guess my excuse.! did you guess school.? you win at life. THIS took me forever. homework and friend drama and everything.
this has to be the shortest thing i've ever written. i'm not bothering dedicating it to the people i was going to. because it was just so short. FOR ABBY, as usual.
the lunch schedule is just like mine, i'm stuck with 'A' lunch. i hate it. and the claire/kemp story is pretty much mine and my best friends story. enjoy.
disclaimed. i don't own it. kay, thanks.
"'A' lunch has to be the worst lunch ever." Dylan decided, walking beside Claire as they squeezed through the crowd, heading towards their usual table, Derrick and Kemp still in the lunch line. "Who the heck eats lunch at ten fifteen? And why do the sophomores get stuck with it? What about the lowly freshmen?" She continued her ramble, claiming table seven, the table by the window with a bang of her tray.
"Dyl, the 'lowly freshmen', a name Todd would be very upset with, have 'A' lunch, too." Claire pointed out, gesturing around the cafeteria, as if it was proof there was freshmen company. It was true, of course. Instead of separating the lunches into A, B, C (and sometimes D and E), mixing in all four grades evenly, Westchester Acadamy only had lunches 'A' (freshmen and sophomore) and 'B' (juniors and seniors). The class sizes were pretty small, so small that the combined grades fit comfortably in the large cafeteria.
"Well, you got me there." Dylan sighed, still mumbling about eating lunch before she normally woke up on weekends and breaks. "The juniors and seniors should have 'A' lunch then!" Dylan declared, her eyes instantly brightening again.
Claire's mouth turned down into a frown, probably of annoyance, and Dylan had to resist the urge to cover her ears. Claire was nice, unless she was provoked, and always scolded Dylan (and the rest of their friends) when they were insensitive, which was pretty much anything that wasn't a compliment or polite in Claire's book. "Dylan, that wouldn't be fair to-"
"The juniors and seniors. They already had to eat lunch way early for their first two years. Why should they be punished, forced to eat so early, because you don't want to. It's not like your not hungry and we only have one more year of it." A voice joined the conversation.
"Exactly." Claire nodded with a smile. Both girls were facing the window, their backs facing the cafeteria, so they didn't notice anybody coming up behind them. "Kemp, you know me so well." She teased without turning around. Kemp's unique laugh was the reply as he and Derrick made their way around their table, trays in hand.
"What did I say about finishing each others sentences? It's weird. Really, really weird." Dylan rolled her eyes at the two friends. She wasn't jealous, far from it, but the whole 'finishing each others sentences' thing gets really old, really fast. They had been cutting down over the summer, but school must bring out the friendship they have.
"It's not that weird. You guys have been friends for a really long time, right?" Derrick questioned. Dylan shook her head at Derrick, a silent 'shut up' forwarded in his direction. Claire chewed the fry she stole off of Kemp's plate slowly, as if deciding how to answer that question. Kemp did it for her. "Wrong." He didn't clarify and Derrick wasn't going to ask.
"Ooh! Is it 'lets tell about the one thing Kemp and Claire really regret and get all mushy over' time, since D is new and whatever?" Massie's voice chimed in as she took a seat, Griffin and Kristen following her lead. "I love this story!"
"Shut it, Mass. You want them to kill you?" Griffin shushed Massie, rolling his eyes. Chris and Josh walked up, completing the group, and overheard their friends load voices. They groaned. "Who asked?" Chris asked, though he was pretty sure of the answer. Massie and Kristen pointed an accusing finger at Derrick, who looked back at Chris innocently. Claire was still staring off into space, probably lost in a memory of some sort, and Kemp was lining up the fries he and Claire hadn't finished off. "There goes Claire's good mood." He sighed, allowing Josh to pass him to sit next to her.
"Claire will get over it, guys." Massie butt in, though she knew it was pretty much useless. The guys (minus Josh) all thought of Claire as a younger sister (she was younger then them all by a year to a few months) and were really protective of her. Telling the "one thing that Claire and Kemp regret and get all mushy over" story was one thing they rarely allowed.
"Fine. Once." Josh allowed. It's not like the story was something huge or bad or anything. It just made Claire feel really guilty and made Kemp go all un-Kemp. Massie smiled in victory, she really did love the story, thought whoever told it would probably stick to the shorter version, which was Massie's least favorite version.
"Kemp and Claire haven't always been friends." Chris started. Kemp looked up to hear Chris's version of the events, he always was best at telling the story short and to-the-point, but Claire continued staring at the table, lost in her own world. "Claire moved here in seventh grade, so it's impossible to have been friends their whole life, and they weren't even friends then. It was the guys, minus Kemp, and Dylan and Claire, with Kemp around when Claire wasn't and vis versa." Dramatic pause. "They hated each other."
"Its what happens when two of the most stubborn people on the planet are forced to befriend each other." Massie added. Chris glared in reply and Kemp rolled his eyes. Massie couldn't help herself. They were two of the most stubborn people to walk this earth and it is the reason they hated each other, but Chris was telling the story and he didn't like being interrupted.
"Well, yeah, that's the reason." Chris agreed, picking up where he left off. They really truly despised each other. They threw insults at each other constantly, he would do anything he could to bug her and she did not disappoint with her responses. It drove everyone, besides Massie and Kristen, who weren't part of their group yet, absolutely up the wall in annoyance.
They were juts so different. Kemp was this thing that everybody hated, but many wanted to befriend. He was rude, perverted, annoying, and taking the wonders of swearing very seriously. Claire on the other hand, played the role of innocent angel. Sweet, loveable, understanding, and the worst words to come out of her mouth were words second graders considered 'bad words'. Stupid, shut up, that sucks, loser. He was revolted by her kindness and she was nauseated by his obnoxious behavior. And they had no problem with everybody knowing it.
Nobody is really sure how or why it all changed. One day they ere throwing insults back and fourth, the next they were lost in a, seemingly friendly, conversation when everybody arrived at the lunch table.
Massie fake-yawned. "The shorter version is so bor-ing!" She whined. "The longer version is so much more amusing." Everybody rolled their eyes at the drama-loving sophomore, majority of them silently wondering why they talked to her.
"You are so ah-noy-ing." Kemp mocked, nudging Claire for a fourth time. Massie and Kristen had pretty much dropped the mysterious language of Massie Block and the rest of TPC, but sometimes they couldn't help themselves. They'd been talking that way for years and the change was sometimes difficult.
"Hm. Interesting story." Derrick smiled at Kemp and Claire across the table. Claire looked up, blinking hard, as if she just woke up. "I'd have never imagined, you guys act like you've been friends your entire life."
"Well, we haven't been." Claire responded sharply. Those memories always made her crabby, she hated it then and she hates it more now that she learned what a great guy Kemp is once you get past the jerkiness and the annoyingness and the pervertedness. And, since the two have been friends, Claire had become a lot less 'innocent angel' and Kemp had become less obnoxious. They complete each other.
"Hey, hey, hey." Derrick held his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry. I had no idea, had I, I wouldn't have asked." He met her eyes, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips, and Kemp nudged Claire who was smiling back.
there isn't much to review. but if you do, i'll love you forever. (: i'm posting the first chapter of meet me either tonight or tomorrow. and the next one of this by next week.
til next time,
bailey.