At noon, when Melissa left the dormitory, she made sure to say hello to Alex, but he didn't even look at her.
She gave him an apologetic look, but after she had walked away, she glanced back at him.
"Stupid loser," she murmured. "Do you really think I'm interested in you? I'm only here because Chris wants me to get close to you. Otherwise, I wouldn't give you the time of day. And look at you. You're so full of yourself. Well, just wait. You won't be so arrogant in the future."
She went to the canteen for lunch, got her meal, and then sat by the window to eat it.
Meanwhile, Callisto and Luna came in to get Alex's lunch, like they often did.
Celeste and Selene had accompanied Debbie to study in the library, so Callisto and Luna got in line at the canteen on their own.
Melissa walked to the line and pushed in front of two women. "Give me a burger and fries," she said to the server.
Callisto and Luna were angry. They had been at the university for a while now, and the students were all well behaved. They were surprised and angry that Melissa was being so rude.
"Hey, it's our turn," Luna said, her tone polite. "You should go to the back of the line. There are a lot of students behind us."
Melissa had once been part of a successful girl band with a string of rich boyfriends. Unfortunately, that had left her a little spoiled and overbearing.
When she saw these beautiful women, she wasn't happy. She was used to being the prettiest woman in the room, and these women outshone her.
"I'm hungry," she said, sneering at them. "So let me go first. Besides, what do you care? You're next anyway!"
"You've already eaten!" a student called out. "I saw you!"
"Now what do you have to say for yourself?" Callisto asked, staring at Melissa. "Do you think you're the only person who's hungry? What if we all behaved like you? It would be chaos."
"Yes, we're all hungry," several people yelled.
"This is a well-respected institution," someone called. "As a student here, you should know how to behave."
Even the woman serving the meals had had enough. She glared at Melissa. "Go to the back of the line," she said. "I won't serve you until you do."
Melissa wasn't afraid of being criticized by so many people. They were only students, so who cared what they thought? She was only here because of her promise to Chris.
"It's only this once," she said. "What's the big deal? I don't care what you think of me. You're nothing to me."
She looked around at them, her nose in the air. Then she looked at the server. "You're refusing to serve me?" she asked. "Then no one gets to eat. I'm just going to stand right here, and you'll all just have to wait behind me."
Celeste glared at Melissa, desperately wanting to teach her a lesson. She was being completely unreasonable, and someone had to deal with her.
Luna shook her head in exasperation.
Callisto squashed down the urge to slap the woman. They had to stay out of trouble for Alex's sake.
"I'll be fine," Melissa said, her tone arrogant. "After all, I've already eaten. You can all stay hungry together. We'll see who cracks first."
"Fine then," the server said, angry at Melissa. "I'll get you a meal! I've been working here for almost ten years, and I have never come across such an ill-mannered student before." She didn't want to give in, but she couldn't let Melissa go on making such a fuss, not when the other students would suffer.
She slapped a burger on a plate, added some fries, and shoved it at Melissa.
"Thank you," Melissa said, taking the plate. She smirked at Callisto and Luna, and then she left.
"Who was that?" Callisto asked, watching Melissa walk away. "She's such a bitch!"
"What are you looking at?" Melissa asked one of the students who was gawking at her. She strode outside, feeling happy. She really enjoyed bullying people.
As she approached Alex, she wiped the smile off her face.
"Alex, I've brought you some lunch," she said, holding out the burger. "You must be really busy, so you should eat to keep your strength up."
"No thanks," Alex said, pushing the burger away and starting out for the dormitory.
Melissa followed him, unwilling to give up so easily.
"Mr. Alex!"
Callisto and Luna rushed over with the lunch they had brought for him.
It's the women from the canteen, Melissa thought, feeling uneasy. Do they know Alex?
"It's you!" Callisto said, glaring at Melissa. "What are you doing here?" She turned to Alex. "This woman just caused a huge scene in the canteen and wouldn't let anyone eat."
"That's not true!" Melissa said. If she had known the women knew Alex, she wouldn't have picked a fight with them. Her mind worked fast, trying to come up with a lie to get her out of this. She needed to get close to Alex, or all this would have been for nothing.
"I just knew how hard Alex was working, so I wanted to make sure he got some lunch," she said. "I was a little too anxious, and I may have overdone it, but I had good intentions. I'm sorry I upset you."
"Do you really expect us to believe that?" Callisto asked. "Stop pretending. It's disgusting!" She looked at Alex. "Mr. Alex, we bought you some lunch. Why don't we go back to the dormitory to eat it?"
Callisto and Luna led Alex toward the dormitories.
"Alex, wait!" Melissa said, hurrying behind them. "I've brought you some food too. Consider it a peace offering." She held out the burger and fries.
"Get out of here," Callisto said, knocking the burger out of Melissa's hand. "No one wants your food, so take it away!"
The Moon Maidens weren't very sympathetic, but Alex looked at the food lying on the ground and felt bad for Melissa. After all, she had claimed to have gotten the food especially for him.
"Mr. Alex, let's go," Callisto said. "Ignore her."
Then Callisto and Luna accompanied Alex into the dormitory.