Free Tears of the Broken by A.M Hudson

table beside their paper-wrapped
sandwiches and chocolate milks makes that self-explanatory, and if
you missed that cue, the ‘Chess Club’ jacket might be a dead
giveaway. But, if playing chess makes them geeks, then I should
probably be sitting with them. “So where do you fit in?” I
asked.
    David looked to the side and drew a breath.
“Well—”
    “ Hey, guys.” Emily came up out of nowhere and perched herself
on the seat across from David.
    “ Hi
Emily,” I said, then shoved a mouthful of cardboard-like lasagne
into my gob. It’s no roast turkey, but it’ll fill the empty hole
and satisfy the green ogre that dwells within my belly.
    “ Emily.” David nodded his greeting and started eating his
nachos.
    “ Hey, do you guys mind if Ryan and Alana sit with us?” she
asked. “They’ve got new-girl fever.”
    “ No,” I scoffed, “why would I mind?”
    David lifted one shoulder. “Fine with me?”
    After Emily signalled them over, she leaned forward and a
bright grin lit up her caramel eyes. “So, what’d ya think—a new
love blossoming, or what?”
    New
love? My cheeks burned as if a warm towel had just been wrapped
around my head, but as I followed her gaze to the girl and the boy
from music class, walking as close to each other as possible, my
heart slowed. She means Alana and Ryan.
    A
sassy smile twinkled in the corners of David’s eyes as they met
mine. “I think you might be right, Emily,” he said, and looked up
at the pair. “I don’t think either of them has figured it out, yet,
though.”
    Emily sighed, gazing dreamily at them as they walked up to
our table.
    “ Hey, all.” Ryan cupped his hand against David’s and clicked
his fingers as he pulled away, then sat down next to Emily, sliding
Alana’s tray closer to his.
    “ Hi,
guys.” I smiled, then shrank back into myself a little.
    “ Hey, Ara—so cool what you did to Mr. Grant, today.” Ryan
pointed gun-fingers at me. “I’m sure it’ll go down in high-school
history: The Newbie Bites Back. Part One.” Beneath his docile
tones, he made himself sound like the voice-over for a movie
trailer.
    “ I
wasn’t biting back,” I said with my mouth a little full, “not
really. I was just…politely not taking any crap.”
    “ So
noble.” Ryan nodded, lost in awe. Alana sat quietly beside him, not
making any effort to stand out.
    “ So,
Ara?” Emily said. “We just finished French class—are you taking
French this semester?”
    “ Nope. Foreign languages just don’t click up here.” I tapped
my head. “My friend tried to teach me some French once…it was bad.
I sounded like I was trying to spit insults at someone who made me
hungry.”
    Ryan
and David chuckled to themselves.
    “ That’s a pity—” Emily propped her cheek against her hand. “I
was kinda hoping we’d have someone to take the spotlight off us for
a while.”
    “ Spotlight?”
    “ Yeah. Our teacher, Mz Sears—” Ryan pointed his chip at me,
“Total cow.”
    “ You
mean grenouille?” Emily said.
    “ Uh,
Em—” David frowned, “You know that doesn’t mean cow,
right?”
    Her
cheeks flushed pink. “Uh—”
    “ Well, what’s being a cow got to do with a spotlight?” I
asked. Unless she’s a Broadway cow.
    “ Oh,
nothing.” Emily sighed. “I just thought she might play nice in
front of a new kid for a while.”
    “ So,
she’s not nice?”
    “ Sometimes, but she’s just so finicky. Everything has to be
done a certain way. If you don’t follow her rules to the T she goes
all PMS on you.” Emily added, then looked at Ryan to
continue.
    “ Yeah. She’s so stuck up, Ara, like you wouldn’t believe. She
came from some private school in the city, and she just doesn’t
understand our ways.” He waved his hands about in the air, making
‘scary fingers’. Alana shook her head and smiled into her
salad.
    “ Well, I come from a private school? I’m not stuck up, am I?”
I asked.
    “ You come from a
private school? No way.” Ryan