The digital clock ticked slower and slower. Each tick felt like it was shrinking my stomach down to the size of a raisin. Riiiiiiiiiiing.
The moment I stepped out of my 4th period class, I raced toward the cafeteria with the fervor of an Olympic sprinter. The faster I saw other people walk, the faster my feet pounded against the hallway floor.
I was an escaped convict, fresh out of class, free at last. Everyone raced to the lines like dogs begging for a treat. The cafeteria was roaring like a stadium. My mind, body and soul was honed in on one thing alone. My vision tunneled, the once meaningful conversations became white noise.
Dodging through the hordes, I made my way into the lunch line. Mindlessly grabbing a chicken sandwich, I craned my neck in search for my coveted prize.
With the warm yellow lights beating down on my face, I scanned my card and searched the snack shelf for my final item.
“Where is it?”
My heart beat impossibly faster. The bag of salt and vinegar chips…they were gone.
I’ve never been in this predicament before. “Those”, I said abruptly. Pointing at the chips where they usually are.
I walked back to my seat as a different person. What is this cruel society?
I look down at my tray and there lies the jalapeno cheddar chips. Disappointment and rage floods my body.
Why me? I reluctantly opened the bag of chips. I began eating them out of pure despair.
I don’t want this to happen to anyone else. So I began my investigation. Who distributes the chips? How many cafeteria workers have noticed this heist? Who else is a victim of this strange fiasco?
I started my inquiry by interviewing a fellow student. Junior Brody Green says, “My first choice is always salt and vinegar chips. It’s like a midday treat. They are just soo, so good.”
After I verified I’m not the only person experiencing this, I continued my quest and voyaged to the source.
Cafeteria worker Tracy says, “They are definitely the first ones to go. They are a hot commodity. If the students can’t find them they will have us check the other lines. Sometimes we will have to send them to the coffee shop.”
It seems the mystery goes deeper than meets the eye… or maybe it was entirely different.
Our wretched school society is accustomed to A lunch getting the prize. The best food. The hot food. All the food.
It was never about the chips. There is no mystery, no secret agenda. They are just simply devoured before my sad and starved D lunch crowd can get there.
A lunch gets a luxury that the rest of us lust for. We have to scrounge through the scraps of their leftovers. Change is needed.
Why are the salt and vinegar chips the first ones to go? I don’t know. But there is one thing for certain.
We need more salt and vinegar chips. Please, cafeteria staff, order some extras for the rest of us.
