Lunch

I pack lunch.

I have always packed lunch.

I eat the same thing every day: PBJ (strawberry jelly only), applesauce (cinnamon only), an apple juice pouch, and varying crackers (Wheat Thins, Cheez Its, Club crackers).

I used to eat Goldfish, but I think they might be for younger kids.

I can eat them at home.

The first day of lunch, an adult in the cafeteria made me take a tray.

I told her I don’t get school lunch.

She said I had to take a tray anyway.

I didn’t understand.

I didn’t take a tray when I was in elementary school or last year in this building for fifth grade.

Why did I have to take a tray when I wasn’t going to eat the school lunch?

I pack a lunch from home.

She didn’t know the answer and asked me to do it anyway.

I asked my friends if they knew why.

They didn’t seem too interested in the tray.

They all had trays.

I asked the same cafeteria worker the next day why I had to take the tray.

She still didn’t give me an answer that I understood.

I am getting a little frustrated by having to take it when I don’t need it or use it.

Finally, my mom said the principal talked to her and the reason I had to take the tray was to keep down on the mess.

Three grades of about 900 kids total have to eat in the cafeteria each day.

This made sense.

I wish the cafeteria worker had just told me that.

I would have understood better.

I eat lunch with Mickey and some other people who I don’t know.

My mom keeps asking me who I eat lunch with.

I tell her I don’t know.

She asked if I eat with any girls.

I tell her I really don’t know.

Mickey and I talk about video games at lunch.

Sometimes we draw.

I don’t always go to lunch in the cafeteria.

Sometimes I have to meet with Mr. Roy.

When Mr. Roy and I have lunch together, we sometimes play chess or talk about video games.

One day, my sandwich was missing from my lunch.

I went to the office and they called my mom.

She had pretzels in her office that she brought to me.

When I got back to the cafeteria, everyone I usually sat with was gone.

I was going to sit by myself to eat, but then someone who said they knew me said I could sit them.

That was really nice.

I wish I remembered how I knew her.

One other time, I got a nosebleed at lunch.

I went to the nurse with my lunch, until my nose stopped bleeding.

The nurse lets me eat my lunch there.

My mom came down to see if I was okay.

I was.

Then, I went to class.

Lunch is a good time to relax and talk about things I want to talk about, instead of school stuff.