Lunch in a high school cafeteria is made enjoyable not because of the food, but because of the interactions between friends and the relaxation of a break from a long day of school.
If you ask a high schooler what his favorite time of the school day is, he will probably say lunch time. This is not because of the cyclical portions that repeat themselves everyday, but because of the unpredictable, eccentric things that take place through conversations, interactions, and even simply in one's own mind. With the exception of a few high schoolers who are absolutely infatuated with food, the majority of high schoolers take their time walking to the cafeteria because they wait for their friends or need to take a football out of their locker. As the high schoolers walk into the cafeteria and grab their food without a second thought, they search for other sudents that belong in their people group. Once found, the students make a bee line straight for that certain group of people. Before sitting down, high fives, fist bumps, and possibly even hugs are given to everyone. Then, the conversations, jokes, awkward silences, and parking lot football games begin.
Even if a high schooler sits alone at lunch, it is not because he is too consumed in his food to interact with others. This high schooler may play on his Gameboy or Rubik's Cube. He may possibly even just imagine he was in a world far away. But he is not solely fixated on the food in front of him.
A cafeteria at a high school is a chance for students to recuperate from a long, hard morning of school. To be able to talk freely for a substaintial thirty minutes is much needed for high schoolers who are powered by their venti, sugar-free, non-fat, vanilla soy, double shot, no foam, extra hot, peppermint white chocolate mocha with light whip and extra syrup from Starbucks; or maybe just a Red Bull. It is truly surprising that high schoolers even have time to eat because of the amount of words they pack into a limited amount of time.
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