Freddy Valler--5

   I stared at the crowd of screaming, shoving, cursing teenagers. Oh, God, this was lunch? "Lord, take me now," I muttered under my breath. It was complete and total chaos, and the lines they were supposed to stand in were more like groups. Where were the teachers? Oh, yeah, on their own lunch breaks. The security guard was standing next to a line, the burger line I think, and ignored some kid getting shoved on the ground, and the lunch lady yelling, "One at a time, you good fer nothin'--" then trying to save the cart the kids were typing their student ID numbers into, which was tipping precariously to the right.

   I quickly joined the shortest line, which was to the pizza. That made no sense... Wouldn't kids want pizza more than sandwiches? But when I typed in my own ID, grumbled a half assed 'thank,' and grabbed the brown paper plate, I saw why. It was disgusting. I lifted it up, and half the cheese fell off in a puddle of yellow grease. I hesitantly took a small bite, and then threw it in a plastic grey garbage can. Yum. I just love the taste of burnt card board. Fighting my way out of the mob, I saw a flash of bright red hair and pale skin. Lilly.

   I caught up with her, mostly by shoving kids out of my way, and tapped her on the shoulder. "How can you eat this crap?" I yelled into her ear.

   She turned her head, saw my grin, and matched it for one of her own. Shehad surprisingly white teeth. "I didn't until this year. We used to have off campus lunch, but none of the stores would like us there 'cause of shoplifters, so we got it taken away. I can sneak out sometimes, but Joe"--she pointed the the hulking security guard from the burger line--"he doesn't like kids very much, so its hard to bribe him, and Mr. Galviez--" she pointed to another guy, but I couldn't see the front of him, only the black shirt and 'Security" in large, white letters--"He's scary as hell and fast, so he can catch you if you try and run."

   I nodded. "Is that why this place is packed?" We walked out a blue metal door and into the sunshine. I took a berath of fresh air and grimaced. After ten minutes of being packed with a crowd, the quiet was almost deafening in itself, though the smell was infinately better.

   "Yeah. It used to be better when kids went off on their own, but too many were skipping. Plus, if you're not one of the first in line, you should forget about eating at all. The lunch ladies are really slow, and everyone enjoys shoving the person in front of them out of line." I raised an eyebrow. "Survival of the fittest still applies in high school. Especially in high school."

   "I'll keep that in mind. You think they were raised by wolves." I know, I had no room to talk. But I was still slightly better than that.

   "Oh, pretty much. We live in the ghetto, Valler. Get used to it. Gang-bangers, drug dealers, and second hand books are the best things we've got." I had noticed the graffiti in the bathrooms, and the scrawled and etched on desks. The dinosaur computers that took forever to boot up, the worn-down over heads, the raggedy clothes of the students. I looked down at my black jeans, black shirt, and black boots. Not the best, but my jacket and boots were real leather, and I had bought the clothes new. I doubted most of the school body could say that. I wasn't ignorant of the neighborhood I now lived in, but I didn't think it was all that bad.  But everything was run down and patched up, and run down again, with plenty of cars and cinder blocks and sketchy looking guys selling something stronger than weed.

   "I've seen worse."

(Cheri: This is what my neighborhood and school looks like."