Every Firefighter’s Worst Nightmare [OC]

Back in middle school, I used to sit at the SAME lunch table every day with my best friend Jason. This was a routine we established a year prior in the 5th grade, and so––after months of dining in the presence of each other ALONE––we developed a distinct hankering for a change of scenery (and adventure).

Now, I don’t recall who came up with this idea––but at a certain point, Jason and I agreed that we should go on a "tour" of ALL the other lunch tables in our cafeteria. The plan was simple: We would sit at a different table EVERY day until we worked our way around the room in a counterclockwise fashion. It was brilliant, we thought––for what better combination is there than a couple of angsty 12-year-olds infringing on the cliques of other 12-year-olds?

If you guessed "nothing", then you're as sorely mistaken as we were on the very first day of our operation. As luck would have it, the first stop on our tour was a table teeming with––for lack of a better word––the "bad” kids. Blissfully ignorant, Jason and I sat down with our lunches and were immediately met with hostile expressions from what looked to be the next generation of Hells Angels. Shortly thereafter, this one kid named Hunter stood up and approached the vice principal standing nearby.

To this day, I have NO idea what exactly Hunter told this man––but it must have been one H*CK of a persuasive, false narrative. Because––the next thing I knew, the vice principal MARCHED over to me, tapped me on the shoulder, and proceeded to chastise me for somehow "disrupting the learning environment" at my school with my “actions”. I was utterly speechless, as I didn't know how to defend myself at that age.

So yeah, the tour ended pretty soon after that.