Rainbow was walking with Dimond to the Hall for lunch, Dimond was holding her hand as if she were a small child. Her eyes kept flicking to Rainbow, as if at any moment, Rainbow would burst into tears again. Rainbow's head was pounding. The Sheffield's were invading. She wasn't safe anymore. She stared at her feet in thought, Dimond was walking ahead of her, practically dragging her along.
"So the Mayor of Sheffield is in our school?" Dimond wondered aloud, evidently it was a rhetorical question because she hadn't spoken to Rainbow since her breakdown. "I suppose he's here for Gary. I wonder why." Dimond questioned, glancing at Rainbow again quickly. Gary. He was the real problem. He'd definitely ratted her out. So much for wanting to be 'friends'. He just wanted to get the upper hand. Backstabbing Sheffields.
They pushed through a crowd to try to get into the hall. Why was a crowd forming? Was Barry fighting someone? Rainbow couldn't see over all the other students' heads, being much smaller than most of them. Dimond gasped and Rainbow looked up at her. She looked like she'd seen a ghost.
"What? What's going on?" Rainbow asked her. Before Dimond could reply, Rainbow pushed through the crowd and saw the Sheffield's standing there. Barry was giving them a tour of the school and diverting their attention with other information about the sort of events that happened each term. Gary seemed to spot her in the crowd and waved at her, attempting to shoo her away. But she was frozen again. Dimond yanked her back into the crowd and Rainbow stared at her blankly. Why had Gary tried to shoo her away? If he was going to arrest her then why would he not yell at her or at least point her out to his father. But he hadn't. Did he really want to become friends? Suddenly, Rainbow got slapped in the face. She blinked a couple of times and recoiled away from Dimond.
"Sorry. I-I… You weren't responding to me! And I was freaking out!" Dimond complained, shaking Rainbow as if that would make her less annoyed. "The Sheffields are literally in there! Come on! We have to go!" She ordered, starting to pull Rainbow through the crowd as she marched through. Rainbow dug in her heels, stopping her.
"No. I'm going in there. I'm not afraid of them." She insisted, pulling on Dimond's hand defiantly. Above anything else, she had to prove to the voices that she could do it. They had been mocking her this whole time. Calling her weak for reacting like that when she had seen the Sheffields. She had to prove herself as an Aimes and at least face being in the same room as them. Dimond stared at her concernedly, she was well aware of the fact that they were just openly talking about this in the middle of a crowd of their class mates. Gradually, the crowd had started to disperse though, so the hall had been filling up with hungry students. "Besides, I'm hungry, and I don't have the money to go into town today." Rainbow reasoned, tugging at Dimond's hand again and succeeding in moving her slightly closer to the buffet-style counter that all the food was displayed on. Dimond sighed and followed after Rainbow, realising that she wasn't going to give up with this.
They walked over to the food counter and put the meals they wanted onto trays, sliding them along the metal bars attached to the side of the counter. There was a long line of people waiting to pay for their food and some students had started to eat the food already, before they'd even paid. Rainbow's eyes drifted back over to Gary. Barry was with them making grand gestures, evidently very enthused about what he was discussing with the mayor. Gary was looking around the hall disinterestedly. His eyes drifted around the room and landed on her. His facial expression changed to one of worry as they locked eyes, he gestured for her to leave again but she stayed there, keeping her gaze steady in defiance.
"When your done staring at Mr. Sheffield, its your turn to pay for the food." Dimond commented, bringing Rainbow's attention back to the line that had no disappeared. She moved forward to the till and the member of lunch staff attending it had tapped into the system the meal that Rainbow was buying. The price came up on a screen, displaying the amount in red digital writing and she gulped seeing the price. If she actually had to pay that amount three times a day, everyday, she would be living on the streets by now she realised, slipping a card out of her pocket. She scanned it on the card reader and the amount due went down to zero. She smiled and waited for Dimond to pay for her food. Rainbow turned back to where Gary had been standing but he was now gone, along with Barry and the mayor. She sighed, relieved. That meant she could eat her lunch in peace at least. Dimond nudged her playfully, "What? Expect Mr Dreamy-Eyes to still be there?" She teased knowing that Rainbow had being looking around the hall for him.
"What?! No! I… His eyes aren't THAT dreamy!" Rainbow protested, causing Dimond to laugh and Rainbow realised what she'd said. She rolled her eyes. "He's a Sheffield." She stated shutting down any of Dimond's hopes for Rainbow's social life. Dimond always teased her whenever she noticed that Rainbow was getting slightly close to anyone. But she wasn't getting close to Gary. Right? He was a Sheffield. It was in her mind on repeat. She had to block out any of his humanity. He was a Sheffield. It didn't matter how friendly he was or how 'dreamy' his eyes were. At the end of the day, he was a Sheffield.