Free We're Working On It by Richard Norway

nodded his head at Cory. Kevin smiled.
    Cory was a little embarrassed for being caught looking at another boy, but seeing the smile on Kevin’s face, shrugged the feeling off. Looking directly at Kevin, and acknowledging that he had seen him, Cory smiled and waved. Turning to head for the office, Cory suddenly walked directly into someone and was knocked backwards a few steps.
    “Watch where you’re going,” the other boy yelled.
    Trying to regain his balance, Cory stared at him for a moment and then attempted to walk around him.
    “Sorry, I didn’t see you. Sorry,” Cory said.
    Another boy walked up and stood beside the first boy. They both stared at Cory as Cory walked around them and down the aisle toward the office. Cory did not like these two boys. He knew that they could be trouble.
    Cory had second lunch period, but he didn’t know anyone else who had second lunch, or anyone for that matter, except of course Kevin and Matt. As he walked to the service line, he kept looking around to see if Kevin or Matt would be there. As he moved through the line, he had to turn and focus his attention on what was being served. School food is universal, and it looked like the same uninviting food that he had at Plymouth High. Cory chose a green salad, a banana and a carton of milk.
    Turning from the line after he had paid for his ‘lunch’, he looked around again for some place to sit and eat. He still didn’t see anyone who he recognized, but knew that each table was claimed by a particular group. Cory wasn’t in any ‘group’ so he couldn’t just sit with someone anywhere. He knew that he’d be eating alone. He finally saw a small empty table that only had two chairs next to it by the window. Cory headed in that direction, knowing that he should have brought a book to read or something because it was going to be a lonely lunch.
    He took his lunch from the tray and placed it in front of one of the chairs. Putting the empty tray on the other side of the small table, he sat down to eat. He tried to scan the room again but still knew that he was alone.
    Half way through his salad, a shadow appeared over the table. Cory looked up, and saw a face that he thought looked somewhat familiar, but it wasn’t the face that he recognized, it was that fantastic sparkle again. Cory’s heart took a vacation from beating for what seemed like two beats. Kevin was looking at him.
    “Hey new guy, want some company?” Kevin asked, holding his tray in front of him.
    It took Cory a few moments to recover. “Uh, yeah. Have a seat.”
    Kevin slid into the seat putting his tray on top of Cory’s empty tray, but didn’t take his lunch from his tray, rather planning to leave it there and eat from the tray.
    “How’s your first day going? I saw you in gym today. That makes two classes we have together.”
    “Yeah, I saw you too. I was with another new guy, and I didn’t have much of a chance to get out and join you guys cuz I had to get a locker and then didn’t have any gym clothes. So I just read for a while. Classes are going good so far. Most of the teachers are cool. I think I’m going to like it.”
    “I like it here too, but our PE coach is a nut crusher. I think the term ‘jock’ came from his soul.”
    Cory and Kevin talked about classes that they were taking and school in general while they finished their lunch. Cory couldn’t keep his eyes off of Kevin’s eyes – that sparkle haunting him.
    “See those guys over there?”
    Kevin nodded his head to the left, interrupting Cory’s innermost thoughts.
    Cory glanced over to where Kevin was nodding, and saw a table with about 6 guys eating their lunch.
    “What about them?”
    “Just don’t get mixed up with them. The tall skinny one is Jeremy. He’s mean as hell. I think his bed has two wrong sides for him to get up on in the morning. He’s just fucking crazy. The guy to his right is Johnny. Now, that guy is weird. He’s quiet, but his craziness puts Jeremy to