and this time it was in a lunch table.
*an old english essay i came across while going through old papers...
I was a little innocent third grader at the time, and it was a perfectly normal October day at Grovecrest Elementary as my class started on our way to the lunch room. I heard the familiar sound of children laughing, kids playing, the sliver ware and plastic trays clinking, and the scent of the greasy 5 buck pizza wafted towards us as we entered the exciting lunch room. We entered in and sat down on the hard uncomfortable lunch tables. The seating was the same as usual, boys on one bench and girls across from them on the other, with the table in-between. As we began to eat, a round of our favorite game also began. Who could squeeze the furthest down into the end of the lunch table. The tables in our cafeteria folded down out of the wall. We would always sit at the end of the table next to the wall.
It was always a race to see who could get to that spot first to be a part of the game. I had a home lunch so I hurried in and rushed to the seat. I sat down quickly and then looked around me to see who my company would be today. I saw all my friends but the one I was looking for apparentally wasn't sitting by us today. We were getting ready to start when he approached. "I want to watch!" I looked up to see his gorgeous blue eyes, and golden brown hair. It was him. I had been crushing on him all year and now he was going to sit down to watch me. I had to win now! If I didn't it would be so embarrassing. Little did I know of the embarrassment that was about to follow... Everyone else sat down and the game begun. I slid over and slowly sat down in the small hole. My excitement began to grow as I started inching further and further down. I wasn't down very far when the person I was against decided they didn't want to play. Everyone was saying things like, "Lets see how far just you can get Brittney!" I looked over and saw him watching, he looked excited and I wanted to impress him! Not only that but I of course being a shy little third grader wanted to impress everyone so I continued to go down further. I could see the excitement growing in everyone's eyes as they watched me. It started to hurt so I pushed just a little bit further until everyone was cheering, and then to show off, I continued to sit there the whole time I ate my lunch. To a third grader it was like winning the championship game just to win a pointless round of, "who could squeeze the farthest down into the hold at the end of the lunch table."
Everyone got finished eating and we started to go out to recess. That is when I realized that I couldn't get out. Yes, I was stuck. I could feel my face start to get hot and flush red. I may have remained calm on the outside but my heart was racing. My mind was spinning. What if I can't get out? What if they have to call the fire department? What if break my tail bone? What if everyone laughs at me? What if I get in trouble?
One of my friends turned around to ask me as she was walking out. "Are you coming?" she asked. My voice quivered as I replied, "Um, yeah, just a second," "Do you want me to help you?" She asked wide eyed as she watched me struggle. "I'm okay I think " By then everyone had realized that I was stuck. They all rushed over, peeking through the crowd trying to get a glimpse.
I pushed, and pulled, and tried everything I could but the truth was I was stuck. Before I could stop it, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I fought to keep them in, but they fought back and began to pour out. I didn't know what to do. "I will go get a lunch lady!" I heard someone from the crowd yell.
A lunch lady? Now I was terrified! I was an extremely shy girl at the time and lunch ladies scared me so much! I thought I was going to get into trouble! Trouble for "messing around during lunch" or maybe for "misusing the lunch tables for games." I thought for sure that I was going to get sent to the principles office for the first time in my life all because I wanted to impress a cute kid. Not only that but there was no way was I going to let one of those lunch ladies touch me, and I would definitely not let them pull me out of the lunch table. They all had greasy stringy hair, contained by those hair nets they wore. They would all wear their matching stain covered, grimy t-shirts. Their beady eyes covered in thick uni-brows always peering over us just looking for an opportunity to yell.
"I'll hurry!" she yelled as she started to run off to bring back one of those witches. I tried to yell to stop her but she didn't hear. Now my determination was to get out, and unstuck before Nicole returned with the lunch lady. I continued to try and push as tears streamed down my bright red face. After about 10 minutes, everyone was gathering around to see if the little third grader could get herself un-stuck from the lunch table. I continued to pull, push, and sob, but it was no use. I really was stuck.
I finally asked my friends for help. They had strong grips on my arms as they tried to help me pull my self out. It was no use, no matter how hard they pulled, their arms would only slip off to reveal white marks left from their tight grips. As I pushed, pulled and tried everything that I possibly could, I saw a lunch lady start to walk up. Yes. One of those disgusting, oily haired, uni-browed, scary lunch ladies. I could not possibly let her have to pull me out of the table!
"Everyone, on the count of 3 pull harder!" I cried as tears continued to pour down my face which was now probably the color of a tomato. I looked up to see Nicole and Mrs. Cafeteria worker get closer.
"1. 2. 3!" They all pulled, I felt my self budge but I was still stuck. The lunch lady had worked her way through the crowd now and was coming over to help me,
"Now don't budge young lady and I will help you get out of there!" This one was especially scary. She was really tall and she had gross wavy brown that looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. She smelled like the schools "meatloaf surprise" she had arms like an ape. Long with disgusting dark hair. The look on her face was stern and her mouth was curled into a frown. Everyone watched as she came to help me out. They didn't know weather to laugh or to be scared so they just kept quiet. The room was completely silent except for a few whispers coming from the crowd every couple minutes. She reached out her disgusting hairy arm to grab a hold of me.
"No!" I yelled as I swatted her grimy hand away. I couldn't take the embarrassment any longer, not matter how much it hurt I had to get out of this table by my self! I pushed as hard as I possibly could!
Suddenly I felt the tension go away, I was free! I had popped right out from the hole in the wall where I had been stuck. The tears lightened and the crowd cheered.
All I had wanted was to was impress this kid and all the other little 3rd graders and I had just ended up embarrassing myself. I was so mad and sad, and mostly just embarrassed. Half of the school had just witnessed me getting myself stuck in a hole in the wall. I wiped away the remaining tears from my wet, red, tear stained face, and quickly ran away from the crowd out to recess. As I ran out I heard snickers and whispering as they followed behind me. After lunch I was embarrassed so badly, I didn't want to have to see people, so I called home sick. My mom came and picked me up and I skipped the whole second half of they school day.
Everytime it was brought up I would try my face would turn bright red and I would try not to cry. But after a while I learned to ignore them, and eventually they forgot. But now you know, the story of how I, got stuck in a lunch table...
oh yes, and also my teacher decided to read it aloud to all the other english classes.
kids i barely knew asked me how it felt to be stuck in a lunch table. i was embarrassed.
and also, gorgeous blue eyes kid? yep, he put the pieces together and figured out it was him.... but more on that tomorrow..
clear creek in 5th grade (:
