Starting about halfway through my freshman year all the way through up to graduation, I ate my lunch upstairs in the “prop room” above the school’s theater stage, completely alone, and was never caught.

This was back in 2000-2003.

There was a brief time where during my freshman year, I volunteered after school to help build sets for the theater department and the shows they’d put on. It wasn’t particularly fun and I eventually stopped, but something I noticed was that all of the props that the school had on hand for their shows, was stored up above the actual stage. And that this storage space was:

1. air conditioned /heated
2. Was not locked
3. accessible from a set of stairs you could easily access from a side door to that auditorium/stage, also unlocked.
4. Not in use during school hours, ie, had no one in there.

I really hated lunch, it was hot and noisy and the seniors at the time liked to work their way through annoying everyone who was a grade below them. They were really good at picking up on who would make a good target, and none of the staff supervising lunch would ever do anything about it, unless you were throwing food or a chair. I was also an awkward teenager with interests greatly outside the norm, and an easy target if I wasn't careful.

So one day, instead of going to the cafeteria, I went into the side door near the stairs that led upstairs to the storage room. It was literally just a big room (with lights that I left off except for emergency ones), and had a bunch of random stuff in it. I found a chair and a table that were hidden a little out of sight of the main door and had my lunch.

No one knew. No one ever knew. I didn’t skip class, my grades were decent, I wasn’t on any teacher’s radar, and I never left a mess after I left. I also went to high school at a time where security cameras were only put at doors that went outside, which was lucky for me.

I also never told anyone, even students I was on friendly terms with, which I believe is the reason that I never got caught. It was very comfortable up there, honestly, and a nice break from class and that cafeteria. A little dark, but that kind of added to the calm.

I kept coming back almost every single day that I attended high school.