Chapter 6: Lunch Period

When the bell rang and the first period ended, students exited their classrooms to head for the cafeteria, chatting with one another. Tifara exited Mr. Baker's classroom last. She disappointedly sighed and moved her eyes to the left, tilting her head in that direction. Okay, I'm glad I finally left Mr. Baker's classroom. What a terribly boring teacher. It sucks that I'll remain to be his student for the rest of the year. Ugh, she thought as she met up with her friends near her math classroom door.

"Hi, there, Tifara," her friends said, waving at her.

Tifara waved back at them, noticing the red headband on May's head. "Hi, guys." She turned to her best friend. "So May…why are you-"

"As soon as Calpurnia and her friends left me and Dalila alone in the hallway, Dalila tried to help me get gum out of my hair in the bathroom but realized that she needed scissors to cut a part of my hair, which she didn't have," May responded as she and her friends headed for the cafeteria. "So we went to the nurse's office to cut it out. Once that was done, the nurse gave me a headband to cover up that specific part of my hair. Dalila and I received an excuse slip from the nurse, since we were not only late to class yet we were also marked absent."

"Yep, that's exactly right." Dalila shook her head, closing her eyes, smiling at Tifara.

"I see…" Tifara said, guiltily looking down below, then turning her attention to May and Dalila. "Look, I'm sorry. I got you two in trouble. I was tryin' to help a bullied person back there. That was all…"

"It's alright, Tifara," May said, "We understand and forgive you."

"Yea," Dalila agreed. "Jus' stay in her lane next time."

"Yea," Sam also agreed.

Tifara turned her attention back at May and Dalila. "But thank you for savin' me you two. I truly appreciate it."

"So are y'all ready for lunch?" Sam asked.

"Hell yea!" Tifara, May and Dalila said. "Let's go!"

****

After Tifara and her friends entered the cafeteria and got their lunch, they scanned the room out of search for their seats. They saw a majority of fifth and sixth year students either chatted with one another, ate food at the tables, walked around the room or went to the courtyard. The administrators watched the crowd to maintain order. Some Freshmen and Sophomore boys ogled at Tifara's curvy body with their blushed cheeks;a few of them even drool or whistle at her whenever they spotted her. A portion of girls glared at Tifara, gossiping about her. When those types of students were around Tifara, the sixth years even discussed the panty shot incident with the fifth years. So it's obvious that the fifth years now knew about it.

Tifara nervously grabbed onto her necklace and looked both sides of the room, breathing hard quickly. She tightly closed her eyes. C'mon, Tifara. Don't let them get to you, she thought, Jus' keep movin' and everything will be fine. May noticed Tifara's anxiety taking control over her heart, softly patting on Tifara's shoulder.

"Ignore them, Tifara and keep goin'," May said.

Tifara smiled at May. "Thanks. I will."

"No, prob." May closed her eyes for a moment.

As a certain number of students continued on their behavior as ever before, Tifara's heart pounded more quickly. Her eyes twitched a little and a little sweat came out from her forehead. She tightened her grip onto her necklace.

"Oh, there's Titsfara, that panty girl over here!" Calpurnia smugly said as she and her friends walked past Tifara and her friends.

Tifara stopped moving and growled for a moment, looking down below while Freshmen and Sophomores laughed with Calpurnia. Her friends turned to Tifara and saddened their faces.

"Hey, man. Don't listen to Calpurnia," Sam said, placing his hand on Tifara's arm.

"Mhn," Dalila agreed, shaking her head. "Sam's right. Don't let it get to you now."

"Yea," May also agreed, "Depend on Elohim to guide you and keep you focused."

Tifara looked up at her friends and expressed her determined face. "Mhn, you guys are right. Thanks."

"You're welcome," her friends exclaimed as Tifara kept searching for seats with her friends. She then looked up at the ceiling. Dear Elohim, she thought, Please help me overcome my persecution. Give me strength to overcome it. In Yeshua's name, Amen.

Once they found their seats in the middle of the cafeteria, they sat down to eat their food and drank their milk. After that, Sam looked up at his friends. "So how was y'all's first period class? How did it go?"

While Tifara's friends chatted with one another, Tifara drank her milk. Her eyes scanned the cafeteria and she received some glares from some girls and lustful oogles from some boys. She ignored them because she believed they would've wasted her precious time. Then she saw and glared at David eating his food near the hallway to the Electives area alone. A certain number of students looked at and gossiped about him, especially the girls. She tightly closed her eyes and continued sipping her drink. Jus' ignore David, Tifara, she thought, Jus' ignore him. He doesn't deserve your attention. But once Sam's voice called out her name though, she turned to him and added, "Yea, what's up?"

Sam repeated his question earlier and Tifara answered, "Oh, that…" She looked to her left and tilted her head sideways in the same direction. "Mr. Baker was so booooriiiiing, bruh. He jus' stands there and talks his ass off most of the time without saying anything interesting. It's gonna be the most boring math class for the rest of the year…" She sighed. "Jus'...great…"

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, Tifara," Sam said, giving Tifara a sad look on his face.

"I'm sure your second period will be better than your first one and your homeroom period," Dalila said, also giving Tifara her sad face.

"Yea!" May agreed.

"I jus' hope so," Tifara said, eating and chewing on her food. "And about my homeroom period…"

"Yea, what about it?" May asked, drinking her milk.

"I already hate it with all my heart and it looks like I'll be coming back to it anyhow," Tifara answered while her eyes scanned the room.

"Why?" Dalila asked, raising her eyebrow at Tifara.

"Because one, my homeroom teacher sucks," Tifara responded, eating and chewing her food. "She believed I caused trouble, including the panty shot incident earlier. My classmate David does too, except worse. He was so rude to me the entire time that I didn't even get a chance to get to know him; he didn't even accept my compliment about his drawing."

"Ah…I see…" Sam said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay, Sam," Tifara said. "Thanks."

"No, prob," Sam responded.

"Man, that David sure sounds like a total jerk," May said, sipping her milk.

"Mmm-hmm. Exactly!" Tifara shook her head.

"And you'll meet him again on your second homeroom period in Mrs. Kane's class, right?" Dalila asked, closing her eyes, leaning her chin against her hands.

"Unfortunately, yes…" Tifara responded with a sigh.

"I see…" Dalila said, opening her eyes, aiming them at Tifara. "Well, jus' make sure you depend on Elohim when dealin' with David and Mrs. Kane, alright?"

"Oh, don't worry, Dalila," Tifara said, eating and chewing her food. "I will."

While Tifara's friends continued to eat their food and chatted with one another, Tifara rescanned the entire cafeteria, then expressed her sad face. She no longer found President Saul in the cafeteria like she did last year. She missed seeing him being around in the cafeteria. She sighed out of sadness. Man, I sure do miss Saul bein' 'round here, she thought. It's too bad he's now eating lunch with other Juniors and Seniors an hour later than Freshmen and Sophomores. I wish I'm a seventh year instead of sixth, so I could see him more. I wouldn't have to especially compete against May and Calpurnia over him, that's for sure.

"Tifara…" Dalila's voice shouted near Tifara.

"Huh?" Tifara asked, quickly turning to Dalila's attention. "What's up?"

"Sam wants to talk to you," May answered.

"Oh…" Tifara turned her attention to Sam. "What?"

"So are you plannin' on helpin' Dalila out on her recovery after school every weekend?" Sam asked.

"Yea, of course, I will, Sam," Tifara replied, drinking her milk. "We'll do it at Dalila's house, right?"

"Yep," Sam responded, closing his eyes, grinning at Tifara.

Tifara's friends continuously chatted with one another while Tifara rescanned the cafeteria and ate her food at the same time. Her eyes spotted David displaying his hall pass to one of the administrators, then he headed straight downstairs. Tifara glared at him, nearly closing her eyes. Okay, where's David goin'? She curiously thought, I gotta find out where he goes. I'll have to convince my friends to sit near the Electives section and find out tomorrow. I have to.

"Tifara…" May's voice echoed near Tifara.

"Huh?" Tifara quickly turned to May. "What is it?"

"Sam's speakin' to ya," Dalila answered.

"Oh…right..." Tifara turned to Sam. "What?"

"Who's your second period teacher? And what's the room number for second period?" Sam questioned, sipping his drink.

"Oh, well, I have Ms. Hill for Room Waw-Seven for Reading," Tifara responded.

"Are ya sure 'bout that?" Sam asked.

"I'm positive," Tifara said, eating and chewing her food. "I'm sure of it this time."

Sam was a little skeptical at first. "Alrighty then…"

"So what place do we wanna go after our Friday and Sunday ministry work?" Dalila asked.

"Um, we don't know yet," May answered, giving Dalila her sad face.

"Yea, me neither," Sam also replied as he finished drinking his milk.

"Sorry, I can't say for sure," Tifara responded when she began to finish up eating her food. "But I do know that everybody's busy gettin' ready for Rosh Shanna and Yom Kippur this month."

"Oh, yea. That's very true…" Dalila agreed while finishing up her food and drink.

When they finished their food before the bell rang, Tifara and her friends dumped their trash in the black, large trash can and stacked their blue trays on the tray holder. They fought through the crowd while they took Tifara to her Reading class. Tifara continuously depended on Elohim through her friends and His strength to overcome her persecution in the hallways and the Year Waw section.