Pink Pigeons

First strike “Hi, Luke”, said Melissa as she put her hand on one of his shoulders, and then rubbed two fingers across to the other so he would turn and look at her. Melissa was making sure she got Luke’s full attention.

Luke almost lost the food out of his mouth as it fell open. He just sat there with his eyes bugging out, and mouth hanging open. Girls never talked to Luke, and with good reason, he was a capital jerk to them.

Tina messed up Johnnie’s hair as she walked past him. Melissa walked very expressively to the end of the table to where Tina and Pepper stood. Johnnie was having lunch with Kelly and Roy, along with Luke, but there was no thought of food at the moment. All eyes were locked onto Melissa like a heat seeking missile system. All except Johnnie’s. He was peeking around Kelly, who was sitting next to him, to see what Pepper was doing. This was the first time their paths had crossed since last night’s episode of dunderhead’s behavior.

Melissa was a beautiful young lady, and to the boys she was eye candy. She knew how to dress and carry herself for maximum effect. She knew all the tricks for attracting attention, and was expertly skilled in using them. When she came into a room everyone noticed, and she made sure of it. Her dress was always slightly exposing, but tasteful.

Flirting was an art form, and as natural as breathing to Melissa. Today was no exception as she had on a soft tan suede outfit. Most girls wore pants, but that was rare for Melissa. She liked skirts, but not real short ones. Today her sleeves were three quarter length, and her skirt was enough above the knees to get the effect desired.

“Hi, Johnnie,” Sarah said as she sat down next to him, and nudged him with her elbow. It was a perfectly executed plan of diversion. With all the hormones and imaginations out of control watching Melissa, and Johnnie locked onto Pepper, no one paid the least bit of attention to Sarah’s special delivery to Johnnie’s milk carton when she elbowed him. “Let’s go, Melissa,” Tina said, “we have more important things to do than waste our time here.”

“Kiss off you little…” Luke was silenced by Johnnie’s quick glance, and Melissa’s half cross glare. Luke had been caught off guard by Melissa’s attention, and he felt this was a good time to just keep his mouth shut.

Sarah had quietly joined her friends, and there seemed to be an unusual stillness in the crowded lunchroom as the girls moved away. Relief rushed over Johnnie as he watch them walking across the lunchroom. This was unbelievable. This was too easy. In his wildest dreams he didn’t think he would get off this easy. He was convinced there would be at least some blood shed when Pepper finally caught up with him. He was also sure he would be the one bleeding. Maybe it was because Melissa showed up he thought. It really didn’t matter, he had survived, and this was a great sign.

To say Johnnie had a bad case of cottonmouth was a big understatement. He couldn’t even swallow, and could feel the nerves tingling in his arms as his body began to relax.

“What was that all about,” Luke said, finally taking his eyes off Melissa leaving the cafeteria. “I don’t no,” mumbled Johnnie as he began gulping down milk in an effort to kill his cottonmouth. Suddenly, Johnnie’s eyes grew as big as golf balls as he felt something moving in his mouth.

Milk exploded from Johnnie’s mouth covering Luke’s face across the table from him. Seeing what happened to Luke, Kelly’s drink of milk shot out of his nose and mouth at the same time as he tried to control his laughter. Roy simply fell off his seat onto the floor in an uncontrolled roar.

As Luke slowly opened his eyes, all he thought about was choking Johnnie, who was still half gagging and spitting milk out of his mouth. The muscles in Luke’s neck and shoulders were tightening up as he released his white knuckled fists to wipe the milk off his face. While Luke began to carefully rub the milk off his eyes and nose he noticed tiny black crickets all over the table covered in milk. Luke shook his head, and turned quickly toward the door to see four girls jumping in laughter. Melissa flashed a perfect smile, and gave him a pinkie finger wave as she walked out the door.

Pepper had delivered an excellent message with the help of her friends. Now it was open warfare. “I’ll get them,” Luke hissed though clinched teeth. What hurt him most was the lunchroom was thundering with laughter at what had happened, and in his shallow mind they were laughing directly at him. He kicked Roy who was still rolling on the floor, but it didn’t help his feelings much. It didn’t slow down Roy’s laughing either.

Johnnie was doing everything in his power to keep from chucking up his lunch.

“How many bugs did I swallow?” kept running though his mind. He could feel his stomach beginning to roll over, and his bottom lip began to quiver.

Luke could see what was coming, and staring hard at Johnnie snarled, “You better not!” Having milk spit in his face and all down the front of him was one thing. What Luke saw coming now just wasn’t going to happen to him, or at least it had better not. Johnnie couldn’t hold it, but he was smart enough to know if he launched on Luke again, he would lose him as a friend forever, if he lived though it. Turning quickly, he lost his entire lunch right on top of Roy, who was still lying on the floor.

“Whoa, sick,” half laughed Luke as he stuck his hands out in front of him trying to hide the sight of Roy covered in puke. He didn’t feel as bad now. Milk was one thing, but puke was a whole different story. Roy had jumped up and was standing by them like a scarecrow with broken arms hanging down.

Where many students were pointing and laughing before, hysteria flooded the lunchroom now. Johnnie just put one hand half over his eyes and the other over his mouth as he quickly retreated to the boys’ locker room. He needed not only a place to clean up, but also one to hide in for a while.