During English class, Lincoln had to use the restroom. He wanted to lean towards Clyde to ask him where the restroom is, but he realized that it's better and more convenient to ask Ronnie Anne instead since she was right in front of him. Making sure Mrs. Johnson was preoccupied, Lincoln subtly tapped Ronnie Anne's shoulder.
She glanced at Lincoln, "What?" She whispered.
"Where's the bathroom?" Lincoln asks.
"It's down the hall," Ronnie Anne answers.
Lincoln raised his hand nice and high so Mrs. Johnson could see.
"Yes Lincoln?" She wonders.
"May I have a bathroom pass?" Lincoln inquires politely.
Mrs. Johnson glanced at the clock on the wall above the chalkboard. "Very well, come on up," Mrs. Johnson instructs.
Lincoln obeys and walks towards his teacher's desk. She hands him a medium sized blue card laminated in plastic that read "Boys" in black bold letters.
"Try to be back in 10 minutes or less," Mrs. Johnson mutters quietly so as not to draw attention to them.
Lincoln grabs the bathroom pass and steps out of the room. Once he's in the hall, he turns his head to the left, only to find the stairs that lead to the second and third floor. Logically, he turns to the right and sees that the bathroom is down the corridor near the main entrance to the school. He promptly walks there while glancing at the lockers and other classrooms that belong to the students grade kindergarten through 5th.
Just before Lincoln reaches the boy's bathroom, a little girl exits the girl's bathroom. The diminutive girl had short shaggy brown hair, large glasses, a light green sweater, red pants, and brown shoes. Lincoln and the girl cross paths right in front of a classroom.
"Oh hello," Lincoln greets in a polite tone.
"Greetings. I have never seen you before. Are you new here perchance?" The girl asks in an intelligent tone that surprised Lincoln.
"Yes I am new here. My name is Lincoln," Lincoln answers.
The girl gave a small smile, "What a blessed name."
She then raised her hand up towards Lincoln and turned it so that the side of her hand faced Lincoln. What she did and said next made Lincoln feel...not exactly uncomfortable, but rather confused or even curious. She used her hand to trace an invisible cross in the space in front of Lincoln's face.
"May the Lord bless and keep you," she stated.
Without giving Lincoln time to react or say anything, the young girl walked into the classroom next to her. Lincoln glanced at the classroom with a look of confusion while scratching his head with his index finger.
As he walks towards the bathroom, he starts to talk to the readers. "Did I just get blessed? Now don't get me wrong, I'm Catholic and I don't have a problem with someone giving me a blessing. But unless I'm in church or Catholic school and the blessing is given to me by a priest or other religious figure, I find it incredibly odd," Lincoln confesses as he reaches his destination and goes inside.
As he enters the bathroom, he places his lavatory pass on top of a urinal and proceeds to unzip and do his business.
Once he finished and zipped himself up, he grabs the bathroom pass and places it above the sink while he washes his hands. While doing so, he hears a toilet flush and looks into the mirror and sees that a stall is opening and a boy stands there.
The boy is wearing a black T-shirt with black and white striped sleeves, dark gray pants, and black and white checkered shoes. The most remarkable thing about this kid is that his pitch black hair completely covers his eyes. He walks up to a sink next to Lincoln and starts washing his hands.
"Hey man, I see you've got white hair. It looks unbelievably realistic. What hair dye do you use?" The goth boy asks.
"It's not hair dye, I was born with white hair," Lincoln explains.
The goth runs his soaked hand through Lincoln's hair, making him flinch.
"Are you a vampire?" The goth asks.
"Are you?!" Lincoln says as he grabs the other boy's wrist and pushes his hand away from him.
"Psh, I wish. Name's Lars, Lars Cooper. See you around albino," Lars says as he exits the bathroom.
Before Lincoln could tell Lars that he was not an albino, he was long gone. Heaving a defeated sigh, Lincoln grabbed his bathroom pass and placed it in his pocket as he starts to walk back to Mrs. Johnson's classroom.
Much later, it's lunchtime. Now normally lunch wouldn't be described as "interesting" by any stretch of the imagination. But in this particular school full of students of different grades gathered in one place, lunch can be very interesting in more ways than one.
The cafeteria was quite large and full of crowds, so Clyde, Lincoln, and Ronnie Anne keep a tight formation as they navigate across the space. Clutching his Ace Savvy lunchbox close to his body, Lincoln browsed the colorful swarm of students while trying to spot an empty table.
"I found one," Clyde says loud enough only for Ronnie Anne and Lincoln to hear.
The trio walks towards the table and sit down, with Lincoln and Ronnie Anne sitting next to each other and Clyde sitting across from them.
"Whew, I bet there was nothing like this in your old school, huh?" Ronnie Anne says as she nudges Lincoln's side.
"Nope," Lincoln answers simply.
He places his Ace Savvy lunchbox on top of the table and opens it. He pulls out a ham and cheese sandwich wrapped in plastic, a bag of chips, and a can of soda.
Just as he was about to dig in, a whistle blows and the noisy hustle and bustle of the cafeteria immediately dies. The whistle comes from a woman with short brown hair, a white T-shirt, red shorts, and black sneakers.
"Alright people, in an orderly fashion, line up for lunch. No horseplay and no monkey business," she commands.
People start to calmly strut towards the lunch line in an "orderly fashion".
"Who was that?" Lincoln wonders.
"That's the track coach. She mostly teaches the older kids," Clyde explains.
"She also handles lunch duty. Since the elementary, middle, and high school units have lunch at the exact same time, she has to make sure there's no chaos," Ronnie Anne explains.
"Most people can't stand her, but I say thank goodness we have her around," Clyde admitted.
"Well I'm off to get lunch," Ronnie Anne says as she gets up and leaves the table.