The Psychopath Maker

Chapter Fifteen

The next day, students' that remained clueless to last night's event let their chatter harmonized into the sound of worker bees buzzing in a hive. As they devoured the dietician approved grub at lunchtime, they took a break from the busy day to unwind and reconnect.

      Isabeth came out of line holding her yellow tray filled with pesto penne, grilled lemon salmon, and steamed broccoli. She strutted with hips swaying left to right, placing one foot in front of the other with her back straight and her head up. The ice in her glass swam around as she passed by Kevin, Faith, Troy, and Maya's table.

      "Bleeding heart," Kevin huffed mashing the square-shaped butter into his baked potato. The sunglasses he wore to hide the burgundy bruise on his face were now rested on top of his head.

    Malachi, sitting opposite Kevin, remained silent as he flexed out the soreness in his left hand.

      Troy watched Isabeth as she strolled down the aisle. This wasn't the first time she opted to sit by herself. She chose to do it once in a while when they pissed her off. They often criticized her for being too goody-goody. Isabeth set her tray down on the round white table next to the window. She smiled at someone that Troy couldn't see. He waited patiently, fidgeting in his chair at every passing second. When he could finally see, his eyes widened at the sight of Isabeth's new lunch companion. Troy grabbed his tray, tossed the barely touched food in the trash, placed the tray on the bin and left the lunchroom.

     Faith watched Troy like a movie noting every detail of his reaction, "Benny scores again." She proclaimed with a snicker.

    Malachi shook a dash of salt on his baked potato, "Congratulations on being our Valedictorian." He told Maya.

  "Thanks, Chi!" Maya couldn't hide her smile. "You should also congratulate our Salutatorian." She patted Faith on the back.

    Faith shifted away from Maya's hand as she slid her knife off the piece of romaine.

    "Faith?" Kevin quickly swallowed his lemonade wishing it was laced with something a little stronger. "I didn't know they rewarded for your type of skills." He chuckled then shoved a chunk of steak in his mouth.

     Faith's smile completely disappeared, giving way to a stoic expression. She fixated her blue eyes on him. She picked her knife back up, "Kevin...." She kept her eyes on her salad. "You're going to die a horrible death." She stabbed her fork in a shredding piece of lettuce and lifted it to her lips. She tilted her head looking at Kevin from the corner of her eye. 

Kevin slowly chewed while everyone else watched silently. She half shrugged at them. "Just keeping it real." She admitted before sticking the fork in her mouth.

*****

     Benny looked at Isabeth as she remixed the basil-rich pesto in the pasta. She unwrapped her utensils from the napkin and placed it on her lap. She took the fork that was still warm from the dishwasher and stuck it into the lump of pasta. One piece hung at the end of the fork as she guided it to her agape mouth. After a couple of slow, short bites, she swallowed the whole-wheat carbohydrate.

       "What?" Isabeth asked feeling the heat of Benny's eyes on her.

     "You don't have to sit with me," Benny told leaning on the table. His hand rested on his assigned book, Jane Eyre. "I'm a big boy."

     She swallowed a sip of cold, refreshing water, and then replied, "I want to sit with you."

      Their silence resumed as the room around them engulfed them in sound. He went back to reading. His ability to shut the world out and sink into his shell intrigued her.

    "So...what school are you going to in the fall?" She asked trying her best to make him talk. She yearned to catch sight of the boy she saw yesterday in the library: articulate and bright, someone anyone would admire.

      "Harvard or Brown." He answered without looking up from the book. "I haven't decided yet."

     Isabeth searched her mind for another question but the bell rang signaling the end of their lunch period. The students hopped from the seats, threw their scraps in the trash, and rapidly cleared out the lunchroom. Isabeth followed suit. She looked around for Benny as she joined the cluster of students hustling out the Dining hall but it was useless trying to find anyone in that chaos. 

Why do you think Isabeth chose to sit with Benny as opposed to her friends?