Ball of Fire- A Dexella AU

I

MARELLA REDEK SAT down at her typical lunch table in the middle of the cafeteria. Dropping her backpack down on the ground next to her, she swung her legs over the wooden bench, her short white skirt lifting up, exposing just a little too much leg. 

"Watch out for the food," Stina, the wildly wavy-haired girl known for being one of the girls that ate her way to the food chain said. Her perfect round nose crinkled up as she poked the meat. "This meat is a piece of shit. You would think that a private school would at least serve decent food." 

Maruca, a dark-skinned beauty with strange, large blue eyes, shrugged. "It's not that bad," she said, spooning a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. 

Stina scoffed at Maruca, and Marella winced inwardly, feeling a little bit of pity for the girl. "Well, that's only because your family's so poor that you haven't had a proper meal in a long time." 

Maruca didn't bite the bait, but Marella noticed her knuckles around the steel fork tighten a little. 

"Marella?" 

Marella quickly turned toward Stina. "Mhmm?" 

"How's the food?" 

It felt like a test. 

Marella pursed her perfectly glossed lips together and stared down at what she thought was perfectly good food. "It's terrible. I mean, what was the school thinking?" 

Stina nodded in approval. She gestured to Marella's tray with her sharp nails. "Hand it over." 

"My food?" Marella asked, staring down at the freshly cooked meat and warm potatoes on the tray. "What are you going to do with it?"

Stina raised an eyebrow at the defensive tone in Marella's voice, and Marella winced. She had done something wrong. 

"Throw it," she shrugged. "It's trash anyways, and I'm sure the lunch ladies would look better with the potatoes all over their faces. It would be a favor to those poor women." 

She was going to throw Marella's perfectly good food into the faces of perfectly innocent lunch ladies? Marella licked her lips and looked at the wall clock to maybe think of an idea to stall for time, preferably until lunch ended, or at least distract Stina for a while so she could sneak a few bites in. 

While she was thinking, Stina swooped over her, her low cut top dangling loosely off her body in front of Marella in a way that she never wanted to see again and snatched her lunch tray right from in front of her, the way a hawk might snatch mice. 

"Come," she said to like Marella was an obedient dog, and without even bothering to turn back to see whether she was following her or not, Stina walked towards the lunch line, her high heels clicking on the marbled flooring. Marella quickly pushed herself off the bench, and pulled down her too-short skirt, about to follow-

"You aren't really gonna go with her, are you?" 

Marella paused and turned around to see Maruca with her shocking blue eyes, long dreadlocks, and perfect skin. Natural Beauty. The world was much kinder to her than it had been to Marella.

Maruca rolled her eyes and stabbed violently at another piece of meat. "She annoys me so much. She really is just a bitch. She has fun insulting and mocking people she thinks are less than her when in reality, she's the one who's lower than dirt." She didn't even bother to lower her voice and another girl who sat at their table shot her a look. 

Maruca hadn't been "recruited" by Stina as Marella had been. Instead, she'd joined the table through another insanely, beautiful, and wealthy girl named Biana. Marella had never bothered to talk to her. The Vackers were even more known that the Heks (Stina's family) and their reputation preceded them. She was sure that this Biana girl would be the same, just like all the other girls here.