At lunch, Dana quickly found himself in similar circumstances. After being jostled about by other students standing in line, Dana was disappointed by the surprisingly limited lunch menu when it came his turn to choose. He quickly settled on beef stew, but had second thoughts as he watched the be-netted lunch lady spoon the stew into a bowl. It didn’t look at all appetizing, but Dana kept his mouth shut and took the bowl from the lunch lady with a smile. Placing the bowl on his tray, he maneuvered his way past several students loitering between tables as they chatted idly with friends and carried his tray of suspicious cuisine to the first empty table he spotted. He didn’t want to sit at a table that was already populated, mainly because he knew from past experience that placing himself in too close proximity of anyone else would lead them to assume he was trying to join their group.

He found a seat which seemed far enough away from anyone else that it couldn’t be presumed he was trying to insinuate himself uninvited into their midst. Dana took a seat and proceeded to pick at his unappetizing lunch. As he did so, he surreptitiously scanned the lunchroom. It was in no way densely populated, but Dana noticed the demarcation between white and Métis students he’d witnessed in class extended even to the lunchroom.

Just as Dana was working up the courage to take a bite of his lunch, he found himself suddenly surrounded. There was an uncomfortable scraping of chairs against the linoleum floor and then Dana was confronted from across the table by a pair of attractive hazel eyes. He remembered the young man from Anthropology class this morning. He was the one leading the group of stragglers.

“You’re the new chief deputy’s kid, right?” Hazel Eyes said as Dana closed his mouth and lowered his spoonful of lunchroom goop. Without bothering to ask if he could sit down, Hazel Eyes plopped into the folding chair across from Dana. The other three boys followed his lead, effectively surrounding him at the small, round table.

“Ah, yeah. That’s me.” Dana replied. “How do you know who I am?”

“Well, you were introduced in class and Ricky knew the name cause his old man’s the Sheriff.” As he explained, Hazel Eyes thrust his thumb in a dark haired boy’s direction, indicating that he was Ricky. Or, did he point at the guy with the light brown hair beside the dark haired one?

When Dana didn’t say anything else, Hazel Eyes studied him thoughtfully. The larger boy’s gaze fell to the tray and the bowl of stew.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually eating that junk?”

“Ah…” Dana hesitated. “No?”

One of the other boys… Ricky?... leaned forward. He pointed at the stew. “I wouldn’t eat that trash. You never know what’s in it…”

That said, the young man cast a disdainful glance toward the line of students that Dana had just come from. The line was made up of both white and Métis students, though the majority was Métis. Behind the counter, a middle-aged woman in a hairnet busily scooped the stew into bowls and handed them to passing students. She looked to be Métis, judging from her bronze complexion and the black hair that peeked through her hairnet.

It took him a moment, but Dana realized the young man meant he wouldn’t eat anything made by the Métis cook.

Dana started to open his mouth. He didn’t know exactly what he was going to say, but he felt compelled to disabuse Ricky of his mistaken belief… even if it got him a punch in the nose for his trouble. Unfortunately, Hazel Eyes spoke up, effectively distracting him from his friend.

“So, new kid… me and the boys are heading out after classes to get some real food. Would you like to join?” Hazel Eyes asked with a smile and Dana was struck by how handsome the young man was.

He didn’t know if it was due to him being enchanted by a pair of pretty eyes and a charming smile or if it was due to boredom and dissatisfaction at moving to this frozen land, but Dana found himself agreeing to join them. He wanted to make friends and do something to pass the time other than scores of homework or unpacking the many boxes of his old life the movers had stacked into his new room.