THE BLOODLINE

♧CHAPTER TWO

-C A H T R I N A-

English period went by in a blur as the teacher only made us do introductions and interact with each other for the first class of the semester. Our English teacher’s name is Miss Dorothy Pine. She wore thick rimmed glasses and had a high pitched voice and spoke in perfect English but she was very well poised and fit the role of an English teacher well.

The lunch bell rang at exactly twelve fifteen (12:15 pm) and everyone rushed out of the class and towards the cafeteria. Abbey and I followed the crowd because we were unfamiliar with the building structure. The other students must’ve been given a tour of the school at orientation, which Abbey and I missed due to being out of state.

“Make a line kids!! Or nobody eats smack today!!” the lady behind the buffet line shouted. She seemed to be the head lunch lady as I watched her instruct the other workers what to do along the buffet line. They all wore red aprons with the school logo and head mesh over their heads.

Everyone got in line and patiently went along the lunch line and collect their food then branched off to sit in groups at different tables.

Every school is known to have a social hierarchy that is mainly seen at lunch time but I was not seeing that today. But it was still the first day and too quick to assume that Merl-Grove High school was exempt from such practice.

“You can only have either potato salad or rice with peas and two out of the three proteins available. You cannot get all!!” The same lunch lady shouted again so that she reached all the ears of everyone present in the cafeteria.

“UNDERSTOOD MA’AM” the students shouted in unison.

I was beginning to see some weird traditions at this school so far and one of them is the respect shown to the kitchen staff.

“Earth to Cahty.” Abbey said while she snapped her fingers in front of my face.

“I am here. I was just thinking that our first day, high school experience is a lot different from what I thought it would be like.” I explained to Abbey.

“I am thinking that you expected a bitter girl squad, a loser squad, the sport team, the science nerd squad, the art squad, the cheerleader and the nobodies.” Abbey said, highlighting everything that was on my mind.

“Yes!! That’s exactly what I was expecting. But I see no distinct social Hierarchy.” I told Abbey as I eagerly looked about to see if there was something I missed out on.

“It does exist everywhere but it seems as though it is not as distinct in Merl-Grove as it is in other schools but it definitely does. Look to that group sitting together at the corner tables, everyone has a guitar. And that group in the centre all have a book reading. I am sure if you look around more closely you will realise that it is here but maybe not as brutal as other places.” Abbey said while discreetly pointing out details that I had over-looked.

“Oh yes. That’s true. I was honestly looking out for the movie type attitudes.” I confessed.

*********

We finally reached at the servers in the line and I began to subconsciously befriend the servers. I mean it’s best to be friends with the people who feed you.

“Good day Madams. I hope today has been a great day for you all so far” I said with a wide and genuine smile.

They all responded by telling me that the day is well so far and thanked me for asking. I complemented them on their appearances and expressed how delicious and organised the meal looks.

The whole time Abbey stood beside me rolling her eyes at me.

When we walked away from the lunch line, I had both rice with peas and potato. I also got three types of protein.

I tell out a loud laugh when I looked over to Abbey who was obviously annoyed with me. She didn’t get as much food as I did and we were both foodies.

We quickly found a table and sat down. We ate in silence while observing our surroundings. We took out our phones and started to browse through the net and update our social media and in no time we heard the bell go off, signalling the end of junior lunch break.

Yes.

The seniors have a different lunch time from the junior kids. I wasn’t exactly sure the reason behind it but juniors were rarely ever mixed or exposed to the older students.

**********

Abbey and I gathered our belonging and made our way to Mathematics class which we had for our third period. Along the corridor towards the math class we heard a choir of voices calling out to me and Abbey. When we spun around to see, it was our friends from middle school. We hadn’t seen any of them all day neither at the cafeteria.

Although the Cafeteria was a bit large for us to have seen everyone.

“Hey Justin, Amy, Talia, Mari, Tony, Gracie and Alex!!” I exclaimed all in one breath.

“How are both of you doing? Heard about Princess?” Justin asked.

“No we haven’t. What happened to her?” Abbey asked in concern.

“Her mom died from cancer and her father decided to move them back to Wisconsin.” Alex said in a sigh. He rubbed the back of his head and then looked up at us thoughtfully.

“Gosh man, I don’t even want to think what she is feeling right now. Losing her mom then having to make a change in her environment, must be tough you know.” Alex said again.

“I just wish we had some form of contact number for her just to check up to make sure she is okay you know.” I said in a downer tone. I knew exactly how she feels. I might be unable to remember how my parents looked or behaved but their absence haunts me every single day.

Uncle Teo has been doing more than his expected best yet I still manage to feel that space filled with emptiness. The pain is almost as if piece of you died alongside that person.

“Wasn’t Princess your girlfriend in middle school Tony?” I asked when I realised that he was extremely quiet.

“Yea she was. I mean she broke up with me right after her mom you know…. It was crazy cause I wanted to be there for her so bad but I just didn’t know what in blazers hell to say you know.” He responded with emotion thick in his voice.

“Seem like you really cared for her Tony…” I smiled.

“Of-course he did, they were crazy in love.” Amy replied. She was Tony’s cousin and also one of his best friends.

“Gosh, I never knew those things existed at our age group. Wow, I am stunned.” I said in awe at the new found revelation.

Because uncle Teo and I was so close and he spoke to me on certain matters, I had programmed myself to operate in a specific way. I didn’t believe that young children fully grasped the true understanding of love, therefore I also didn’t believe we were to involve ourselves in complicated matters that were meant for grown-ups.

“Soooooo, I guess we all have the same third period together. So let’s go to class and talk on matters another time.” I suggested, in a desperate need to change the conversation.

“Yes. We are already fifteen minutes late for the class” Gracie spoke up and she seemed to be in the same desperation to change the topic at hand.

We pushed the classroom door and entered the classroom. Every eye turned to see the group that walked into class and had the audacity to be late.

The teacher introduced herself to us as soon as we got to the table and she checked out our class schedule to ensure that we were in his group. When he confirmed that we were actually apart of his class, He began lecturing about being late for him first class.

We promised that it will never happen again, (because technically, it can't. His first class is only once and it is today) and then we proceeded to take a seat and get in the frame of mind for class.

Princess' situation weighed heavily on my mind but I needed to pay attention andbparticipate in class.

*Forty-five minutes Later*

"Sir? Are we starting Algebra on our first day?" a student in front of me asked.

"Actually you have already started algebra in middle school so today we are continuing" he replied with a wide sinister grin.

"And for everyone who was paying attention to the notes given in the last thirty minutes, this should be good news for you and bad news for the rest. So put away your notes every one. It's pop test time kiddos!!" Our evil math teacher sang.

I looked over at Abbey and I could see pure devastation on her face. From pop test in Science to pop test in math. Must really be rough on her as she really hated both subjects as she wasn't really good at them.

"Don't worry kids, this pop test is just to examine the level everyone is at so I will know what teaching strategy to impliment in order to have everyone on the same level. So rest easy and do your best." He said while handing out the papers to each person.

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