Hiraeth

Chapter 6

Samara Shaw

They were numerous.

The amount of students in the hall was more than I could count. Both males and females 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 was in the middle. The wallpaper on the wall was just like the one in every other part of the school besides my room, with angel, and Cupid patterns.

"I hate this place" Lucy mumbled as we walked further in 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 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 our 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 who 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 every day 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 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 bottle of 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.