Potato Roll

The cafeteria is a chamber of noise that drowns out anything beyond arm's length, making most table conversations a game of telephone. On his typical day, Kade is the switchboard operator of his group, exercising his powerful voice to relay a joke from member to member, or even broadcast his own to everyone at once, but today is a little different.

As his group of four friends huddle around a table, he stays delayed on the interactions in the conversation. A friend will reach out, and he'll give it a second. A laughter will break out, and he'll only smile and nod. It's this peeling away of his old shell that grabs everyone's concern, and only following that third Wednesday—that week's Friday—did someone speak up.

Giovanni, a friend sitting to his right, reaches out with a nudge. "What's up with the look, you get into something with that lady-friend of yours?"

"Wa-huh?" Kade leans in with a hand to his ear. "What did you say?"

"Your lady friend. The one you mentioned a little ways back. Did you two break up? You're all spaced out."

Kade blinks as if he's just waking up. "Oh-uh, her?"

"Yea... Dude, are you missing sleep?"

"No, not really."

Payton, to Kade's left, butts in, having overheard the gist. "Did you break up man? Fuck... That'd suck wouldn't it aye G-O?"

Giovanni puts an arm around Kade's shoulders and rocks him back and forth. "That's what I was trying to get at. Remember, dude, there's plenty of fish in the sea."

Payton also puts an arm around and point's at Kade's face. "Plus, you's the best here. I'm crazy jealous."

Fletch, from across the table, came in with a laugh. "You jealous because he had a girl, or cause you ain't the girl?"

Payton smirks and wiggles his brow. "What if I said both?" 

The friends laugh, and some slap the table, all except Kade. He's stuck squeezed between two blaring sirens at his ears. It's almost a form of torture, and he isn't sure how he handled it before.

"Ah—ha-hah..." Fletch rocks back and takes a deep breath, "You're gay as fuck dude."

The last to join in the conversation is Dorian, who stays glued to his phone. "You've seen the group chat memes he sends, it's all gay shit about fuckin' dudes."

"That reminds me," Payton takes out his phone. "I saved this meme last ni—"

The conversation is buried in the same background noise as before, and the two jostling with Kade break away to follow the latest direction, abandoning any explanation from him. It's a moment that lets him grasp the type of people he's been hanging out with all this time, and it bothers him. 

Then it doesn't, all swept under the rug by one thought. "Guys can say such strange things. I wonder if this is what I sound like to Nessa."

Giovanni slams into Kade to get his attention, and it's very effective, like the shock of a defibrillator. "Kade, Kade!" He pats Kade on the chest. "Where's that girl you were with? Least let us see what she looks like. You didn't even spill anything when we first asked."

"Where is she?" Kade also finds himself curious, but then he shakes his head. "I-I don't think that's necessary."

"Come on dude, she's bound to be in this cafeteria somewhere." Giovanni gets his arm around Kade's neck and tightens. 

"She doesn't—Ach," Kade taps out, and he's released to breath. "She doesn't, she's busy elsewhere, probably."

"Probably?" Giovanni is upset with the answer and looks to everyone else so they can see it, then he points a thumb at Kade. "Do you hear this guy?" 

Fletch leans in, "I heard a bit. You telling me you don't know where she's at. Was that how it's always been?"

"Like when you two weren't hanging, she could've been doing anything?" Giovanni adds.

The rest of the friends catch wind of the conversation, and in unison, they come in for closer attention to Kade's next breath. It's a suffocating amount of pressure, and all he can do is break. 

"I guess so..." Kade takes a potato roll to sink his teeth in.

With the same synchronization, the group drifts away from him and groan, Fletch throwing his hands in the air, and Dorian shaking his head in disapproval. Kade didn't understand the commotion, only returning to his plate for a tater tot. The only connection he can make is the shared curiosity of what Nessa is up to at the moment, knowing she goes to the cafeteria like everyone else. First he pictures her dishing out some harsh words to a group of girl friends, stuffing her face like an animal, and then wanting more, but that doesn’t line up with the girl tactics she disclosed. Then the scene is reimagined, she's the complete opposite—something befitting of her style, and there's an empty space beside her. A vague representation of a boy enters the peripheral, and she waves him over to sit with a delighted expression. The boy accepts and fills the empty space beside her, then she locks arms with him and snuggles up.

“No that’s all wrong!” He swats away at the thought. “That's not girl tactics—Is it?”

He tries to erase the moment and redraw a more reserved approach, but his mind always drifts back to the touchy version he first conjured, frustrating him. 

Payton breaks Kade’s spiraling thoughts by tapping him on the shoulder. “Hey, you think this whole time she’s been talking to some other guy?” 

“Or even some other GUYS, PLURAL?” Dorian adds, putting his phone down to better engage, something Kade hasn’t seen in a long time.

Their conspiracy isn’t entirely wrong to his surprise, but they’re lacking something crucial that Kade can’t bring himself to admit, it only being held back by a tight lip.

"I don't think its my business who she talks to-ACK," Kade is halted by a hefty slap on the back from Payton.

"Like hell it isn't. Don't be a PUSSY—BITCH—LOSER—CUCK, and let other dudes steal yo' girl," He slaps harder with each jibe. "Man up and keep her out of causin' trouble."

Kade rolls his eyes. "That's a bit insecure don't you think?"

"Nonsense, it's called being a man." Fletch chimes in. 

Payton fist bumps Fletch. "You said it. Jealousy, insecurity, horniness, and all that other junk, it's the fundamenta-whats-its of man."

All this chatter feels like to Kade is a whirl pool sucking him in till he can't breathe and drowns. The best he can do and has done is shake his head and plan an escape.

“How about I be a better man and take out the trash for you ladies.” Kade places his tray at the center of the table, prompting everyone else to place their trash atop it.

The group all 'ooo' like ghosts when hearing Kade's new feisty tone.

“You always take out the trash. Is the bin ya' girlfriend?” Payton claps back.

The same group —except a smirking Payton— 'ooo' again at a heightened pitch.

“Real funny. No." He takes his tray and breaks free of the table toward the bin, his head down, squinting at the collection. "Those guys don't have a clue, and they're so weird about it." He takes a deep breath and tilts his tray to dump the trash into the bin. "Its like I've traded having a free Wednesday for even more pain-in-the-ass friends."

To ensure nothing remains, he bangs the tray on the inner-side of the bin, but whilst doing so, his wandering gaze over the cafeteria brushes by a familiar sight, Nessa.

There's nothing different about her, a sour mood and gargoyle hunch over the table, scowling at her phone. The only reason she could do such a thing was likely thanks to the vacancy that surrounds her. None of the girly-friends Kade had in mind, and no hot boy for her to be crushing on. "Well its better than I first imagined," pops in his mind.

"You alright?" A random student throwing their trash away speaks up, startling Kade into dropping his tray inside the bin and getting buried by the student's trash.

"Aw man..." Kade looks down at the buried tray.

"Oh damn—" The student looks inside as well.

"It's alright, I'll get it." Kade leans into the bin and pinches at the cleanest part of the tray exposed, pulling it out like crime scene material.

The random student leaves with a shrug and Kade stays holding the drippy tray over the bin, then he resumes his gaze at Nessa only to be caught by her returning, belittling, smirk, having possibly witnessed the ordeal. She shakes her head disappointedly and returns to her phone while he pretends not to be looking at all, leaving for the tray return window.

He spaces out in thought while moseying to the window. "Of all things to be caught doing outside of our Wednesday convergence, picking something out of a trash bin is not the best. I'm sure I'll hear all about it next week..."

Stopping at the window he prepares to drop off his tray when suddenly there's a 'BOO!' from behind him and two hands pinching at his sides.

"AH!" Kade is startled and tosses the tray into the window.

The tray hits the metal table on the other side, causing a series of clanging noises throughout the cafeteria. It's easily drowned out by the cafeteria chatter, but the lunch-lady on the other end is not pleased with how he treated the poor tray.

The perpetrator of Kade's fright is none other than Nessa, and to this discovery, he is conflicted between apologizing to the lunch-lady and reprimanding Nessa.

"S-sorry—" Kade nods to the lunch-lady and just as quickly turns to Nessa with "What the hell is your problem," and bounces back to the lunch lady, "Again, so sorry."

"Are you easy to scare?" Nessa pokes his back.

"If you do that to anybody, they'll jump."

"Not as much as you, now, come with me.” She gestures for him to follow, walking away without a moment for him to choose.

“Follow? What in the world…” He moves with her, easily coerced into anything she requests, a "Where are we going?" falling on deaf ears as they head out the cafeteria doors.

The journey she takes him on is far across the school, but not in the same direction as the vending machines, instead, it's a very particular set of restrooms. When they arrive, she enters the girl's restroom and he stands awkwardly outside.

"All the way out here, just to use the bathroom?" Kade mumbles, "You didn't need to drag me along."

Nessa can be heard shuffling about in the restroom, doors opening and closing repeatedly until her steps return towards the entrance. 

She peeks around the corner and presses a finger to her lips, "Sh!" Then she waves for him to enter and whispers, "Inside-Inside, quickly."

"What!?" Kade recoils, then goes through a series of hand signals—crossing his arms, then out and waving, and ending with a T-shape. "No, nuh-uh, timeout. Are you crazy?"

"Shut the fuck up and come on. It's not what you think, pervert." She grabs him by the sleeve and pulls.

"You're gonna get me in trouble, whatever this is." He covers his eyes with one arm while being tugged through the bathroom by the other. "And again, I'm not a pervert."

"You don't have to cover your eyes, there's nobody here. Are you stupid? Do you think I'm that reckless?" She leads him to a wider stall and opens the door. 

"Eugh... Why the bathroom, couldn't we have gone to the vending machines?"

"Not for this." She closes the stall door and reaches down her shirt neck to her chest.

Kade presses against the wall as far away from her as possible, gripping the rail like his life depended on it. "Why the handicap stall? This is so messed up..."

"Relax, there's no handicap girls in this entire school, and we wouldn't have much space." She whips out a small object from her chest. "Ta-dah!"

Kade flinches away, "This isn't how I imagined."

"Imagined what?" She punches him in the gut. "Look dumbass."

He curls into the punch, his eyes wide and locked in on the object, widening more at the realization. She has another vaping tool, not the same as the one he previously broke. Regaining composure, he goes to grab it.

"Don't you dare!" She hides it behind her. "I worked my ass off for this one."

"I don't care how hard you worked for it, you shouldn't have that!" Kade leans in over her, his palm out for her to give it up.

"I don't care about our little deal, I need this, and you have no control over what I do."

"Then why the hell are we here, and why bring me?"

"I needed to escape all the noise, and you're a bumbling idiot—perfect for making fun of."

"That's a harsh way of saying you like talking to me."

Another gut punch follows his smug look, "A bumbling idiot for making fun of, and don't construe it any other way, pest.”

"Augh... Pest? That's a new one."

"Thought it up when I saw you digging through the trash earlier."

"Yea, and I haven't washed my hands yet." He wriggles his fingers towards Nessa's face.

She screeches and kicks him away, "Out! Out! Go wash your hands you freak!"

Eventually he is kicked out of the stall, chuckling, but the situation dawns on him as he looks to the empty bathroom, halting his laughter to a dead silence. “I’m so fucked.” He whispers whilst cautiously stepping towards the sinks.

All his movements are very slow, startled by every noise. The squeak of the faucet and the plastic bend of the soap dispenser, a zap to his psyche. He believed by the end of this he’d have nightmares for the rest of his life.

And he was right to be cautious, as he scrubbed his hands under the faucet, the clack and echo of a girl stepping in immediately caught his attention, seizing all motion. They met eyes, both surprised without a word.

The random girl was nice enough not to jump conclusions, but was understandably lost and uncomfortable. “Uhh…”

Damage control mode activated and transported through his spine like a shiver, and before long he had the perfect lie to deploy, and as swift as an airbag to an accident too.

“E-excuse me. This is the men’s.” He turned off the faucet and flicked his wrists, returning the same uncomfortable energy.

The ploy was effective, even making the girl second guess herself by stepping back to check the signage. This was all he needed to see for a mission success. “No, it looks to be the girls restroom.”

“Really?” He paused his pull of the paper towel lever in order to sell the disbelief. “You must be kidding me.” He leaves the bathroom to take a fake closer look at the bathroom signs and again plays victim to his pretend oversight. “Well would you look at that. I’m so sorry.”

With everything wrapped up in a shared awkward laugh, they go their separate ways, but while she may be using the girl’s bathroom as intended, he will be using the boy’s tile walls to bang his head in penance.

***

The girl left after a grueling amount of time, and so the bell was nearing for the end of lunch, but still Kade snuck his way back into the girls bathroom because Nessa never left, and the aggravating snicker of only one certain brat could get him to break code of conduct twice in a row. At this point he was fuming with revenge, and so, when he bursted back into the stall to her completely losing it, choking on laughs and vapor while pointing at him. He snatched that tool right out of her hand with the ferocity of a cobra. Only then did she go quiet.

“Hey! Give that ba—“ Her plea swiftly gets interrupted by the strongest assertion of dominance Kade would ever do.

He placed the tool between his lips and activated it while sucking in, no hesitation whatsoever, and efficiently too.

She couldn’t say a thing, stuck in awe as he easily let the vapors escape his nostrils at one moment, then blew a ring of vapor from his mouth into her face, before finishing with the release of all remaining vapors.

“Lunch is almost over.” He hands over the tool. “So get moving.”

He leaves her in the stall so he can go back to the cafeteria where his bag was left, and she stays still with the tool in hand, staring down at it. When he’s out of sight and earshot, she brings to tool to her lips and takes a small and gentle rip, only to fail and cough like always.