Fast Food of the Gods 01

It was ten minutes until 3rd period was over, which meant that the class was essentially finished. The final fifteen were pretty unstructured, and just devolved into the whole group chatting. The topic du jour, of course, was where we were going to eat lunch.

Erica suggested In-N-Out, which predictably resulted in Andy making a less than clever innuendo.

Rebecca was the one driving us, though, so we deferred to her. She said she wasn't in the mood for burgers, so the Bell was the default winner. The only places close enough for us to get to, order, eat, and get back to school in time were all burger joints - In-N-Out, Wendy's and a McDonald's, with a Burger King that was iffy since it was three miles further down the road - or the Taco Bell, which was where we wound up a good percentage of the time. It was close, and it was cheap, so the downside was that it was popular, and during lunch got extremely crowded.

That wouldn't be as big an issue today, though, since Mr. Higgin suddenly announced, "If you can keep the noise level down as not to alert the rest of the school, you may be dismissed now." Instantly 30 teens began packing up their belongings to head off to someplace other than US History.  "Don't forget to read chapter seven before Friday!"

Erica and I sat in the backseat of Becca's car, since Andy called shotgun. Our knees touched, and I wondered if Erica was feeling the same electric jolt in her belly that I was. I doubted it.

We got to the restaurant before the huge rush (thanks, Mr. Higgin!) although a handful of other kids from our class were close behind. I held the door for all of our group, with Andy giving me a "Thank ya, guvnah!" with an exaggerated bow.

I noticed the old guy in the corner of the store. He looked up from his newspaper as we walked in, and it felt as though a swarm of bugs had just crawled over me. I noticeably shivered, and the old man returned his gaze to the day's news.

We ordered, and sat down at one of the free tables. Before our food was ready, I excused myself to go to the bathroom.

As I urinated, I could sense that there was someone next to me. "Are you afraid of her yet?"

I turned to face the old man. "What?" ("the hell are you doing talking to me, you creepy old man" didn't escape my mouth, but remained stuck in my mind)

He didn't repeat himself, just stared at me for a half second. "Mm," he said, "Well. You will be. When it happens, Jack, come find me."

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