Stephanie glanced around the cafeteria and noticed that Zeke had left his table and was talking to Jeanette across the room. That seemed a little weird, but she didn't pay much attention. She started to get lost in her own thoughts when a loud noise suddenly brought her back to the now full cafeteria. Zeke had obviously tripped and was now sprawled out on the floor not far from Stephanie's table.
"Wow, nice going, dork," Derek said as he started laughing along with most of the student body. Stephanie didn't laugh, but she didn't do anything to help, either.
She just watched as Zeke slowly moved to a kneeling position. One of the football players walked by and roughly shoved him back to the floor, getting more laughs from the teens.
"Hey!" The one voice rang clearly through the cafeteria, quickly silencing everyone.
Virgil and Charlie were standing behind Zeke, looking out at the students. Charlie stepped forward and gave Zeke his hand while everyone watched silently. Virgil was the one who had spoken, so he faced the students as Zeke stood up off the floor.
"Why are you all laughing? What's so funny about one guy tripping? Did any of you even stop to think about whether or not he's ok?"
Stephanie bit the corner of her lip guiltily, then looked around to see the other students' reactions. Some of them, including Derek, were looking at each other and shaking their heads, like they thought Virgil was crazy. Others just looked like they weren't sure what to do.
"You know what I wish someone would do in this school?" Virgil continued, talking loud enough for everyone to hear. "It's something that I don't think has happened before. I wish that, for once, whenever someone is embarrassed or whatever, that other people would think about how they would feel if it was happening to them. I wish people would just ask if the person was ok, and then forget about it."
Many of the students were looking down nervously and guiltily. The whole cafeteria was silent, until Jeanette stood up. With a big smile she walked over and stood next to Charlie. "Me too." The four of them looked around the cafeteria.
Guilt was gnawing at Stephanie. She wanted to stand up so badly, but she couldn't stop thinking about what people might think about her and wondering if anyone else would stand up. Feeling shaky, she slowly stood to her feet, with her hands on the table for support. Looking Virgil in the eyes, she nodded. He smiled at her, and when she looked at Zeke's eyes she saw that they were filled with gratitude. Feeling less shaky, she stayed standing.
Across the cafeteria she heard chair legs scrape across the floor as a handful of students slowly stood to their feet, one by one, and nodded at Virgil. Virgil looked around and nodded back at them with a small smile. Stephanie and the other students sat down again as Virgil, Charlie, and Zeke went to their table. Slowly the conversation in the cafeteria picked up again, but it was obvious that most of the students were talking about what had happened.
Stephanie looked at the teens at her table. All of them were staring at her with wide eyes and open mouths.
"What were you doing?!" Derek exclaimed. He looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
"I was agreeing with Virgil," Stephanie answered softly, not meeting the astonished glances of the others.
"But, why?"
"Because he's right, Derek!" Stephanie exclaimed, looking up now. "All of us hate when we're embarrassed, so why should we laugh when someone else is?"
"Steph, they're nerds. Being embarrassed is just what happens to them. C'mon, you're popular, why do you care anyways?"
Stephanie frowned. "Being popular means not caring about my friends?"
"We're your friends, Steph," one of the girls said.
"Maybe I don't want to be popular," Stephanie answered softly. The other teens at her table gave her a weird look, then they all got quiet for the rest of lunch.