Ch 2: In which the true ingredients of cafeteria food are discovered.
The lunch bell rang, and, as usual, Cloud was the first out of the classroom. Typically this was true because Cloud hadn't been in the classroom to begin with; today however, Cloud had actually decided to grace his Government class with his presence.
Leon reached his locker soon after Cloud. Leon's locker however, had a deep loathing for him and always refused to open for him until he had tried his combination at least seven times, stroked it, and whispered soothing words. Much to the amusement of Cloud, of course, whose locker was right next to Leon's and was already closed again after Cloud was done with it.
"Tsk, tsk," Cloud tutted, clapping him on the shoulder as he left for lunch, "You need to get better with your hands, or she'll never open up for you."
Leon's groaned as his locker failed to open for the ninth time and his mind was tossed into the gutter to sit with Cloud's, where they discussed twisted things and sipped cocktails to see which of them would implode first. Brains have very messed up sorts of drinking games.
Cloud entered the cafeteria, oblivious to his brain's leisure activities, and scouted out the best place to eat. He spotted a freshman, Sora, sitting with his sophomore boyfriend Riku at a table nearby, and walked over.
"Hey, boys, what's for eats?" he asked, taking a seat across from them.
"Hi, Cloud!" That kid certainly had a lot of energy. Cloud stole one of his fries.
"Cloud!" Sora protested. Cloud raised an eyebrow pointedly at the mountain of food on his pink tray, which very clearly explained his amount of energy but made one wonder how he remained so thin.
"Yeah, well, I'm hungry," said Sora, as if that created the possibility that a human being could actually consume that amount of food in one sitting.
Cloud rolled his eyes and took a hotdog. However, he wasn't paying very close attention and Sora moved the tray just at that moment to try to stop him from stealing his food, causing said popular food item to fly into the air and hit the floor.
And bounce.
And bounce.
And…bounce.
The three teens looked on in bafflement, as did several other tables of high schoolers, before looking back down to their own food and pushing it away in confused disgust.
Cloud snickered, but Leon miraculously showed up at that moment and smacked him over the head with his lab notebook, which he had finally extracted from his loathsome locker, and stopped Cloud from making any number of lewd comments.
The hotdog finally stopped bouncing and rolled away until it hit a trash can in the corner, where nobody bothered to pick it up and drop it in.
Back at the lunch table, Sora looked down at the rest of his food, wondering which, if any, of the items was actually edible. Finally he settled on an ice cream bar which he unwrapped at began to lick happily.
Riku, on the other hand, was looking quite glum as he stared down at his greasy piece of square pizza, which didn't look like much of a delicacy to begin with, and wondered what it could possibly be made of.
He dropped a napkin on top of the "cheese", and it immediately absorbed an obscene amount of grease and was soaked as a sponge. He shoved the tray away from him slightly with a grimace of disgust.
"What do you think it's made of, Hotdog? My guess is cardboard, shampoo and dried glue," Cloud said helpfully.
Leon, whom he had been addressing, replied, "I'd say conditioner, actually- based on the level of cohesiveness."
Cloud looked up at the brunette and was surprised to see that he seemed perfectly serious.
"Uh… right. Anyway. Sorry I stole your food, Sora."
"It's okay- you totally saved my life from the rubber hotdog of doom. I think I'll bring lunch from now on…" mused the freshman, still licking his ice cream.
"Good to know," Cloud muttered to himself. "What d'you got, Hair-enthusiast of Doom?" he asked, again addressing Leon, "Me and Riku here are still hungry."
"I am too!" said Sora, raising his hand and waving it as if that were at all necessary, still licking his ice cream.
"I have… Damn it! I left my lunch in my stupid locker!" Leon kicked the table leg, exclaimed in pain, and heard Cloud laugh.
"No matter," Cloud said, standing up. "This is why our school is only a block away from Subway. Let's go." And he got up and left the cafeteria without waiting to see if they were following him. Leon of course practically knew that was coming and was just a few steps behind him, and Sora and Riku only had to exchange one long conflicted glance before they got up simultaneously, took each other's hand (Sora's other hand was still holding his ice cream), and followed the two Juniors out of the cafeteria.
And so it was that Sora skipped his first class, the entire school stopped buying lunch, Leon gained a strange new nickname, Cloud gained a peculiar insight into Leon's apparently extensive knowledge of hair products, Riku developed a strong addiction to the cold-cut combo on Italian bread (with pickles and mayonnaise), and Leon's locker became a "she".