The Alphabet Superset: Week 6: Food as Characterization

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    Mrs. Shiela has one job in the cafeteria. She gets the information of the students so the school knows who to charge the cost of the meal too. Mrs. Shiela isn't sure how the whole system works, as her computer simply lets her fill in the information about the students and what they ate. The people in the main office handle the money side. She knows this information also helps with adjusting the menu of future meals, but that also doesn't involve her. She simply gathers the information.

    What she finds interesting is how much she can learn about the students just from such limited interactions with them. From the contents of their tray to where they sit, she has learned quite a bit about the students she sees daily.

    For example, one of the first students to show up every day at lunch is a red-haired boy with a faded green jacket. She doesn't really know his name because he never actually orders lunch. He brings his own. He comes up to the counter to grab a milk carton. He always pulls from the crate of milk cartons instead of the fridge. Then he comes up to her station and hands her the exact cost of the drink in cash and change. Shiela used to think he was just being kind until one day she noticed a small layer of frost covering the carton around his hands. Then Bryce hurriedly walks to his private corner of the cafeteria. He sits alone, silently bobbing his head along to some music playing through his headphones while he eats.

    Next are the students from the Barrymore Dorm. They show up ten minutes after lunch starts, every day. They are all dressed in some form of formal clothing as if going to a job interview or church. They practically march in a single file line. They all order the same thing, usually whatever is newest on the menu. Then they march to a table and sit in a small group.

    Mrs. Shiela has mixed about them. More than one of them has caused her trouble in the past, from fights to tantrums about food. Yet, something feels off about them now. It's as if someone took out all the emotions that drove their unique traits. Now they are just going through the motions. 

    What's more concerning is how they treat former friends. Every time an old friend tries to reach out to them, the students politely refuse them before going back to their lunch. For some of them, Mrs. Shiela doesn't think this is too bad. At least one of the students used to hang out with druggies, but now she has sobered up. But their latest member, Miguel, had a girlfriend approach him. He broke up with her without hesitation and proceeded to eat lunch quietly while she ran out of the cafeteria crying. The whole scene was unnerving, and Mrs. Shiela wasn't alone. Many students refuse to go near them, as if afraid that the Barrymore students are contagious. Even Mrs. Shiela tries to get through dealing with them as fast as possible.

    The stricter course programs are usually the next wave of students to come in. She can tell because many of the students are dressed conservatively and sport some kind of cross-themed necklace. Many of them have athletic bodies. Most will bring lunch or try to get the healthiest option they can from the cafeteria.

    "Oh come, they are serving pizza."

    

    "No way, we gotta eat healthy to stay at our peak."

    Three boys are passing by Mrs. Shiela's station now. Two of them wear silver necklaces, and the third does not. All three are dressed in slacks and collared shirts. While two of them approach the line, the third, one of the boys with the necklace, has a bagged lunch.

    "Dude, we'll burn it off during our next sparring session. I think we can cheat once."

    

    "The fact you call it cheating should prove that we shouldn't do it. Don't you agree Markus?"

    "Don't look at me. I am going to eat healthily because I want to. If Joshuah wants to eat like a pig, I am not gonna stop him." The boy without the necklace pipes up, flicking his hand as if to shew away the conversation.

    "You're so not helpful."

    Mrs. Shiela watches David wait nearby while his friends go through the line. Soon enough, Markus and Joshuah come to her station with their food. Markus has chicken and veggies while Joshuah has pizza and tator tots. She wrings them up and sends them on their way.

    But she notices something odd this time around. All three boys usually eat outside. But this time, she sees Joshuah break off from the group, with David and Marcus watching him leave in confusion. Joshuah crosses the cafeteria and approaches the red-haired boy sitting alone. Mrs. Shiela can't them from her position, but she watches in surprise when Joshuah actually sits down and the red-haired boy smiles for the first time that she can remember. David simply glares at the scene before marching with Markus in tow.

    Werewolf students usually come in alongside the strict program ones, albeit for entirely different reasons. Mrs. Shiela had learned that werewolf students burn a lot of energy due to their nature. So much so in fact that the school had implemented a program that allowed werewolf students to receive double the rations of ordinary students. It was fairly simple really. Just a marker next to the names of students who were allowed double portions.

    Mrs. Shiela noticed not long after that that the werewolf students didn't form one specific clique like she thought. There seemed to be several groups that seemed to keep their distance from each other. Many of them weren't exclusively werewolf groups either, but just students interacting with normal students. She had assumed that all the werewolves would be one giant pack with someone in charge.

    One werewolf student who really challenged her ideas was Lucas. He seemed like a nice enough kid, if maybe on the small side. But what really bothered Mrs. Shiela was that he wore silver.  He had a chain necklace and a ring with a wolf's head on it. He also never stayed with the "Packs" as she referred to the cliques. Instead, he always wandered off from the cafeteria with his food. She wondered briefly if he was just someone lying to get free food, but that was not her job and she had too much on her plate to worry about.

    As lunch drags on, the rest of the students begin to file in for the lunches. Mrs. Shiela's work begins to blur together as the rush begins to pick up. She goes on autopilot, plugging names and food selections into the system. Yet she still observes. Still notices the students. Still privately guesses about their normal lives from the clues she gathers.

    For example, a group of three always comes in together, yet only one of them ever comes to the line. One of the boys that stays is dressed in snug athletic clothes and has short hair. He has a lunch bag in his hand. The other boy who stays wears a black beanie with some kind of pin on it. He has two monsters and a bag of gummy worms. The only one who comes through the line is a blond-haired boy dressed in jeans and a button-up shirt. He seems pretty average compared to his friends. She notices Alexander gets pizza today along with tator tots and honey mustard. She pretends not to notice the way the boy almost puts the dressing on his pizza instead of his tots. 

    Alexander is the name that appears in the system when the boy brings his food to the station. As soon as he is done, the three friends find a spot to hang out and eat. Mrs. Shiela returns to her work. When she looks up later, she notices the boy with the beanie getting up and leaving. She thinks it is weird because there are still another twenty minutes before lunch ends.

    Another example is a pair of girls who regularly come in together. Mrs. Shiela doesn't know the name of the girl with black hair and brown skin as she never orders food from the school. She does know the name of the red-haired girl who comes through the line to get food. Meave almost always gets cafeteria food. These two stick out because Mrs. Shiela noticed how Meave will regularly offer her food to her friend after they sit down, despite the fact that her friend has always brought food from home Some times the friend accepts, and other times she refuses. Mrs. Shiela hopes for the day when the friend will come through the line with Meave so that she can finally learn her name.

    These are just some of the many students Mrs. Shiela sees on a daily basis. There are hundreds of students she sees in a day and she knows a little bit about all of them just by watching them.