I’ve watched enough TV to know that cafeterias are rooms of torture and humiliation in both schools and prisons. But East Hamlin Middle is different from what I’d imagined. We don’t walk to lunch on our own. We go to 4th period, which for me is science. Then Ms. Bryson marches us to the cafeteria in a quiet single-file line. There’s no picking seats around the room. The entire class is forced to sit together at a giant table like we’re a big happy family.
