IVY HIGH

CHAPTER FIVE

Finally, after five long periods, it was lunchtime and the girls had no idea where to sit. Yesterday they didn't even make it to the cafeteria in time because they had to take care of necessary formalities. Today, however, they were facing a very difficult task of choosing the right lunch table.
Natalie unwillingly noticed where Constantin was sitting, probably because he was surrounded by a small crowd of other students. She immediately made a decision to stay away from that part of the cafeteria. She wasn't trying to get involved with any unnecessary drama during her years at Ivy High.
As they were standing in the middle of the room, undecided, someone approached them.
"Hi! I'm Andre. You guys are scholarship students, right?." They heard an unfamiliar voice and turned to see who was the source of it. The guy standing in front of them had jet black hair and brown eyes and was flashing them a bright smile. They nodded and his smile became even bigger.  "Since scholarship students have to stick together, you can sit with me and my friends."
"Oh... sure", responded Natalie after catching a glimpse at Eve to see her reaction. "It's nice to meet you, Andre." She didn't even have to turn around to feel Constantin piercing a hole through her head with his intrusive stare. She ignored the feeling and followed Andre to the table where most of the scholarship students were eating their lunch.
Surprisingly, everyone looked excited to meet them and they spent quite a lot of time trying to remember people's names. There were six other people at the lunch table: four girls and two guys, excluding Andre.
There was a tiny blond girl who looked shy, soft, and girly. Her name was Grace, she was a senior and also a scholarship student.
Two other girls, Sierra and Faith, were sisters but looked more like twins. Their skin tone was beautifully dark and their hair was in box braids. They were daughters of a famous Hollywood couple and both of them were hilarious. Natalie immediately liked them for their sense of humor.
The last girl was tall like Natalie but instead of her long blond hair, she had breathtaking brown curls. She was wearing round glasses and was reading a book when they approached her. Her name was Jamie and her parents were CEOs of the biggest telecommunication company in Australia.
One of the guys sitting at the table was Asian and had brown hair that looked permed. He was Japanese and his name was Hachiro. He was also a scholarship student and was a year older than Natalie and Eve. He was an athlete: a pole vaulter, and got his scholarship thanks to the amazing achievements he already had at the age of eighteen.
The last guy, Noah, was a son of a British billionaire or in different words a woman of luck and success. He had messy straw-colored hair and green eyes. He was extremely smart and seemed to know every single person at school. Even though Natalie and Eve have never met those people before, they immediately found common ground with them and they didn't feel awkward at all. The girls were stunned by how well they fit in with Andre's friends. Almost like they were two missing pieces everybody has searched for.
As Eve and Natalie were busy talking to Sierra and Faith and trying to learn how to tell them apart, Noah came up to them, his lips stretched in a big smile showing everyone his perfectly straight white teeth.
"Okay... my new besties, ready for the *dishiest boy at this school to show you how to pick the best food in this place?" 
Natalie literally jumped when Noah mentioned food. Too wrapped up in the conversation, she completely forgot she was starving! Although she wouldn't be herself if she didn't make good use of this situation to speak in her ridiculous British accent in front of a real, and handsome, Brit.
"Quickly, let's go, Mr. Darcy, I'm famished," she said and Noah couldn't help but laugh at her attempts to sound like him.
"Oh, Elizabeth! Come, let's feed your desires" he played along, still laughing at Nat's British attempts.
"Eve dear, will you give us this honor and accompany us?" He smiled at her but Eve was not really that hungry. The stress and the anxiety of the first lunch at their new school took all the appetite away from her, so she decided to refuse his proposal.
"Unfortunately, I have to decline your offer, Mr. Darcy, my food desires are currently fulfilled." He laughed and then nodded his head and pushed Nat to what he called a "Noah's heaven" or simply "foodie goodie".
Eve started to feel a little embarrassed after being left alone. Thankfully, Andre quickly broke the silence.
"I know you said you don't want anything to eat but maybe you would like an apple" he offered, pointing at a perfect and shiny green apple on his tray and continued, not giving her a chance to answer: "You know, you have to put some nutrition in the tiny body of yours and apple consists of 80% of water so you will stay hydrated and it has Potassium, Vitamin A, Calcium, Iron. Oh, and it's also loaded with vitamin C, especially in the skin, which is also full of fiber..." he kept going in his weirdly passionate voice.
"You have to break him, he's a biology freak and he will never stop if you don't take that apple" Sierra or Faith whispered in her ear. She couldn't tell them apart just yet but she smiled and whispered a small "thank you".
"I think you have aroused my appetite from all these benefits. Thank you and I will take that apple" Eve said pleasantly, interrupting Andre's dialogue. He gave her the apple, happy that his lecture was successful, even though he didn't have a chance to tell her about polyphenols and many other things about this wonderful fruit. He cleared his throat to resume his speech but at the same time, the attention of the table focused on Natalie and Noah who just came back to the table with their trays. There wouldn't be anything special about that if not for the fact that Mr. Darcy had fries all over his hair and Elizabeth had mustard on top of her golden hair. Everybody looked at them, waiting for an explanation but all they said was that this conflict will be resolved later on.
Soon, the lunch break was over and everybody headed back to their classes. 
                                                             ****
Eve sighed when she heard the last bell for today. She packed her stuff quickly, wanting to get out of the building as fast as she could. She was supposed to meet Natalie in their shared dorm room and all she wanted to do right now was to lay on her bed and maybe listen to some music. Going down the hallways she was looking at other people, thinking about how incredible is the fact that we are all so different. That we think, act, and behave in so many different ways and it's based on everyone's personality, background, and upbringing. She thought it was amazing how there were no two identical people in the world, even twins who looked the same had minds of their own.
She imagined a world with billions and billions of people, a world like ours...with one exception: everyone looked and acted the same. Who would be the President and who would be Kim Kardashian? She couldn't think of an answer. Eve believed that the differences between people were what made the world beautiful.
The first day Eve came to Natalie's house she noticed a big quote in her room that said: No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else. From the moment she saw that poster, Eve thought that she and Natalie would get along; actually, she knew more than that: she had a feeling that they would be friends who understand each other without words, who support each other in need, and are always there for each other.
Eve got lost in her thoughts so deeply that she didn't notice she was already standing in front of their room. She opened the door and saw Emma sitting at her desk in front of a small mirror. Different cosmetics were scattered around her.
"Hi, why are you doing makeup at this time?" Eve asked curiously after closing the door behind herself.
"I'm going to a coffee shop and you never know who you're gonna meet there" she answered mysteriously and Eve couldn't help but smile. She decided to tease her a little bit.
"You mean you never know if Prince Constantin will be there?"
Emma didn't look the slightest bit embarrassed; instead, she turned to Eve with sparkling eyes.
"Yes! Oh my gosh, he's so dreamy! My lovely future husband, I already have names for our kids! Rosie and-" She got so excited but after a few seconds, she frowned and asked.  "Wait a minute, how do you know that I like him?"  Eve burst out laughing, simply pointing at the poster with Constantin's face on it.
"Oh right, I forgot I put one of my posters up already!" She smiled sheepishly.
Eve responded with a quick laugh, trying to ignore the fact that this meant the poster on the wall wasn't the only one her weird roommate had.
"So are you guys like a thing?"
"Well... soon yeah. I mean, truthfully, I've never talked to him but it's only a matter of time before it happens. After all, we are meant to be." She sounded so sure of herself Eve was starting to think there was something seriously wrong with her head. However, she decided not to voice her thoughts and was just about to change the subject, when suddenly the bathroom doors opened.