Hemingway Parody

It was a normal Wednesday afternoon at Falden High School. The sun was shining but it seemed to shine just a little brighter on B and V, the popular girls in school. These girls were heading into the cafeteria to have lunch at their normal table when they came to find the lowly sophomore J sitting at their table by herself eating her lunch and trying to finish her homework before next period.
“Are you kidding me?!” B said.
“What’s going on, B?” V asked
“This sophomore is sitting at our table!”
“ Well there’s only two of us, there‘s room for us at like every other table?”
“That’s not the point V, do you even know about J?”
V had heard some things about J when she first came to Falden High School. She assumed they were mostly rumors, as almost everything that traveled around the school was.
“She‘s pathetic, V.”
“What do you mean ‘pathetic’?”
“ I mean, my mom told me that J‘s is a complete druggie and J got taken away from her mom a couple years ago.”
“Who does she live with then?”
“I don’t know, I heard she lives with her grandmother.”
“Well how does that make her pathetic, B?”
“Come on V, just look at her. She’s been doing this whole emo thing ever since her mom went to jail. She’s just doing it for attention.”
“Well maybe she’s just really upset.”
B ignored V’s last statement. She just stared at J waiting to get some sort of eye contact. Nothing. Many other tables were open for the two girls to sit at, but to B this turned into a personal battle to show herself and this girl that she was the ringleader of this school. B walked up the table where J was sitting.
“Move.” B demanded.
“Excuse Me?”
“I’m sorry, Are you deaf? I said move.”
“Why?”
“This is our table.” B looked over at V. V turned her head away from the confrontation.
“Well I was sitting here first. There’s a bunch of other tables in the cafeteria that you can sit at.”
J looked back down and continued to work on her history homework. To B, this was the stupidest thing that a sophomore could do to a senior, especially her. Infuriated, B reached over the table that she felt was rightfully hers and shoved J’s books off of the table. The lunchroom heard this commotion and suddenly became quiet.
“Now, I guess you didn’t hear me correctly, I told you to move.”
“And I told you that I was here first.” J quivered.
“Ok hunny, I guess you don’t understand the rules of this school so I’ll help you out. This table belongs to V and I, so either you can move or I can move you.”
V couldn’t believe the way that B was talking to J. J looked around the cafeteria and noticed that almost the whole school was watching this and snickering. Defeated, J picked her books off the ground and slugged out of the cafeteria. B and V sat down at the normal table. V had lost her appetite.
“Honestly B, did you really have to do that?”
“Yes, V, I did. You didn’t find that hilarious? The way she thought she could stand up to me like that?”
“I don’t understand why couldn’t she sit here for one day? What would happen if we didn’t sit at this table for one day?”
“It’s not about the table V, you should know that. It’s about the fact that J just gets on my last nerve by thinking that she can be a moody snob and think that she can just sit where ever she wants. She’s been going to this school for two years now, she should know the rules… So you coming over after school?”
“Umm.. No I can’t.”
Right at 2:15, V left the school and caught the train into Boston. She stopped in front of the St. Mary’s church and took a big breath before she entered. She sat down in her normal chair, listened to others and waited for her turn.
“Hi, my name is V, and my mother is an alcoholic.”
“Welcome V.” The group chimed in.
“ My mothers has had an alcohol problem since I was 11 and its took 6 years for me to find a place where I can talk about it. I can’t talk to anyone in school, not even my best friend B, she would never be able to understand. No one understood until I came here.”
“All you can do is pray.” said one of the people at the meeting.
V stayed at the meeting until she had to go home to her mother who was passed out on her bed. She checked her mother’s pulse to make sure she was still breathing like she did every night. V broke down into tears, not knowing how long she could handle doing this anymore. She then thought of what she heard today at the meeting, “All you can do is pray.” V got down on her knees, put her hands together and closed her eyes.
“Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name. Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven …”