We walked to the cafeteria in silence.  Anyone who saw us probably wouldn’t have suspected we even knew each other, if we hadn’t been walking side-by-side.  I kept a close eye on Ashley and my surroundings, searching for anything suspicious.  But Ashley just looked glum the entire way, her eyes glued to the ground.  I was sure that if I wasn’t leading the way, she would have no clue where we were headed.   And since the campus was nearly empty, I figured there were few outside threats.  Almost everyone went into town on Saturdays, since we had the day off.   But being extremely afraid of new people and new places kept me on campus in the comfort of my room.

By the time we finally made it to the cafeteria, I was so overjoyed I almost let out a sigh of relief.  But I stopped myself thinking she might hear it.  Not to mention, it dawned on me that if the walk was that bad, the lunch wouldn’t be anything to look forward to. 

The first time Ashley spoke since her initial invitation was when she asked me if I was okay with the seats she’d picked.  The cafeteria was pretty much empty so we had our choice of tables, and Ashley had made an excellent one.

“Yeah, this is great. It’s one of my favorite spots,” I said, setting my tray down taking a seat, as Ashley followed suit.  It was the table right by the window,  looking out onto the courtyard.

“I know,”  Ashley replied.

“What?  How would you know?”

“Because, you always sit here.”

I wanted to ask her how she knew where I always sat, seeing as she’d spent a a good bit of the camp at home and the rest of the time avoiding me. But I thought it would be cruel to pick an argument with someone who looked so miserable. 

Like the walk, we ate in silence.  But now it was even more uncomfortable, since we sat right across from each other and neither one of us had enough of an appetite to mask the quiet by pretending to be preoccupied with stuffing our faces.  Instead, we just picked at our food and avoided eye contact.   A few minutes of this became so unbearable I had to speak.