The unquestionable best part of every school day, lunchtime. Let’s face it, the majority of every school day sucks. Stuffy classrooms, hard-nosed teachers, and know it all classmates; it is downright awful. You look around in the halls and everyone has the same exhausted miserable look on their face. But, as if it was magic, the second I walk into the lunchroom my frown instantly turns upside down. The aroma of fresh chicken sandwiches and melt in your mouth chocolate chip cookies immediately fills my nostrils. Almost like the effect a Band-Aid has on a toddler, the pain is gone and everything is A ok.
I walk over to the lunch line that seems to wrap around the entire cafeteria. I nonchalantly cut everyone; I am a senior after all. I get to the front of the line and the smell and look of the crispy bacon seems to put me into a trance. I snap out of it and order what I order everyday: a chicken sandwich with hot sauce, ranch, lettuce, tomato, bacon, salami, and Muenster cheese. Heaven on a roll. I drool over it as I walk to the cash register, barely restraining myself from downing it on the spot. I get to my lunch table of six of my closest friends and before I even acknowledge them, I delve into my sandwich. The majority of them are doing the same thing so there are never any hard feelings. We all understand what a glorious moment this is. We have been waiting all day for this and nothing could ruin the experience.
As I eat I talk to my friends and look around the Cafeteria. All the different cliques and groups of people fascinate me. Our high school is definitely not as separated as schools in the movies and TV shows, but when you look around at lunchtime the different groups are definitely prevalent. The table to the left of my bros and me is the table of girls we hangout with. I am convinced that you could smell the hairspray and perfume from miles away. Their high-pitched chattering and gossip is constant. You can always count on a “I cannot believe she wore that today!!” or a “OMG how could he do that” every day. The next table over is the super smart kids. They always have laptops and homework all over the table, they may just work the whole time and not even eat. I guess I would call the table next to theirs our “goth group.” They are not devil worshippers or anything by any means, but they wear dark clothes and keep to themselves. Sometimes it seems as if they go the entire lunch period without saying a word. Over from them are the athletes. I am close with a lot of these kids and hangout at this table a lot during wrestling season. They’re always eating healthy, a challenging task in our cafeteria. There are about five other tables but I would not say they belong to a clique per say. I guess you could label them floaters. I feel as if I can analyze that cafeteria forever.
The Cafeteria is an escape from the long tumultuous days of High School and I will forever have a deep appreciation for it.
