"When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible." - When Harry met Sally
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I personally think the best and worst thing about high school is lunch. First of all, you have annoying kids who are obnoxiously loud and spend their time telling false stories about their lives when in reality, their lives are very dull. I was that kid once, and I'm so glad I'm not anymore.

Lunch was crucial to so many people in high school. To some people, it was what they went to bed dreading. To others, they think about what they should've said to that bítch in the lunch line. But for some people, it's their paradise. For me, it was just a place I could  read a book and listened to music, trying to drown out the white noise of everyday life.

I felt the thud of people sitting at my table before I saw them. My book was ripped from my hands and my head phones pulled from my ears and all I could do was glare.

"You didn't really think we were going to let you sit by yourself on your birthday, did you?" Autumn smiles while Derek and Haden glare at her. Her intentions were pure, sure. But sometimes this girl was just annoying as hell.

"I mean, I was kind of hoping you would," I sigh, letting my arms extend and stretch. A playful smile fell onto Haden's face when he looked at me.

"Looks like someone is still a negative Nancy." He chimes in a sing-song voice and my glare is now directed at him," Aren't you just a little ray of sunshine." He smiles even more at me, knowing he's irritating me.

If there was one thing Haden was exceptionally good at, it was annoying people. He could make people crumble. I think that's why he and I gravitated to each other in first grade. I think that's why all of us gravitated to each other.

"Yeah, well, I'm just going to get back to reading my book," I gently tug it out of Autumn's hand and get back to munching on my apple while she still awkwardly smiles at me. Derek's eyebrow raises, almost in an amused way.

"Go ask Alice? Really? You do know how that book ends, right?" He smiles deviously and I immediately know what's coming. Shaking my head, I try to stand from my feet but he's already around the table and cornering me in.

"You know she dies, right? She develops a drug addiction and dies. Great story though, 10/10." The glint of amusement is still in his eyes when I throw the book at him and smack him in the face with it.

"You're a real dick, you know that?" I hiss at him. Haden watches the exchange with delight in his eyes. He was always one for drama. He just sits there and sips on his lemonade while Autumn shoots him a look.

"And you're a real bitch, Angel. I thought we already knew all about each other already," he sighs exhaustedly and now it's my apple being thrown at him.

"I told you not to call me that! My name is Angelina! When will you realize this?" I almost scream, trying not to draw attention to us. I used to like the attention but now I hate it.

"I called you that for ten, almost eleven years, Angel. That's not going to stop because you went crazy, cut your hair, and started only eating apples for lunch! I mean really, who are we kidding here? I defend you, we all defend you but who the hell are we defending? You're not Angel anymore!" he exclaims, drawing attention from everyone in the cafeteria now. His words echo loud and clear in my mind.

My fingers absentmindedly touch my hair thats almost to the length it used to be before I cut it. I hold back the tears I have in my eyes. It's no use crying anymore. I shed too many tears already.

"You're right, so stop fucking calling me Angel. My name is Angelina," I proclaimed these words evenly before heading towards the lunch room doors.

"That was amazing," Haden sighs pleasantly, clapping his hands in glee. I almost don't hear the sound of both Haden and Derek getting one of Autumn's smacks. I almost smile at that noise, until I remember I don't have a reason to smile anymore.
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It's truly awkward when you have two classes back to back with the people you've been trying to erase from your mind right after lunch. It's even more awkward when you basically got screamed at by one of the three people in the lunch room.

The bell for lunch ended two minutes ago but I had already been sitting in my A.P English class for ten minutes. I had never in my wildest dreams thought I'd become one of those kids but here I was.

"Angelina, did you submit your short story into the competition yet?" Mrs. Kentwood's voice called to me excitedly. She'd been pressuring me to submit this shitty writing I did into another shitty competition. She'd practically been begging me to do this since the year began, but I didn't want to.

"I told you how I felt about that, Mrs. Kentwood. It's no point. You don't find out the results for a year," I say, scratching my arm.

"Yes, I know, but-"

I shake my head, silencing her.

"For a year," I remind her, tossing my hair over my shoulder and returning my eyes to a new book she lent me.

She sighs, going back to writing her lesson plan on the board for our class. She was disappointed, but so was I.

"Okay class, we're going to be doing something exciting today! A group activity!"

Now, this brings me to another subject. Another one of either a students favorite phrase, or one that made a student secretly wish their teacher got hit by a semi on their way home from work. Either way, this phrase is iconic.

"We will be working in groups of two for this project. The title of this project is called Dreamer. I am very excited about this!"

More groans echoed from inside the class room, but I shot smelly Lucy a look and she smiled at me too.

That girl stunk bad but we were always each other's partners in situations like this. Maybe I'd have the courage to introduce her to some soap and toothpaste this time.

"With this project, you'll be getting to know your partner and partners. You'll classify if the person is a dreamer or a realist. You'll be getting to know the person again, but maybe through a different prospective."

I wanted to bang my head on the fucking desk. I wanted to jump off the nearest bridge. I wanted to-

"This is intended to help you when analyzing characters. Sometimes people miss the point of a character by focusing on all their flaws. With this, it'll show you that we as people are flawed, but beautifully flawed. Usually we are also flawed with good intention."

A snort came from Derek's mouth and I could tell he thought this was a load of shit. I was smirking at some of the sarcastic things I could already imagine him saying.

"So, start working on the questionnaire on your desks while I get the last bits of the project ready."

Before looking at the questionnaire sheet, I saw Autumn and Haden go up to Mrs. Kentwood's desk with mischievous smiles on their faces. I shrugged my shoulders, letting the awkwardness I suddenly felt start to creep up my spine fade away.

1. Do you consider yourself a dreamer?

2. Do you consider yourself a realist?

3. What are your aspirations in life ?

4. What was a moment that deeply hurt you?

5. Who is someone you want to apologize to?

6. Who is someone you'd like to get to know?

7. What's a silly dream you have?

8. What's a regret you have?

9. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?

10. Who is your biggest inspiration?

Now look, I liked Mrs. Kentwoood, I really did. What the actual hell were these questions? I answered them all as truthfully as I could but they were bullshit, generic questions that could have an endless amount of answers. Maybe that was her point.

"Okay, class. It has come to my attention that some people feel uncomfortable with selecting partners so I'm going to do it myself," she shot Autumn and Haden a sly grin and I could hear them giggle from here.

Lucy and I looked at each other and I grimaced for her. Poor girl, I know how badly they talk about her. The girl was shaking in fright. Probably having another one of her anxiety attacks. I smiled at her and she tried to smile back at me but I could tell she wanted to crawl into a hole and die when Mrs. Kentwood started naming off names.

"Autumn Valentine and Haden Jackson, you're the first group." Maybe that's what they went up there for. To insure that's who they got as a partner. A moment of panic goes into my body at this realization. If they were partners, and they spoke to Mrs. Kentwood, who the hell would Derek be partners with?

I spun around fast, only to see that Haden and Autumn were smirking at me feeling pleased with themselves. I could see Derek connecting the dots before he whirled round and glared at them too, shaking his head but it was too late.

"Angelina Montgomery and Derek Hayes."

*pretends to be shocked* omg, we totally didn't expect that that would happen, right guys??

Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting. I love you!

-Aarika