Rumor had it that while the cafeteria was mostly awful, the school’s Nova Cora machines dispensed a perfect ratio of syrup and soda water. So, Jasper was standing in line with a bunch of teenagers when the fight broke out.
Before that, she was surprised to see the others in the cafeteria as well. Thea and Grace were both glued to their tablets, deep in their work. Holly had a murderous glare on her face as she sat with a group of kids that broke into song every other minute. Dax and Aymes walked by, and Dax shot Holly a sympathetic look before he and Aymes stepped into line to get food.
“Nice work, Dax,” Jasper muttered. “Whoa, who’s that marching angrily towards you?”
“Huh?” Dax looked to the right, and his eyes widened. “Uh oh. Mak looks pissed.”
Mak shoved Dax into the wall when he reached him. Jasper stepped toward them, but Dax muttered, “Wait.”
“What was that?” Mak demanded. A few other kids who’d been trailing behind him—presumably his friends—formed a wall at his back.
Dax lifted his chin. “What do you want?”
“Leave him alone!” Aymes held out an arm between the two. “Dax didn’t do anything.”
“Really?” Mak asked, turning his burning gaze on Aymes. “Because I’ve got injuries all over my body, in the exact same places I hit you!”
“Nice one, Dax,” Jasper said. “But seriously, do you need help?”
Aymes pushed Mak back a step. “Back off.”
“It’d be a shame if you got injured and couldn’t take the athletic scholarship, wouldn’t it, Aymes?” Max hissed.
Jasper frowned. “What the hell, is this a school or a battle royale?”
“Dude,” Aymes said. “Calm down. I never even said I was taking the scholarship. I don’t plan on playing volleyball after this year.”
“Yeah, right.” Mak held out his hand, and one of his friends handed him a tray of food. “How am I supposed to know you’re not just saying that to get me off your back?”
Before Aymes could respond, Mak dumped the food onto Aymes’s head.
“Oh, no way are we letting him get away with that,” Jasper said. She stormed toward the confrontation, grabbing a glass of juice off a kid’s tray as she passed. As Mak turned around, she tossed the drink in his face.
“What the hell?” He wiped his face with his arm. “Who are you?”
“You a cop or something? Mind your business.”
The boy at Mak’s right stepped forward. “Don’t worry, Mak, no one steps on us like that.” He tossed the contents of his own tray onto Jasper.
“That does it.” Jasper brushed vegetables off her shirt, annoyed to find the sauce they were soaked in had left a stain. “Someone get me a condiment!”
Aymes peered around Mak and his friends. “Miss Elizab? What are you doing?”
“Does it matter? Hand me that bottle of sauce on the counter behind you.”
“Not so fast!” Mak held out his hand to the girl on his left. “Give me your tray.”
“I paid ten janos for this!”
“Did I ask?”
Aymes grabbed the bottle of sauce and tossed it to Jasper. She pointed at Mak and squeezed the contents into his face. He yelped.
“Excuse me, Miss Elizab? I had a question about the project—” Ileen stopped just short of the chaos. “What’s going on?”
Mak—blinded by the sauce—reached out, grabbed a sandwich off his friend’s tray, and threw it into Ileen’s face.
“Come on, Ileen! Are you going to take that?” Jasper handed her the sauce bottle. “Or are you going to fight back?”
“I don’t know what’s happening!” Ileen shrieked as she took the bottle.
“I’ll tell you what’s happening.” Jasper hopped onto the nearest table. “Food fight!”
Instead of chaos breaking out like she’d hoped, the kids at the table stared at her. Students nearby spared a glance, unable to hear over the commotion of the cafeteria but intrigued by Jasper’s presence on top of a table.
“Someone help me,” Jasper muttered.
Holly climbed onto her own table. “You all heard the lady! Food fight!” She picked up a bottle of soda and poured it onto the table in front of her, sending the theatre kids into chaos. One by one, other tables joined in.
“A little eager there, but that works.” Jasper jumped down.
“Jasper, what are you doing?” Grace asked.
“Creating a distraction. Would someone please grab Aymes’s sphere and get it to Thea?”
“On it!” Dax said, before getting hit in the face by a piece of flying fruit.
Jasper eyed the bag slung over Aymes’s back. While he lifted his hands to shield his face from a spray of salad ingredients, Dax reached into the back pocket and pulled out the sphere. He tossed it at Jasper, and she caught it.
She ducked in time to avoid a tray spinning end over end and crawled underneath the nearest table. “Holly, could you get ready to catch?”
“Huh?” Holly looked out from behind the textbook she held to shield her face. “Oh, yeah.”
Jasper darted out from under the table, snatching up a tray off the ground as she did and raising to protect her face. She dodged a puddle, leaped over a table, and threw the sphere.
Holly caught it with ease before dropping to the ground to avoid an onslaught of rice. “Thea?”
“Bit busy protecting my stuff!” Thea yelled. She hid under a table, shielding her various devices.
“Okay then. Grace?”
“I’m ready.” Grace climbed onto her chair, raising her hands.
“Hang on, you’ve got incoming,” Jasper said, eyes on the small melon sailing through the air. She chucked her tray and sent it spinning. When it passed through the air in front of Grace, the melon smashed into it, and they both crashed to the ground.
“Now!” Grace yelled.
Holly chucked the sphere. Grace caught it and slid off the chair in time to avoid more fruit. She held out the sphere to Thea, who added it to her pile.
Before Jasper could commend the team for that incredible display of teamwork, students around her abruptly dropped their food and scrambled to get off the tables.
“What is going on here?” Mrs. Metor demanded from the cafeteria doorway.
“Aymes started it!” Mak yelled, pointing at Aymes.
“No I didn’t!” Aymes protested.
Mrs. Metor started toward him. “Really, Aymes?”
Jasper stood up and hurried into the teacher’s path. “I’ve been here the whole time. Aymes did nothing wrong.”
“Oh, sure, the substitute’s going to step in, like she has any authority.” Mrs. Metor folded her arms. “Why should I listen to you, anyway? You’re covered in food.”
“These sauce stains are a badge of honor,” Jasper said. “I’ve been out here on the front lines, and where have you been? Sitting in your comfy teacher’s lounge, safe from harm?”
“I don’t know how to respond to that. I’m done talking to you.” Mrs. Metor turned to Aymes. “And as for you, good luck trying to start food fights in detention.” Before Aymes could argue further, she stormed out of the room.
Jasper grimaced. “Sorry about the detention thing.”
“It’s fine. I’m used to it.” Aymes plucked a grape stem from his hair. “Besides, there’s no way Principal Price will let her single-handedly blame me for this whole thing. The whole school will probably get a stern lecture and maybe lose some privilege or another for a pentasol.”
Aymes moved to return to the food line, and Dax hurried after him. Jasper leaned against the table next to her and spotted a half empty glass of Nova Cora. She picked it up and took a sip. “Thea, make sure you get Aymes his sphere back as soon as possible.”
“Duh. We want to track his future messages,” Thea said.
“Yeah, but do it quickly. Kid’s got enough to worry about as is.”