Advanced Sublunary: Inception

Chapter 4

The cafeteria looked like a fun and exciting atmosphere today. Everyone was laughing and enjoying the free time in between classes. "What's going on man?" Earl said as he reached for a handshake.

"Nothing much, I'm pissed Professor Grant cancelled class today. No warning or nothing."

"You didn't get a call? They called me last night to let me know." This made me even more pissed. I remember seeing the missed call from the college last night. Who knew they were calling to let me know about a cancelled class. All I could do was shake my head. I could do nothing about it now. Next time I'll make sure I call back or answer the phone.

"I'm going to get something from the vending machine, want anything?" Earl offered. I was a little thirsty from walking around campus.

"You paying?" I asked. He responded with a funny look. I reached into my pocket and gave him two dollars, "Get me a juice." I opened my phone to look for the missed call. There it was. I should have called back to see what they had wanted. If they left me a voice mail I wouldn't have known since my phone was messed up. I leaned back and started to play one of the games on my phone.

"Watch your self loser." I heard someone say, and then someone kicked my chair. I looked up and it was Ronnie and his crew. I stood up and was face to face with him. "What are you gonna do?" He said, as he got closer. I looked into his eyes; I didn't know what to say to him. "Oh, what was all that staring earlier?" He asked stepping even closer to me. "You like me or something?" His friends began to chuckle after the tasteless joke.

"Ronnie I don't even know if you like yourself." I snapped back.

"Ha-ha, very funny." He replied. He softly pushed me in the chest. It seemed like all eyes were on us now. Everything was moving in slow motion. I noticed Earl walking back to give me my drink, but he about faced when he saw Ronnie and his crew in my face. Earl always avoided any kind of physical drama. I knew he would not come stand by my side, but he could have at least brought my drink over to me.

Ronnie and I stared at each other for a couple of more seconds. This was getting ridiculous; I had no idea why he did not like me. "Look man, I never did anything to you...if you look at me I'm going to do the same." I said in an attempt to defuse the situation.

"So you're a tuff guy?" Brennon chimed in.

"People can look at whoever they want," Casper blurted from across the cafeteria. He walked closer and stood next to me. "What's your problem?" He asked them.

"This is not with you Cass; this is –"

"I don't care. This my friend." Casper replied cutting Brennon off.

"Casper is not always gonna be there for you. You gotta fight your own battles eventually." Ronnie said. That statement was ironic since every time Ronnie approached me he had a crew around him. They walked away bumping into me in the process. At the snap of a finger, everything was back to normal in the cafeteria and people were minding their business again. Earl rushed over with my drink.

"Man Sean what happened?" He asked. I glared at him for a couple of seconds then sat down. "I was gonna come over but I didn't get the change out of the machine so I had to go back."

We sat at the table. "What's their problem with you?" Casper asked.

"Nothing...I mean I don't know, he's just a jerk." I took my drink from Earl and cracked it open taking a nice long sip. "I don't rally wanna talk about it man that's all."

"Okay." He said putting his two hands in the air.

"What did you have to tell me?" I asked so I could change the subject. He stared at me with a confused look.