Natasha found Amethyst waiting at the front of the cafeteria at exactly twelve o'clock and hurried up to her.

"Do you have your lunch?"

"Yup." Amethyst lifted up a small bag. "Where should we sit?"

"Follow me."

Natasha led Amethyst through the swarm of students and to the table near the back, where she usually sat with her friends.

"Hey." Natasha sat down at her usual spot and motioned for Amethyst to take a seat next to her. "Everyone, Amethyst. Amethyst, Cammie, Marigold, Jade, and Cathy."

Each girl gave some version of a hello to Amethyst.

"Hi," Amethyst said back, a little shyly.

"Welcome to the school," Cammie said.

"Thanks," Amethyst replied, opening her lunch bag. Out came three metal tins. The entire table watched as Amethyst opened them to reveal a cucumber sandwich, a fruit salad, and some pita bread. They focused hard on their own lunches when Amethyst looked up and caught them staring.

Meanwhile, Natasha dumped out a brown paper bag, causing a plastic-wrapped peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and a box of grapes to go shooting across the table.

"Careful, killer," Cathy cried, moving her own sushi out of the way.

"Sorry," Natasha laughed, reaching across to grab her lunch back.

"Anyways," Marigold called, and all the attention turned to her. She smiled and went on. "Anyways," she repeated, "Natasha, Amethyst, we were just discussing the fundraiser."

"Natasha, you should run for head," Jade suggested. "You would be great."

"I don't know," Natasha said, contemplating the idea. "I mean, I already have another, well, I'm already busy," she rephrased, glancing over at Amethyst.

"Well I'm going to run," Marigold cut in. "So is Cammie."

"What? I'm not running," Cammie protested.

"Wrong!" Cathy called, slamming her first into the table. "Cammie, you and Marigold need to run for head. I'm going for organizer of the booth, Jade, you've got to help design the flyers and stuff and Natasha, you would be so much better as a treasurer than head," Cathy told her. There was a moment of silence, then Marigold told her, "You would make a great organizer." and everyone laughed.

"And Amethyst?" Natasha questioned. Cathy looked her up and down.

"She looks like an artist to me."

"She is," Natasha told her. Cathy laughed.

"Amethyst should help design flyers as well. Ooh, Jade, you two should work together!" Cathy suggested.

"I can do it perfectly fine on my own," Jade snapped.

"I think she'd make a good emcee," Marigold piped in.

"No, that's Natasha," Cathy cracked. And so they went, discussing the fundraiser all through lunch.

Half an hour later, the bell rang, and Natasha jumped up, dragging Amethyst up as well.

"Class?" She asked.

"Advanced creative writing. Why are you in such a ru-"

Amethyst's sentence turned into a half-scream as Natasha pulled her off her feet. She scrambled to catch up as Natasha led her out of the cafeteria and down the hallway.

"Why...so...fast?" Amethyst panted as they sprinted to the other side of the school.

"You want to be the first person in class after lunch," Natasha told her as they slowed down in front of room 308. "It's a game we play."

"Seriously?" Amethyst asked with a groan.

"Yup." Natasha pushed her into a doorway, then hurried off with a wave.

What do you think about Natasha's friends? Do they like Amethyst? Will she fit in?

~ writesthetic