Today was a normal day like any other, except for the new girl, Linsey, in my chemistry class.

Now, this wouldn’t be a problem, except that I had gone all year in chemistry without a lab partner since our class had an odd number of people, which meant that Linsey was now my partner, and got it into her head that we were actually friends.

“Can I sit with you at lunch, Zach?” She asked me.

Of course I had no choice but to say yes.

And now here we sat, just me, her, and my two other friends who had no idea who this strange new girl sitting at our table was.

I pull out my lunch: a delicious ham-and-cheese sandwich with ketchup, and eat just as I normally do. I soon notice that Linsey doesn’t have a lunch.

At the moment, I didn’t think anything of it, until a week passed and she still had nothing.

One day, we had an after school meet for band, which Linsey had just recently joined, and food was provided since the meeting would end around 4:30.

Linsey still ate nothing.

I started to think that maybe I was just weird for noticing whether somebody eats or not, and maybe that’s true, but I couldn’t help but worry about my new “friend.”

The day after our band meeting I decided to ask her about it.

“Hey Linsey?” I say, breaking the normally awkward silence between us.

“Yeah?” She replies, sounding surprised that I had actually acknowledged her.

“Why do you never bring a lunch?”

She pursed her lips. “I- I don’t like to eat a whole lot.”

“Well do you ever eat?”

“Uhm, just sometimes. All I ever really eat is chips because I’m never really hungry.”

“You don’t ever eat like a real meal?”

“No, not usually, unless it’s a family dinner like Christmas or Thanksgiving. My parents don’t really mind since I don’t have an eating disorder or anything.”

“Oh, okay well that makes a little more sense. Maybe you should try eating something little at lunch though. Mainly because school is exhausting.”

She gave me a confused look. “Hold on, Zach, why are you so concerned about me? And why did you even notice I wasn’t eating in the first place? Have you been watching me or something?”

“I- w-well, I just kinda noticed since I sit here with you every day and…” my voice trailed off as I realized how stupid I was making myself sound.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think you’re creepy, I just wanted you to admit it,” and with that, and a wink, she walked away.