As the bell chimed, the classroom began to fill with noises of screeching chairs and cheerful voices mingling as everyone began leaving for lunch. Lena placed her books back in her bag, slowly dragging out the process as much as possible, trying to avoid fiddling at her desk alone as everyone seemed to join their friends for lunch. She didn't want to show off how she was alone too much… sure, everyone probably already noticed that, but the thought of sitting alone awkwardly fiddling with her thumbs while looking at everyone else smiling together made her stomach squeeze uncomfortably.
Her mind hummed with unreachable thoughts as she continued placing her books in her bag, slowly closing them one at a time and stacking them even more slowly. She kept her gaze down, seeing the shoes of her classmates, not wanting to look up and see her classmates grouped in their world while she sat alone. Within the empty, too loud humming of her mind, the smooth, beautiful face of a black eyed girl kept appearing.
Lena's slow, turtle-like movements of putting her books in her bag were interrupted, however, as a way too loud voice interrupted the loud brr-ing of her mind.
"Hey Lena…" a loud voice trailed off, making Lena jump. "No, Umire today?" Lena raised her head and saw Luka sitting across from her, casually leaning towards her. Luka's voice was ringing through her ears too loudly.
"What, really?" another girl popped from behind Luka, her voice almost as loud. "I didn't even notice."
Lena's heart thumped lightly in her chest as the two people began talking with each other. She knew Luka but didn't know the name of the other girl. She had long straight brownish red hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, her skin a soft honey brown color.
"So what's for lunch today?" Luka asked head turning away from Lena to face the other girl.
"I heard they're having beef buns…", the girl Lena didn't know the name of started.
Lena instinctively began zoning out the conversation they were having as they began smiling at each other, not looking towards her anymore, her presence seemingly forgotten.
She supposed she would eat lunch by herself today… Despite having done that for her first week of school here, she still felt a disappointing lump in her throat. Umire messed up her usual lonely world despite only having proclaimed Lena as her best friend around 3 days ago. Lena went back to packing her bag slowly and reached for her phone and headphones. If she was going to be back in her world of solitude without Umire, then she would rather not hear the warm world of others around her.
"So Lena you wanna eat with us?" a voice spoke halting her movements as Lena began raising her earbuds to her ears.
Lena froze at the words, turning to look at the two who were looking down at her expectantly.
"Huh…M-Me", Lena stammered.
"No, the ghost behind you," the girl said, and Lena turned to look and see no one behind her.
"Wait, for real, you looked? That's hilarious!" Luka laughed loudly, clutching his stomach. His outburst of laughter made Lena flinch again. "Lena, you're so funny…", Luka said as he caught his breath, calming down from his laughter.
The girl chuckled to herself, albeit not as loudly as Luka. "Yes, you…so what's your answer?"
Lena sat still, looking up at them, her hand close to her ear, holding her earphone. "I…", Lena started. She looked at the two who looked down at her, friendly, no hostility evident on either of their faces. Why on earth would they want her to eat with them? Did they not see how awkward she was… did they want to make fun of her while she sat with them as some weird sort of entertainment?
"Why?" Lena asked, letting out the question that she was shouting in her head.
"Why…", Luka murmured, repeating Lena's question. "Well, I mean, Umire seems to have taken a liking to you, you guys seem super close." Luka started. "I mean, Umire is super popular but…", Luka trailed off as if trying to find the right words. "Well, she doesn't seem to be super close to anyone besides maybe Yuna, but…"
"Though that's more like Yuna attaching herself to her and Umire letting her….", the other girl finished for him.
"I mean yeah…though honestly, Umire usually shakes anyone who tries to get close to her off…Yuna seems to be the only exception." Luka said, leaning his face on his chin in thought.
"They've been like that since forever…they were like that in middle school too…", the other girl chimed in again. "Umire is politely nice to everyone, and Yuna clings to her, the only one who Umire lets be close to her…"
"You're the first one I've seen Umire call bestie~", Luka said, mimicking the way Umire had said bestie before. "We're all pretty curious about her, but there's kinda like an invisible wall that she doesn't let anyone pass."
So they wanted to eat with her because they wanted to know more about Umire…that made sense. Lena thought to herself, finally lowering her hand. No way they would want to hang out with her for her
"Plus, you're the new girl, we're all a little curious about you, but you're always with Umire and…well, it's a bit hard to get in between," the girl added, though Lena could tell that wasn't the main reason. She knew better than to think anyone cared about her existence. A familiar, bitter-tasting tasting ugly feeling began to build in her stomach as she watched the two.
"So you wanna eat with us? I understand if you don't… Sarah is a bit hard to deal with, I would know….still she's not that ba-- OW!"Luka said, but was interrupted as the girl Lena now knew as Sarah whacked him harshly over the back of his head. The impact made him lean forward over his knees and clench his head painfully.
"Shut it…Anyway, Lena, come on, eat with us, please!" Sarah pleaded, putting her hands together, ignoring Luka, who was groaning in pain.
"I…". Lena started. She knew if she ate with them, she would surely embarrass herself. She wasn't good at talking to others or knowing what to say in conversations. She never understood the unsaid hints that people seemed to say without saying, and always stood out awkwardly. But if she said no… a rumour might spread that she thought she was better than everyone, and she would start standing out even more.
The only reason she was able to hang out so freely with Umire was because Umire was so unchangingly warm towards her, no matter how awkward she was. Umire seemed not to care too much about any of that, and despite Umire's often awkward replies in their conversations, Umire's warmth didn't dim, and she never seemed to get bored. At the thought, Lena began to miss Umire… she wished she knew where she was. Umire had said they'd have lunch together and hang out… she wondered what could've been the reason she didn't show up today.
"C'mon, everyone's already gone, the lunch lines are going to be huge!" Luka exclaimed, breaking through Lena's thoughts.
"Shut up Luka your'e so damn loud…", Sarah trailed off. "But c'mon Lena, eat with us, what's the worst that could happen?"
Lena looked around and realized that the classroom was now empty besides the three of them. Luka was lying down on his desk still grumbling about all the good things being taken while Sarah looked down at her with a smile.
"Okay…", Lena stammered her heart hammering in her chest. She knew she would hate every second of this and she was sure the two would regret asking her to eat with them, but she wasn't sure how to refuse them without them thinking bad things about her and she didn't want to be the reason Luka missed the lunch he was so excited for and make him dislike her even more than he would after they realised how awkward he was.
"She says yes, yay!" Sarah cheered.
Luka however quickly rose from his seat and grabbed his bag. "C'mon lets hurry the meat buns are going to be gone!" Luka yelled jogging quickly towards the door.
Sarah sighed as she looked at him before turning to Lena. "Don't mind that idiot, let's go…though we'll probably have to speedwalk because of that idiot."
Lena nodded and got up stiffly as she followed after Sarah, already loathing the awkwardness that was sure to come, her heart aching for Umire's warm, easy presence.