"You're Andrew Pritchett, right?"
Andrew stopped focusing on his delicious lunch and looked at a boy with an average appearance who seed a bit older than them. He was wearing the typical jacket athletes wore.
"Yes, what do you need? Andrew asked, and everyone turned to the boy, waiting for his response.
"Jason and the guys want to talk to you," the boy replied, pointing toward a table in the middle of the cafeteria where several boys in matching jackets sat with a group of very pretty girls.
"Go introduce yourself," the boy added in a commanding tone, causing Reggie, Archie, and the others to frown. Andrew, however, kept the sa expression.
"Alright," Andrew responded, his voice calm and without anger. He stopped looking at the older student and turned his attention back to his food.
"Why aren't you getting up?" the boy asked after a few seconds of silence. He had thought Andrew would stand and follow him to the table with the others, but Andrew continued eating calmly.
"I'll go when I finish my al. Is that a problem?" Andrew asked, looking at him briefly.
"No... of course not..." the boy said, quickly returning to his table with his friends.
"What do they think this is, a military school?" Steve complained as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"Eat with your mouth closed," Veronica said with a disgusted look, watching him. It was already the second ti he was eating with his mouth open.
"Senior students are always so aggressive. It's like they want to mark their territory every ti soone new shows up," Kevin said, crossing his arms with a frustrated air. It had been the sa when they entered middle school.
"Just ignore them," Andrew said finally finishing his lunch, wiping his mouth with a napkin and taking a sip of water. "If they need to intimidate younger guys to feel important, that says a lot about them."
His tone was calm, but his words carried a clear note of disdain that didn't go unnoticed by his friends. Reggie chuckled under his breath, while Archie snapped his fingers in approval.
"But you still need to be careful," Kevin insisted. "Seniors always find a way to make life hard for the newcors, and you... well, you already have enough attention on you. I don't think they'll throw you a welco party."
"A hazing. I read sothing like that on a website," Steve comnted.
"I'm not worried. They haven't won a district championship in all these years, and Jason and his friends are in their last year. This is their last chance... and they won't make the most of it, because we're here," Andrew said calmly.
"That's true," Reggie comnted, looking at Kevin. "The senior team always ends up third or fourth in our district. They haven't made it to state in... what? Ten years?"
"Twelve," Kevin corrected.
"This school stinks. They should be grateful we're here," Steve said with an arrogant smile, crossing his arms.
"Please, Steve. If it were up to you, the team would only win in the skill of eating snacks during the ga," Haley said.
Reggie and Archie burst into laughter, while Kevin tried to hold back a smile. Steve, not missing a beat, pointed at Haley with an indignant look, "You're always against . Is it because you like ? My mom always told she used to argue with my dad in school."
"Shut up!" Haley exclaid, furious at the statent, as she started hitting Steve, who had no choice but to block.
"Well, I think it's ti. Let's see what the seniors want," Andrew said calmly.
Andrew stood up slowly, and the others stopped laughing and talking. Reggie, Steve, Archie, and Kevin imdiately followed, also standing up from the table.
However, they weren't the only ones who stood up. From different tables spread across the cafeteria, other students also got up. They were Andrew's teammates from middle school, those who had followed him through two victorious district seasons.
So had been chatting, others had just started eating, but all of them noticed when Andrew stood, so they stopped what they were doing and followed him.
Andrew walked at the front while his friends and teammates flanked him on either side. More than fifteen students, in an orderly, almost martial fashion, made their way toward Jason and his group's table.
'This is incredible,' Andrew thought, making a titanic effort to maintain a serious expression.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on him and his group, creating an atmosphere that could only be described as epic. In his mind, he couldn't help but picture it as a scene from his favorite movies or a video ga.
"What kind of training did they make you do to look like military?" Haley asked from her table, her eyes wide open at the scene.
Veronica and her friend simply shook their heads, though they couldn't hide their amused smiles.
They knew Andrew was a training fanatic, obsessed with discipline and constant improvent, but this went beyond what they had imagined. He had turned a group of teenagers into a coordinated force marching like soldiers on a mission.
"Who's Jason? I'm here. What do you need?" Andrew asked. His voice was firm but respectful, with no trace of arrogance. Behind him, more than fifteen guys stood silently, backs straight, supporting him. There was no need to be arrogant when you had the backing of over fifteen of your peers.
"I'm Jason..." said an athletic, blonde, blue-eyed boy, exchanging a glance with one of his friends, clearly uncomfortable. He hadn't expected such a display.
"We just wanted to welco you and remind you not to be late. The coach is very strict about that," Jason added, forcing a smile. His friends and the girls at his table were surprised by his tone, as it wasn't the confident and arrogant tone they were used to.
"Thanks for the reminder. See you at practice," Andrew said, bidding them goodbye and turning around.
The guys who had followed him remained silent and straight.
"Dismiss!" Andrew exclaid in a loud, firm voice.
"Yes!" the guys responded, and began to disperse, returning to their tables, except for the main crew (Archie, Reggie, Steve, and Kevin).
Andrew returned to his table followed by Archie and the others, under the gaze of everyone in the cafeteria. He now realized that perhaps staging such an epic scene wasn't the best idea, as he was about to beco the center of attention again.
"Interesting. Not bad," murmured a girl with long, straight blonde hair sitting at Jason's table.
"What did you say, Regina?" asked her friend, looking at her. She had been paying attention to the surreal situation that had just unfolded and hadn't heard her.
"Nothing," replied the blonde girl, nad Regina.
...
After lunch, classes continued. He had the fifth and sixth periods of the day. After finishing those, he had his last class, which was an elective.
Andrew chose technology as his elective. The class was called: Introduction to Programming. He had always loved video gas, and he preferred a subject like this over studying foreign languages, visual or performing arts, or anything else.
As he entered the classroom, a smile spread across his face. In the first row were Leonard and Howard chatting. Finally, he had a class with them.
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