Jack sat in the school cafeteria oblivious to the smells of mystery meat and the tables of cheer leaders rigorously divided by clique. He was watching Caitlin make her entrance. Caitlin was the school celebrity. She had made the top ten on one of those reality shows over the summer, and according to school gossip, was being courted by producers from across the country. Well, the other version was that she was doing producers across the country, but Jack didn't believe it for a moment. She looked too sweet and innocent than to be anything other than what he thought she was; a high school girl caught up by sudden fame.
"Have you ever noticed that she doesn't have an entourage?" Meighan leaned her crutches against the table and tucked into the mystery meat and gravy that the cafeteria was selling today.
"How can you eat that stuff?" Jack said, "Who knows what's in there?"
"Don't change the subject," Meighan said in between bites of her lunch. Jack unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite of the organic ham and cheese on whole wheat bread.
"No, I can't say that I have," Jack said.
"She never eats with the same people. Like, the cheer leading captain has her flunkies; the basketball diva has her hangers-on. Heck even the math team champ has her fellow nerds to tell her how smart she is. Yet Caitlin eats alone as often as not."
"Why would she do that?"
"Here," Meighan handed Jack a napkin, "You're drooling again."
"Oh, get on," Jack threw the napkin at her. She had been eating lunch with him for so long that he forgot why they had started. Wherever Jack sat, Meighan plunked herself down beside him. He didn't mind, her comments on the rest of the student body were hilarious, and she was a vicious gin rummy player. He went back to watching Caitlin. Maybe Meighan was right. He couldn't remember Caitlin really talking to anybody since she got back from that show.
"You should go and talk to her."
"Right," Jack said, "I should talk to her. I'm Mr. Invisible. The girls on either side of my locker talk as if I'm not even there."
"They have each other, Caitlin is alone."
"What would she want to talk to me about?" Jack crumpled up his lunch bag and tossed it at the garbage can. He missed, as usual, and had to go pick it up and put in it the can.
"You're funny," said Meighan, "You're the second best rummy player in the school..."
"Ha, ha, you're only leading by a hundred points."
"But I am leading."
Jack rolled his eyes, and went back to staring at Caitlin. He couldn't help it. He had watched the program every week and voted for her until she was dropped off the show. He'd stopped watching then. Looking at Caitlin made him feel that his heart was being squeezed by a fist. Not that his heart was any great prize; Jack kept having his heart broken by girls who didn't even know he existed.
The bell rang and the students filed out to go to their next class.
The next day Jack sat so he would have a good view of the door when Caitlin walked in. He was watching the door so hard that he didn't notice her sit beside him.
"Meighan told me you wanted to talk to me."
Jack opened and closed his mouth several times. That hand around his heart was the only thing keeping it from jumping right out of his chest.
"Hi Caitlin," he said, thinking that he was going to kill Meighan when he got the chance.
"So what did you want to talk about?"
"It must be hard coming back to school after being famous and everything."
"Hunh," Caitlin poked at the food on her tray. "Do you think this is pudding or library paste?"
"Definitely library paste."
"I hate being famous," she said pushing the bowl away, "Everyone thinks I'm stuck up, or rich, or sleeping with people to win. I mean, I came ninth! Who sleeps with someone to come ninth?"
Jack could feel the blood running to his face. He was sure his head was going to explode.
"Ah, I just liked your singing," he said, "I was so mad when they made you leave."
"Yeah, that sucked," she said, "but I wasn't that good. The girl who won was so much better."
"She wasn't bad."
Caitlin laughed and every one in the cafeteria turned to look.
"I could take voice lessons my whole life and not be as good as her. I bet she isn't sitting in her school cafeteria with everyone hating her."
"I don't hate you."
"No?"
"No," Jack took a bite of his sandwich. "Do you want to go to a movie or something?"
"A movie sounds nice."
Meighan watched from the other side of the cafeteria. She shoveled the food into her mouth without tasting it. She hadn't thought it would be so hard. She had thought that if Jack actually talked to Caitlin that he might realize how wrong she was for him. Yet there they were laughing like old friends. She felt like she was melting inside, except for her heart, she had lost that to Jack years ago when he was the only boy not to tease her about the crutches.
Now she sat in the cafeteria and let her hot tears fall into the pudding that tasted exactly like library paste.