Lunch, a half hour where you sit in a room, eat, talk to friends, and do almost anything that won’t cause too much trouble. Lily, a Sophomore in Gladrock High School spends her lunch in her friend’s teacher’s room with some of her close friends, it’s quieter for them here and the room isn’t full of teenage boys screaming till their heads hurt. The teacher is one of her friend’s mother and is radical, for a teacher at least. It’s two minutes till it’s time to leave for lunch, two minutes till it’s time for relaxation with her friends in classroom 107. Lily’s classes seems normal but to a student like her it’s a nightmare of screams and wailing, like their trying to summon a demon to make their lives more exciting than being an average high school student.
One minute, she takes a breath and sighs, trying to block out the student’s loud, obnoxious screams, she places her math homework she’s been doing into her floral backpack, with bright colors of oranges and greens, picking it up, excitement rushes through her to see her friends and have her delicious packed lunch. Her teacher walks to the front of the room, saying “Go to lunch.”
She walks out of the room, moving in the opposite direction of the lunchroom, to room 107 where her friends wait for her, making it seem like she’s a fish swimming against a strong current. Bumps and pushes from the sea of students, come from everywhere around her as she tries to get to her destination. In the middle of the chaos of banshee screaming halls and pushing from elbows, a large blow to her arm makes her drop her lunchbox, all the contents of it spilling out to the floor as she stares in shock. She scrambles in anxiety trying to pick up all the things but it’s too late, her Annie’s organic white cheddar mac and cheese is everywhere on the floor, getting stepped on by the shoes of students and the cheese sauce spread across the floor, her Quaker® Popped Caramel Corn rice crisps and Annie’s organic pretzels layered the hall floor, the crunching sound filling the halls, too quiet to hear for a regular student, too busy talking to their classmates. Her eyes fill with sadness, picking up her lunchbox and anything that isn’t crushed of her lunch, entering classroom 107.
She sits down next to her friends, organizing what’s left of her lunch. “What happened to you?” One of her friends asked, staring at her like she was hit with a tornado.
“It’s nothing, just some trouble in the hall.” Lily replied, she gets a straw out and tries to stick it in her Honest Kids® Berry Berry Good lemonade. One poke, it doesn’t work. She tries again, putting a little more pressure on it, still nothing. She tries again, using more force than before and the juice pouch pops, organic, non colored, lemonade goes everywhere on the desk, her clothes, and her face. She gets a few napkins from the front of the room, apologizing to the teacher, starting to clean up the mess and gets out an orange, it’s squishy and sticky, most likely from before in the hall.
All of her friends were close to finishing their lunch, she had no food, nothing, not even a few Annie’s organic pretzels to satisfy her hunger. She reaches her hand deep into her lunchbox, finding a small package. She takes it out, finding out it’s her favorite treat; an organic Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks Berry Patch. She opens the package smelling the sweet aroma flowing out of it. She takes one of the small pick bunnies out of the package and sticks it into her mouth. She keeps it in her mouth, not chewing or swallowing it, appreciating every second the delicious strawberry flavor lies on her tongue. After a minute or two she pulls out a purple one out of the package and lays it on her tongue, just like she did with the strawberry one, only this time the flavor was blackberry.
Minutes pass as she slowly eats her fruit snacks, appreciating each and every flavor the snacks provide. She looks much happier than when she entered, a smile on her face with small dimples. Lunch is only half an hour, a time to eat, chat with friends, and maybe have some fun, but for Lily, even if the day gets a little too crazy or chaotic, she spends every second to relax and relish the small things that make her cheerful.