Incandescent

Chapter 4

The girls and Tito stepped onto the Pedestal, instantly flashing back into the Entrance Hall. Tito held out his arm for Astrid and she delicately slipped her arm into his. Hayden led the three of them to the right, under the staircases and swung open two huge wooden doors, making herself known that she was entering.

Inside were multiple long tables, kids scattered around all of them, talking among themselves. The sound collectively sounded like a low hum — much quieter than what Astrid was used to in the lunch room. Not many turned to look as Hayden walk through, but when they saw Astrid and her bright red hair, they all began to point and whisper as quietly as possible.

Astrid tried not to notice it, but it was starting to irritate her. She hated people looking at her. She was ready to go back to the Level 5 lounge already, away from all these staring eyes.

"Our food here is actually pretty good. I'd say it beats school food," Tito whispered to Astrid.

She turned to look at him and smiled. "If this is my new home, I definitely hope it will be good. What's on the menu?"

"Well, let me check," Tito said. He pulled out his phone and clicked a few buttons, scrolled a few times, and finally had an answer. "It's Asian night tonight. So really anything that Asians eat. Rice, noodles, uh, shrimp. Maybe some sushi this time? Man I was disappointed last time because none of the dinner lines had sushi. Anyways, just follow me and we can get our food then join Cain, Brooklyn, and Aiden over there."

Astrid nodded and followed Tito through the line. She was able to get the sushi, which Tito was dying to eat, some Lo Mein noodles, grilled shrimp, and even a piece of grilled chicken. They each grabbed a bottle of water and then Astrid followed Tito to a spot on one of the tables that held Cain, Brooklyn, Aiden, and a few other people she couldn't recognize.

Once Astrid sat down beside Tito, Brooklyn waved at her from across the table. "So, how has the tour been going?" she said with a mouth full of noodles. Apparently Brooklyn was too excited about Astrid to have proper manners.

"It's been going pretty well," Astrid answered. "Hayden was going to show me the dorms after we ate dinner."

Hayden joined them at the table too, sitting down on the other side of Astrid. "You're going to love it. There will only be two of us and we will have the entire dorm room and bathroom to ourselves!" Astrid wondered if Hayden felt alone because she must be the only one in the entire dorm room. Or did she prefer it that way?

"That sounds nice to me," Astrid replied with a smile. "Less people in the bathroom I suppose."

Hayden nodded, not being able to reply because her mouth was now stuffed with Lo Mein noodles.

"Astrid," Brooklyn said, "this is Jackson Meadows." She pointed to a boy with shaggy blonde hair and brown eyes. He had on a tank top that showed off his biceps, triceps, and all the arm-ceps. He smiled and nodded in Astrid's direction.

"An honor to meet you," Jackson said. We have heard lots of stories of your parents' adventures."

Adventures? Astrid didn't know they did anything more daring than going 74 miles per hour on the interstate. "Really? Sounds interesting." She was afraid to say anymore because she was starting to get frustrated. Everyone else knew more about her family than she did.

"And this is Callum Grey," Brooklyn said, pointing in the direction to the boy beside Jackson Meadows. He had brown hair, light skin, and round glasses. He was sporting a navy blue button up and had his hair slicked back out of his face. He seemed very classy. Callum was reading a book, barely eating his food. Brooklyn noticed he wasn't paying attention and kicked Callum from underneath the table.