~Chapter 3~

Michelle hesitantly walked towards the lunchroom.

Damn, first day of school and I don’t know anyone yet.  Who am I going to sit with?

Michelle skimmed the crowded room for a familiar, or even the least bit welcoming face.  Her eyes landed on a group near the corner of the 
room.  

Yes, she did recognize a certain two girls.  She had made small talk with them in her homeroom and she had her second period class with one of 
them.  What were there names again?  Oh yes, Erin and Taylor.  Adjusting her backpack comfortably on her shoulders, she made her way across 
the room towards the click of people, hoping she would be lucky enough to be accepted by them.  She awkwardly approached the group with a hopeful 
smile on her face.  It dropped instantainiously when she noticed two other figures in the group.

Great!  It’s Greg and Jesse! 

Before she could turn around to find another group, she felt a bunch of eyes on her.  The whole group of about 15 people were all watching her.  
She smiled down at everyone, assuming someone out of the crowd must have noticed her.

Erin and Taylor greeted her and motioned for her to sit in-between them.  Quickly, Michelle introduced herself to everyone.  To her 
disappointment, instead of introducing themselves to her in return, they just continued on with their conversations.

Michelle turned to Erin with a questioning look.

Erin just laughed and shrugged her shoulders.  “They’re nice people once you get to know them.  They are just really self-absorbed sometimes.  
See, this group is mainly made up of people who are rich and popular. Most of them are pretty down to earth, but some others—“ She glanced 
quickly over at Jesse, “ Well some others are a little snobby and arrogant even to their own best friends!”

“Hmm” was all Michelle said as she looked around the table, trying to gather in all the different faces.  Erin began to point at each person 
and list off their names.  

“Okay, the girls in the group are me, Lauren, who is my cousin by the way.  Also there’s Jessica, Denise, Taylor, Regina, and Patricia.”  Each 
girl smiled over at them as they heard their name being mentioned.

Erin continued to point everyone out.  “And the guys are Frankie, Matt, Jesse, Greg, and Chris.  Usually other guys sit with us too, but 
there’s some type of basketball match going on, and everyone’s got money placed on it.  So half our click is out at the courts right now.”

Michelle just nodded in reply.  She didn’t mention that she already knew Greg and Jesse, she assumed Erin would probably be offended if she 
spoke badly about them, which, she probably would considering they’d annoyed the crap out of her last period.

As Jesse glanced around the table at the girls, his eyes landed on Michelle.  Speaking very loudly and food flying out of his mouth, her took 
notice of her.

“Hey, you’re that girl in my English class.  What’s up?  Where did you move from?”

Michelle just tried to smile politely as she watched the chewed up bits of turkey sandwich fly out of his mouth.  “I used to go to school just 
a little north of here,” she replied curtly.

Her eyes caught site of another guy who was part of her ‘special needs’ class.  As he walked by, he smiled at her and stopped to talk with her.  

The group at the lunch table all became silent as they watched the two communicate with each other.  They were using sign language.  Michelle 
smiled and waived at her friend as he kept walking.

The group just passed around a look of confusion.  Just as quickly as they had become interested, they soon went back to their self-absorbed 
conversations.

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