3.

Lunch always appears unappealing when you are separated from the world around you. No one else cares and nothing about you matters, especially when you are the new girl in town. This kind of thing was nothing that Ellie wasn't used to; being the new girl and all that comes with that. It might take some time, but she will find her way, even if she has to force that way all by herself. She is strong enough to do that, stronger than she knows, but is she willing?

She has seen it before and nothing is all that different, so it was easy to see just who the queen bee in town is and it is possible that Ellie's arrival and attitude has had some kind of impact for at this particular lunch break, that 'queen bee' would make herself known to Ellie.

Sitting alone with a fairly pathetic lunch in the canteen of her new school, Ellie observes an approaching threesome of what she would soon come to refer to as 'brats'.

'So, you are the new girl in town?' speaks what appears to be the leader of the three, Queenie herself no less.

'Perceptive one you are' responds Ellie while directly looking at who it is that had spoken to her, she then turns her attention to the other two. 'Stick around with this one and you guys might learn something, it won't be anything intelligent but ... can't have everything your way ...'

'Listen here ...' speaks Queen Bee as she takes up an aggressive stance.

'No, you listen ...' speaks Ellie as she moves up out of her seat to take a stance of her own.

'Better watch yourself girl.'

'Or what?'

Queen Bee looks the new girl up and down before confidently turning a one eighty to begin moving away, the gruesome twosome also turn but in tandem, a second or two after Queenie, then move off to follow a lead.

The morning is warm and bright, and Judy is lost in a daydream as she arrives to school. She is so lost in her daydream that she almost doesn't hear the sound of the voice that speaks to her.

'So, how is the book?'

'Excuse me?' asks Judy as she turns her head and only realizing as she does so as to whom it is that has just spoken to her.

'The book, the one you pick up yesterday in the library, is it any good?'

It's that boy, what was his name? ... Oliver ... as if Judy was actually going to forget that name any time soon. She smiles and lets out a sound that she can only assume has come across as being geeky, very geeky. This is the worst thing she feels she could have done in this moment, but it has been done. Unfortunately, she feels, there are no start overs.

'So, is it?' he continues.

Judy almost has to think for a moment. 'Oh right, yeah, I like it.'

Things couldn't be going much worse as far as Judy is concerned, even if she intended them to, which she most definitely doesn't. The only person to acknowledge her existence is standing before her and she is completely geeking out. Oliver is still standing there right next to her, so that must be a good thing; it is definitely not a bad thing.

'What is it about?' he asks as he holds a door open to allow Judy to enter the school building before him, being the young gentleman with which he is.

'It is ... err ... actually about a girl not very unlike me and very unlike me both at the same time. She is a new girl to town just like I am, but she has so much more going for her than what I would have going for me.'

'You know, I bet you have more in common with that character of yours than what you know so don't be so hard on yourself; I am sure that all you need is ... time.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, really.'

'She ... she is ... just so ... so ...'

The school bell rings, time for class to begin. Saved by the bell and interrupted by it at the same time. As much as Judy may like it to be or want it to be, Oliver is not in her first class or any of her other classes. There is the impression that he would be found in the library more often than not so ... there is that.

'See you again soon' he says as he smiles and joins some friends and classmates of his.

'Yeah, see ya' Judy quietly says once Oliver has already moved away.

***

Lunch time comes and Judy finds a spot outside to sit. The spot she finds is one which makes her feel as if she has put even more distance between herself and the rest of Humanity. The position of this spot has no particular relevance to her or to anything else; at least this is what Judy believes. She rests for a moment to observe what activity she can see, which so happens to a fair distance away, and before long she is back within the midst of that book.

This spot of hers is almost alcove like, being just after a short bend on one side in against a wall with a trail that moves away from her on the other, so there is a feeling that she can read her book in peace. There is something about the book, something about the story, something about the character of Ellie that makes Judy connect with the book as a whole, it is a connection unlike anything Judy has ever had or felt before despite the fact that she had only just begun reading it the day before and despite the fact that she has yet to get all that far into it.

This is good though, if Judy feels so good so early on into her read then she still has a fair bit of it to look forward to. If the book had already come to an end, then that would be unfortunate unless there were continuations to delve into which there just might be. To compound or maybe strengthen the connective feeling somewhat, or possibly to make it all the more ... weird, Judy for a split second is sure that a passing girl had just said 'hi', a hi directed at Judy.

This girl just came past that corner and looked directly at her just before the hi. Nothing strange in such a thing occurring so anyone might think except for the fact that the passing girl so happens to look just exactly like what Judy would imagine Ellie to look like.

Being so intrigued by this, Judy stands to go after that girl but in her moment of standing Judy has lost sight of that other girl. This other girl is not anywhere close enough to still be in view, she is gone no matter what kind of search Judy can complete and this is unfortunate.

'Ellie ...?' Judy asks herself before shaking her head in an attempt to shrug off the thought.

Perhaps it is just as well that this other girl indeed has gone out of sight as there is no possible way that she could be Ellie, for Ellie is a fictional character in a book, not a character in a movie or a person in real life, and besides, if Judy had have caught up to her, what could she say, 'oh hi, you just so happen to look like what I imagine a particular girl in a book I am reading to look like'.

Nah, something like that would be something quite strange, very strange indeed, but not as strange as what is still to come and not as strange as the undulating thought that it somehow could indeed actually be Ellie. Judy sits, retaking that little spot of hers and begins to read. A few minutes into her read she comes across a certain passage.

I know I don't know anybody here ... not yet anyway ... so it is time to change that. What better a way to do that than to say hi to a girl I pass by, a girl with a faraway look in her eyes and a book in her hand? In having continued on by, will perhaps give us something to talk about the next time we come together.

Judy didn't just read that, now, did she? Maybe she did. This connection, it is not something just running riot within her mind; it is something that is down on paper, isn't it? Whatever this feeling emanating inside of her is, it is something that she likes, something she likes a lot, and she wants more of it.