Lunch was Danny's worst time of the school day.
Line up. Jostle and jockey for position. Corralling and herding in the most pushiest and politest way Danny had ever come up against. Fill his mouth both as quickly and as slowly as possible.
Free time was the worst time.
It'd be so much easier if they were more like pretty much any other kid from back home. A guy like Dash would be amazing. Except Danny was the Dash.
Or, more accurate to say was, he was Mister Popular.
A thing he'd wanted. To be a popular kid. Great.
Except being a loser would be so much more appreciated now.
He could go invisible as a loser. Both figuratively and literally. But people noticed him here, were aware of him, wanted to be around him whenever they could.
Danny didn't want friends. Danny couldn't get close.
This would be so much easier if there was a single one being mean or acting mean. He couldn't be mean to any of them. It wasn't in him. Danny wasn't that close to snapping, but he really wanted to get away from all of them, like right now.
Frantically, he glanced about, searching for an escape.
And, on the far side of the cafe, spotted Matt.
Danny brightened. A bunch of tiny little seventh graders. Middle school students. And the kid pretty much hid in his room as much as Danny sequestered inside his new room.
"I'm going to go hang out with Matt today."
The kids around him blinked, looking over to the middle school side of the cafe. Faces cleared. Nodded. Disappointment, but they let Danny willingly through.
Rushing across, Danny plopped his tray and himself down, breathing out his relief.
Then looked up to see the surprised and exuberant faces of Matt's buddies leaning in close.
Oh no.
He miscalculated this small school draw of him being a new kid fading due to age difference, didn't he?
Fighting the urge to scream, the want to blast everyone away, Danny thumped his head onto the table.
Lunch was the worst.