Billionaires Don’t Fall For Awkward Girls by Emma Dalton
Chapter Twenty
It’s been a few days since my mom quit her job as the school’s lunch lady. They hired a new temp every day, but I heard rumors that the latest one is here to stay.
I try not to sulk as I walk into the cafeteria and glance at the new lunch lady. She doesn’t smile at the students as she hands them their lunch. She looks like someone’s holding a knife to her throat and forcing her to do this. As for the food? One word comes to mind: yuck.
Sighing, I stand in line with everyone else. What sucks most about this? I won’t see my mom every day at school. I miss our secret smiles and winks.
When it’s my turn, I study the various food options. There’s not as much variety as there was when my mom worked here. As for the quality? Yuck again.
“Are you going to stand there or are you going to choose something?” the woman demands. “I’ve got lots of kids to feed.”
“Uh…any recommendations?” I ask.
She looks like I asked her to shave off all her hair. “Kid, pick something or get lost.”
“Fine. I’ll have that.” I point to what looks like barbeque chicken.
“Super. Next!”
“What about dessert?” I ask.
“No dessert today.”
“But it’s not a proper meal without dessert.”
“Scram, kid.”
I sigh as I turn away with my tray, catching the eye of the guy behind me who sends me an understanding smile. He steps up to the counter and begrudgingly orders his food, sounding like someone’s forcing him to eat.
I find my friends at our table playing around with their food and looking miserable. Charlie isn’t even working on homework—she’s pushing something mushy around on her plate and exhaling deeply every five seconds.
I lower myself next to Ally with a huff. “Lunch will never be the same.
Kara drops her fork and clutches my arm. “Bring her back, Dani. Please bring her back.”
“I wish. But she refuses to see reason. She’s…” I swallow. “She’s sacrificing herself for me.”
Ally rests her hand on mine. “She loves you so much.”
“But she doesn’t get that I don’t care what the losers at this school think. Let them moo at me all they want. I don’t care.”
“But it hurts her to see it,” Kara says.
“She’s still hurt from when she was in high school and the kids bullied her. She doesn’t want me to go through the same thing. Ugh! I hate those girls. They don’t even know the damage they caused. My mom’s still out of a job.”
“She hasn’t found anything yet?” Charlie asks with concerned eyes.
“No school is hiring food workers. And it’s hard to find a family to clean for. But it’ll be okay,” I say with a confident smile. “She’ll find something soon.”
We pick up our forks and bite into our food. Then we exchange disgusted faces.
“What is this?” Charlie asks.
“Chicken, apparently.”
She grabs a napkin and spits it out. “That will never be chicken. Not in this lifetime or the next.”
Ally sighs heavily. “I miss your mom so much.”
“Me too,” Kara says. She glances around the room, at all the other kids picking at their food. “I think everyone does.”
“Not them.” I nod to the girls who ran her off. They’re eating their salads and snapping selfies. “Or them.” I nod to the cheerleaders.
“Grass tastes the same, no matter how you make it,” Charlie says.
“We might have to live on grass from now on.” Kara lifts the sauce and lets it drip onto her plate. “Either that or starve.”
“And risk another world war,” I say. “Hungry kids at school? Never a good thing.”
Charlie places her hands on the table. “Unacceptable. We need to convince your mom to come back. I can’t live like this.”
“I tried, Charlie. She won’t budge.”
“Maybe we could get kids to sign a petition or something,” Kara offers. “Your mom will see how many people love her and she’ll want to come back. I can ask Martina to put it in the paper.”
I shake my head. “Who said the school would even offer her the job back?”
Charlie gestures around. “Hungry animals at the zoo?”
I sigh. “She told me she made up her mind. I think we need to let it go, guys. It’ll just upset her.”
Ally tries to wipe away the sauce and expose the chicken underneath.
“What are you doing?” Charlie asks.
“The sauce is gross. Maybe the chicken itself isn’t so bad?”
“A lot is riding on that,” Kara says as Ally cuts into the mostly naked chicken. “Fingers crossed, guys. I’m not made to eat grass.”
Ally slowly brings the piece to her mouth and hesitantly takes a bite. She gets a thoughtful look on her face as she chews, and for a second there’s hope. But then her face wrinkles in disgust as she motions for us to hand her a napkin. She spits it out and wipes her mouth. “It’s worse!”
I catch some kids carrying their full trays to the garbage and tossing out their food. The lunch lady doesn’t seem to notice. If she does, she doesn’t care.
“I’m going to march up to her and tell her to put more effort into her cooking,” Charlie says as she stands. “It can’t go on like this.”
I grab the hem of her shirt and yank her back down. “That’s rude.”
“The truth is never rude.”
“Just forget it. Guess I’ll have to bring lunch from home. Ooh, and I can bring for you guys too.”
Ally’s face lights up. “That’ll be awesome. But I wouldn’t want to put more work on your mom.”
“I think she’d like it,” I muse. “It’ll give her something to do, and I know she misses preparing food for the students.”
“Oh my gosh, you’re a lifesaver.” Charlie gives me a quick hug, then reaches for her bag and pulls out her laptop. “Now I can get some work done.”
“You still have an empty stomach,” Kara points out.
“True, but now there’s hope. That’s enough to get me through the day.”
“Not me,” I whine.
“Me, either.”
“I’m buying something from the snack machine,” Kara says. “You guys want anything?”
We tell her what we want and hand her money. She returns with the snacks. They’re not enough to fill our poor, empty stomachs, but it’s still something. We finish them just as the bell rings. As I walk with my friends out of the cafeteria, I almost bump into the girls who mooed at my mom. They’re talking animatedly about an influencer they follow on social media, gushing how flawless her skin is and how skinny she is.
“If they didn’t care so much about looks, my mom would still have a job,” I seethe.
“Hey, you!” Charlie calls.
“What are you doing?” I hiss at her.
“Yo, blondie and brunette with the skinny butts!”
I yank her arm. “Charlie!”
They turn around.
“Proud of yourselves?” she demands. “The whole student body is starving because of you.”
They exchange a glance before looking at Charlie like she lost her mind. “Who the heck is she?” one mutters to the other.
“That loser nerd who does everyone’s homework.”
“Oh, that’s right.” She turns to Charlie. “You got a problem?”
“Yeah, I got a problem. You drove off the lunch lady. Feel any guilt?”
They wrinkle their noses. “Why should we feel guilty? Good riddance. She was poisoning the students with her fatty food.”
“Oh, you didn’t just say that,” I mutter.
“Now we’re stuck eating crap. Literally.”
One rolls her eyes. “We don’t eat that stuff.”
“Other people do.”
“Why is that our problem?”
Charlie moves forward like she wants to slap them, but I grab the back of her shirt. “Let it go. It’s useless.”
They snicker before walking away.
“Charlie, you okay?” Ally asks. “I’ve never seen you that angry.”
“I’m not myself when I’m hungry.”
“I’ll buy you another snack,” Kara says before heading down the hallway.
I rub Charlie’s shoulder. “Tomorrow, you’ll eat like a princess.”
“Your mom needs to know how much we need her, Dani.”
I shrug helplessly. “I’ll see what I can do. But don’t get your hopes up.”