Nocte Yin

Chapter Four

The first night of dining occurred in the Hall of Chaos, where every staff and student of Evil Academy was required to attend the opening ceremony. The fact that all her peers and colleagues were either on time or early for the ritual, waiting patiently for the doors to open into the building, did not surprise Nocte in the least. If there were two things villains were good at, they were making rules and abiding by them. There was, after all, a certain finesse and honour in villainy, a finesse and honour Nocte did not particularly approve of, but it was a finesse and honour nonetheless.

Nocte took a deep breath and wiped the heat from her cheeks. She was one of those who arrived early, but late enough to be at the back of the crowd waiting for the doors to open. Savvy, who was by her side and avidly avoiding her eyes, was busy trying to catch her breath from their short, but panicked, run.

Since their first introductions that morning, Savvy had locked herself into the bathroom for the better part of the day, refusing to come out even for lunch. It was obvious that she wasn’t comfortable around Nocte, a sentiment Nocte shared after Savvy’s quick escape. In mutual discomfort, Nocte had left Savvy alone and spent the day unpacking until the clock chimed. If Nocte hadn’t been pounding on the bathroom door and exclaiming about being tardy, Savvy wouldn’t have come out in time. And Nocte hated to be late, which was why she had grabbed Savvy’s wrist without a moment of hesitance and ran them both across the campus.

It was not how Nocte had envisioned their first roommate activity (bonding experience) to be — at all.

Fortunately, Nocte had adjusted the clocks promptly upon her arrival at Room 10X, rolling the dial back ten minutes early to avoid tardiness. When one lived with a bunch of dramatic and dangerous family members who believed in the art of the “fashionably late,” one had to learn not to be “fashionably late”… not when an army of knights were prepared to storm the castle — with or without a master in residence to defend it.

Gash was an idiot.

With one last inhale, Nocte’s breathing returned to normal and her heart rate steadied. (She had never been one for running.) Brushing her bangs from her sweaty forehead, she tried to look over the crowd to get a glimpse of the doors, but she was too vertically challenged to get much of a picture. She stepped down from her tippy toes and turned to check on her roommate… and found empty space.

Savvy had, evidently, bolted from her presence the moment she had occupied herself with something else.

Nocte tried not to be hurt by her roommate’s obvious dislike (and fear) of her, but she would’ve preferred it if she and Savvy were, at the very least, amicable, if only so that she could use the bathroom every once and a while. The prospect of her dorm life being awkward and strained all year was not something she was looking forward to.

She rubbed her forehead, wishing the doors would open so she could finally sit somewhere and mull over her predicament. She was tired and exhausted (especially after her run), and even with the sun preparing to set, the summer heat was still humid and overbearing. As she wiped the sweat from her nose, she noticed the looks directed her way. Now that she was alone (abandoned by her roomie), she was suddenly aware of all her peers… staring at her.

No blinking. Unabashedly. Staring.

“That’s her?”

“Yup.”

“This morning-”

“Paine and Noir-”

“-fell-”

“-said, ‘Sorry’-”

“-can’t believe it!”

“-fugly-”