December's Moon

8| LUCA

| LUCA |

Luca stabbed a crouton in his Caesar salad with his fork, and it exploded into a mess of Italian seasoned crumbs.

"It's disgusting, isn't it?" Nate said from his seat across from Luca. "I don't know how they manage to mess up lettuce and stale cubes of bread."

Zane snorted, scooting his seat out from the table and crossing his arms over his chest. "At the Cypress Pass Academy of Gastric Distress, anything is possible. It's miraculous no one has died of food poisoning here yet."

Luca let out a small laugh through his nose. He pushed his plate a few inches away from him. The lettuce was so soaked in dressing, it was barely even edible. He didn't have much of an appetite, anyway.

Nate went back to picking at his salad, poking through it with his fork like he was expecting to find bugs or something.

"Have you seen December?" Luca finally asked.

Nate stirred a gooey piece of lettuce across his plate, twirling it around his fork like it was pasta. "Not since combat class." He turned his eyes up to meet Luca's, giving him a pointed stare.

"I think he went to the nurse," Zane said. "You clocked him pretty fucking hard, man."

"It's been nearly three hours," Luca muttered, "and I didn't hit him that hard."

Zane shrugged and tossed his napkin onto his plate. "I can't eat this shit. I'm going to make a peanut butter and jelly." He looked to Nate. "You?"

"Yeah." Nate slid out of his seat. "See you in EE, Luca."

Luca nodded and waved to them. They weren't his friends. The only reason he'd made a point to sit across from them at lunch was to ask about December.

Now alone at the table, Luca leaned forward, pushing his hands through his short hair. His stomach was in knots after that morning, and it had nothing to do with the food. Having to fight December like that felt . . . wrong. He'd thought being able to beat him at something would make him feel good, but it didn't. It just made him angry and nauseous.

Luca pinched his eyes closed for a second, rubbing his temples. At least they only had two more classes before the end of the day—electrical engineering and Egyptology. Although electrical engineering might as well be black magic as far as Luca was concerned, Egyptology seemed like it would be interesting. He'd found pharaohs and mummies fascinating since childhood. Maybe they'd learn to write in hieroglyphics or mummify a cat.

"Hey, Luca Wakelin," a voice snapped him from his thoughts of wrapping felines in toilet paper.

"Huh?" Luca turned to meet the gaze of one of the freshmen. He'd seen the kid once or twice at lunch and walking around the hall, but he didn't know his name yet.

The boy's dark hair hung in a mess over his brown eyes, and he gave Luca a nervous half smile. "I'm Jay Corbin," the boy said.

"Yeah?" Luca raised an eyebrow.

"I'm the lone wolf today," he said.

Luca nodded. Cypress Pass Academy rotated the job of "lone wolf" through the freshmen and sophomores. The job entailed sitting at the front desk in the main hall between classes and after class until nine at night. The student answered calls, greeted visitors, and took deliveries. The faculty described the duty as a way of instilling leadership and responsibility in the younger students, but Luca suspected they also enjoyed saving money by not having to pay a secretary.

"There's a call for you at the front desk," the kid, Jay Corbin, said. He shifted back and forth on his feet nervously before gesturing behind himself with his thumb.