I look up at the clock. It reads eleven o’clock. Six minutes until the bell rings for lunch. Most students here are waiting excitedly for that bell to ring, but I dread it. Having no friends in lunch here is like being stranded on your own island. No one would ever dream having to sit by themselves at lunch. If I sit with someone I know, but don’t consider a friend, it’s uncomfortable; but, skipping lunch and going to the library isn’t the best either. The only way to be in the clear in high school is to have “connections.” If you know just one person, it makes it easier to meet new people.

When I walk into the lunch room, I feel like an outcast. I look out across the sea of tables. As I scan through, I see the football players, track runners, hockey players, cheerleaders, softball players, swimmers, and the preps, along with others. There is no where I fit in.

In high school, everything is black and white. It reminds me of the song Relative, by Gavin DeGraw. The lyrics say, “You're either underweight or you're unfit, overdressed or under zipped, too social or you're just too shy, too depressed or you're too high, as night to day and day to night, rich and poor and black and white, all is relative, everything is relative.” This song sums up high school in just a few lines.

It all depends on who is on the outside looking in. Some people’s perception is different than others. If I were to go and sit by myself at lunch, it’s hard to tell what other people think. The reality of it is that the majority of high school students are conformists. Instead of doing what we believe, we will do what is normal.

It’s comfortable for us to go with the flow, to be a sheep rather than a leader, so to speak. If it were up to me, the world would be without prejudice, stereotypes, and hate. There would be no right or wrong when it came to the way people acted. People could just be who they are inside instead of having on an outfit to fit with who they are around.

Until this happens, I will look out into the lunch room, with no where to fit in. No one to accept me for me, no one who won’t judge me. I will sit back and observe who people think they are, or want to be. I won’t fit in; I will be different. If only people could accept that.