1.
Emily stood in the entrance to the cafeteria, her eyes darted back and forth across the rows of tables, looking for an empty chair, or possibly, a friendly face beckoning her to sit with them.
Like all other kids who have moved to a new town, and a new school, Emily had to undergo the trial of standing up in front of unfamiliar faces and telling them her name and where she was from, along with the necessary facts of what her hobbies and interests were.
That alone should have been enough, and after she sat back down she started to feel better, and went along with the rest of her day without any other trauma, carefully paying attention to what the teacher said in the middle school classroom.
But then the ultimate test: lunch time. She wasn’t sure if she should try to get ahead and be in front of the line and get an empty table, or wait in the back and hope someone would be nice and invite her over. She decided to wait so she got into the back of the line, and got her serving of mystery meat, but as soon she got to the cafeteria entrance, she instantly regretted her decision.
She knew she couldn’t just stand in the entrance door, so she made herself walk through the cafeteria. Despite all the noise and goings on, she felt all the eyes bore into the back of her head, while her eyes frantically looked for an empty chair.
Finally she found an empty spot in, go figure, the corner of the cafeteria. She made her way to the chair, plopped herself down, and kept her head low while she ate.
She decided right there and then that she would eat outside from now on, or she would be first in line.
Her train of thought was interrupted when a figure with fire red hair suddenly dropped into the seat across from her.
“Hi, my name’s Amy, do you mind if I sit here?”