We all wanted 2nd lunch. Even though it was dependent upon each student's schedule, it seemed all the "popular" people were there. First lunch, which, beginning at 11:30 was too early anyways, was always boring and quiet. You could hear your conversation echoing throughout the tall-windowed, double tiered cafeteria, and everyone just sort of looked. I was blessed to have that ever-coveted 2nd lunch through most of my four years at Mercer Island High School. When the clock switched to 12:10, (we didn't have bells), the shuffles of papers, backpack zippers, and scuffing of sneakers crescendo-ed as half of the 1400 students basically ran or tripped to the cafeteria.
Most students didn’t bring lunches, but would stand in line to be spoiled by the chicken fingers Mondays, broccoli and cheese soup Wednesdays, or sushi Thursdays. We were from Seattle ok? There was also the "Tully's" line, where cute Asian lady Lily made us Italian Sodas. But I won't ever forget Smiley Smoothly Lady. Her eyes were always closed. After grabbing your lunch, then the important decisions were to be made as you frantically scanned, making sure your "group" was sitting at the table.
The freshmen, all restricted to the lower tier, sat at the ketchup clad tables or on the oversized steps, always craning their necks to see above the railing at the cool upper classmen. Once a sophomore, you either decided to remain the dominate species on the steps, or make the move to the lower section of the upper tier. By junior year, you really didn't care about who sat where as long as you sat in the upper upper tier. And by senior year? You owned the place.
The right side of the Tier sat the Athletes, their Girlfriends, the Boozers, their Girlfriends, and the Smart Ones and their Girl Interests. (They never really had girl friends). The left side was reserved for the Not-so-"cool" and the middle was the Band kids and the Floaters.
I was more on the Floater side of the spectrum. Even though I was in the Jamaican Steel Drum Band, I soon realized that didn’t really count. Lunch consisted of copying someone’s homework, gossiping about the latest homecoming drama, or complaining about the teacher who gave too much work. You'd sit there, eating your bagel, cream cheese, and flipz pretzels, until the 40 minutes were up. By 12:50, you knew where your latest crush was sitting, and coordinated walking to class together…without him knowing of course. Usually this happened by walking obnoxiously fast or awkwardly slow in order to intercept, bump into, or make eyes with him. If this didn’t happen, the entire lunch break was a complete waste of time, and you thought about what could have been, for the rest of the day.
But then, there was always tomorrow’s lunch.
