Andrew Peed - Kinetics

So Kinetics marks a large chunk of my free time. I began writing several years ago and worked with a small group of people to get just the right idea. Ive thrown the manuscript more times than I care to admit and feel that the characters are part of me. I had my hang ups sure but it was a great journey along the way. Thanks to everyone who had ripped open their flesh and poured their blood in along with mine.

The food was always cold, but I filled my tray anyway. When I got to the front of the line I took my government issued free lunch card from my back pocket, and handed it over to the lunch lady. She swiped the card in her computer and marked todays date, "You have six meals left in your program. She handed the card back to me, and I tried to put it away without anyone seeing.

Why is it that you cant pay for you food like everyone else? a boy behind me pushed. This kind of thing happened a few times a week. I didnt care about being poor, but everyone in this school seemed fixated on this fact. Ignore what he says and walk away I told myself, but that didnt stop him from going on, Yeah, thats right dont listen to me you stuck up before he could finish, his buddy walked up and they began chest bumping and high fives followed by an explanation on the sick burn that I was just given.

Normally I could blend in to the crowd quite nicely at five foot five and only a hundred and twenty pounds. My guardian expected me to do at least thirty minutes of exercise per day to stay healthy, which put me somewhere between athletic and skinny. I was the definition of the word average. My fiery red hair was the only part of me that I was particularly proud of and it was constantly getting me accused of using unnatural hair color by teachers.

I sat down at an empty table and began gnawing on the so called chicken sandwich that I was served. The room was bustling with at least a hundred or so students coming and going. We were allowed to do whatever we wanted to do during lunch as long as we were back to class when the hour was up.

The boy from the lunch line, Josh, along with his normal gang of buddies sat down at the table next to mine, So, how about we finish our conversation? the boy smiled a toothy grin. All of his friends were quiet waiting for my response. I always wondered what kind of damage that he suffered to spend so much time picking on a girl.

What conversation? Ohwait, you mean you once again being the biggest asshole to walk the face of this planet? I knew as the words left my lips that I would one way or another live to regret them.

How dare you! he wasnt used to anyone, especially me, actually talking back to him. As he stood to do god knows what to me, most likely sock me I wouldnt put it past him, his girlfriend walked up and took his attention away from me.

Well finish this later. He mouthed over his girlfriends shoulder.

As much as it made me sick to my stomach I made a kissing noise and said, See you later Josh.

His girlfriend reached out and smacked him across the face. He was furious, but had to chase after her to try and explain that I was screwing with him. He returned a few minutes later, alone and furious, and started to eat.

I went back to my food, even colder now, and almost completely inedible. My mood for the day was completely shot.

I was a constant target for ridicule. I lived in an orphanage with a few other kids that went to this school. Hillside was a place where they sent kids like me who have difficulties assimilating, or as I called settling for, a family. I have lived there for five years, Im seventeen, and right around the corner is my eighteenth birthday. All of us at the orphanage are about the same age, within a few months anyway. Like there is some kind of cut off age for someone to be able to find a family.

Ronnie, one of the other orphans, came to the table from the serving line. He could have blend in as easy as me, but chose a different approach. His short black hair was spiked in all different directions. He always seemed to be in a good mood, and talked to tons of people as he passed by their tables. I never understood why he always sat down at my table when he so many other friends that he could sit with.

He dug into his food. He was able to eat anything, as longs as it was dead before he started, and sometimes I even wondered about that. Whats up? he asked between bites.

Nothing. I tried to mask my irritation, but it wasnt long before he picked up on my tone, and he knew my tones.

Grace, whats wrong? he put his sandwich down.

Dont worry about it. before I could stop myself I had glanced over to the table of jerks, who were all laughing it up having a great lunch.

What happened, I swear if they laid a hand on you, Ill kill em. He stood fork in hand. We werent usually given knives for lunch.

No, just verbal abuse, sit down. I pulled on his arm, What, are you going to fork them to death with a plastic utensil? Enjoy your lunch. I grinned at the thought of him doing just that.

He sat uneasy and picked up his sandwich; he took a bite and then a big, forceful, gulp of his drink. He didnt say anything until he couldnt keep quiet anymore, Why cant they just leave you alone? They never mess with me and I dont think that Kenny, or Sandy ever get this kind of treatment.

Kenny and Sandy were two other orphans in Hillside; somehow they actually fit in with the so called social groups. I didnt know how Kenny did it; he joked around a lot. Sandy was gorgeous, at least compared to most of the girls in the school. They usually had friends around if any of the bullies started in on them.

I dont know Ronnie and to be honest I really dont care. I dont think that they are ever going to stop. So Im not going to worry about it. I threw my fork down and officially gave up on the crappy food, chugged what I could of my drink, and stood up taking my tray in my hands.

Well, those clowns need to be taught a lesson. He took a rather forceful bite out of a helpless apple.

You think? I lathered on the sarcasm, "But not by you. I put my foot down.

And why not?

Maybe because theyre bigger than you, or maybe because they have you out numbered six to one, and I highly doubt that they are going to fight far. I rolled my eyes.

He got up from the table picking up his tray, Yeah well, well see. He stormed off towards the trash cans.

I left the lunch room before the class bell rang so that I could be one of the first people back into the classroom. The teacher was boring, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. On top of that it was history class so sleep was on the top of most peoples to-do lists.

I didnt sleep; I didnt pay much attention to the lecture either. I preferred to use my time more for me. We were given e-book readers at the beginning of the year for our text books. I hacked mine so that I could load my own novels, which I read instead of the textbook. A book about humans colonizing the deepest reaches of the galaxy, it was interesting enough, it kept me from being bored to tears anyway.

The teacher droned on about the finer details about World War II, the same things that we have been taught several times over the past few years. Most of the students in the class could have taken the tests without even studying.

Before I could finish the chapter that I was reading, the bell signaling the end of classes rang. I finished the line that I was on and stuffed all of my things into my bag. I slowly shuffled from the classroom, and into the river of students leaving the school, then made my way down to the student parking lot.