When the bell rang for lunch, most of the students scrambled out the door as if their lives depended on it.

Katherine, on the other hand, finished up jotting down notes from the class while flipping through the syllabus, thinking about what the teacher discussed and what she could do to get ahead of her assignments to ensure she got an A.

Kyle placed a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up at him and blinked, totally taken out of her trance of putting together a schedule based off her first four classes, which was plenty to build a schedule out of. She had to make sure everything got done properly, smoothly, and ahead of time, always adjusting for leeway in case things came up. And things always came up, like Kyle placing a hand on her shoulder.

“You coming?”

“For what?” she said, narrowing eyes on his hand.  

He laughed, lifting his hand as if to say I come in peace and mean no harm. “You know, there’s this thing called lunch where us humans eat.” The way he said it reminded her of a first date might look like with him.

Kyle certainly wasn’t a young boy, nor was he timid. While Katherine wasn’t the type to be asked out, Maylin always let her know all the gossip in that area. Providing Katherine with social media links of other students, and about who was dating whom, and other steamy topics involving social speculation. It was like Maylin was infected with fear of missing out syndrome, thus causing her to obsess and push away the very thing she claimed to want. It was another example of disorder.

If Maylin had spent half of her time focusing on school, she wouldn’t be a straight-C student that was barely passing, but rather a B-plus student with potential and options. Why couldn’t she see that? Was the adolescent mind really that underdeveloped to not understand that now was the time to reach for potential and grow as a human being.

Katherine let out a sigh, feeling a bit exhausted from the efforts of the day, especially since her stomach suddenly began to growl, making her the embarrassed one again. “Yeah, I’ll be joining. Just give me a minute to finish up, okay?”

Kyle nodded, placing one hand in pocket. “Okay, I’ll see you there. I need make a pitstop before that.”

She suddenly wondered what this “pitstop” entailed, and if it involved another girl, not that that was any of her business. Still, she felt a little jealous, which made her wonder why she was such a silly and conflicted girl. This kind of conflicted thinking was what led to disorder, and she didn’t want that. Didn’t want that at all. So she committed to maintaining the order.

And she was glad he was leaving, at least for now, because that placement of his hand against her shoulder… did things to her, and she wasn’t sure what to do with said things, so she just filed them away in a compartment of emotions and confusion and finished up what she was doing before said touch of hand to said shoulder.