Chicken Soup for the Soul

[Tythanin†]

((Markham Connor continued FROM THE PAST a.k.a. Debate Exposes Doubt))

Markham waited in the cafeteria line, looking at the school's offerings with some measure of distaste. It wasn't that Bayview High didn't do its utmost to give the children a healthy and balanced meal for lunch, but would it have hurt them to make the meal actually look appetizing? He was probably just being too picky. He grabbed what looked to be chicken soup, a small Caesar salad, a couple of bread rolls, and topped off his meal with a cup of strawberry yogurt. Healthy and completely boring and probably tasteless as well. He wondered how you could mess up soup as he left the lunch line, ignoring the tired and irritated tone in the lunch lady's voice when she told him to have a good meal.

Luckily for him, it was still early in the lunch period and he found a nice, empty table that he could claim for himself. It was in a nice spot too, one where he could observe the other students. There were some of the jocks, roughhousing and joking with each other as they made a general mess. Next to them (obviously) sat a few cheerleaders, doing whatever cheerleaders do and establishing their dominance as the top of the high school student food chain. He personally didn't care for either group, but made sure he stayed out of their way.

As he sipped on his chicken soup 'Man that's a lot of salt.', his mind drifted off to his mother. Currently researching native tribes in Africa, she had sent him a small package a couple of days back. Inside were a couple of souvenirs (his favorite had been the small wooden carving of a gorilla) along with some preliminary notes on her findings. He always loved reading this and he was glad to see that she was doing quite well with her research. Compared to that, school life here in Bayview was almost mind-numbing.

Placing the soup away, he sighed and brought out his little black notebook. One day he would be able to conduct research experiments of his own. One day.

[Hallucinojelly†]

((Trent Savage continued from Murder at Macy's))

"Hey, can't make lunch today, gotta go home and pick up a few things before next period. See you in History! V xxx"

Trent huffed as he read the text, then stuffed his phone into his trousers before getting into the queue. He flinched back as the girl in front danced with her friend, almost hitting him in the eye with her hair. "Oh, sorry!" She giggled as she turned back to the other girl and continued to flail around to the music coming from her phone. Quickly becoming a nuisance to the entire queue, there was a muted sigh of relief as they made their way over to their table. The worn-out looking games fanatic was suddenly in a world of his own, thinking about Violet's text with a face that would better suit a slapped arse.

"Hey, jackass, pick your damn lunch!"

Trent snapped awake, then whipped round to see who had shouted. A few people from his classes were laughing amongst themselves, but everyone had their eyes on one person in particular.

"Lunch! Pick it, now!"

Almost jumping out of his skin, he turned full-circle to find himself the target of the dinner-lady's snarling gaze. "Shit, I'll have the soup or something." After having the soup slammed into a bowl for him, he decided to pass on any other food and headed for the nearest empty table. Luckily, there were a group of them near the back of the cafeteria, and Trent headed over to them with an eager pace. He tried to sit as far away from the only other person nearby, but he was stopped dead in his tracks by the same girls from before. Apparently they were going to annoy him no matter what today, and so he decided on sitting near the lesser of two evils, a guy named Markham.

Sitting himself at the opposite end of the table, he played mindlessly with the soup as he stirred it around and around the bowl.

[Solitair†]

((Eiko Haraguchi continued from English, wherefore art thou?))

Some people, however, didn't have to rely on the cafeteria's budget food. One of them sat at a small table by herself, with a box of something that definitely wasn't on the menu: pickled seaweed and rice.

The box was wooden and black-lacquered, with three compartments inside to store different types of food. The seaweed dish rested in the larger compartment, and the other two held some more American items, half of a banana and some dried carrots. The corners were rounded, and underneath it was the embroidered cloth it was wrapped in. Next to it was a metal thermos, currently being used to store chai tea. All in all, not something you'd likely see in a school cafeteria.

Eiko Haraguchi carefully ate the seaweed with a pair of painted chopsticks. Occasionally she glanced at the biology textbook, looking over the section on carbohydrates. Finals were practically breathing down the student body's neck, and Eiko was going to be ready for them. Sadly, not many students seemed to agree with her; she could understand taking a night off to go to prom, but the work ethic of the entire student body seemed to have dropped to an all-time low. Didn't anyone care about college?

She looked around at all of the students eating lunch and talking. They seemed happy enough, but for how long? She hoped for their sakes they wouldn't fail too badly. But not everyone was chatting away. She spotted some loners here and there who just wanted to get through lunch quickly or read their books in piece.

One nearby had a black notebook, the same sort she took her English notes in. She stared at him, forgetting her biology textbook for a moment. Just what was he planning to use that for? He didn't stay a loner for long, though; another boy sat at the table, though he didn't look too happy about it.

[Tythanin†]

Markham was busy looking through his little black book and lazily munching on a roll when someone interrupted his quiet peace by sitting down opposite him, placing down a tray that only contained a bowl of soup. He lowered his book to look at the newcomer, briefly wondering why he didn't just go to one of the many empty tables nearby. Giggling and laughing girls nearby clued him in one what could have been one of the reasons and with a little sigh, he decided to make some conversation. Humans were meant to be social creatures after all, no matter how much one didn't want to be.

"Soup's bad today." Markham mumbles, his voice a little soft. 'Great start, Markham. All you need to do now is say how lousy the cafeteria food is and you'll become the hit of the school!'

He cleared his throat and began eating his yogurt, saving the salad for last. It supposedly wasn't good for the stomach, but at this point he wanted to taste something that had a taste besides salty. "So..."

He stalled, trying to think of a line of discussion that would actually be interesting to people. Personally, he thought psychoanalysis was a perfectly interesting thing to talk about even if he thought the discipline was ridiculous. But then not many people would probably like to discuss things about dreams and subconscious and the people who actually DID know about psychoanalysis and Freud usually knew about the "EVERYTHING IS SEX!" part and not much else. It didn't make for particularly enlightening or pleasing conversation.

"So how're your classes?" Markham offered. 'Even better, genius! Perhaps the next question you can ask is whether or not he likes breathing! You're becoming a natural at this.'

He wondered if the other boy would even answer him. He didn't look particularly...active or interested in anything Markham had to say. It didn't matter, though. He'd just have to blaze on through. In a way, this was just another social experiment...kind of. At least it'd net him some new notes, since he didn't recall seeing him that much during school. "So uh...my name's Markham Connor. What's yours?"

'Better actually let him answer first.' Markham thought to himself after a brief glimpse around the cafetorium, where he spotted another girl staring at him. A little freaked out, he cast another look in her direction and recognized her as...something Haraguchi. He knew she was Japanese, but that's all that really came up to mind. Well, as long as all she did was stare, he didn't mind. Maybe she was fantasizing about him.

A small grin appeared on his face. 'Now who's the one with Freud on the mind?'

[Hallucinojelly†]

"Soup's bad today."

Trent stopped. He stared at his soup inquisitively for a second or two, then looked up across the table to find himself the centre of the other guy's attention.

"Huh."

As he started on his yoghurt, Trent shook his head and went back to his soup, filling his spoon before pouring it back into the bowl with distaste. It looked bad enough before, but now that someone else had confirmed his suspicions, he wasn't all that hungry any more.

"So how're your classes?"

His breath became heavy as it left his nose, giving away the fact that he was a little irritated by the question. Pushing his tray away from him, he leaned back on his chair, getting comfortable as he answered Markham.

"They're fine."

"So uh...my name's Markham Connor. What's yours?"

Trent paused as he asked this question, wondering what exactly the other guy wanted. Was he gay? Was that it? Was he coming on to Trent? Well, either way, Trent was becoming a little crept out by this guy, and what was he reading? "101 ways to seduce a classmate"?

"Trent."

He paused.

"My name's Trent."

[Solitair†]

"Perhaps you should try bringing your own food to school," Eiko said as she picked up another piece of seaweed. "Even after it sits in your bento for a few hours, it's still better than cafeteria food."

She turned a page in her biology textbook and continued eating for a while. "My name's Eiko Haraguchi, by the way. Nice to meet you." She didn't introduce herself for any particular reason other than to be polite; these people weren't particularly important, and it was a bit late in the year to be making casual friends. Plus she didn't particularly need to be having a conversation and studying at the same time.

Oh well. Perhaps a little chat wouldn't hurt.

[Tythanin†]

"Mmmmm." Markham let the conversation drop off right then, going back to his food. He had already done his social obligation of offering conversation and if that guy, Trent, didn't want to talk, it wasn't any of his business. If his father was here, he would tell him to keep pressing on and make sure the other boy that he was a friend and not an enemy or something like that. But his father wasn't here and Markham was quite content to return to his meal. In fact, he was just about done. 'Maybe I'll have enough time to hit the library and look up some research...'

"Perhaps you should try bringing your own food to school, even after it sits in your bento for a few hours, it's still better than cafeteria food."

Markham looked up to see that Japanese girl talking to him or he supposed she was talking to him. There didn't seem to be anyone else around or it could be that he was just blind. She was eating seaweed and rice, a combination he personally found boring and atrocious. Rice, whenever he did eat it, always went with some sort of grilled meat and vegetable. 'But then again I'm not Asian...'

"My name's Eiko Haraguchi, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Uh...nice to meet you too." Markham bowed his head slightly in her direction. He wasn't sure if she was just being polite or something, but he decided he might as well see whether or not being social would pay off. "If you didn't hear it already, my name's Markham Connor."

'Man, she's studying during lunch? Well...I guess that makes sense. Finals are coming up anyway, but this isn't really the environment...'

[Hallucinojelly†]

Trent looked back and forth between the two as they conversed, bemused by the girl's interruption, but also by the the fact Markham even bothered to reply. Sighing to himself in exasperation, his mind quickly slipped back to Violet, and wondered if she'd still be up for bowling next week. Having heard about Ray's outburst in front of Madeleine and the other bowlers, he wouldn't have been surprised if she wanted to leave it for a while. The thing was, she'd been much less talkative lately, and Trent often wondered whether something had happened at home. Although, since she usually told him everything,being kept in the dark like this was a little confusing, to say the least.

Coming back into the real world, he realised he hadn't eaten anything all day, and that questionable soup was beginning to look a whole lot more appetising. Giving in to his hunger, he pulled his tray towards him, hastily wolfing down every last drop of the flavourless gloop until he finally felt full. By the time he'd finished, he could see that the two students were embarking on what appeared to be a lifeless conversation, and he suddenly felt that maybe lunch should end a little quicker today.

Leaning forward in his seat, he rested his head in his hand while he listened to the pair with a vacant expression upon his face.

Someone... please do something interesting.

[Solitair†]

A few more minutes passed. Eiko continued eating her lunch and reading over her textbook. But it was boring work. Not that Eiko was entirely averse to boring work, but it had been what? Two weeks straight of spending her lunch period with her nose buried in some book? That much diligence was more than enough; surely she could miss one day and do something else for a change?

So be it. She set aside her textbook and looked at the two boys, Conner and the other one. "So, Markham-san," she said, "how are your studies coming along?" Probably not the best topic to start a conversation, and the honorific still confused people almost a year after she started going to school. Everyone was either a -san or a -kun, rarely a -chan, and in the teachers' case, -sensei. She had budged enough in calling a stranger by his first name, but she was too polite to just leave the suffix off. That would be tantamount to denying her heritage!

[Tythanin†]

'Markham-san? Never been called that before.' He blinked a couple of times at the honorific and reminded himself to note it in his book later. It wouldn't do to jot it down right now. Eiko and Trent might think he was weird...well, weirder than they already thought. He quickly ate a bit of salad as he tried to think of a suitable reply that wasn't too boring, but nothing really was coming to mind. It really wasn't his fault he considered most other subjects besides psychology boring. He didn't want to stall anymore, though, and he replied with a "Pretty good."

'Smooth. Bring it up a notch. At least add some more information.' He thought to himself as he ate another forkful of salad. "I'm having trouble getting in the mood for studying, to be honest. I mean, I can understand why we need to learn how to find the standard deviation of a sample group or the intricacies of force, but it's not going to effect me much in the future, so why bother? I'm just lucky I'm taking a psychology course or else I'd be really bored."

He laughed awkwardly, taking off his glasses and beginning to clean them with his shirt. "If you can't tell, I'm a huge psychology buff. I love knowing what makes the mind tick, you know?"

[Hallucinojelly†]

Trent's ears pricked up when he heard Markham call himself a psychology buff. He was interested to see what it was that he found so fascinating about the subject, seeing as he didn't know the guy all that well. From what he'd heard, psychology was a hard class because there was so much research involved, but he didn't see how that was different from any other class he'd been involved in. Pulling himself closer to the table, he began to listen in to their conversation, having nothing better to do in the meantime since his friends were all off somewhere else.

Hmph. I wouldn't exactly call those two my friends, but she definitely is.

...

Although, the way she's been acting lately would make people think we'd fallen out or something.

Coming away from his train of thought, he picked up his rucksack from under the table, and pulled out this month's edition of "Kerrang!" magazine. He figured he'd read up on a few articles he'd missed before, and sat silently as he skimmed through the boring parts and headed straight to the behind the scenes sections.

[Dropbear†]

((Sapphire McLeod continued from For The Kingdom, The Power And Glory Are Yours))

Sapphire smiled as she smelled the aroma coming from the cafeteria. To her, the day was just great. Thought up a nice set of earrings in her small notepad in the morning, wasn't late for any of her classes yet, and she got her project for Art back with an outstanding mark. Yes, things were great.

Joining the non-existent queue, she picked up a sandwich before looking at the fruit bowl.

What's better, red or green?

She stared at the tray for a few seconds, then back at the bowl. Grinning, she instead decided to grab a small orange and placed it on the tray, now fishing around in her backpack for a few notes.

Holding her lunch, she stepped into the real part of the cafetorium, the maze of tables and chairs. A few grade ten's were playing around on the corner table, someone she thought she saw before from Drama...

There. A group of seniors.

"Hi. Any room for one more?"

[Solitair†]

"Interesting," Eiko told Markham, giving him her full attention now. "Psychology would dovetail rather neatly into my chosen field of study. I can definitely see a good bit of synergy there."

Then she sighed, remembering what he originally said. "Unfortunately, that's how life works, Markham-san. In order to get what you love, you're going to have to slog through many things you hate." She paused to eat another bite of rice. "In order to get into a good college, you have to show that you're a hard worker. And to do that, you need good grades and extracurricular work. It matters little what you're actually forced to study in high school."

Another pause, this time to drink a sip of tea from her thermos. "If my information is correct, America has wonderful universities. It's worth slogging through courses on watching paint dry to attend those, if you ask me."

She looked at another new arrival, one she barely recognized as being from that one Christian organization. What was it called? Godsend? She barely understood anything about Christianity. Maybe she could ask her and find out more.

"Of course," she told the new girl with a smile. "Feel free to join us."

[Tythanin†]

"I guess." Markham shrugged. "You have to take the good with the bad."

He finished his last bite of salad and dropped his fork on the tray, wondering if he should leave now that he was finished. There was still time in the lunch period though and he had found at least one person who seemed moderately interested in psychology. He didn't have anything else planned for the day anyway, so sticking around in the cafeteria was as good an idea as anything else. Stifling a brief yawn, he looked over at the newcomer, a girl named Sapphire McLeod. They had been in a couple of the same classes in the past and although they never really talked, he remembered what she looked like.

She asked if she could join them and Eiko answered first, graciously inviting her to sit with them. Markham just nodded before turning his attention back to Eiko. "So what do you study that works so well with psychology?"

[Hallucinojelly†]

Another one? Damn.

Trent sighed as Sapphire came towards their table, as he knew how much she liked to show everyone her new bracelet drawings, or whatever else it was she designed. Making sure she wouldn't make the mistake of sitting next to him, he pulled his bag out from under his seat and placed it down right beside him. He didn't particularly dislike the girl, he just didn't want her "all up in his space", especially since the two had never even spoken before. Besides, Trent had always preferred his own company, he didn't talk about things like clothes or boys, and he certainly couldn't irritate himself.

Returning to his magazine, he flicked past the interview with Rotten Olives, and quickly found himself staring at the pull-out poster of his favourite band, Running on Air. In his opinion, they were one of the best bands around, and the fact that the lead vocalist ranked first in Kerrang's "10 Greatest Girls in Rock" countdown only made them better. Gazing over her picture, he began to think about all the things he'd do with her if they went out, and his pants suddenly felt a lot more constricting.

One day, he thought with a smile.