talking to me. Everyone’s been p ointing fingers at me all day.”
“No problem,” Samara replied, beaming a smile at him . “See ya around, Josh.” She turned to the lunch lady who was impatiently waiting for h er to tell her what she wanted.
“I’ll have French toast and a side order of bacon. Actually, make that extra bacon, ” Samara said. She realized that she hadn’t even thought about what she was ordering; it had just come naturally to her.
As Samara took the tray and paid for her food, she decided that she wasn’t even going to try to pretend that she was a vegetarian anymore. Instead of throwing the bacon away like she normally would have done if it had accidentally ended up on her tray, she resisted the urge to start eating it as she paid. The bacon actually looked good, and Samara was really hungry. In fact, she couldn’t remember a time when she had ever been this hungry. Just the scent of the bacon made her mouth water.
As she sat down at one of the cafeteria tables, Samara spotted Emma’s blonde h air as she walked towards her.
“Sam!” Emma sat down at the table. Immediately, she wrinkled her freckled nose. “Why are you eating cafeteria food?”
“I was hung ry,” Samara replied, shrugging.
“Then why didn’t you just get a bagel?” Emma asked. “Bacon ? Since when do you eat bacon?”
Samara sh rugged. “I don’t know, I need a change, ” she replied , crunching on a piece of bacon. After tasting this bacon, Samara wasn’t sure how she had ever been satisfied eating vegetarian bacon all of these years. It didn’t have the same delicious meaty texture or the same bacony flavor that she was devouring right now. Vegetarian bacon taste d like carrots, but real bacon . . . r eal bacon tasted delicious . The old Samara might have hated i t, but the new Samara loved it.
“Samara, are you listening to me?” Emma snapped.
“What?” Samara realized that she had been so hypnotized by the bacon that she had stopped paying attention to what Emma was saying.
“What’s with you today?” Emma asked. “I wanted to know if you’re planning to come over to my house on Saturday night. My parents are going out of town, so I figured we would invite some people over.”
Samara nodded. “ I’ll come.” After she said it, she wondered why she had. Was she really in the mood to be around Emma? It didn’t really matter now that she had already said yes, though. Emma would never let her go back on her answer.
“Luke’s coming to the party, by the way,” Emma said. “Just no making out in my bed, okay? I think it’s really creepy when everyone does that, so I always keep my door locked during parties, but you know where the key is.”
Samara scoffed. “You don’t have to worry about that happening. I have a feeling it’s going to be really awkward fo r me and Luke to be in the same room with each other, let alone making out anywhere.”
“Why would it be awkward? ” Emma asked confusedly. “ I thought your date went good.”
“Yeah, well, I thought so, too. He told me yesterday that he doesn’t want to go out with me again, though. I guess he must not like me anymore.”
“Well, that’s weird, considering he’s staring at you right now,” Emma said, pointing her chin in the direction Luke was sitting in.
Samara looked over her shoulder just in time to see Luke’s green eyes dart away from her and to the floor. She turned back to Emma. “He’s probably just staring because he feels weird being in the same room as me.”
“I don’t know, Sam. He was looking at you kind of like he wants to jump your bones. I think he still h as feelings for you,” Emma said. Samara thought she picked up on a note of disappointment in her voice, but she wasn’t certain. The first bell rang, and Samara stood up to empty her tray and glanced over at Luke.
He was staring at her again, and this time Samara knew that Emma was right. Luke was staring at her longingly, like he wa