Just the Way it Is

Word spread quickly of the incident in homeroom. It seemed that, within just an hour, everyone in the school had heard about it.

This even included some of the teachers. While they weren't laughing at him like all of the students were, Ross still noticed the sympathetic gazes they directed at him in the halls.

He'd developed a system on how to avoid further embarrassment. It consisted of keeping his head down in the halls and during classes. He tried with all his might to ignore the whispers, giggling, and jokes made about him.

He hadn't spoken to a single person the whole day, hoping that it would eventually just blow over.

It hadn't blown over by lunch though, so when the bell rang at noon, Ross jumped out of his seat and headed for the cafeteria. He hoped that if he got his lunch early, he could get out of there quickly, and escape any comments that would be made either to or about him.

Fortunately, he was he first into the lunch line. He grabbed whatever disgusting meal was on the shelf, he thought it might've been meatloaf, and proceeded to the checkout. The small hispanic woman smiled at him as he punched in his ID number, and he smiled politely back at her. She was the first person he'd encountered that day who wasn't thinking about what had occurred that morning. He was thankful that at least some people couldn't care less about the high school gossip.

Picking up his tray, he walked out of the line and into the main cafeteria. People were now filtering in, but it didn't appear as though he'd been recognized yet. But that could only last so long.

A second later, someone called to him, "Hey! Where'd the anaconda go? You aren't happy to see me?"

A large group of people burst out laughing at this.

Not wasting a second to see who'd said it, Ross ran out of the cafeteria. He walked up the deserted math wing, glad to be away from his taunting classmates. Turning left into the next hallway, he saw a bathroom that seemed to be empty.

Walking towards it, he listened carefully for sounds of someone inside. Convinced that it was, in fact, clear, he entered it and went directly to the stall farthest away from the door.

Making sure to lock the door, he sat down on the toilet seat, placing his lunch tray on his lap.

A minute or so into his meal, he heard heavy footsteps approaching. Ross immediately stopped chewing, trying to be as silent as possible. A few seconds later, the person, whoever he was, entered the bathroom.

Ross hoped the guy would just go to the bathroom and leave. He definitely didn't want to be recognized. It wouldn't help his reputation at all if he was discovered eating lunch alone in a bathroom stall.

To his horror, however, the person walked over and stood directly outside Ross's stall door. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Ross prepared himself for the head that would soon appear over the stall door. To his surprise, nothing happened.

"Ross?" he heard a familiar voice ask tentatively.

He breathed a sigh of relief. It was Will.

He stood up and opened the door. His friend was standing there, with a sympathetic expression on his face.

"How're you doing?" Obviously, he was referring to the morning's incident.

"You know… I've been better," Ross replied with a shrug. "It's just, it's dawning on me that I'll never have that."

Will stayed quiet for a moment. He knew that this was something Ross needed to say. When he didn't continue however, Will asked calmly, "Have what?"

"You know, it's like, I'll always be on this level, and she'll always be three steps up. I just hate knowing that there are so many things I can't have. Just because I'm not on the football team, I can't have the cheerleader. It's like my status is fixed for life, and there's nothing I can do to change it."

Ross stopped speaking, waiting for his friend to respond. After a second or two, Will replied.

"Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. This is high school. I only have one friend, and the only reason I'm a loser is because I'm fat. No one takes the time to listen to me to see if there's anything more. But Ross, it's not gonna be like this forever. After high school's over and we get out of here, no one will care about any of this crap. We've just gotta get through the next four years."

"Yeah, four years. No time at all," Ross replied sarcastically.

"Hey, at least we've got each other," Will said with a small smile.

"Yeah," Ross muttered, "thanks man."

"No problem," Will reached over and took Ross's lunch tray. Thinking for a moment, he picked up Ross's cookie and began eating it.

Through a mouthful of food, he said, "Now lets get out of here. I can't be seen with someone who eats lunch alone in the bathroom. It'll ruin my reputation."

Glad that his friend was there, Ross led the way out of the bathroom. But he didn't go back to the cafeteria. He didn't want to return to the place where everyone would surely make fun of him. Instead, he walked towards the school exit, with Will trailing close behind.

Once they'd gotten outside they could see the large green lawn that spread all around the school building. Across the lawn to the right was the parking lot. However, across the lawn to the left was a small forest.

Ross headed towards the first line of trees, smiling as he breathed in the fresh air. Just inside the forest, but still within sight of the school, was a small circular clearing. Inside the circle of trees, the ground was covered with uncut, green grass and several large rocks were scattered around as well.

Ross and Will plopped down onto the spongy, cushioning grass, and leaned up against the two largest rocks.

Here they stayed for the rest of the lunch hour, eating and laughing, both glad that they had someone there with them. They didn't need all of the popular kids to like them. They each had one real friend, and that was infinitely better than a hundred fake ones.

Ross settled down into his seat in the back for the last class of the day. This was the class he'd been looking forward to most since the start of school, science.

Right when the bell rang, five girls entered the room.

One of them was Rachel.

Ross granted himself one look at her face, and then looked back down at his desk.

She sat far away from him, with all of her many popular friends. This was how it was going to be for the next four years. She'd sit with her friends, he'd sit alone. He knew he'd never stop loving her, but he would have to be content to admire from afar. It was just the way it was.