Abigail reached the cafeteria early, it seemed. The line was short and seemed to be moving faster than it had at breakfast: people are more awake now, she reasoned. As she finally got her plate, charging it to Alex's account once again, she turned towards the tables, wondering where she should sit. This morning Alex had guided her, and though there was a smaller crowd than this morning, she could still feel the air of curiosity that seemed to follow her as she walked past the tables full of people she didn't yet know.

As she made her way towards the back table she had sat at this morning, she was relieved to see a couple of familiar faces, even if they weren't the most friendly ones.

"Well, how's your first day treating you?" Jacob asked, though he seemed genuinely nice this time.

"It's good, I just met with Maggie to get my job assignment," Abigail responded before turning to her plate. She had just picked up her fork to dive into the macaroni and cheese when Shiloh interrupted.

"Were you going to tell us, or what?" he questioned, seemingly very interested.

"Oh, my bad," she turned back to the pair, "she wants me to work with her in her office." The silence coming from the two of them was worrisome, and she tried to ignore it as she took a bite of her food. The silence dragged on, though.

"Abby! You never came to the laundry room," Bethany interjected, sitting her tray down next to hers. "Please don't tell me you got stuck working in the store room with Lizzie."

"Oh no..." Jacob began, this time with a more mocking tone, "The Lummox got hand-picked to work with Maggie."

"NO WAY!" Bethany practically yelled at her, "that's the best job here!"

Abigail felt her cheeks turning a bright red and she tried to hide her embarrassment. She truly hated being the center of attention once again.

"I had no idea," she quietly explained, focusing instead on her plate again.

"Well I'm truly going to hate that you aren't working with me," Bethany lamented. "But I am still glad to finally have another girl in the group who isn't Lizzie." This comment caused to whole group to snicker.

"Yeah," Abigail replied, "I don't know what I did to make her hate me so much."

"You mean other than become the new talk of the facility and Alex's new best friend?" Shiloh commented.

"Is that what this is about?" Abigail could feel the frustration building. "She's mad because I am new here? I hate being new here. I hate that everyone looks at me when I pass them. I hate that I don't know anything about life here. And she is jealous of me for it?" She could feel the rage building, though she truly didn't want to make any more trouble for herself.

"Whoah, look out!" Jacob pointed out between his laughter, "we've got a mad Lummox among us!"

"And you!" Abigail continued her rant, "What does Lummox even mean? And why do you keep calling me that?"

This caused laughter to come from the whole group, turning her rage to embarrassment.

"Just forget Jacob," Bethany reasoned, "he likes to stir up trouble. And a Lummox is what we call people from Louxe, because they are clueless about life outside of that perfect little bubble."

"So you think I'm stupid?" she questioned the three of them.

"No!" Shiloh interjected, "We don't mean it about you in particular," he quickly corrected, "it's just a blanket term for anyone from Louxe."

Abigail didn't have a response and instead sat in silence for the rest of the meal, letting the three of them talk amongst themselves. Just as she was getting up to finish eating, though, Alex sat down with them.

"Hey guys," he interrupted, "how's it going?" Abigail couldn't help but notice the fact that he was covered in dirt from head to toe.

"What on earth have you been doing?" she questioned. "You are filthy!" Alex laughed in response.

"I've been working," he explained between his laughter. "Oh, did you get your assignment?"

"Don't get us started on that," Jacob interjected, "she gets to work with Maggie."

"No way!" Alex responded, reaching up to give her a hug, but stopping mid way as he realized how dirty he truly was. "That's great! You will have to look through the books Daniel had been collecting. There is some valuable information there!"

Abigail stood to go back to the room to do just that when Lizzie came to the table, carrying herself as if she was the most important one in the cafeteria.

"Well, I'll see y'all later," Abigail told the group as she turned to walk away, "I'm gonna go try to study up some, then."

"You? Study for what" Lizzie questioned.

"She got assigned to work with Maggie," Bethany explained, smirking as she talked. She knew it would get a rise out of the arrogant girl.

"SHE GOT PICKED TO WORK WITH MAGGIE?" Abigail could hear the anger in Lizzie's voice as she continued to walk off. She couldn't help but smirk as she turned her tray back in and headed out the door, enjoying the giggles and mumblings that were coming from the table behind her.

——
Author Note:
Who is your favorite for the group?
Comment below and let me know!
Alex
Abigail
Bethany
Joseph (we see more of him soon!)
Jacob
Shiloh
Lizzie