The Inter-Reactions

[Kahn]

Following the lives of six self-absorbed teenagers and how they unwittingly affect one another.

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Lyle entered through the front doors of the school, looking down at the floor. He was hoping somehow that nobody would notice him, because he did not want to be noticed. He wanted to be left alone. Completely alone. He would have given anything not to be there. But here was there, so he simply trudged along, not noticing as he passed by Beatrix, which was no problem, as she took no notice of him either.

Beatrix was, in polite terms, cheerful. In impolite terms, she was a bubbling giddy idiot. She was attractive, very much so, though she was ignored by most guys because of her large waistline. It wasn't that she ate a lot (in fact, lately she had hardly been eating at all) it was just the way her body was. She had been sitting in the cafeteria, finishing her chocolate milk, when Lyle passed by her table. She got up to go to her locker, when she saw Pamela.

Pamela too had been sitting down, with a large group surrounding her. She wasn't as attractive as Beatrix, but she made up for it with her style and flare. She was black, and liked to think of herself as a lot tougher than she was. In terms of shallowness, she and Beatrix were equals, although both had a lot more happening than met the eye.

The two girls had a short and meaningless conversation, trying to find out what had happened in the other's life since the last time they'd chatted on MSN the previous night at around one in the morning. After this, they both realized how little time there was left until class started ad both went their separate ways.

Pamela went through the southern door, and almost bumped into someone coming out of the library door on the adjacent wall. Pamela took one look at this tall, thin, bespectacled blond carrying a small mountain of books, as if to say, “Watch yourself, loser.”

The supposed loser in question took no notice, and even if she had she probably wouldn't have cared. She walked through the northern cafeteria doors, where she saw Beatrix, who smiled and waved at her though she had never seen her before in her life.

Beatrix headed towards her locker, when she was spotted by Zachery. Zachery and his gang of “punk rockers” circled around her, an assortment of hair dyes, body piercings, and anti-conformist t-shirt slogans.

“Hey there Miss Piggy,” was all he said, and they walked of laughing as though that had been the funniest thing they'd ever heard. She tightened her fist, trying to forget about it. Of course, since Zachery had no intentions of going to class, he circled around the hallways, not knowing as he passed by Pamela what she would have done if she knew what he had done.

But she didn't know, so she kept on walking, past Mario's locker, with Mario himself standing by it.

“Hey Pam,” he said, running up to her. “You're looking as fine as usual. Hmm, you're so hot, I just want to...”

“Oh please, stop embarrassing yourself,” she said, leaving without another word.

Now, most other people might simply have been discouraged by this, but not Mario. He simply muttered to himself how she was a ***** not good enough for him and carried on. The carrying on led him to meet up with Beatrix in the middle of the hallway. Beatrix was still angry about Zachery, but seeing Mario definitely perked her up.

“Oh, hey there, Mario,” she said softly. Mario nodded his head somewhat to acknowledge he had heard her, but didn't even stop walking. This damped her usually high spirits even more.

Mario kept walking, past a sea of faces in the overcrowded public high school walls. He didn't notice the book-carrying girl, despite her incredible beauty, because like with Beatrice, he couldn't see or appreciate true beauty. And he certainly couldn't begin to understand romantic love. All he saw was a conservative looking sweater and a pile of books, or a fat chick, as the case might be.

The girl, however, took even less interest in Mario. It was as though she was beyond those walls, somewhere else entirely. She walked with a straightly arched back, with the air of complete confidence and a hint of superiority. After dropping off a couple of books in her locker, she headed immediately to her homeroom.

“Hey, babe,” said Zachery when he saw this girl. She shot him a look of simple annoyance, like he was an mosquito buzzing around the room, before moving on.

Zachery headed into the cafeteria through the south door, just as Mario was entering through the north door. They were both going to the east door, Mario to get to class, Zachery to get his jacket so he could go out and smoke.

“Hey Zach!” Mario shouted.

“Get lost loser,” he snorted as his friends practically died of laughter. Mario just muttered some vague threat as the punks disappeared. Zach was still laughing as he saw Lyle walking down the hall, still staring towards the ground, still thinking in his mind that he was better than everyone else, and still feeling in his heart that he was a terrible person (which just shows how highly he everyone else.)

So he didn't see as Zach came up behind him, but he did feel as his hands pushed him, sending him hurtling into the lockers lining the walls. Zach and his friends continued on their way, laughing, as though what had just happened was a source of small amusement and nothing more. It wasn't so much that Zack himself found amusement in it, it was just that other people would laugh when he did things like that, and all he wanted was for people to like him.

Lyle stood back up, tears forming in his eyes, not because he was hurt, but because of the anger and frustration he was feeling. He trudged faster now, stomping on each step. A group of girls was standing in front of him, blocking maybe half the hall. He moved over to get through, but one of the girls stepped in front of him. He looked up at her. It was Pamela. He stepped further aside, but she again stepped in front of him. He saw her grin. He could hear roars of laughter from the other girls. He couldn't stand those laughs. He looked right into Pamela's eyes, but he realized that his anger only made her happier. Another person might have said something, but not Lyle, which unfortunately was what made him such an easy victim. He just stood there, staring at her, thinking of all the things he wanted to do but wouldn't do. Spitting in her face, punching her. Something. Anything.

After about half a minute Pamela got bored and she and her friends, who claimed to hate Zach and everyone like him, moved off laughing, just like he had mere minutes before. Lyle just couldn't handle this anger anymore.

Day after day, year after year. Something had to change. As he went upstairs he knew nothing would ever make him happy again. Then suddenly she appeared. Lyle saw her only for three seconds, a tall blond girl wearing glasses. She was perfect! Beautiful! He was surely in love with her! Surely they were soul-mates! He found it hard to breathe properly as she walked passed him, he turned his head to watch as she walked off, to catch one last glimpse, and didn't notice as he walked backwards into someone. It was Mario.

“Hey, watch where you're going man,” he said.

“Oh, hey, sorry about that,” he said. “Did you see her?”

“See who?”

“That girl. Oh man, I've never seen her around here before. She was hot!”

“Oh, hot new girl, huh? Great!”

And they went on, discussing the stupid things boys their age discuss, and as quickly as they had gotten angst, like most all teenagers, they lost it.