Alicia Rivera sauntered into the cafeteria, wearing a brown and pink striped polo, dark wash jeans, and brown sandals. A gold chain, thin as a string of yarn, was wrapped around her neck, matching the bracelet that was fastened around her tiny left wrist. A new Kate Spade purse was over her right shoulder, and her history book was under her left arm. Her hair was in a high ponytail, that swung back and forth as she passed Kristen, and sat down at the table eighteen. She sat her book on the floor, crossed her ankles, and leaned in

Her left elbowon the table, she said "Hey." Alicia wasn't about to apologize for being late. Not only was her class let out five minutes late, but she had to redo her lipgloss in the bathroom because she had forgotten her compact mirror again. It wasn't her fault she had to maintain her beauty. "What I miss?"

"So - ry..." Alicia said, breaking the word into three syllables. "And yeah, I did. I can't help it. They don't call it "compact" for nothing. It's tiny. Can't keep up with it..." She put her head in her hand, leaning forward to listen to the gossip Massie was spilling. "The world has come to that aparently..." She said, answering Massie's last question. "Hey..." she looked around, as if searching for a sign or the answer to a question. "Where did Kristan run off too. I passed her hurtling out of here when I came in."