Potemkin Hall Cafeteria 12:37 PM
Hayley was glad the cafeteria was still serving food. She had been hungry the entire two hours she sat inside art history class. She walked through the entrance of the kitchen area easily sneaking pass two girls who weren't paying attention to the line but chatting to one another as everyone in front of them moved up two spaces. They didn't seem to care if others were cutting them either. Hayley spotted another classmate of hers three people ahead of her. It was Bilal Williams from Islamic literature class. They had often bumped into one another while they studied or read books in the university's Vladikavkaz library. It was the first time they were meeting here in the cafeteria. She didn't take Islamic literature class but Bilal did and loved it. As the line moved forward she stepped out of it hurriedly tiptoeing while Bilal moved forward.
"Bilal…How are you doing?" She whispered to avoid any stares from where she stood. Someone behind her stared angrily signaling she had better not cut otherwise there would be a massive uproar.
"I'm doing fine Hayley thanks." He turned walking forward to the cashier. She stood on the side staying clear of the glares she received from half the people in line. Her eyes fell on Mahdi's older brother Haytham and his two best friends Mohan and Nawad standing at the end of the line next to the condiments and microwave table. They began yelling at her to get to the back of the line thinking she was preparing to squeeze her way to the front of everyone else. Several people joined in their call, motioning for her to go to the back of the line. Bilal finished paying for his food turning to her he said, "Come on…Let's go eat. I already pay for your food."
Hayley was surprised by his actions. She didn't want him to pay for anything.
"Thanks Bilal but I wanted to pay…I was going to pay eventually. I mean…" Before she could explain her shellshock he raised a hand in the air waving her into silence once again.
"Don't mention it…This table looks good." He sat gently pulling up a chair for her. She shrugged sitting across from him. Haytham and Mohan approached their table plopping into the two available seats across from the two. Nawad dragged behind the two men walking cautiously with a try full of bowls, three cups of lemonade and a handful of napkins. As soon as he reached the table he dropped the tray in front of Mohan while he chewed on his mayonnaise covered bologna and cheese sandwich. Hayley stared at the sandwich cringing from the mayo dripping from the sides or running over the crust. Bilal briefly stared at the sandwich also wondering how Mohan would stomach such a large quantity of mayonnaise. Christopher Frankfurter, a member of the university's Student Counsel passed by their table briefly stopping to chat with Bilal.
"Hey Bilal!" He stood up calmly clasping his hand firmly with Christopher's own sweaty palms. He had spent his entire morning running up and down the university campus to make sure everyone who was participating in the graduation ceremony that afternoon wouldn't be late or miss their part in speeches. His palms grew sweaty from shaking hands with all the students who had dashed off to rehearsal their speeches for the graduates. Christopher smiled showing him a stack of paper for the graduation ceremony. The papers listed the entire time schedule for the ceremony, the names of the graduates, several revised speeches from Dean Prescott, (the red ink marks were visible even from a far distance) diagrams of where each person would sit in the auditorium in order to avoid instability during the ceremony, and a second list of coordinators and overseers of the entire graduation proceeding.
"Look at all these papers I have to carry around, correct and store on file. See, Bro? Man, Bilal you're lucky you didn't sign up for student counsel…I doubt you would have wanted to anyway." Bilal would have signed up had it not been for his busy schedule. Nawad gawked at the papers whistling asking if there were anymore papers he had to place on file. Christopher shook his head firmly. He gathered the papers into one hand shuffling them into a neat file. His eyes darted around the table to Mohan, Hayley and Haytham who raised an eyebrow at the stack of papers. Hayley grumbled standing up from the chair.
She was asked, "Are you all right Hayley? You don't have a headache or are you sick?" Bilal shook Christopher's hand dismissing him to leave and care for his papers. For the rest of the lunch period and time they had left, the group ate in complete silence barely making eye contact. The only voices heard at the table were those behind Hayley coming from two women sitting cross legged one table down occasionally their loud whispers floating into their space. Hayley finished her food standing up from her seat. She lifted up the tray she had used carrying it over to a nearby trash bin.
Turning to face Bilal, she asked cautiously, "So…what do you want to do after lunch?" Bilal shrugged unsure of what activities he would be able to complete before returning to his afternoon Conflict and Peace resolution class.
Haytham cleared his throat announcing to the small group that he would join Mohan in Professor Simm's Mathematics class. Professor Art Simm had been Mohan's political science teacher the year before when he decided at the last minute to teach mathematics instead. Haytham and Mohan along with Nawad occasionally missing several hours of instructions took the class an hour and a half after lunch. Although it was close to the last week of class, they still had about two weeks of class sessions left before summer break. Neither student could ever figure out the quizzes that were given during lecture. Mohan always had difficulty staying on top with the professor's teaching methods. He distasted taking any quiz from Professor Simm's class; they were always intimidating for him. Nawad missed so many quizzes and tests he never bothered to show up for those specific days of testing. Haytham guessed on most of the quizzes and surprisingly got most of the answers correct. The three sighed miserably in unison noticing the two girls behind their table had looked up from their own conversion.
"Let's get out of here!" Mohan suggested getting up from the table as the other two followed silently. They followed Hayley as she headed toward the statute and courtyard once again seeing a massive crowd of graduates, enthusiastic parents, university faculty and student counsel members gather outside the large auditorium. Rehearsals for the speeches were still on going. She could see Christopher holding his own speech in his hand trembling slightly as he read it to an audience of parents and the graduates' younger and older siblings who had surrounded him. Only Bilal went in a separate direction from the four of them, he was returning his book to the library so he could hurriedly dash half way across campus to his next class starting in fifteen minutes.