Lonely Lunch (OPEN)

[Tsukuyumi Riiko]

Time ticked by slowly as Riiko waited longingly for the lunch bell to ring. The groans and cramps in the pit of her stomach only seemed to colapse on themselves more with each painful tick of second hand. She was hardly paying attention to what the sensei was drowning on about at this point, only keeping a steady beat with her pencil against the desk, and her foot against the floor. It always rang at precisely thirty-seven seconds after twelve o'clock, so why did it seem to be so late today?

At last the chime, so ringing it sounded like the chime of a large clock tower, tolled fresh in her ears and she was the first up and out of her seat, rushing for the door while others lingered to talk and gossip after class. Nothing could explain how hungry she was, having slept in past her alarm that morning and not having time to grab something to eat for breakfast before her car drove off. She had been certain that her driver would have taken off without her if she had gotten to the door a second later.

Speed walking to the best of her ability, Riiko made it to the lunch line earlier than usual, but still leavin a fairly long line ahead of her. She could catch the aroma of roast beef, masterfully preparted along with some well seasoned vegetables, which only succeeded in making her want to keel over from the pain in her stomach. "Please hurry up..." she mumbled to herself, brushing her hair back in slight frustration.

At last she picked up her tray of food, set up perfectly for the students as always. She noticed there was actually turkey as well that she had not smelled. The roast beef must have overpowered it. She grabbed a small glass bowl of chocolate moose and went off the find herself a seat. Not to much surprise, as she glanced around the room, she found the few seats open around were around people she was not sure if she thought highly of. Swallowing she walked towards one table, which, as she approached, glanced up at her in a repelling way. Immediantly, Riiko changed coarse.

After several other rejections from various social groups of tables, she found a long open table and sat at the end, her face sagging slightly. She tried. That was more than she had done before, usually just going off to sit alone immediantly. But, to no avail. It looked like this was going to be a very lonely lunch.