Samara Shaw
I submitted the letter a few minutes into lunch.
It was three hundred word long, explaining it wasn't my fault and how I shouldn't get punished at all. I also included it was my first day in school and I was new to the system. Ceris mentioned those were not necessary because the school's punishment was equal to all and they would not acknowledge I was new. Stubbornly, I wrote it in hopes to get something less severe. After all, all I did was waste a cheap bar is soap and sponge.
"Hey, I was looking everywhere for you" Ceris caught up with me on my way to the dining hall, looking sweaty with her shirt damp and face dripping with sweat. She looked like she ran a hundred miles to get to me, or even worse, cause her face was red too.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why'd you ask?" With each word she and, she let out fast deep breaths to calm herself. Her hands rested on her knees and head faced me as she spoke. It was difficult to believe looking around for me made her so sweaty.
"How long have you been looking for me? You look like you ran around the school"
"Even if I wanted to, I can't run for over a minute. I took my drugs a little too early last night and their effects are running out already"
"Drugs? I didn't know you were sick?"
"I'm not, I just have this condition. It's nothing too serious, don't worry about it"
"Is there a medical team here? We need to get you to a doctor immediately"
"I just need to have my drugs, the nurse knows that already. Come on, let's go"
We headed to the dining hall, Ceris taking fast steps while I ran to keep up with her pace. It didn't seem to bother her that how she walked could be a possible reason why she looked all sweaty. I could not keep up with her pace but for the sake of her health, I had to follow her. She was a few feet away from me when we got into the hall and immediately sprinted to the front where the other students stood in a queue to get their meals. She had no regards for them when she pushed through and grabbed a bottled water.
She then chugged down the content in a gulp. It took only a second for Ceris to drink an entire bottle of water and when she was done, she took another one and drank all of it the same way she did to the first one. It went on till she was done with six whole bottles and I was a few feet away from her, getting just as much attention as she was. Everyone, including the ones sitting around tables and those randomly walking around had their eyes on her and me too cause I was the closest to her.
"Ceris, everyone's watching"
She snapped out and dropped the last empty bottle before looking around at what she caused and then back at me. "I'm so sorry"
"It's okay. How about you get water and go take your drugs? I'll get your food for you"
"Thank you"
Ceris took another bottle and sprinted out of the line. The absence of the drugs in her body had caused so much in a few minutes. Her condition was more than I imagined it to be and definitely one I had never seen before then, neither had I read about it throughout my years learning Biology. One thing I did know was that it was serious and missing her drugs could lead to severe consequences.
"Are you gonna stand there or go to the end of the line?"
"I'm sorry" I hurriedly left the front of the line and on my way to the bottom, I caught a glimpse of Lucy. She didn't look bothered by the whole situation or as if she knew any one of us and when I walked past her, she didn't give me a single glance. Her eyes were on the food and nothing else.
The line began to move after I made it to the end and one by one, everyone served their meals till I was two people away from getting mine. From where I was, I saw that most of the food available were not for a vegetarian like I was. I had grown up living by the strict no-meat-rule and so, was never allowed to have any of my dishes with meat. I wasn't told the reason why but my mother always said that to be a proper lady, I had to avoid meat and feed on fruits and vegetables.
The meat there wasn't as she described it to be, slimy and greasy. They looked properly cooked, red, healthy and had no grease coated on it or dripping from the sides. Although, I had never tried beef and before that day, I lived thinking they were not good for me but I did not mind having it for the first time.
I almost took another step forward when I felt something touch my arm. It was a slight tug but was enough to make me flinch. I looked down at my arm to see a very familiar muscular hand holding unto it. The texture of the palm against my skin oddly felt cold, like freezing hard ice on my skin. I could feel the dents and roughness of the surface when it slowly let go. Veins popped out of his knuckles down to arm. They looked huge and numerous, like he could end up in a pool of his own blood with something as simple as a papercut.
Vince was next to me with a little smile on his face. None of the people behind me said a word against the fact he cut through the line to get to me or that I was wasting time by standing there and doing nothing. They all seemed to be okay with it even when they had sent me to the back of the line just a few minutes ago. This made me believe Vince had some sort of advantage over the rest of us. The power he had above them was high, that even Lucy who did not appreciate her time getting wasted also stood there in silence.
"Hello Samara"
"Vince" My time with him never exceeded a few minutes and we'd only met thrice but something in his eyes, made me feel quite uneasy. It could be because of the silver color or because they looked manipulative. Like many of the ones I saw growing up but his was different. The words of his mouth were sugar coated and sweet so I could not believe he had no motive behind that smile.
"You left English class early, I didn't get the chance to know you more"
"Oh, I had this really important thing to do earlier"
"I'll take it that you've done this important thing you had to do so in replacement of the time I missed this morning, will you have lunch with me at my table?"
"No, I can't" My words were sharp and direct, just like my mother's. No apologies, no regrets. She had more impact on me than I thought she did. Just like Jonathan, their only true son, I spoke like mother.
"Why is that?"
"My friend isn't feeling too well, I cannot leave her side"
"You're kind hearted Samara, that's a good trait. Meet this friend of yours, bring her over to my table and I'll have both your meals served to you in seconds."
"You can do that?" That summed up everything, Vince did have an advantage others did not have. The school's system was too strict to have a student have his meal served on his table. Only someone with power unlike the rest could do that.
"Of course"
I left the line and so do Vince as he walked the opposite direction. After spotting Ceris sitting by the table we all had breakfast earlier that day, I went towards her. On the table were a lot of pills, all bigger than the normal size of medicine I was used to. There were too much, it almost looked like an overdose but she had taken them all and had zipped open her bag to return them. She looked a lot better than before. Her drugs had oddly kicked in after a few minutes and her face that used to be red had gone back to its color. Her skin didn't have so much sweat anymore but her shirt still looked wet and hair damp.
"I see you feel better now"
"Yeah, I'll be sure to take my drugs early next time"
"If I may ask, what condition do you have?"
"It's complicated, I don't understand it either but you don't need to worry as long as I take my drugs."
"Okay, just tell me when you need anything and about the food, Vince said to come sit at his table and he'll have both our meals given to us, isn't that great?"
"You're friends with Lord Vince?"
"I refer to him as Vince, will that get me in trouble too?"
"If he's okay with it, no it should not. He told you to call him that, didn't he?"
"Yes, of course but you call him Lord, does he have some sort of power over the rest of you?"
My question was left unanswered when a hand came in my vision. It was extremely pale, like all the life in it had been drained. Not too skinny and not so muscular either. This was one of the rarest people I'd seen because even those with pale green skin didn't have their's as pale as that. The tips of the fingers were red and the nails short and trimmed. With no signs of bruises, they looked injured and painful. Like my toes after long sessions of pedicure.
When I looked up to see who this person was, he had turned to leave but I recognized him to be Accius, the boy I saw during breakfast. He walked away before I got the chance to speak with him but left a letter on the table. It was a thick cardboard paper folded in two with the school's logo printed on top of it in gold. Right beneath was my name written in cursive, the letter was meant for me.
"That's a lot earlier than I expected" Ceris reached over and took the letter before I got the chance to pick it up. She flipped it open and read what was written in it. "It's your punishment Samara"
"I thought I wasn't meant to get it till the end of the day"
"So did I"
"What does it say?"
"To pick the roses around the school"
"Oh, that sounds easy. How many of them?"
"All"