Chapter 6 The Cafeteria
"Hey, how was your morning?" Chester asked Emma as she sat down for lunch at the table he was at in the cafeteria.
"It was good. Yours?"
"It was okay. I had study hall before lunch so I was kind of bored."
"Yeah, well I have spare and then study hall this afternoon. How much does that suck?"
"Yeah you win. Your afternoon is worse than my morning."
"Thank you. So what creation are they serving today?" Emma asked as she took out her homemade salad from her lunch bag.
"Mystery Meat. My guess is beef."
"It's never beef, Chester." J.T. Yorke commented before sitting down with his girlfriend of a year, Liberty Van Zandt.
"How do you know? What do you think it is?" Chester wanted to know.
J.T. took a huge bite of his lunch and tried to decide what it was. "I'd say leftover chicken and meat loaf."
"JT that's disgusting!" Liberty said.
"Okay so there is some beef, right. If there's meat loaf there has to be beef, so I'm not completely wrong." Chester said proudly.
"The meat loaf here is not beef, I've been here for three years and I still have no idea..." JT drifted off as Emma stopped listening to the two of them argue about Mystery Meat.
Emma looked around the cafeteria to check out who was with who. There was Jimmy and Hazel, they were still together despite some peoples shock, but they had been through so much and it had only made them stronger. Manny and Spinner were on the other side of the cafeteria feeding each other grapes, it had taken awhile for people to accept them together, but they soon realized how good they were for each other. Toby and Darcy had gotten together over the summer, which had shocked everyone, but they were so cute together so Emma was happy for them. Then of course there was Alex and Craig. Alex and Craig had started hanging out after she broke up with Jay and Ashley left for London. When Ashley broke up with Craig over the phone he had used Alex as his shoulder to cry on and they eventually started dating and were now inseparable. Emma glanced over at Ellie and Marco who were having a very serious conversation but were whispering. After he left for Wasaga Sean had decided that the long distance relationship wasn't a great idea and had ended it with Ellie. Dylan had asked Marco for an open relationship and Marco agreed, but after awhile Marco had gotten uncomfortable with the situation and broke it off. Emma felt sorry for them but at the same time wanted to know what they were talking about so intently. Just then the cafeteria doors opened and Emma couldn't believe what she saw.
"No way!" she said incomplete shock.
"What?" JT, Chester, and Liberty said in unison.
"Look." Emma said pointing towards the doors that had just opened.
"Those two? Talk about shock value." JT said. Standing in the doorway with their arms draped around each other was Ashley Kerwin and Chris, Emma's ex-boyfriend.
"I don't get it." Liberty said, "He's hip hop, she's punk/rock. Has that ever been done before?"
"Not sure." Chester said.
Chris and Ashley walked through the cafeteria ignoring the stares and whispers. As they passed Emma's table Chris leaned over and said, "Did you have a good summer in the ravine, Gonnorhea Girl?" making Emma cringe and stare at her hands.
"Call her that again and they're gonna be calling you ER-boy." a voice from behind Chris warned.
Emma stood up to see who it was, "Jay?" she said puzzled.
"Leave her alone DJ. That shit is over and done with, so lay off." Jay said.
"You can't tell me what to do Hogart. And why of all people are you defending her? Oh, that's right, your the reason that I get to call her Gonorrhea Girl." Chris tormented Jay.
"That's it." Jay said balling up his fist and getting ready to swing.
"Jay, no!" Emma exclaimed knocking over her purse dumping everything onto the floor, as she jumped to stop Jay. "He's not worth it. Ashley will you get your boyfriend away me, please. Jay, you, me, hallway, now." Emma said as Ashley pulled Chris to the other side of the cafeteria. "Chester will you pick up my stuff for me?"
"Sure, don't be long." Chester said glaring at Jay as Emma pushed him out of the cafeteria with everyone staring at them.
"Well that was intense." Liberty said.
"I can't believe Chris would bring that ravine crap up again. What's his problem?" Chester said.
"Well, Chris has never really gotten over Em. They went out a couple of times, usually right after Em and Sean broke up. So it kinda stung when she went to Jay instead of him after Sean left." JT explained.
"Yeah but does he torment her on a regular basis?" Chester asked as he picked up the contents of Emma's purse.
"No, not really. Just when he sees her in the hallway, on the street, or in class." JT said sarcastically.
"Ha-ha, very funny JT. Chester said before doing one last search of the ground before standing up, Well I think I got every--" he stopped mid-sentence when he saw something blue on the white tile floor. He bent down and picked up the blue wire bracelet, "Son of a bitch!" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" Liberty asked.
"Just something I thought was over. Something I was told was over." Chester said glaring at the doors with rage in his eyes.
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"Thank you, Jay. But you didn't have to defend me in there." Emma said after calming Jay down.
"Yes I did, Em. He's right. I am the reason people call you Gon--, that name." Jay said.
"I'm over that now. I can handle the whispers and the looks that I get from people like Chris everyday. What I can't handle is you."
"Me?"
"Yes you. When you are around and you do stuff like you just did I get these weird feelings in my stomach and they are really hard to ignore."
"Em, I get them too. All the time, when I see you with your friends, or him, when I think about you, at work, you get the idea. When I'm around you all I want to do is..." Jay stopped.
"What Jay? What do you want to do when we're together?"
"This." Jay said as he pulled her into a passionate kiss. Jay circled his arms around her small waist and felt her arms snake around his neck. She knocked off his hat and ran her fingers through his hair bringing him closer to her. Jay pressed his tongue lightly against her lips and she opened her mouth to let him in. Jay pinned her up against a locker before running his fingers through her hair and cupping her face.
"HOGART!" Chester's familiar voice broke the two of them apart and straightened their clothes and Jay picked up his hat and put it on his head.
"No need to thank me, Hosoda. Just doing what any decent guy would do." Jay said as Chester came around the corner.
"Thank you? Thank you? Why on earth would I thank you? And I don't think people would consider you a decent guy." Chester said angrily.
"I just defended your girlfriend in front of the entire student body and you're asking me why you should thank me? And I don't care what people think. What is your problem?" Jay asked now angrier than Chester.
"I came out here to ask either if either of you would care to explain this." Chester yelled as he held up the bracelet.
Emma and Jay stared at Chester, then the bracelet and then at each other.
"Oh shit!" they said in unison.
