‘Go find a new place to sit’. I almost scoffed. Yeah, whatever, Josh. You just don’t want any of your friends to like me, because then, you’d have to like me.
It was remarkably easy to find a table where the people sitting at it didn't mind me being there. I walked over to a mostly-empty table, with only a very studious-looking guy (identified by the book he was flipping through as he ate his lunch) and another guy who was almost too enthralled in his phone to notice that I’d even walked up.
“Can I sit here?” I asked the first guy, because he seemed to be more aware of his surroundings.
He looked up from the book. I peeked at the pages-- muscle structures of mythical creatures. “Sure,” he said, shrugging. As I sat down, he added, “I’m Mark. That’s Tom.” He gestured at the other guy.
I nodded to both of them. “I’m Ezra. My jock roommate told me that I couldn’t sit with his crew anymore.”
“Yeah, Josh Preston’s a general dick.”
“Oh, you know him?” I got myself a serving of mashed potatoes.
Mark shrugged. “A lot of people have. I’m not surprised that you haven’t, though. You’re mostly in the AP classes, right?”
“Yeah?”
“Josh Preston’s also dumb as shit.” He flipped to the page with the skeleton of Cerberus, the three-headed hellbeast. “I don’t know how he’s still on the football team, with his grades.”
“Because he’s a good player,” Tommy argued, finally speaking. “They don’t rat on him because they need him to win games.”
“Mm, maybe.” Mark took another bite of food. “So, Ezra. What’s living with him like?”
“He’s dumb as shit.”
Mark laughed. Even Tommy cracked a smile at that.
“How so?” Mark asked.
I shrugged. “Forgetful. Terrible time management. Oh, and he’s a total dick, too.”
“As expected of Josh,” Mark agreed, nodding.
Tommy nodded as well, setting his phone aside. “Yeah, that seems like it would be expected.”
I rolled my eyes, eating some more of my food. “He’s pretty bad. I just want to live in peace, but you know what he did this morning? He knocked into me-- on purpose-- and didn’t even try to be nice about it. ‘Whoops, didn’t see you there’ my ass.”
“Did you do anything back?” Mark asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Of course.” I thought back to it, and despite myself, adopted a small, smug smile. “I knocked into him head-on. He dropped his phone, and I said, ‘Oops, I guess I didn’t see you there’.”
“Good job, man!” Tommy offered me a high five, and I took advantage. “And the makeup is sick, by the way.” He gestured around my face. “You look so punk-rock.”
“I’m goth, but whatever.” I laughed. “Punk-rock is close enough.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. You have to do it for me sometime. How expensive is all that?”
“A lot. But that’s not the topic of discussion. We’re complaining about Josh Preston.” I gestured over my shoulder to my roommate’s table.
“I can’t complain much. He’s a great football player, even if he’s a terrible person. And I don’t live with him, or have any person experience dealing with him like Mark does…” He shot Mark a meaningful look.
I also gave Mark a look, mine questioning.
Mark sighed. “He got me suspended over a mechanical pencil. It’s a long story. Anyway, he’s kind of a dick. Ignore whatever he does, just pretend he isn’t there, yeah? It’s the best course of action.” Mark jabbed his fork into the air, in my direction. “Ignore him and he’ll ignore you. That’s what you want if you want to live peacefully with him.”
“Just… ignore him?”
“Just ignore him.”
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