5 5 Meeting

[POV: Joy]

I walk up to the table that has Jen, who I recognized from home room, and Iris' other friends.

"Hey Jen, Iris told me to sit here. Is that okay with you guys?" I asked, looking around. There's Jen, a cute girl that's got long waist length blonde hair that's almost as tall as I am, and two others I don't recognize. An average looking boy with short brown hair at about 5'8" and a gorgeous bombshell that's about 5'6" with shoulder length straight dirty blonde hair pulled into a high ponytail.

Jen responds, "Of course. Iris in line? Are you not getting anything?"

"Yeah, she is, and no. I make and pack my own lunch. I'm vegan and only eat raw for lunch and breakfast, so it's easier to just quickly throw something in a food processor and throw in a mason jar." I pull out two jars and my thermos with citrus kale juice.

"What's that?" The girl with dirty blonde hair asks.

"This one has nori sticks, which has carrots, miso, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, some salt and pepper, and lemon juice wrapped in a sheet of seaweed. I actually have a ton of different recipes for this kind of thing. And these are energy balls with shredded coconut, dates, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and I coated them in cacao nibs, but only because I ran out of chia seeds."

"Can I try one of those energy balls? They actually sound kind of good," the boy asks.

"That's rude, Phil," Jen reprimands.

"No, it's okay. I probably won't be able to eat everything anyway. You can try one if you want to." I point the jar towards the three and each of them grab one after thanking me. They all take a bite and I can see their eyes light up. I smile knowing I can always convince people to try raw vegan food with this recipe.

Jen covers her mouth with her hand and says with a mouth half full of food, "Oh my God! This is really good!"

"I know! I didn't think it would be. I was just curious, but this is really good!," the girl with dirty blonde hair said, and the boy just nodded repeatedly agreeing with them.

"I kinda made the energy balls for this purpose," I say sticking my tongue out playfully. "I can always get people to try vegan food more often with this than nori sticks."

Phil speaks up and asks, "What do you normally have for dinner? I only ask since you said you normally eat raw for breakfast and lunch."

"Hrm... Well, normally things like pizza and lasagna, but my favorite is spicy lentil curry."

"Don't those first two have cheese though?" Jen asks.

"That's right... you can't have cheese," the girl with dirty blonde hair says with a look of realization.

"I make my own homemade vegan mozzarella out of mainly cashews and tapioca powder. If I have time, I'll make some to bring in for you guys to try if you want?"

The three decline acting polite, but I can tell they're interested in trying it. It warms my heart knowing people are willing to try something out of their normal comfort zone.

"Hey, my people. What are you all talking about?" Iris asks as her and Max sit down at the table with their food. She playfully adds, "You guys aren't bullying my Joy are you?"

"Your Joy?" Jen asks.

"Yep, my best friend, Joy. SO! My Joy!" Iris side hugs me, to which I smile and hug back.

"Well, we were just talking about her diet. You have to try this energy ball, Iris. It's really good!" Jen says. I point the jar to Iris and Max and they both grab one to try.

"Why are you on a diet? You don't look like you need one," Iris says while inspecting the energy ball.

"I'm not. I'm vegan. My diet in general." Iris nods in understanding.

"My gosh! This is orgasmic, Joy!" Max exclaims. "You have to give me the recipe!"

"You're right!" Iris says. Everyone nods along.

"No problem. I actually have recipe cards on hand. Can never be too prepared to convert people to the cult of veganism," I say with a half-serious half-joking tone and pull out the recipe cards to hand to everyone.

While stuffing her mouth, Iris asks with a mouth full of food, "Everyone introduce themselves to you yet?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Iris. That's rude," I reprimand her while being a hypocrite with a nori stick in my mouth. "And no, not yet."

"Sorry," she mumbles. I pat her back and smile at her with a look that says I'm joking with her. "Well, hurry up, you lot! Introduce yourselves!"

"I'm Jennifer. You can just call me Jen as you probably already know. I'm cis-gender straight."

"Cassidy. You can call me Cas, though. Pansexual." Nice to know this cutie's name finally.

"I'm Phillip, but please, never call me that. Just Phil will do, and before you ask why. My full name is Phillip Meers III and I don't like being reminded of it. Asexual by the way."

"Ignore Phil, it's a long story, and this queen that you already met in the hallway is Max."

"Introduce yourself, Iris," Max says.

"Why do I need to?"

"She's Bi," Max says with a sigh.

"You guys realize you didn't need to tell me your sexuality, right?"

Max shrugs, "We're called the LGBunch. It's kinda our thing now. Just a force of habit when we introduce ourselves."

I nod and go with the flow to let them know I feel comfortable around them. "Well as you may have heard, I'm Joy Mitchelson. I'm transgender lesbian."

Cas, who has a mouthful of food goes wide-eyed and starts snapping her fingers while pointing at Max and I.

"I already know girl! I've been to one of her seminars, remember? Trust me. I already freaked out in the hallway."

Cas swallows her food and says, "You mean this girl? Holy shit, dude! Your cousin is gonna freak!"

We banter while eating and I'm already feeling close to this group of friends around Iris. I'm happy she's had someone by her side. I kind of wish I didn't leave her like I did, but I guess my fear, insecurities, and selfishness is at fault. I can't fix my past, but I can try my hardest to make up for it. I'm glad to have Iris back in my life. We all exchange numbers and head off to our respective classes.

"Just to let you know, Joy. I may stare while we're changing in the locker room," Iris tells me.

I laugh at her and say, "That's good to know, you pervert, but please don't burn a hole through my body like with that intense gaze you gave me at the lockers."

She shrugs and says with a shameless smile, "What can I say? I love looking at beautiful women."

I playfully smack her arm and roll my eyes at her while we head to the locker room at the gym.