Chapter Two.

"Next!"

The lunch line swiftly moved as lunch lady Doris slapped her spatula full of overcooked pasta on our lunch trays.Her bored expression and blank eyes revealed her lack of motivation on being stuck on a crappy , dead end job like this. Serving hundreds of students everyday was one of those nightmare you wish to never experience and my pity towards lunch lady Doris was greatly influenced when she slapped the soggy noodles on to my tray, some splashing on to my shirt. 

The mole sprouted on her left cheek made me shudder as I walked over to the ketchup dispenser over by the far end of the cafeteria. Zac, my best friend, trailed behind me before setting his tray down next to mine as I pumped some ketchup inside a white tiny cup.

"I can't believe you asked my mom that insensitive question ,"He scolded me , watching as I filled the tiny cup with the thick red liquid."She's my mother for pete sake!"

"Like I didn't know that already,"Setting the tiny cup inside my tray, I moved aside so that Zac could fill his tiny cup too.

"You keep hitting on her as though she's one of the girls in our school, like she's your agemate or something,"

I wouldn't hit on her if she was my age, that's for sure.

"It's all a joke,Zac, lighten up, will ya?"

Zac shoots me one of his death stares, signifying the fact that he didn't believe that it was all a joke before grabbing his tray as we both made a direct beeline to our usual table. 

"Besides,"She continued."You're the one who said you loathed the fact that your mother is a teacher at this school, how she's cramping your style and all that."

"Because she is cramping my style and what does that have to do with you constantly hitting on her?"He exasperatingly went.

Ever since Zac's mother started teaching Crowfrield High , he's been livid about it.I never really understood why because his mother was feisty, voluptuous woman and it's not surprising that most guys in our school swoon at her. I practically worshipped the ground she stood in wothout Zac knowing it.

And Zac being the gullible individual that he is , he never suspected that I had a crush on her. I'd convinced him that all was a ruse and he bought it like a dumby.

Better keep the ball rolling.

"Well, if I keep hiting on her, sooner or later , she'll get tired of my antiques and quit her job here,"I half reasoned with him."Then you won't have to worry about her cramping your style since she won't be teaching here if my plan succeeds."

With both simultaneously drop our trays on the tabke before plopping down on our seats. 

"Is that really your plan?"A hint of doubt lingers on Zac's face as he proceeds to stab his meal with his plastic fork. 

"Hey, it's the best material I got, okay?"I follow suit, before bringing the fork to my mouth, shoving a mouth full of pasta.

Nico and Tyson, some of our closest friends, join us in our welcomed company before a boisterous chatter ensued.Jackie and Emerald would soon invite themselves in out table and our friendship circhle grew further. Even after breaking up with Zac, Emerald still stayed inside our friendship circle. At first, I'd assumed that it would be awkward and uncomfortable for both of them but they still maintaind a healthy relationship which was totally amicable.

"Hey,Max,"Jackie called from across the table."Wanna hang out after school?"

"Can't, I have detention,"

"Again?"That was Emerald exclaiming."Isn't that like the fourth time this week?"

"Are you new here?" Tyson interjected." He gets detention almost every other week, it's become a habit.A concerning one at that."He spiced that up by corking his eyebrow with a reprimanding look , one that parents give their pubescent kids when lecturing them on the Dos and Dont's of sexual experimenting. 

"What did you do this time?"Nico smirked.

"Nothing,"

"Oh yeah?"

Zac and I share knowing looks before I turned my stare back to my tray of food. It doesn't look as appetizing as I'd envisioned it. I mean, aren't all school lunches?Unfortunately, Emerald caught on to our shared telepathic conversation which would explain the assumption she had afterwards.

"Did it have something to do with Zac's mother?" She gave a devastated sigh, folding her arms ahead of her, seemingly satisfied with her accusation. I wonder if she ever got tired of being right all the time. 

"I can't lie to you,Em, but you do deserve a gold star for you remarkable guessing,"I sarcastically commented. 

"So yes?"

I shrugged in response.I watch as her eyes darkened with disdain as she pursed her lips contemptuously. For some reason , me hitting on Zac's mom always seemed to place her in a disagreeable mood. I really think she's overreacting .It's just a harmless crush with no dire consequences whatsoever.I'd be over Zac's mom by fall or until I graduated from Crowfield High. 

"Maybe you should tone it down with her,"Jackie advised."Besides, she's twice your age."

"Oh come on!"Nico chimed in."Where's the fun in that?"

"Are you seriously encouraging his behaviour?"Emerald exclaimed."Zac, are you okay with your bestfriend constantly hitting on your mom?"

"Well.."Zac picked his words carefully, swirling his fork around the pool of caserole in his plate." It's just a joke, not for real. It's not like Max is going to start dating my mother or anything like that."That ressurected a wave of laughter at our table , except for Emerald who still approached the topic with disgruntlement. 

"But that's the fifth time this week that he's done that,"She rationalized.

"Look, Em , you need to chill,"I said."It's never that serious."

Abigael walks by our table, her knitted sweater still pulled down to her thighs and I can't help but chuckle silently at this.Nico catches the action and nudges me to spill that which was the source of my amusement. Pointing my fork over to the brooding Abigael , Nico smirks back and soon everyone is talking about Abigael.

"You really should cut her some slack ,"Zac threw a kick from under the table, hitting my shin in the process causing me to grunt in pain.

"It was a joke!"I cried defensively,

"You seem to be really good at lowering other people's self esteem,"Came a grumble from Emerald as she stabbed her fork into her pasta repeatedly. She was still soured on the fact that I kept hitting on Zac's mom. I don't know why that bothered her.It's not like I was hitting on her mom. Besides, Emerald's mom is....how do I put this gently...overweight and overbearing. 

Zac's mom, on the other hand, is completely opposite from that.Curvaceous and sexy.

"She does look fat in those jeans,"Tyson comments and a few snickers followed.

Our friend group was full of rotten individuals, but we had some kind of morals. We'd sometimes smoke weed behind the back building, skip classes, we'd sometimes have detention ,although I did seem to be notorious when it came to matters surrounding detentions. I have them on a regular basis for one reason or another so much that I feel as though I have this committed relationship with them. 

Even miss perfect, AKA , Emerald , bends a few school rules. But come to think of it, she was somewhat of a victim of circumstance. She was one of those individuals who were always at the right place at the wrong time, if you know what I mean. All the trouble she'd gotten herself into had some kind of rational reason behind it Not to say that she's not trouble herself, I've seen her sneak alcohol in school.

Ironically, she's the least rotten of our friend group.

So you can imagine the kind of trouble the rest of us get in to. 

I watch her as she ignored our rude comments and harsh judgement directed towards some unsuspecting loser or weirdo in the student body as we cackled shamelessly at said comments. Sometimes I wonder if she ever regretted being friends with the rest of us .If we tainted her reputation even though her reputation wasn't that sparkling. Or maybe she's still furious about the idea of me openly objectifying Zac's overly attractive mother. 

Tyson nudges me in time to see him chuck a half finished slushie towards a table littered with freshmen before it spluttered on to the head or a red haired, freckle cheeked girl with comically large glasses.I don't hold in my laughter as it spills past my lips like diarhoea and soon the rest of the cafeteria catches on to the butt of the joke.The laughter was thunderous, fingers were pointed and mocking looks were thrown her way. 

The timid girl roughly pushes her seat back causing it to crash on the stain covered linoleum floor before darting towards the exit, tears glistening in her eyes , her hair dripping with mixture of shaved ice and dark red liquid which seemed to match her red velvet locks. That only fueled the laughter around ,even her friends who had sat at the table with her couldn't hide their amusement to the prank. I never how satisfying it was to torment someone who doesn't have power over you, someone who waqs 'beneath you'. Someone who was not at the top of the food chain. 

But then again, I'm just a rotten testosterone filled boy who has zero manners , no morals and nothing to lose. 

                                                                **************************

"Max!Max,wait up!"

It took me three seconds to shove whatever books I had in my hands' grasp inside my locker and dash for the nearest door in an effort to escape the owner of that voice that was repeatedly calling out to me. 

Charlotte Dawson.My best friend's younger sister. 

"Max!"She kept calling out drawing unnecessary attention to both of us.every head in the hallway turned to face me as I frantically walked further away from her. My eyes beheld the boy's bathroom sign and relief washed over me, like icy water quenching a thirsty pedestrian. 

But the universe had other unforseen unfortunate fate waiting for me as I bumped into someone during my desperate attempt of dodging Charli. 

'Watch it, ass hole!" The victim of my unexpected bump cursed at me before reaching down to grab her books that had sprawled all over the ground after our harsh body contact. 

And that's when it happened;

"Max!'Her voice was like nails getting dragged across the blackboard, my skin crawling at its ring. 

Standing not a feet away from me, was the goth looking girl. 

"Kill me now..."A silent curse escaped my lips as I slowly turned , coming face to face with that annoying brat. 

"Yes, you called," I sent her one of my fakest smiles and she returned that with her remarkable eye roll. "You know, I heard that if you keep rolling your eyes like that, they might some day get stuck in the back of your head."

"Save it!" She spat. 

"Okay, what do you want?" I was impatient.I didn't want people to see me talking to her.She was what most people in high school called a freak. I'd be labeled a freak by association. 

Goth kids were feared.They always had an air of spookiness and macabre surrounding their auras , they were obsessed with death , dark humor and dark poetry and they always looked as though they stepped right out of a funeral catalogue. 

Standing next to this five foot tar colored freak, I couldn't stop my rampant thoughts from imagining her working in a cemetery some day.I have a feeling she'd qualify to work in one seeing how obsessed she was with death and everything it came with. 

"What did you do to my poetry journal?'She barked, holding the aforementioned journal in her pale hands. 

"I left you my autograph," I nonchalantly replied watching as her midnight sky eyes morphed into orbs of fury. "I know you're a fan of mine."

My eye folded into a cunning wink. 

"Wink at me again and I'll pluck your eyelids off," A ludicrous old  threat make let out a humorless laugh. 

"I'll take my chances," Another wink before she scoffed in annoyance. 

"You will pay for what you did to my poetry journal even if it will be the last thing I do in this life or the next!" She was declaring war and I found that hilariously cute .She was adorable sometimes, which is usually once in a blue moon , most of the time , she's usually a stick in the mud. 

"I just drew a picture, why are you overreacting so much," I let out a derisive laugh. 

"  A picture of a dick!" Having flipped furiously through the pages of her journal , Charli displayed to me where my drawing of a penis embraced almost half the page , showcasing my artistic brilliance. I should seriously drop out of school and become the next Pable Picasso. 

"And you think I'm overreacting!"She glared back at me,  holding the journal so close to my face almost poking my eyes out with it. 

Snatching the book from her dainty fingers, I pretended to be enticed at the image adorning said page, exclaiming with awe , eyes widened with false mesmerisation. 

"Wow!" I remarked."I'm getting really good at this, don't you think?" 

Facing Charli , she looked as though she would burst into flames. I was annoying, that I knew. It's not an entirely successful day without ruffling some few feathers here and there .

"You're the biggest ass hole known  to  mankind, you know that!" She declared angrily , grabbing the journal back. 

"I'll take that as a compliment,"

"Go to hell!"

'Where do you think I come from, sugarlips?" I winked.

With one last glare , Charli stormed away and I couldn't stop myself from smirking at her tiny frame as she disappeared inside the sea of high school students.