Seraphina's Pov
The moment I confirmed that Koran Hook was my father, the mood at the table shifted, and the subtle murmurs started immediately, growing just loud enough for me to catch snippets of the conversation.
I tried to block them out, but some words slipped through, shaking my composure.
Jolene leaned in close to one of the other girls, and even though her voice was low, it was still loud enough for me to hear.
"Isn't that disgusting?" she whispered, her tone dripping with disdain.
The others chuckled in response, and the sound rang in my ears like the worst kind of laughter. Every part of me wanted to get up, run, and flee from this table, this hall, and this school.
I wanted to disappear and pretend none of this was happening, but I couldn't move. My body felt frozen and pinned in place.
I kept my head bowed, forcing myself to breathe steadily, in and out. I focused on the rise and fall of my chest, trying to calm the fear inside me.
My fingers dug into my thighs under the table, and I pressed my lips together, willing myself not to cry, not to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break down.
Just when I thought I'd suffocate, the hall staff arrived with our food, and I mumbled a quiet thank you to the server, keeping my eyes on the plate in front of me.
For a brief moment, I was grateful for the distraction, hoping that the arrival of food would steer the conversation away from my family and me.
I told myself to just eat quietly and stay invisible. If I could make it through this meal without drawing more attention, maybe they'd forget about me, at least for a little while.
I picked up my fork with trembling fingers, spearing a piece of the chicken on my plate. The food looked fine, but I could barely taste it as I forced myself to chew, focusing on the movements of my mouth and on swallowing.
"Don't look at anyone; don't make eye contact. Just eat," I told myself.
The table had fallen into a more natural state, with the girls around me chatting about other things—who they thought was dating whom, some upcoming party, and even a class assignment.
I tried to tune it all out, to pretend I wasn't here, and fade into the background like I always had.
I thought, for a moment, that I might get through the meal without further humiliation, but then, out of nowhere, a voice called my name.
"Seraphina," someone said from across the table.
Startled, I looked up, my heart skipping a beat. One of the girls who hadn't spoken to me before was staring at me, a smirk playing at the corners of her mouth.
I didn't know her name since she hadn't bothered to introduce herself, and the look in her eyes told me she wasn't calling for me out of politeness.
"So," she began, dragging out the word as if savoring it. "Your current stepmother is also your aunt, right?"
The food I had just put in my mouth suddenly started to taste like grass, and I choked, coughing violently as I tried to swallow.
My eyes watered, and I gasped for breath, the question catching me completely off guard. I could feel every eye at the table turn toward me again, their attention fully on me now.
There was definitely a malicious edge to the way she had asked, as if the question wasn't really a question at all, but a way to mock me.
I wiped at my mouth, trying to regain some composure, but my heart was pounding so loudly in my ears that I could barely think straight. The humiliation was overwhelming, and I didn't know how to respond.
I could see Ashleigh watching me out of the corner of her eye, her expression unreadable. Jolene snickered quietly, sharing a knowing glance with Liana, while the other girls waited; their forks paused mid-air as they watched me squirm.
"Yes," I finally managed to say, my voice barely a whisper. "She's my aunt."
I couldn't even look up to gauge their reactions because I already knew what they were thinking. Disgust, curiosity, and maybe even pity, but none of it mattered because I had already confirmed what they wanted to know, and now they would pick me apart piece by piece.
The girl who had asked the question leaned back in her chair, clearly satisfied with my answer. "That's… wild," she said, exchanging smirks with the others. "I can't even imagine."
I forced a small, awkward smile, even though every part of me wanted to scream at the fact that they were talking about my life and my family, as if it were some twisted story out of a gossip column.
I stared down at my plate, pushing the food around without any intention of eating it. My mind was spinning, trying to think of how I could escape this situation and how I could slip away and never have to deal with these girls again.
Suddenly, Ashleigh turned toward me, her voice disrupting my thoughts. "So, Seraphina," she started. "Did your stepmother—" she paused, a sly smile appearing at the corner of her lips. "Or should I say your aunt—send you all the way from Aldoria to Elmeria?"
"I mean, you do kind of seem like someone who's being treated badly at home, so I wouldn't be surprised if your dear stepmother-aunt packed your bags and sent you off to get rid of you. You look like the type of girl with a Cinderella story," she added.
The other girls at the table burst into laughter, while she leaned back in her chair with a satisfied smirk playing on her lips.
I could feel my pulse thundering in my ears, and I let out a shaky breath, struggling to keep myself together.
I knew that the longer I stayed, the worse this would get, and my hands were shaking so badly now that I had to set my fork down before I dropped it. I couldn't stay here another second.
Without thinking, I pushed myself up from the table, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. "Excuse me," I muttered, my voice barely audible over their laughter, and I didn't even wait for anyone to respond.
As I rushed through the dining hall, I kept my head down, not daring to meet anyone's eyes since it already felt like the entire room was watching and judging me.
I picked up the pace, moving so quickly that I didn't see where I was headed. All I wanted was to reach the exit, disappear, and find a quiet corner where I could fall apart and cry without anyone seeing me, but as I rushed forward, head down, I collided hard with something—or rather, someone.
The impact was so sudden that it knocked the air out of me, and before I knew it, I was on the floor.
My hands hit the cold floor, causing my palms to sting, and then I heard a sharp intake of breath beside me as the other person hit the ground too.
When I finally looked to see who I had collided with, my breath caught in my throat, and now standing in front of me, looking just as startled as I felt, was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
I could barely form a coherent thought as I took in her features: blonde hair that ran down to her back and a face that was as flawless as it was striking.
Her eyes—oh, her eyes—were the clearest shade of blue I'd ever, and I could barely meet her gaze without feeling like I might drown in them.
"Wow," I whispered, the word leaving my lips without permission.
My throat tightened, and suddenly, out of nowhere, I started hiccuping. It was as if my body had gone into some sort of shock, unable to process the sheer beauty of the girl in front of me.
I had never seen anyone like her in my entire life—someone who looked so unreal, like something out of a painting, so perfect, it seemed impossible that she could exist in the same messy world as the rest of us.
My heart pounded in my chest, and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment as I tried to stifle the hiccups that had started out of sheer nervousness.
Before I could fully collect myself, I noticed something even worse—every single person in the dining hall had turned their attention toward us.
I started to hear the sound of chairs scraping against the floor as some of the girls got up to get a better look at the commotion, and that was when it really dawned on me that I had caused a scene, and now all eyes were on me.
I scrambled to my feet, moving faster than my mind could process. My hands shook as I pushed myself up, and I felt dizzy from the sudden movement.
The girl—this breathtakingly beautiful girl—stood up too, her movements graceful and almost otherworldly, and my eyes widened even more when I realized how tall she was.
She must've been a good head taller than me, her slender frame towering over me in a way that made me feel even smaller and even more out of place than I already felt.
I couldn't handle it. The stares, the whispers, and the sheer embarrassment of having collided with this goddess of a girl in front of possibly the entire student body.
"I—I'm so sorry," I stuttered, my voice shaky.
I couldn't even look at her properly, and my words tumbled out of me in a rush, barely coherent as I tried to word out some kind of apology. "I didn't mean to... I wasn't looking... I'm sorry…"
Without waiting for a response, without daring to meet her eyes again, I turned and bolted out of the dining hall.
I didn't care what anyone thought anymore, and I just had to get away. I could hear the instant uproar behind me from the girls who had witnessed the whole thing, but I didn't dare to look back.
All I knew now for sure was that my time in this school was off to the worst start possible, and knowing my luck, it certainly wouldn't get any better.