Being alone at lunch for a week doesn’t mean you’ll be alone forever. It means you’re new or in between.

A week of eating alone describes right now and predicts almost nothing. Groups take time to form and most close around people who arrived earlier, which means being new or between sets of friends looks exactly like being unwanted when you are inside it. The feeling is real and it is a poor forecaster.

Keep yourself somewhere visible instead of retreating, and give it a few weeks before concluding anything. Joining something that meets regularly tends to work better than trying to be included at lunch. If the loneliness is heavy, telling one adult about it is a reasonable thing to do.