LUNCH BREAK

“Marie, where did you go missing yesterday?” Jacob asked after he blocked her way as she was going to the cafeteria with Jean, and before she could answer his question, Jean pitched in to show him the actual place that he belonged to, according to her. She cross-questioned, “How does it matter to you?”

“I am talking to Marie, and you are not Marie,” came the reply from him.

“Don’t make me angry,” warned Jean, and she added on, “Marie is my best friend, and I can answer for her.”

Then she turned to Marie and asked, “Right, bestie?”

The moment that she was put on the spot and had to answer the question that was thrown at her by Jean, she blanked out completely. All of a sudden, she forgot the friendship that she was in the process of building with Jean. She also forgot what Jacob was trying to do to her at the dance socials. She lost memory of anything to do with both of them.

Wanting to stand for her newly made best friend, she deemed it appropriate to accept what was asked by Jean. It definitely was not easy for her because it was the first time that a boy from school had come to talk to her on his own, without any compulsion. But she turned to Jean as she had been looking at Jacob until now and said, “Yes, you are my best friend.”

“I told you so,” mentions Jean and gives out a very unwelcoming expression.

“Jacob, I didn’t want to dance; it was getting too much for me,” explained Marie as soon as Jean let out a hostile reply.

Jacob immediately looked back at Marie and asked, “Can we go to the cafeteria together and can I join you for lunch?”

One more time Jean answered his question before Marie could even open her mouth.

“Give us a break,” she exclaimed.

That is when Jacob and Jean turned to Marie one more time to know her take on this, but Marie looked all blank again as she didn't know what she should say.

She always had that fantasy of a guy showing his interest in her because that was a normal thing to happen as per the society that they were living in, and their mind was trained to think such stuff. Jacob coming to talk to her upfront was a good thing to happen, but the way she had already started to feel for Jean was something that was pulling her from answering his question as Jean had already done the talking.

There was clearly no harm in Jacob joining them. Good things just started to happen to her, she thought, where a boy and a girl wanted to join her for lunch. Until just the other day she was eating all by herself, and now she is given to choose between the two.

But because she knew the way being alone felt, she did not want anyone else to experience it. So, she looked at Jacob and said, "Sure," as she held Jean's hand and gripped it tight to control her reaction as she did not know the reaction that Jean would have given if she allowed Jacob to join them.

She held her hand almost at the same time that she had agreed to let Jacob join them for lunch. Jean was a little jealous at first, but then she saw Marie walking with her and taking her side, she felt comfortable to have Jacob around as she eventually learnt that Marie would not abandon their friendship.

In fact, Jean got very happy when Marie sat with her at the table even though Jacob was sitting on the opposite side and was right in front of her best friend, Marie. It was during the lunch that she realized Marie and Jacob were staring at each other a little longer than they were looking at her.

She very smartly proposed, “Jacob, do you want to come this side to sit with Marie?”

And Jacob was no fool to miss an opportunity to be near Marie because he started to like her. So, he immediately agreed and picked up his plate and walked to the other side, whereas Jean walked to the side that he had been sitting on before.

Once he sat down next to Marie, she turned a little on the side he was seated on and just as soon as he started talking to continue the story that he had been telling Marie and Jean, Marie felt Jean placing her feet on either side of hers. And she was not able to answer when Jacob asked her a question about why she didn’t want to take the science stream because she was still recovering from the shock that Jean had given her.

As she got somewhat adjusted to that feeling of Jean moving her shoe front on her sole that was making Marie feel ticklish as Jean was moving it on the instep arch, she started talking. She finally felt a little comfortable in talking, and that is when she replied, “I know it is unbelievable for many that a student from the star performer’s section wants to make a career in arts, but I just don’t understand calculations.”

“So, choose Medical Science, and you will be free from doing the calculations as you will only have to study physics, chemistry, and biology,” suggested Jacob.

“Physics has calculations too. I am not comfortable with calculations at all,” responded Marie after she was done rolling her eyes at Jacob to make it look as if she was stating the obvious.

After laughing at what she said, Jacob turned to Jean who was not paying attention to the conversation that he was having with Marie, and said, “Can you believe this girl?!”

But instead, Jacob noticed the way Jean was looking at Marie without blinking her eye even once. He did not know what was happening under the table, and Jean was looking at Marie to notice her expressions as she was feeling satisfied as she was admiring her. But he built up a theory of his own in his mind.

This kept happening during the whole lunch break when they were at the cafeteria. And when it got over, Jacob wished both the girls a happy day and left to be with his friends. He understood that anything that he wanted to do with Marie was not going to be possible because of the way her best friend, Jean, had been guarding her. So, he felt dicey about having the kind of chance that he was looking out to get with Marie. But challenges were fun to him.

He made sure that he was around Marie most of the time since then, but he never really got to be alone with her. She was always with Jean who was not only friends with her but also protected her like nobody’s business. Jean made sure that even if Marie were to talk to others, no one else from the class got too friendly with her.

To say that it was possessiveness would not have been appropriate because they were just friends as they believed. Also, because of their age, the adults would not ever consider it love what Jean and Marie had between them. Nevertheless, both of them were loving it. They were together for the whole day, and they never got tired or felt suffocated with each other as they used to feel had they been with anyone else. That is why both of them had never sustained friendship with any other girl. It was getting interesting to see them as the week progressed because anything could have happened.