I hated that before even stepping through the doorway I already had everyone's attention; no one even spared a glance at Dib who walked in first. Damn that freak McMeaties truck accident on first street... At least the teacher was running late too, they wouldn't be able to call me out in front of the class.
I nudged Dib in the side to get him to walk to a seat instead of standing unmoving in front of the class. There were only two seats open so he took the one in the front row by the window and I took the front row, third one in by the door. On my right two seats over was Zim, glaring intently at Dib; he must have caught me staring, he glanced my way giving me an almost confused look before going back to glaring across the room. I frowned slightly but otherwise decided to ignore the rest of the class.
I forgot to text Cassie today so I sent her a short message while the room around me delved into total chaos. Luckily, or rather unluckily for me, school started earlier for us here than at Saint Tristian's so Cassie would just be waking up. Otherwise my inbox would be full with messages by the next hour.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket just as the lady whom I assumed would be our teacher walked in. She was old and wrinkled with silver hair tied into a tight bun and glasses that glinted in the light obscuring her eyes, she had a permanent scowl on her face and when she moved she seemed to be made of shadows. The class instantly quieted and a few murmurs of 'she's back' 'It can't be' and a few disbelieving 'No's were heard.
"I see some of you miserable excuses for future members of society have managed to make it as far as the eighth grade," The teacher crowned in a gravely voice. "For those of you who I've had the privilege of never meeting before today, you will address me as Ms. Bitters. From now on I don't want to hear another sound from any of you."
Well she seems just as nice as Dib described her as being. Oh joy, now I get to have her as my teacher too...
"These forms must be signed by your parents and brought back tomorrow, or else I will fail you all." Bitters said as a thick stack of papers fell from the ceiling onto each student's desk. Looks like Caren has some homework to get done, no wonder this is her least favorite week of the year. I smirked slightly as I shoved the papers into my messenger bag; the only downside was I'd be lugging the extra weight around all day and the stack weighed a ton.
Once the forms were given out our teacher stationed herself at her desk, glaring at the occasional student or any squirrel who decided to perch by the window. After that the class resumed into it's previous chaos despite Ms. Bitters' earlier warning.
My phone let out a low chime alerting me of a new text message.
'Morning Lulu~! How ya liking the new school? :)' Taping reply on the screen I typed in a quick response. 'It's ok so far, I don't think it's only teachers at St Trist that are, not rly people persons tho "^^'
'Ohhh, so it wasn't just a fluke o.o anyway, anyone u know in ur class? Is that Dib kid there?'
'Yes Dib is in my class, & he's not a kid, he's our age remember "-,-'
'Yeah, yeah -,- So Lulu, u free today? ;)'
'Yeahhh... ._.'
'Great! Ok, so I'll pick u up at 3! ;P'
'Wait! What? O.o'
'Yeah, we're going 2 the mall silly ;)'
'What? I never agreed to this! O.O'
'Mkay, so, I gotta get rddy 4 school now, ttyl! ;P'
That sneaky little... Well, I guess I have plans now. It was always like this with Cassie, she made your plans for you days in advance and didn't tell you what you had apparently agreed to until the day of. One time there was a party being held in the next state over she'd known about for weeks, then all of the sudden she shows up at your apartment and forces you into a skirt and tank top, telling you about how great this party's gonna be while she does your makeup and hair. But, that's Cassie for you, random and often times... unexpected. My phone chimed again, alerting me of another new message. Oh great, what did you forget to tell me this time Cassie? Oh, it's from Dib.
Now that we were in middle school no one passed notes anymore, even if the person was right next to you or two seats away everyone texted.
'Having fun? :|'
'Nope ^^ u?'
'None at all :)'
'lol, kinda hard 2 hav fun in skool tho ya kno? ;)'
'Yeah, don't even know why I asked "^^ By the way, what was up with that look Zim gave you earlier?'
'Idk o.o He looked... confused, but I don't kno why. Though it was a lot less volatile than some of the looks u were getting, whats up with that anyway? o.o'
'Well, because of him being an alien bent on destroying the earth and me trying to stop him, that would be my guess, we both kind of hate each other...'
'Oh, well... that would make a reasonable explanation.'
After that we stopped texting, there were only a few minutes till the next class change, and eventually, lunch.
The sounds of talking and laughter, and the scraping of chairs against linoleum crescendo-ed the closer we got to the cafeteria doors. Ahead of Dib and I was a group of jocks, all wearing gold and red team jackets. I'm surprised we have athletic programs at all here seeing as how the school was run.
"After you beautiful," One of the jocks said giving me a cheesy grin as he held the door back.
"Thanks," I said simply, grudgingly returning the gesture with a small smile as I walked by. Dib narrowly avoided letting his face get acquainted with the door as the jock let the door go when I walked by. I stopped for a second so he could catch up, mumbling "Meat head," under my breath as we walked to the line. Dib got a small laugh out of it and otherwise shook it off.
"That- that is supposed to be food...?" I said, gawking at the black furry sludge pooled on Dib's lunch tray.
"Yep! Looks good doesn't it?" He asked with a crooked smile.
"I think I'll pass," I said, moving to let the other people in the line get their filth. I stayed next to Dib as we moved slowly down the lunch line letting my eyes roam over the rest of the cafeteria. I saw Gaz playing her gameslave at one of the tables by the window, and that annoying Danielle girl from second period, and Zim, alone at a table by himself glaring down at his lunch tray. Well, I wouldn't blame him for not wanting to eat it, I wasn't going to either. Though everyone else seemed to be eating their hairy black slime and at least somewhat enjoying it. I grimaced watching one of the jocks scarfing down three trays of the stuff.
"I think I'm gonna be sick..." I said half serious, turning away from the scene so I could follow Dib to the table. Dib took a seat next to Gaz, I could have sworn her scowl deepened, and I sat next to Dib. To my surprise Dib actually tried eating that black crud. I felt my stomach turn and rested my head above the table supporting myself on my folded arms; long blond strands collected over my shoulder and disappeared under the tabletop. I raised my eyes to see above my arm, surveying the cafeteria. Again I found Zim catching my eye, was it because of the strange green tint to his skin? Or maybe because he just seemed so different from everyone else. Though that was probably a good thing, most of the people here seemed like they were completely brainless, cloned from the stereotypical categories of society, keeping it's population in somewhat of a drunken stupor. It was good to be different from them, the oblivious and the blind.
Again he met my stare and I felt slightly self conscious, my skin crawled and my stomach gave a squeeze as it sometimes does when one person is caught staring at another like I had been. Even more so because it was the second time, I felt wrong for it and averted my eyes so I was looking back down at the table through the darkness.
"Hmph, the aliens looking over here, he's got to be planning something!" Dib's exclamation came muffled to my ears by my arms surrounding my head. "Hey, Luna, are you ok?" He asked laying a hand on my shoulder.
"Yeah, my stomach just feels a little weird is all, I think I'm gonna go see if the nurse has something."
"Ok, do you want me to walk you there?"
I stood from my chair, "No I'll be fine on my own, see you in class," I said, walking toward the doors all the while feeling two sets of eyes on me, the skin crawling feeling came back as I neared Zim's table. I quickened my pace slightly until I was out in the hallway behind closed doors.
The cafeteria food still had my stomach feeling queasy but I decided to skip the nurse and wait out the rest of lunch in the school's small library.
