Double D sat absolutely bewildered by the massive, oozing greenish-white substance that sat before him. It seemed to breathe, no gasp, as if where suffocating on the very air of the room. He almost felt sorry for the poor thing. How ever such a 'creature' became permitted as an acceptable meal for high school students was beyond him. Of course, this particular item of food would draw various reactions. His, was of disgusted amusement. On the other hand, his long-time friend Ed was absolutely enthralled with the ever-changing mass of goop upon his plate, almost immediately bursting into one of his deranged, yet creative, fairy-tales from another world. And then there was Eddy, who gagged in horror at the first sight of it, but quickly began plotting to stash it away and use it in some prone-to-fail attempt to get the better of Kevin, the Basketball star of the school and his rival since 3rd grade.
Double D pushed his tray away, yet again deciding not to partake in the consumption of what must have been hazardous chemicals (though he had the fleeting though to take some home to use as weed-killer). He had an Anatomy assignment due next period that he was sure needed a little more extra-credit points. He would need it because his sadistic teacher seemed to find the dissection of cats (whom had died of 'natural' causes) to be an educational activity. He'd refused, thinking of the assignment as no better than if they were allowed to randomly dissect dead humans. 'God, you're such a hippie.' Eddy had joked a week earlier. Double D sighed at the remark even to this day and grabbed his bag as he stood from the cafeteria table.
"Hey, sockhead..." Eddy called, the nickname being derived from the black beanie the blonde boy had worn since childhood. "Where are ya goin'?"
"Library, Eddy." Double D answered, readjusting said 'sock' upon his head.
"Should've guessed. Why don't you do anything -normal-?" Eddy inquired with vague interest.
"Well," Double D begin turning back around to face his friend, unable to resist a chance to debate. "Perhaps by your meager, socially-driven standards, I'm abnormal but I must confess that I am-"
"AN ALIEN FROM ANOTHER PLANET!" Ed interrupted , standing behind Double D with two curly-fries positioned over the shorter teen's head in hopeful resemblance of antennae.
The surrounding students burst into laughter at Ed's innocent mocking of his pal. Of course, Double D thought otherwise. His face flushed a bright red in embarrassment and he quickly tore from the cafeteria, leaving the laughing group behind in favor of the peaceful library. Kids could be so cruel.
He couldn't really stay mad at Ed, though. He knew his dim-witted companion was really kind-hearted, but it was the others he'd had a hard time coping with. He would have thought that they'd grown up past the point of childish mockery, but he soon found that the years of high school had a reverse effect. That only the subject of degradation changed. They'd gone from kickball skills to football. From first crushes to first 'lays'. Heights to penis sizes. It made him sick to think of how willing his peers were to being subjected to becoming perfect molds of what this society deemed appropriate. But, he thought with bitter discontent as he took a seat in front of one of the public computers, we -outcasts- may complain all we want, but they will just throw another label upon us and go about their consumption of our individuality. Three years ago, freshman year, Double D had quickly been thrown into the 'geek' category. Though there was talk of him being a tad more 'Emo' once his English classes got a load of his poetry. There seemed to be a lot more dimension to this 'geek' than most were willing to accept. Shoot him for being depressed sometimes.
But enough of that, he thought shaking his head and focusing on the matter at hand, extra credit.
He'd been typing for a good five minutes before he heard a familiar voice from the front row of computers:
"Dude, check out those distortion pedals! Custom made!"
Followed by a quick "shh" from the librarian. Double D leaned over a bit, finding Kevin and Rolf huddled around a screen, looking at what seemed to be a rock music site. What else? Like those two would be here to study, Double D scoffed. But he was still intrigued by them. It was no secret to him that the two, along with Jimmy and Sara (how those two freshman got into it, who knew?) , had formed a band. He'd often had their music to work to as he completed chores left by his otherwise negligent parents, or was putting finishing touches on homework or one of Eddy's outrageous scams. They were pretty good musicians but the singing. Oh the singing. The only ones who had the vocal chords for it were Kevin and Jimmy (both played guitar), but neither could seem to manage playing and singing at the same time, usually getting to the half-point of the song before one or the other missed a lyric or chord. It would come to them eventually, he hoped.
Just as he lay his fingers upon the keyboard again, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Double D cursed under his breath and quickly printed out what little extra credit he'd gotten done. He shoved it into his backpack, though not so hastily as to crumple the defenseless sheet, and rushed from the room, encouraging himself in the back of his mind that he only had 2 more classes to fly through before he could go home, trying not to think of the massive pile of chore-ridden sticky-notes that awaited his arrival.
To Be Continued
