Fried+Chicken-+Friday+Emma's+Side

**Once I had my lunch, I went downstairs from the office and around the corner into the canteen. I found my usual table with my insane eighth grade peers gathered around. I handed a purple, paper crown with an E on it to my good friend Lauren Yu. “My earl crown! Yes!” she exclaimed. I smiled at her joy while simultaneously opening the bag of potato wedges.** 
 * **It was a cold Friday afternoon at John Muir Middle School. The date was February 18, 2011. The lunch bell had rung and I was starving. I went upstairs to the office to retrieve the piping hot lunch my mom had purchased from Ralph’s and left for me. There were three containers: a paper bag containing potato wedges, another one of the waxy paper sacks with fried chicken, and a small pack of two Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.** 
 * The tall and strange (in a good way!) Laurence Harris eyed the potato wedges as their scent wafted across our table. Lauren also stared at the food. “Emma, I can have one right?” she asked. I handed her one. Suddenly, I heard my name called from the next table over.** 
 * I turned to see Andrea Celis waving me over. I handed Lauren the unopened bag of chicken. “Lauren,” I said, “Guard the chicken.” I walked over to Andrea. She had some questions for me.** 
 * I would prefer not to go into detail on the questions, though I did answer them. I looked at the bag of wedge potatoes. Empty. I shouted to Lauren and she came over. “Lauren, where’s my chicken?” I asked her.** 
 * “It’s right here,” she said, putting her hand in the pocket of her long, black trench coat. She pulled the crinkled up paper sack out of her pocket and handed it to me. She and Andrea crowded around me as I unfurled the top.**
 * The delectable aroma of fried chicken erupted from the bag. I pulled out a gigantic, crispy, golden-brown fried chicken breast from the bag. Andrea and Lauren looked at me with hopeful puppy-dog eyes. I nodded at them to say, “Yes, you can have some.”** 
 * Lauren carefully plucked a small piece of the crispy skin off the chicken. Andrea began a gentle tug like Lauren, but suddenly she turned fierce and ripped off a chunk of chicken. I stood in shock a moment before joining in the feast.**
 * Nearby, Erica Snow had heard the feast of fried chicken and followed the sound and scent to our location. She joined us as the giant chicken breast began being devoured. She called to Susie Miller, “Susie! There’s fried chicken! Join the madness!” Almost instantly, Susie had rushed over to join us. We all agreed: this was delicious fried chicken. Even Laurence agreed, for he would sometimes infiltrate our group and steal some chicken for himself.** 
 * I looked up to catch my breath, but saw something that would really make Lauren mad. Liam Fairweather was wearing her earl crown. I pointed in his direction and Lauren’s face went from: in food heaven to: he needs to die. She started to storm over there, but after three steps returned for chicken. “This is a problem!” she announced.** 
 * An idea sprung into my head. “Walk and eat!” I commanded. We moved in synchronized fashion to Liam and Lauren snatched her crown off his head. She then returned to my chicken. Liam and many others looked at us with confused faces.**
 * “What the heck are you doing?” he asked.** 
 * Andrea replied, “Eating Emma’s fried chicken! What else does it look like?” We ate and we ate but the amount of chicken dwindled.** 
 * “We’re gonna eat the bones to get the last bit of chicken, aren’t we?” Susie asked. Right then, we all made eye contact and ripped a different bone off the chicken. We were like vultures. We didn’t stop eating until all that was left was bones and small bits of deep fried skin. Somehow, all the bones began in my hand and ended up in my hand when everyone finished. I threw out the disgusting remnants of chicken and walked back to the table. Everyone thought it was over, Lauren had even walked away, but they were wrong.** 
 * I picked up the last bit of my lunch: the peanut butter cups. “Ah, Reese’s,” I said under my breath. Somehow Erica was able to hear that small whisper in the wind.** 
 * “Did you say Reese’s?” she asked, rising to her feet. Andrea and Susie followed suit. I grabbed the package and made a run for it. Andrea began to cut me off, but I jumped onto a bench and ran from her. Susie and Erica began gaining on me from behind. I thought I had a good enough lead, but I tripped on the foot of seventh grader Alexia Hatun. Susie grasped my left arm and Erica clenched my shoulders in her hands. Andrea came from the front, but when she tried to snatch the Reese’s, Erica and Susie loosened their grip and I escaped.** 
 * I dashed behind a yard supervisor, the only safe haven in wars like this. I began to open the candy wrapper as the supervisor asked my why I was cowering behind her. I said nothing as Susie’s piercing blue eyes burned my soul through her glare. The supervisor left and the others began to move in, like a pack of wolves going in for the kill. I ran, but I was too late. Susie, Erica, and Andrea cornered me. As a last resort, I sprinted between them but Andrea still had my arm.** 
 * Erica looked at me with a smug expression. She held out her hand and in her palm was the rubber duck disguised as a cow that had been on my necklace moments ago. I grabbed the chain. There was no duck; she had stolen mine in the scuffle. We sat down and began to do business. “Emma, I will return the duck with an identity crisis to you as long as you give us one Reese’s cup to split.” I considered my options. I was outnumbered, out skilled, and out reasoned. I gave into their wishes. I still ended up with a Reese’s cup, but I also had a very… peculiar lunch. As Shakespeare said, “Alls well that ends well!” True in our case… unless you happened to be the chicken.** ||