The Lunchroom Chronicles #1

The Lunchroom Chronicles #1 by Zoe Rosado, age 11

Have you ever found yourself hiding under a lunchroom table with ghosts looking for you in order to eat you? Probably not. It’s amazing that this story started with dino nuggets. Let me start from the beginning. My name is Sean and I attend P.S. 666 in the middle of a small town called Sanctus in Massachusetts. We aren’t on any maps and we shouldn’t even be called a town considering we only have about 250 people who live here permanently. My mom and I used to live in NYC but when my dad died, it got too expensive to live there so we had to move. Okay, back to the story at hand. My school is the absolute worst. It barely has enough money to fund itself which isn’t that surprising considering that most people in the world don’t know that this town exists. I am sick of the school lunches. They are always these cheap, five second meals that are either soggy or stale. The only lunch that I could stand was Friday lunch. Fridays were the one day the school provided us with actual food and gave us french fries and dino nuggets. So on Friday, everyone was excited but nobody was more excited than me. When Friday came along I made sure to be at the front of the line at lunch. When I went to claim my dino nuggets, something was wrong. The only food there was mystery meat and soggy mac and cheese. Everyone was confused. I saw a bunch of kids gathered around a sign posted on a wall and I pushed to the front to read it. Attention students, due to the recent uprising in prices for processed food such as chicken nuggets and french fries, we will be serving only normal lunches from now on. Thank you for understanding and have a nice day. Out of pure frustration, I

270 Cartoons for all eternity • Caricaturas por toda la eternidad

took a lunch tray with a bowl of mac and cheese on it and threw it across the cafeteria. “Mr. Sean! Detention!” The teacher chaperoning said. I trudged down to the detention room where Ms. Alex was waiting. “What are you in for hun?”” she said. “Throwing a tray across the cafeteria. Here ‘til 5pm,” I said. “Well here’s $10, get some snacks and a Gatorade,” she said. This is why Ms. AppleBottom is my favorite. She is super tired of everyone and takes pity on students like me. I got some chips, candy, and a soda for me and her Gatorade. I came back and she left a note saying she went to the bathroom. I left the Gatorade on her desk and went on my phone. A few minutes later, I realized she hasn’t come back yet. I looked out the window and I realized it was nighttime. I was surprised and ran out of the classroom. “That only felt like a few minutes but it was like 10 hours!” I thought to myself. I went to the exit/entrance doors but they were locked. I tried to open them but to no avail. I heard some rustling coming from the cafeteria and headed over there. If I’m going to be stuck here, I might as well get some food. When I walked into the cafeteria I saw a bunch of ghosts dancing around with nuggets and french fries in the center, burning.

September 24th, 2022The train roared as it approached the station. I was approaching the city of Stakestown. I looked in the provided pamphlet that we got on the train ride. My school had decided that we needed to learn more about our history and organized a trip for us to go on a week-long trip in October, ending on October 31st. “Alright everyone we have arrived! Let’s get our bags from on top of our seats and get off!” My annoying teacher Mr. Woodz said. My friend Angie was still asleep so I shook her awake.

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“Ugh… are we there yet?” she said, half asleep. “Yeah sleepyhead, now let’s go before Mr. Woodz catches us and leaves us behind.” We got our bags and stepped off the train then joined the other classmates. “Alright everyone! Since this is a historical trip, I will be confiscating all of your phones until the end of the trip. Unless it is an ABSOLUTE EMERGENCY you will not be getting them back.” Everyone including Angie groaned, as they didn’t want to give up their phones. My ex-police parents decided that I needed two phones on me at all times for emergencies. Younger me thought that I was so cool having two phones, but now it’s uncomfortable to have to hide the second phone somewhere on me. I turned in my personal phone into the bag before heading into the bus prepared for us. Angie was in close pursuit. We sat on the bus and then it started driving off. I was looking out the window.

272 Cartoons for all eternity • Caricaturas por toda la eternidad