Lunch is just about the weirdest time of day for me...

I've had a lot of awkward experiences in the cafeteria, but here I've thrown together some of the funniest. I know school is over and it seems kind of out-dated, but ah well. Enjoy.

I was in the lunch line (an exceptionally long one, at that), trying to read what the special was today. There were people blocking the paper with the food choices of that day, so I had to lean over in order to read it. I was straining my eyes, trying to make out what it says, when all of a sudden I realize that the person in front of me is staring at me. He was a sixth grader from the other cluster, and I knew who he was but I didn't know him. He was just looking at me, and I was looking at him. Suddenly, he made a weird face and said awkwardly, "Hello, h-h-hi. Just..." With that he turned around. A few seconds later, he looked back at me, and asked, "Do you like to paint your nails?" I said I didn't, and he responded, "Okay, just wondering."

Some time later I was in the lunch line again. Right behind me were some eighth graders that are quite strange. I've seen them around and laughed at them, but this was probably the strangest. There was one girl who is friends with them (who I will call Jill), but was farther ahead in line. She came back to her friends. "Why are you standing so far back in the line?" she began. "There's a perfectly good spot right there and you are too afraid to cut! Come on." One of the girls decided to go with her, but just as she did, the lunch line moved forward. Jill seemed annoyed. "Honey, they just blocked our entrance," she said to her friends.
Later that same day, the girls had split off into two groups. One of them got a lunch tray that said "Do not Litter" on it. She suggested that she and another girl (who I will call Paula) switch trays because aparantly Paula littered a lot. Jill turned around and said, "I bet I litter more than you!" Paula laughed and said that once she had had a whole pack of soda bottles, and there was a trash can right next to her, but she dropped it on the ground. "You do litter a lot," Jill said.

Some time later I was in the lunch line again. Right behind me (this beginning sound familiar?) were a few annoying eighth graders. One of them, who I will call Lawrence, complained that he didn't get enough popcorn chicken. He asked all his friends if he could have some of theirs, and they said no. Then he asked me, and I said no. Suddenly Lawrence looked at me as if he were completely confused and asked, "are you a boy or a girl?" He was being really annoying, so I just ignored him, thinking it would come to nothing. But I was wrong. By the time I left the line, he was arguing with all his friends about whether I was male or female. It was sort of awkward. But I didn't really mind until, about five minutes later, I heard that Lawrence had brought it up with everybody at the table he was sitting at. I started laughing as I listened to their conversation. It went something like this:
"She's sitting-"
"You mean it's sitting."
"Sure, it's sitting at a table with all girls, so obviously, it's a girl."
"But there is a boy sitting next to it!"
"That's a girl, Micheala."
"Oh, you're right."
Another five minutes or so past when one girl sitting at the same table as Lawrence leaned over and asked me my name. So for your information, my name is now Wanda.

-Marianne