Story, An Untitled

Part X of an unfinished story.

Copyright Julia Bydulia.

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"You guys!" Michelle slammed her paper plate of cheese nachos down on the table, followed by her water bottle. Everyone at her lunch table looked up at her. Nella smiled sweetly at her, Craig kept on chewing his crackers, Allen shrugged noncommittally. "Today is the very first time that the cast of the play is getting together! I'm not, um, calling it a rehearsal yet because we don't even have our parts yet. But whatever."

Nella laughed. "You're so cute," she commented, as she usually did.

"Cool," Craig said, though he sounded like she had just told him that his dog died.

Allen stayed hunched over his plate, trying to get as much grease off his pizza as he could. He didn't say anything, though Michelle heard him make a small grunting sound.

None of these were quite the response she wanted. She dug into her nachos, frowning as she did and trying not to get the corn starchy cheese all over her chin, because she knew that Craig would have to make a comment about--

"You've got white stuff all over your face," he told her, giggling like a five year old girl.

Allen jumped on the bandwagon and laughed with him. "I think it missed your mouth," he commented, pointing to the cheese that was on her chin.

Michelle wiped it off as fast as she could. "Shut up, you pervs," she yelled at both of them.

Nella laughed at her, though she looked a bit oblivious as to why Michelle was so angry. She couldn't really keep up with some of the sex related jokes that Allen and Craig loved to make. It was part of the reason that Michelle loved hanging out with her. She never cursed and never said anything bad. On the other hand, it could mean trouble, because Michelle cursed a lot and barely said anything good. Still, she loved Nella.

When Michelle turned around, the first thing she saw was Vincent, his face red from laughter. She smiled and looked around at everyone else at the table. There was Terrence, who was obviously the source of the entertainment, John, egging him on, and Ande, looking glum. How could you ever look that sad sitting with so many hilarious people? she thought.

She recalled all the times that she had been feeling cheery, and then sought out Ande to tell her whatever it was that was making her that way. The cheeriness didn't last long after she found Ande. Somehow, there was always something going horribly wrong or something frustrating her that no one could fix, no matter what they did. Michelle remembered watching Ande sit silently at their lunch table, picking at a tiny salad and staring off into the distance while everyone else laughed and talked to each other. Her eyes were always dead. Dead, that is, until someone gave her the attention she so obviously yearned for.

At her new lunch table, only Vincent gave her the light of day. It was obvious that Terrence didn't want her there. Terrence couldn't quite grasp the concept of Ande's constant sadness. He only ever felt happy and only really expressed his feelings through laughter.

Michelle turned back to Nella and smiled at her from across the table. "What's up?" She asked, unscrewing her water bottle.

Nella just shrugged and smiled pleasantly. There was something reassuring in the smiles Nella was always flashing.

The bell rang to tell everyone that lunch was over. Michelle tried to walk out with Vincent and his friends without having to run into Ande. She ended up walking with Craig most of the way. She smiled genuinely at his jokes, but, she wished she could hear what Vincent was saying that was making Terrence laugh so hard.