The hallway seemed to go on forever. He’d had this dream before, where the corridor grew longer with each step. But this was no dream, and he knew he’d reach the end and open the door, sooner or later. And he did.
The cafeteria was bursting with sights and sounds and smells. Clumps of children, jumping, sitting, walking, standing in their uniforms, laughed and talked as they clattered their trays on the tables. The plaid skirts swirled through Vin’s pupils, bright red against the blinding white shirts. Only the gray pants and navy jackets of the boys kept his eyes from exploding out of their sockets. The smell of old grease and overcooked meat engulfed the room – today had to be meatloaf. It was somehow magnified in the din of chaos and conversation.
Vin commanded his mind to stop swirling amidst the confusion and focus on the task at hand. He had a job to do.
His previous school had been a different life, a life he didn’t want. They teased him there, constantly.
“Oh, Vin,” they’d say, “You’re so quiet.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Cat got your tongue?”
The teachers were the worst. They’d talk about him like he wasn’t even there. “He’s just shy,” they’d say. “Just leave him alone. He’ll make friends when he’s ready.”
I’ll show them how shy I am, he thought.
He entered the cafeteria, into the jaws of madness, and walked toward Angela Horvath. Angela was officially The Prettiest Girl in the World, Ever, an elfin beauty with large green eyes and coils of black hair that bounced flirtatiously when she laughed.
Angela. Vin’s heart beat a staccato rhythm as he moved closer. His hands were sweaty and shaking, his fingers carefully caressing the grey object in his pocket.
At last, he stood before her, throat dry and face flushed with fear and excitement. She looked up from her lunch and practically knocked him down with her stare.
“Why, hello, Vin,” she said, a teasing smile on her full, pink lips.
“I,” he whispered, his voice crackling.
“You, what?”
“I,” he began again. The words were pushed out of his mouth, forced by sheer will. “I… brought… you… something.”
“Really?” She smiled brightly, anticipating.
Swallowing hard and breathing deeply, Vin pulled his hand out of his pocket and placed it on her tray. Then he opened it.
Angela’s scream was the rich, full-throated variety found in horror movies; she nearly rattled the windows of the old school. Her wail stopped all other noise, all motion. Even the odors ran from the room. She leapt from her chair and ran backward, gasping in terror.
The lunchroom supervisor ran over. “Angela, dear, what happened?”
Alternately pointing to her tray and to Vin, Angela squeaked something unintelligible. The older woman looked at the young boy standing on the other side of the table. Then she looked at Angela’s tray. She reached down carefully and scooped up the source of Angela’s dismay.
“Young man, did you put a mouse on Angela’s lunch?” she demanded.
“Yes, ma’am,” Vin said.
“I think you’d better come with me to the principal’s office.” The woman looked into her hand and cooed to the frightened mouse. “It’s okay, sweetie.”
Her hand on his back, Vin turned and walked toward the exit. As he passed by Michael Walters, the coolest boy in sixth grade, he heard, “Way to go, Vinnie.”
Vin smiled. Today was the beginning of his new life.
The End.
