The bell rang with a sharp clatter, letting everyone know it was time for lunch. The kid next to Madison jerked up from where he'd been dozing all over their desk.
"And remember, I want at least twenty lines on what you thought Robert Frost was talking about here," Mrs. Leilani told them all as everyone began shoving their stuff into their backpacks and moving to leave the room. "And if you write it out, don't be cute and try to extend words as much as possible on the line because I will dock points for that."
Madison was one of the last to leave, walking up to Mrs. Leilani and handing over her analysis of The Road Not Taken, over thirty lines long. Mrs. Leilani just smiled and shook her head. "Oh Madison," she said, taking the paper. "You're too smart for all of this, you know that right?"
Madison blushed, uncomfortable with the praise, when Kimberly Grace said, "teacher's pet."
Madison wilted, wanting to disappear right then. Mrs. Leilani turned to Kimberly sharply. "Hey," she said. "None of that. Both of you go on to lunch." Then, as Madison turned to leave, she stopped her. "Hey, don't let them get you down, ok? There's nothing wrong with being smart."
Madison knew that. Deep down. Didn't make it feel any better though. "Thanks," she said quietly. "I'll see you next class."
She walked out of the room and down the hallway to the stairs, joining the dwindling crowd as they all made for the cafeteria. As usual, there was a hustle and bustle to it in people's eagerness to take a break from class, grab some food, and chat with friends. Madison tried to stay to the outskirts of it all, wanting to just slip quietly into the cafeteria and grab her lunch and go quietly to her little corner away from it all. But that hope lasted approximately seven seconds before some guys crashed into her, nearly knocking her over and causing her to drop her book.
Hey, person walking here! she wanted to call out but she just sighed and kneeled down, picking it up again before making her way to the cafeteria. The atmosphere was loud and boisterous, the constant chatter of people like a low buzz in the back of her mind. Sometimes she wished she could just have a private tutor. Her life would be so much easier that way. But her parents claimed she spent too much time alone in her room already and wanted her to be more social. Apparently, eating lunch where shouting across the room made your point would help her out.
She took her place in the lunch line, waiting patiently as people grabbed their favorite snacks and treats and found tables. She grabbed her food and walked down the line to where the desserts were placed, hoping to get some chocolate pudding, but there were several people in her way.
"Did you see what she was wearing today? Like, oh my god!"
"I know right!"
"It's like, what is she thinking right now? Those shoes with that top? That is a fashion don't."
Madison tried to squeeze past them but they were completely blocking her way through. All she could do was huff a little and wait for them to be done. But the conversation didn't seem like it would be ending anytime soon, the girls just chatting on. Madison felt like crying out in exasperation. All she wanted was to grab her pudding and find her seat. But after another minute, she gave up, heading for the corner table, sitting down with a slump and eating grumpily. Eustace was already sitting there and looked up in surprise at her sudden entrance but lost interest pretty quickly, going back to his drawings while Madison pulled out her science homework, deciding to at least get Mr. Warners work done so she didn't have to worry about it.
She heard them coming before saw them, some of the background chatter getting louder than the rest. "Nah man, Joshua Williamson is the best Flash writer, hands down."
"Are you kidding? It's Mark Waid. He did Return of Barry Allen, Born to Run, Terminal Velocity."
Madison looked up and saw Travis with a large, muscular kid. She blinked as she realized they were talking about comic books. That wasn't a surprise for Travis, he never stopped talking about them. But this guy? He looked like a professional football player. Why would he be into that?
"Ok, I admit Waid's run was fantastic, but Williamson just beat him. Oh hey Madison," Travis said, sitting down. "This is my new friend Franklin. Guess what? He likes comic books too."
"I, uh…noticed," Madison nodded. "Hi, I'm Madison."
He nodded at her, as if filing her name away but Madison was pretty sure he'd forget it by the end of the day. Most did.
"And this is Eustace," Travis gestured. "Sup, Eustace. What are you drawing today?"
Eustace paused, eyeing him hesitantly. He was the quietest kid in the school. Madison honestly didn't think he'd strung together more than ten words into a sentence and more than ten sentences in a given week. Not that she could blame him considering how socially inept she was.
After a few seconds, Eustace relented and showed his drawing. It was a rough sketch of the cafeteria with all the kids walking around or eating their lunch. Despite not knowing much about art, even Madison could tell it was very good.
"Wow, Eustace. Another masterpiece," Travis praised.
"Damn, that is really good," Franklin muttered.
Eustace's cheeks reddened slightly before he went back to drawing.
"Not that much of a talker, huh? Don't worry, I've been told I do enough talking for 3 people, so I got you covered."
As he started eating, Travis eyed her homework and chuckled a little. "Wow, already?" he smiled. "I kind of wish I was like that, getting it done quickly. I'm more of a 'finish it up a few minutes before class' kind of guy."
Madison couldn't help but smile back. "That's why you need a tutor." As soon as she said it, her stomach clenched and her heart started pounding. Why had she said that? Why? Travis was always so nice to her and she had ruined it saying that. He was going to hate her now, glare and call her names.
But he just laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right. What can I say, I'm a big procrastinator."
Madison felt herself relax, her heart beat returning to normal. She didn't know why, but early last year, after their lab partnering on a project, he had started sitting next to her and Sumin at lunch. No reason behind it, he had just plopped down, eating his sandwich, and asked her how she was doing. Even Sumin had never done that, though they weren't too talkative in the first place. Ever since then, Travis had always sat down with her. While his love of comic books and superheroes and such was a little annoying at times, she had found that he could actually keep up with her when she talked code and programming. She was a computer geek, always thinking about what program to try out next. But she'd never had anyone to talk about it with. Granted, Travis wasn't as into it as she was but he was able to follow along enough for her to, as he put it, 'word barf' all over him. She had snorted the first time he said that. And just like that, they'd become friends. Her only other friend besides Sumin.
Speaking of which, she noticed Sumin walking up now with a lunch box in tow. They didn't really eat school lunches, preferring to make their own. Madison saw them pause for a second, seeing Franklin at the table, before looking over at Madison with a questioning expression.
"Hey Sumin," Travis greeted. He then muttered to Franklin, "they/them pronouns," to which Franklin blinked and nodded. "This is Franklin, he's new here. Guess what? He loves comic books too."
Sumin nodded slowly at that. "Good for you." They turned to Franklin. "Hello, I'm Sumin."
"Franklin," he replied.
Madison tuned them out, focusing on her homework. Part of her wished for the old days when her table was quiet. Sumin didn't talk much in general, preferring mostly to listen to people, and their chess club had lunch meetings every other day while Eustace barely talked at all, keeping to himself or his drawings. So she was able to have some peace and quiet as well as some privacy. But, she also knew she had been alone a lot. And the problem with being alone a lot was that she got, well, lonely. Still, sometimes it was better than all the chatter Travis constantly made.
Travis suddenly stood up. "Sorry, brb. Gotta get something."
Franklin turned to Madison. "So, what are you into?"
"Uh…computers," she replied slowly, not sure what else to say. Computers was a little vague since what she was actually into was computer programming and interface.
"Cool," he nodded but she could already see he didn't really understand. He seemed like he wanted to say something else but didn't know what. Madison sighed inwardly. This was exactly like everyone else, even her parents. Not sure how to talk to someone like her.
"Here you go," Travis suddenly said, placing a chocolate pudding in front of Madison.
She paused for a second, just blinking at the pudding and not comprehending. Then she looked up at him. "You got me this?" she asked, for clarity's sake.
"Yeah, I noticed you didn't have one and you usually do so I figured you must have forgotten or there was a long line or something so I went and got one," he shrugged like it was no big deal.
Madison stared at him for a few seconds before looking down, not sure what to say. No one had ever done that for her before. No one had ever noticed something about her like that before. She didn't know what she was supposed to do next so she settled on saying, "thank you."
"No problem." He flashed her a grin. "Now, I agree that Return of Barry Allen is the best Flash story, but you have to admit…"
Madison tuned him out, just stared down at the pudding, still puzzled about it and the strange new feelings that were spreading through her insides. She eventually went back to her homework but those feelings lingered inside all throughout the rest of the day.