3 Chapter 3: Canteen
Chapter 3: Canteen
Elaine and I usually pass notes during elementary days, so in high school it has been the same. It was so boring during social studies class, so our passing notes went this way:
Elaine: Hailey! Why are you frowning?
Hailey: It’s embarrassing to say this, but I haven’t seen any guy worth crushing on today. I thought we’ll see cuter guys in high school.
Elaine: Don’t worry! I’m pretty sure he’s just around!
Hailey: Giving up on the idea. This is a very boring first day of class.
Elaine: The day is not yet over, girl!
Hailey: Yeah, right. The day is over once I die here of boredom. What was Mr. Libertad talking about?
Elaine: I’m not listening but I’m pretty sure it’s all about the Egyptian hiero-something again.
Hailey: I think Mr. Libertad is looking at us.
Elaine: Duh, he is looking at everyone. Okay, I’ll just talk to you after—
“Hailey Madrigal?”
Mr. Libertad is in the middle of his Egyptian hieroglyphics discussion when he called me. Elaine pretended to read the book while poking my arm.
“Are you Trevor’s sister?”
That dreaded question again. I look at Elaine who is hiding a grin. She understands how annoying these particular compare and contrast situations are.
“Uh, yes Mr. Libertad.” I hide my annoyance by gritting my teeth.
“He is really a smart guy.” His glasses caught a streak of sunlight when he looks at me. I took a deep breath. I got the weird anticipation that he’s expecting greater things from me than anyone in this class just because I am Einstein’s brother.
The air grew warmer, or is it just the look at Mr. Libertad’s face when he scanned my face?
He started pacing back and forth, a classic professor’s routine. He began zealously reciting the same “house rules” again. We bored ourselves to death while listening about the usual textbook requirements, tardy slips, disciplinary reports, and projects about constructing mini pyramids.
I glance at the back, and one guy named Kurt Merto winked at me. He went to middle school with us before. I ignored his failed flirtation.
A few moments later, a guy behind me passed a pink crumpled note that said my name in front. The words were written in glitters:
“Corey got cuter. –Amanda
I looked around to see Amanda Torres, a brunette with straight pristine white teeth who probably also got her nose fixed over the summer, giving me a thumbs up and a fake smile. I want to puke, but I still flash her a patient grin. The “cute” word that most girls describe my brothers makes me sick, and the word “cuter” is sending me for a mental breakdown.
***
“Hmm, at least she doesn’t like Greg,” Christine said while biting her fingernail over lunch when I told them about Amanda liking Corey.
“Don’t tell me…you still like that jock brother of mine!” I can’t accept the truth that she’s still obsessed with my brother.
“Isn’t he just the cutest one?” Christine teased. Her dreamlike disposition is coupled with a sigh and an obvious daydream as she forks her food.
“Oh, please!” I roll my eyes at her while I eat my burger and drank my soda. “Greg doesn’t care about anything else in this world aside from soccer! The happiest day of his life is during the FIFA World Cup! If you ask him anything about the current dollar value in the stock market, he won’t know anything. He couldn’t probably mention five past presidents of USA! And I don’t think he’s going to college! I’m sorry, Chris, my brother couldn’t buy you a house!”
Christine, who was not insulted by my slander to my brother, merely giggled at every sentence I said.
Months ago, she would have stopped talking to me at an instant, but she might have realized how I despised my brothers for making my life miserable every day. So instead of getting mad, she merely chuckles.
She patted my back hard. “Chill, Hailey! Greg is fine. He’s probably very immature right now because he’s just enjoying his life! I’m pretty sure he’ll figure out what he would like to be next year. Plus, I don’t really think about marriage. I just really want him for a boyfriend!”
Elaine started laughing at how absurd the conversation we are having. I calmed down when I realize that Christine’s feelings are not worth arguing about. Ah, friends. You don’t get along all the time, but there’s laughter after every conversation.
Just then, one of the canteen staff passed by our table, holding a basket of freshly-boiled peanuts.I literally drooled by the sight of it. I’m a sucker for peanuts, especially cashew ones. “I think I want peanuts.”
“You always wanted those peanuts,” Elaine said while I was standing up while digging up some coins from the inside of my pocket.
After the lady gave me the change at the counter, a blond girl with freckles approached me. She must be in junior or senior, judging from the ambiance of her confidence. “Hi, Hailey. I’m Susan Pacheco. I’m one of Trevor’s classmates in World History. Um, I was thinking if you could tell him if we could be partners for the class report.”
Wow, this girl knew my name and had the guts to approach me. I frowned. It immediately sank into me that she’s just talking to me because I’m Trevor’s sister. I can see she’s one of the cheerleaders because I noticed some cheerleaders at a table not far away behind her back who are watching us and talking loudly to each other.
“Yeah, sure. I’ll remember it.” I smile oddly. I back away for a little.
Obviously, I’m not expected to say no to her, and I don’t want to mess with these popular girls, or else I’ll earn the reputation as being a stuck-up freshman.
I was about to exit when she touched my shoulder. “Well, thank you for it. You would really do me a big favor. I was late in class, so I wasn’t able to pick a partner. Our teacher told us that Trevor is doing a report on his own, and she suggested that maybe I could help him.”
Susan blushed a little, and suddenly, I’m starting to warm up to her. Maybe, she just really needed my help and nothing else. She doesn’t actually look mean at first, but I realized that my mind was already clouded with judgment regarding senior pretty cheerleaders.
“Don’t worry, I’ll talk to him when we get home,” I assured her.
She lightened up for one last time as she removed her hand from my shoulder and then went away. She sat back at the table with the other cheerleaders.
I hold the bag of peanuts tighter because I almost forgot about it. That conversation was probably one of the highlights of the day. It got me thinking that my brothers’ reputation in this urban jungle of different predators might become my shield.
I walk with my head down. I am hesitant to pass by the cheerleaders’ table, but I got no choice because the other way was crowded. When I passed by, they all greeted me hello, and so I greeted back (I felt a little bit popular then).
I passed by some boys and was disgusted to see their messy tables with wrappers, half-eaten burgers, and soda spilling all over. I also passed by two girls who were comparing their tan skins, the geeks discussing about Algorithm, the school comedians who were talking about Ms. Adele (we’ll get to her later), and a computer geek who’s alone with his laptop.
I glanced at the wall clock nearby that read that the next period will start in ten minutes. I sigh, realizing that I will only have five minutes to savor my peanuts. I decided that I will just eat it on the way to my table, which was still meters away (freshmen usually sit at the far-end of the canteen). I was ripping the bag of peanuts in vain upon returning to our table.
I was disturbed when I heard a guy laughing from behind, and I was paranoid from the horror that I might have sat on a chocolate. It smudged behind my back like what happened to Gregory Hefley in the movie “The Diary of A Wimpy Kid,” or if I stepped into something and my shoes smell.
That will be pretty embarrassing, and I don’t want to be humiliated. Not in the first day of classes.
So I lifted my left foot higher and scanned its back. When I’ve concluded that I didn’t step into something, I continued while ripping the bag of my peanuts without looking up until I bumped into someone.
It must have been fatal.
Because I was using all my impatient force to rip my bag of peanuts that was surprisingly tighter than it could have been, my arms clumsily hit his stomach. Out of my imprudent ripping, the bag ripped off clumsily out of too much force that sent all the peanuts out to all directions in the air.
For a second, I was staring into space.
My heartbeat sped up and droplets of perspiration formed around my forehead. Let the ground swallow me alive!
