"That Global test was a killer!" Jesse whined, thrusting his spoon in his snack cup to slodge through the heavy chocolate pudding like a hiker through sticky, stinky jungles and swamps unknown. The cafeteria was a cluttered hive 5th hour Lunch, bees darting and buzzing every which way, forming an almost intolerable noise like an electric saw. Sparkling rays of sun penetrated through the dark windows to shine on every table, trying with all its strenght to brighten the day from the gloomy state it toppled into. Notes were being passed and thrown between tables, homework was being forged, and every one was in a state of tired daze wallowing in the aftermath of tests and labs, including Jesse and McKenzie. "Mrs. Palerdino can sure be a pain."

"Mine wasn't much better," McKenzie sighed, resting her ponderous head on the white lunch table, her eyes following Tricia out of the lunch line. McKenzie began to smile in her heart, then the smile traveled bravely up her throat and crawled on her face. Tricia was in the midst of curious eyes like she was the featured guest on a trashy late night talk show. She glanced about the inhumane faces timidly, swallowing dry spit. Whispers began to surround her feet; untrue, hurtful, stabbing whispers that could kill. Tricia's black eyes darted about the back of the cafeteria nervously, then they landed on McKenzie and softened. Tricia walked briskly over, a smile diffusing on her face as the morning sun's rays kiss the land, shunning and secretly scolding the dark, oppresive, unpleasent night.

"Mind if I sit?" Tricia asked Jesse and McKenzie quietly, already placing down her blue tray on the table next to McKenzie.

McKenzie glanced nonchalantly at Jesse, secretly pleading he wouldn't say yes and Jesse responded with, "No. Take a seat."

Tricia, unacknowledged to the crowded cafeteria, slid into the seat next to McKenzie, smoothing her hands over the ripples of her maroon plaid skirt. She scanned her tray with a slight scower; the mediocre servings of crunchy chicken nuggets, lumpy mashed potatoes, a hard brownie and milk staring blankly at her. The only thing that would look half apetizing to a starved dog was the perfectly red apple. "I don't think we've formerly met," Tricia started with a well-supportive tone, directing her attention from her disgusting lunch to Jesse. "I'm Tricia...Tricia Borg." She extended her hand to Jesse, displaying great aplomb and friendliness in her gleaming smile and ironically sparkling eyes.

"Jesse McCartney," Jesse replied, a pleasent smile forming on his troubled face as they shook hands firmly. Maybe she isn't so bad, Jesse considered as their hands fell to their sides.

"You guys bugging about the Global test?" Tricia questioned, gripping the apple in her hand and taking a tentalizing bite. Her eyes looked surprisedly at the apple as she munched away. "That was...really hard," she muttered through the apple sauce production in her mouth.

"Why do we have to learn that stuff anyway?" McKenzie wondered aloud, twirling her fork like a ballerina in her salad, daydreaming and glancing around the cafeteria melancholy. "I mean, has the Reinassance really affected my life?"

"Actually," Tricia replied, dropping the apple on her tray and probing at her lunch circutoriously, cocking her head to the right side, "The Reinassance was a period of great artistic and literary change. Some of the most famous and influencial artists were at their peak during the Reinassance like DaVinchi and Picasso. They gave us the Mona Lisa, David and the Last Supper."

Jesse and McKenzie peered at her wide-eyed, their utensils left suspended in mid-air, their food calling desperately to fuel them for the rest of the day. "You into that stuff?" Jesse asked with a head nod, blindly scraping the resistent last drop of his pudding from the comfort of the bottom of the cup.

Tricia glanced over at him, her black eyes deep pools of knowledge, itching throughtfully behind her ear. "Oh, Yes," she replied honestly, slipping at her milk carton. "It's such beautiful work."

Almost on cue, Zach busted boiserously through the purple cafeteria doors, his arm hinged on the strap of his green EastPort and his Lacrosse stick hugging close to his body like some desperate blonde. His eyes jumped from table to table as if looking for someone; and then they found her.

He strutted over to McKenzie's table, dropping his Lacrosse stick and backpack like bricks to the floor. Zach leaned foward on his knuckles perched firmly on the table, acting if God had given him the right to act so arrogant on a gold encrusted platter. "Hey McKenzie," he cooed flirtateously, raising his eyebrows quickly. His head sharply turned to Jesse, looking down on him superiorly. "Jesse, my man!" he shouted gleefully, giving him a friendly but feign slap on the back. Jesse whinced slightly, not sure why Zach was acting this way.

"Uhh," Jesse studdered, afraid Zach's eyes would turn him to stone. Jesse's eyes were laying securely on the lunch table as he munched on a chocolate chip cookie. "Hey Zach. What are you...doing here?"

Normally, an akwardly phrased question like that would send Zach on a vitriolic inquisition, but Zach was feeling good that day, what a surprise. He only smiled an eerie smile simulating a Chesire Cat, confidence seeping from him like his nasty colonge. "I just came over to see if your cousin McKenzie would escort me to the movies Friday," he told him matter-of-factly, his eyes glued to McKenzie like she was a prize in a overpriced, overcrowded carnival to be won, requiring intense concentration and craft.

McKenzie and Tricia both shared looks of utter bewilderment. Jesse's mind did a double take at Zach's intention, too.

"So," Zach broke through the silence like a ball crashing through a glass window, "What about it, Mac?"

McKenzie cringed at that name, Mac. Her real father and stepdad used to call her that. But, she was ever so courteous, exhibiting her acting skills once again. "That's sweet, Zach," she smiled with sugar coating, looking over at Tricia. A tingle of fright sparkled in Tricia's dark eyes as she laid a hand comfortly on McKenzie's leg under the safety of the table. "But...I'll have to decline, sadly."

Zach went plummeting from king of the world to vagrant of the streets at McKenzie's harsh reply. He peered at her like she was crazy to pass him up, such a breathtaking specimen. He backed up a little in the shadow of shock. "Well..." he started unsure of how to respond, hardly ever being turned down by a girl, let alone a new girl, glancing down at the white floor in defeat. Then, he lifted his head so proudly and swiftly that any other person would snap their neck in half and yell out painfully, his eyes glaring into the sun. "It's your loss, McKenzie," he spatted at her, a smug smile clashing on his face. He hid his hurt and anger well through his battered confidence. "This is a once in a lifetime opprotunity."

"I think I'll pass just the same, thanks," McKenzie challeged back, her eyes radiating annoyance to pelt Zach's swelling ego. He stormed away angrily, his feet heavy slabs of cement smacking against the cold floor, taking a seat across the cafeteria with his roudy Lacrosse buddies. Jesse was the only one to follow his tantrim as Tricia and McKenzie went back to the comsumption of their food.

McKenzie turned her scortching eyes down to her lunch. Tricia sunk in her seat a little, a smitten smile sneaking in her lips as she stole a bite of her brownie.

"I know it's none of my business, Kenny," Jesse started, turning foward and sipping from his Peach Snapple Ice Tea, "But why did you turn down Zach?"

There's a lot of reasons McKenzie was depicting to tell Jesse, the most odvious not appropriate to share in school...not yet. She shoved some greens from her salad into her mouth, chomping and thinking. When she swallowed, she told Jesse, glancing with evil intentions at Zach's table, "He isn't man enough for me."