Ever Thought About Sitting At An All Boys Lunch Table? What About All Girls?

A general hush came across the usually talkative lunch table as a teacher scuttled by, shuffling papers and high-tailing it to their room before their next class. Food was being shoved down all the mouths at the table for that short moment, hoping to account for the odd and unusual silence that swept over them all.

It’s almost like an unspoken agreement among them that anyone on the outskirts of the perimeter is not to know the specific inner-workings of their minds. Now, granted, the “specific inner-workings of their minds” include, but are in no way limited to, a rush of adrenaline courses through their veins as life plays in slow motion all because they land a water bottle flip or endless hours of jokes filed safely away in their brains from a shared list of favorite TV shows and movies or thinking hard to come up with the most pointless and embarrassing dares to drop onto their buddy sitting across from them, shaming them into any ridiculous task. The general stuff, like hating homework, being hungry, and watching sports, doesn’t have strings attached when it comes to outsiders overhearing their discussions. Heck, those loud mouths might even hope a teacher will overhear the number of hours they spent doing classwork rather than doing important tasks such as sleeping or partying.

Yet, none of the young minds are quick enough to pull an acceptable conversation out of their butt for a superior’s ears to process. Life is breathed into the unfrozen table once the faculty member was safely in her room with the door shut. Conversation moved from a relaxed tone to a depth and volume slowly increasing in animation. Bursts of laughter and fleeting moments of exhilaration from intense conversation falls over the once-dead table make up for any lost time spent in silence.

Now, in comparison to the crisp silence that overtook the first table as a faculty member passes, a second table’s volume easily fluctuates depending on how close an outsider is to the perimeter. The closer to the perimeter an adult nears, volume picks up, hoping someone will overhear the details about the a-MAZ-ing party they attended over the weekend, earning themselves some big bonus points on climbing the ladder of highly respected social status or the new fifty dollar makeup that was bought in three different shades or the sadly important number of likes their most recent selfie on Instagram has racked in.

The dress-to-impress mentality is so ingrained in the largest part of the brains at the table and each member strives to look their best, just in case they get pulled out of school for an urgent call concerning a modeling gig. However, when there aren’t any adults to act socially impressive around, the table conversation turns sharply from how much fun they can be to how much stress is contributing to the bags under their eyes and the large piles of homework assigned in higher level classes.

The unspoken reality consists of a stressful night at work last night, falling asleep halfway through the AICE Marine homework, unpopular opinions of any controversial topics shared. The vibe being radiated off of the table turns from upbeat and pumped, from the table that everyone wanted to sit at if even for just a day, to cold and uncomforting. The table that becomes enveloped in deep conversation and perimeter avoided at all costs by outsiders.