"Order up!"
Jaclyn Cross quickly grabs the plate sitting on the counter and walks out into the loud and raucous atmosphere inside the main eating area of the restaurant she works in with a smile on her face. At the sight of the people she's supposed to serve, however, her lips immediately curve downward into a sour frown. Sitting in a large cluster at a booth in the corner is what appears to be a pre-planned gathering of the two groups of people she hates most in the world.
'Jocks and cheerleaders,' she thinks in despair. 'Those two cliques seem to be bound by some sort of magnetism that unpopular kids can't feel.' Pasting a fake smile to her face, she walks over to the table and set the plates down, turning around and trying to escape as fast as she can. Unfortunately a strong male hand reaches out and latches onto her arm, preventing her retreat.
Gritting her teeth, she turns around to face the owner of the hand and finds herself looking down at the grinning face of her school's star quarterback, Garret Barber. Gently reaching down with her free hand, Jaclyn pries his fingers off of her arm and pulls out the pad that she uses to write down orders.
"Can I get you anything else?" she says, her cheerful manner more forced than ever. Garret nudges his friends in the ribs, obviously noticing Jaclyn's anger.
"Are you on the menu?" He chuckles, reaching out his hand again.
"If you like your hand still attached to your body, I'd suggest you keep it at your side and away from me," Jaclyn grits out, using all of her self control to keep herself from grabbing him and throwing him out the window which, thanks to her self-defense classes, she can now do.
Garret pulls back his hand and grins, turning to his friends and pasting a look of terror on his face. "Ooh, I think she's mad at me guys. Maybe I should lay off, huh? She could really hurt me." His friends laugh, and one of the cheerleaders turns to Jaclyn with a smug look on her face and shoves her plate away.
"Hey, can I have something that doesn't look like it's been out on the counter for weeks, please?" Jaclyn looks down at the cheerleader's plate, but doesn't see anything but perfectly edible food. She picks it up and nods.
"I take it that means you'll want another meal?" The girl nods, scanning the menu and finally pointing to a garden salad.
"At least this will have some color besides gray," she snickers, turning to her friends with a grin.
Jaclyn writes down the order and says, "okay, so I'll add one salad to your tab and—"
"Excuse me?" The cheerleader asks, her lips parted slightly in a look of disbelief. "I thought I just heard you say that I would have to pay for both meals."
Jaclyn nods. "I'm sorry, but I'm not allowed to offer a discount unless there is something wrong with the food, and seeing as there's nothing visibly wrong, you'll just have to pay for both meals."
The girl sputters, her mouth opening and closing in shock. "I refuse to pay for that slop! Take it off the tab now!"
Jaclyn glares at her, and clenches her fists without thinking. The girl notices and smiles cruelly. "Are you going to hit me, Jaclyn? I wouldn't. After all, the money you earn here is the only thing keeping your family out onto the streets like the tramps they are, right?"
Jaclyn's vision blurs with anger, and the pencil in her hand snaps. However, just as she jumps at her, there's a loud tearing sound and a large hole in the air opens in front of her. She screams in fear as she tumbles through it, and as behind her the hole closes, sealing her in a dark tunnel with no end in sight.