Samara Shaw
They were numerous.
The amount of students in the hall were more than I could count. Both male and female randomly sat around wooden brown tables with at least six chairs surrounding them while some stood in a short queue at the front. One after the other, they served their meals themselves and joined their groups. The boys came in from the other end of the hall, just like us and the last exit led to a hallway, one I remembered walking past the previous day. Chandeliers hung from different parts of the ceiling and a huge one in the middle. The wallpaper on the wall was just like the one in every other part of the school besides my room, angel and Cupid patterns.
"I hate this place" Lucy mumbled as we walked further on the queue. I had been beside her for the few minutes we'd spent in there and she had hissed at over three people that either came too close to her or maintained eye contact with her. I guess that was the reason why I didn't see anyone speak to her. It didn't look like Lucy had any friends in the school and her attitude to everything explained why. She didn't smile, not even once and her conversations with me were limited to a sentence or two. That showed she didn't talk to people that much. Besides, the people here usually walked in pairs or groups and Lucy wasn't in any.
"It looks good to me"
"Of course it does"
My eyes roamed the whole place again, and stopped when I noticed something. At the further end of the hall was a table with a single chair behind it. The person sitting on it looked familiar but I was sure I had not seen the boy before. He had the uniform on, long sleeves covering his entire arms and the red tie hung loosely around his neck. His sleek black hair was parted right in the middle and the strands fell down to his lips. He sat facing the entrance we came through so I couldn't see his facial features, yet he looked like someone I knew so well. There was no one around him and other tables were about six feet away from him. I guess he too was like Lucy and didn't interact with people.
"Who's he?" I pointed at the boy and Lucy slapped my hand down almost immediately. I felt a sharp sting with the impact of her palm and rubbed my hand over the place to numb the pain. "What was that for?"
"You don't point here, it can get you in trouble"
"You could've just said it, you know? It's that easy" She didn't say anything after and kept quiet till the time came to serve out meals. I picked up a metallic silver tray like the rest did, took a slice of toast and placed it on it. We moved to the second section of the table where multiple fruits were arranged in different baskets. I took an apple and moved to the next section where Lucy took a waffle to the heap of food on her tray.
"You eat too little for a person that missed both lunch and dinner yesterday"
"You eat too much for a proper lady with manners"
The words slipped out before I knew it. That was what my mother used to say to me when I took a little more than the amount I ate everyday and I guess I had gotten so used to it, I said the same to Lucy who already looked like she was about to punch me in the face. I hated judging people, I knew it was a wrong thing to do and I wouldn't have said it if I thought of it before I opened my mouth. I felt more of guilt than fear of what Lucy would do to me.
"Did you just judge me?"
"I'm so sorry, it slipped out. I swear I'm not that type of person. I would never judge anyone, that was a mistake"
"It better be*
The anger radiating off her was enough to keep me quiet. I took a bottled water with my meal and trailed behind her as we both walked to one of the empty tables in the hall. I kept my head down throughout the walk and when we got to the table, Lucy took a seat at the other side and I sat in front of her.
It was then I got a perfect view of the boy I saw earlier. His hair covered most of his face but I could spot his incredibly dark eyes from a distance. They roamed the hall and after a few seconds found mine. The contact only lasted for less than a second before he broke it but during the short time, I felt in my body what I had not in my life. I had seen many men but this one felt different from every single one and what I felt didn't feel like romance at all. It felt stronger.
"You still haven't told me who the boy is"
"His name is Accius. No one messes with him so keep your distance" He didn't look like someone anyone would want to mess with, the aura around him was frightening enough to stay away. That explained why he had no one sitting on his table or anyone around him.
"Why? Cause he pushes everyone away like you?"
Another sentence slipped out of my mouth and guilt came shortly after. I had, once again, judged Lucy without thinking about it and this time, she looked twice as mad as she did before. She was squeezing the knife in her hand so hard, it looked like the metal would cut through her hand.
"One more rude sentence from you and I promise I'll beat you up"
"I'm so so sorry, that slipped out too. I wasn't thinking"
"Whatever, just shut up already"
For my own sake, I didn't say anything after that. Lucy was the the peak of getting up and crushing me right there. I guess she was more dangerous than I thought. The threats she gave and her attitude to everything was enough to show she meant every word she said to me. If I didn't stick with learning to keep my mouth shut till she spoke to me, I might get myself injured on the first day of school.
I continued with my meal and would constantly look around the place every once in a while. That was till I saw the very familiar figure of the girl I met in the bathroom stall earlier that morning. She was fully dressed in the uniform but her shirt, unlike the ones I saw on the people there, had short sleeves and her skirt was low enough to reach her knees. Her hair was in two ponytails at each side of her head and a bow on each one of them. She also had glasses on and colorful bracelets on each of her wrists. She had gotten her meal and from afar, I could see she ate quite a lot more than I had seen anyone eat in my life. Her tray was filled with almost everything that was available, a bottle of orange juice and another of water.
She spotted me and her eyes met mine, causing her to smile almost immediately. She was so graceful, I wished I got her as my roommate instead of Lucy. I waved and motioned for her to come join the table, something I didn't know was wrong till I saw Lucy's expression.
"What the hell are you doing? This isn't picnic"
"She's my friend, why can't she join our table?"
"Exactly, our. Maybe it would've been appropriate if you asked for my permission first"
"Oh, I didn't think of that." I paused and thought about it, maybe Lucy had a point on this one but on the other hand, Ceris was a good person, the best I'd met here. "Don't worry, you'll like her. I promise"
That was the last thing I said before Ceris appeared before me with her tray in one hand and a chair on the other. The chair she had was bigger than the normal ones and it was then I realized she was too big for the normal seats and would have one customized to fit her, just like her uniform. It was placed right next to Lucy's seat, unfortunately for her. I guess she didn't understand how Lucy felt about her presence and I wouldn't either cause she had masked her entire emotion with boredom.
"Hey Lucy" Her widened smile and the tone of her voice showed she really liked Lucy, even when the other obviously wasn't reciprocating the affection she was showing. In fact, she didn't spare her a single glance when she replied a low 'hi' and continued with her meal.
"Were you shoved out of the line?" Ceris asked when she looked down at my tray. I wondered why both girls complained about the amount. At home, I ate either that or smaller if I gained 0.5kg weight at the end of the week. Seeing the people here eat as many as four slices of toast made it seem like they all ate too much.
"No"
"You can have some of mine, that wouldn't last you till lunch time"
"I actually chose it myself, thank you for your concern but I'm okay with it" I peacefully declined as I took another sip of the bottled water. I had taken over half of the content and still felt thirsty for more. "But you can help with water, if that's okay with you"
"Of course it is" She handed me her only bottle of water, tossing it to the other side of the table. "Just tell me if you need anything"
"Thank you"
"Also, I know this isn't my business at all but I saw both your sponge and bar of soap in the bathroom today, were you given two?"
"No, they slipped out of my hand and got dirty so I left them there"
"You did what?" Lucy piped into the conversation, looking less concerned than Ceris who already looked like her eyes were about to bawl out of their sockets. Although, I didn't understand why they both looked worried for a cheap sponge and bar of soap but I could feel the fear begin to build up on me.
"I left them on the floor, cause they fell and got dirty"
"Well congratulations sweetie, you just got yourself in trouble"