There's not much to see, all of the good stuff is in the front.", Elijah offered.

His advice was welcomed with a cold independent stare, so he thought it wise...I mean, he chose to leave it at that.

This girl who he barely knew was standing up on her toes just to look at what food there was to offer, and Elijah knew he didn't have to. But something made him feel like he wanted to help her; to move her up
so that she could see everything there was to see. He wanted to enhance her field of vision and open her eyes to the small world of opportunities she was aware of, but not yet able to contemplate or have available to her.

Oh! Now he was up. Same meal as the day before, two chicken sandwiches.

Elijah happened to follow the girl into the check out line as well and as he approached to pay for his meal, he noticed the girl he had interacted with was sitting at the table next to where he usually sat.

How about that. "So it goes on..." Elijah thought, as he meandered over to his table with his field of vision just above the point where he would look at any of the faces around surrounding him.

 

[squirrel96]

Persephone approached her usual table and plopped herself down into the cold plastic chair, matching her stare, matching who she stared at.

The other girls didn't notice at first and she tried to force a smile, not quite making it convincing. Not like they cared enough to notice. She locked eye contact with Mandy for a brief second, and that was all she needed.

"And then he just picked it up from the ground and gave it to me! Isn't that the sweetest?" Mandy was saying mostly to Laila who must have asked her some kind of question. The end was directed towards the whole table as she looked at Persephone. Like we were supposed to blindly agree that she deserved this worship from her boyfriend, or a stranger, or even...no. It couldn't have been.

"Who was that?" Persephone asked tentatively and the girls laughed, a chorus of unsaid common knowledge meant to make her feel like an outsider. And she was, wasn't she? The laughing was all the answer she needed.

"Jimmy," Mandy answered with a sly grin, and she knew instantly it was a lie. She wasn't an idiot, did Mandy think she was? Was she suddenly the laughing stock of the table? The entertainment? Because that's what "friends" did.

Persephone shook her head in disbelief. "Why don't you cut the bullshit and just say it to my face?" She raised her voice and heard a sharp intake of breathe from one of the other girls. The rest were speechless, or more accurately silent so they wouldn't miss the impending drama ensue.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Mandy replied calmly but clearly disgusted by my accusation.

"I'm talking about Greg. You know, my boyfriend you just fucked?" Persephone's voice was louder now, but mostly because she was emotional and slightly hysterical. She actually didn't know if they had sex or not, but it didn't matter. He cheated on her with Mandy. And they all knew except her.

 

[musicman993]

Elijah saddled down onto his awkwardly shaped chair

"...and then after that, he threw the marker at him! But you wouldn't beli-"

"Hey guys"

Elijah didn't feel bad about interrupting yet another pubescent story about some "brave" soul defying society's expectations. However, once his seatmates resumed their ramblings, he noticed that girl again...

Elijah felt fairly subdued in his usual seat, but the girl looked more than subdued. She wasn't resigned, but she looked like she was upset, maybe even angry that she was at lunch. Perhaps she just really likes class, Elijah though, but maybe it's something more.

Now Elijah was interested because he noticed the girl looking around with blame and intimidation in her eyes. He couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but every time she spoke, a new degree of redness in her face
or anger in her eyes enhanced the fear she was trying to bring out of her friends. Or the anger...Elijah was looking forward to seeing which they would choose. He already knew which emotion won over the girl he had spoken to.

Elijah couldn't hear too much, but suddenly the girl went from speaking to declaring. He couldn't make out all of it, "...talking...boyfriend...fucked?" Elijah's interest peeked and as the surrounding students turned away,
the intensity of his stare increased and he couldn't wait to see what happened.

 

[squirrel96]

Persephone knew she'd been harsh and she expected harsh words back, but she was still unprepared for what came out of Mandy's mouth next.

"Maybe if you would've fucked him he wouldn't have even came to me," she snapped back, also with a raised voice. She stood up slightly and leaned over the table to stare into Persephone's eyes.

"Think about it," Mandy said quieter, only to her. Perfect blonde bangs stared at her, perfect liquid eyeliner making perfect green cat eyes, perfect smooth skin, and perfect white teeth. She was beautiful. It was clear why Greg chose Mandy over her. And Persephone hated it. She wanted to wipe that fake concern off her face, that too perfect smile and teeth.

And she slapped Mandy in the face.

Mandy gasped and her cheek turned a scarlet red which must've stung. Mandy then took her own swing at Persephone and soon the two had their own cat fight right there in the lunchroom.

 

[musicman993]

Elijah leaned towards the apparent confrontation as if he were anticipating the climax of a movie, and he quickly realized this and tried to appear to be more calm and less interested while still focusing on the girls.

His heightened sense of focus allowed him to hear the other girl say, "Maybe if you would've fucked him he wouldn't have even came to me." Wow, Elijah thought, that girl is cold blooded. Elijah was skeptical about
the concept of moral integrity at this point but he felt a sinking feeling after he heard that girl exclaim those harsh words.

Things appeared to settle down, but only for a second because the next thing Elijah knew, the girl he talked to stood up and slapped her tablemate! The slap wasn't very loud from there, but Elijah jumped in shock at the event he had witnessed. A sudden instinct rose up in Elijah and he wanted to interfere to save the girl he talked to from any possible harm she might endure, but not yet...

Then she slapped back.

Elijah rapidly stood up and began to approach. The fight was in its heat, but Elijah continued to move forward, hoping to break up the fight before anybody got seriously hurt...

 

[squirrel96]

Persephone did what any emotionally distraught high school girl would have done in her situation. She grabbed the first thing she saw as a weapon of sorts to use against Mandy. And the first thing she saw just so happened to be a cup of mandarin oranges. Unsealed.

In a fit of wild passion Persephone threw the entire open cup of mandarin oranges sitting in their own juices in Mandy's direction. Having been on the baseball team as a kid, she still had pretty accurate aim. The mandarin oranges should have connected perfectly on Mandy's pale pink v-neck tee shirt (she knew she was getting in trouble regardless, why not aim boldly?) However, aiming boldly only works if the target stays still, a detail Persephone hadn't factored in her reckless spontaneity. Mandy saw her shot coming and swiftly curved her body out of the way. The mandarin oranges barely graved her shoulder and instead hit smack on the chest of a kid who came up behind her.

Persephone gasped and scrambled away from the table to make sure the kid was okay when all of a sudden she recognized who he'd accidentally hit.

"...Elijah?" she stammered as she saw the teachers given lunchroom monitoring duty begin to walk over towards her to intervene.

"FOOD FIGHT!" She heard another guy yell in the background. Shit what did I start?

 

[musicman993]

Elijah recovered from stumbling backwards after being hit by a container of mandarin oranges that splattered across the front of himself. He then remembered to answer his call by replying, "Yeah. It's me."

Elijah looked up at Persephone for a second but then both of them turned to look at some fool who exclaimed about a food fight a few tables away.

Unfortunately for this overzealous young wannabe instigator, a teacher came up right behind him and stopped him before he was able to toss his milk carton at the person who he was aiming for, who seemed to be embarrassingly close to him, implying he didn't understand the nature of a true food fight: range, rage, and revolution. Or so Elijah was thinking as he watched the apprehended individual. But he thankfully remembered he wanted to say something more.

"Thanks for the oranges. I was just coming over to make sure everything is ok between you and your friend here."