Unwritten Rule

Kiera's POV(Continued)

The rest of my two classes went okay, thanks to no idiot boys twisting my every word.

The classes were both the same though. Roll call, something that hadn't been there in mr Efa’s class, introducing myself and then melting into the background. I made no other instant connections with anyone though, the faces of both the teachers and students all blurred together until they were just a sea of indistinct faces. I wouldn't have seen either the students or teachers outside and recognized any of them.

Maybe it was because it was just my first day but I doubted that. It felt like I was at my old school again. Invisible to everyone around me. After basking in the attention of Sarah, it was an unpleasant feeling.

The sun was high in the sky when I walked out into the humid air. The heat that enveloped me did nothing to alleviate my melancholic mood.

The school was deceptive in size.

From the outside, it looked to be small, but based on what I’ve seen, it comprised of at least five buildings, each of it more than two plots apart. The entire school was over an acre. That’s double the size of my school and we had almost four hundred students!

Including the excessively large building I just exited, there was a little walkway paved with white stones that formed a little arch on the right, and on the left, there was another straight line, this one less pretty that led to what looked like a cathedral. It’s entrance was even like one with its bricked overhang and dark walls. All day I had gotten the vibe that this was a christian school in nothing but name only, but the existence of the cathedral made me uncertain of my opinion. At the edge of the arched walkway was a beautiful old, brown building. It was years old, vintage but still magnificent. I was certain it was one of those places that was featured in lifestyle magazines.

Mum and I had done the research together on this place, along with helpful nudges -some not so subtle- from Gracie about this school. One of the major reasons why we’d chosen it apart from proximity was that it was cheap.

Not extremely cheap, but it was relatively cheaper than my old school, and that had been a private school. St. Patrick wasn’t privately owned, at least it was owned by the town council or whatever head governed this strange town, but this place had more features and luxury that my old school would never have dared implement.

Infact, no other school to the best of my knowledge would have a field so large with real stadium features or a building solely for eating.

The inside of the building was cavernous. There was a freaking chandelier several meters up on the roof. To my right was a long line of transparent glass. About eight women in a black and white uniform and white hairnet stood in a straight line, each one manning what appeared to be food dishes. There was even a freaking beverage stand.

I turned right and surveyed the line of servers before taking out a tray and joined the nearest line to me. I didn't know what meal they were serving and didn’t care.

I’d always evaded the lunch line back home by taking my own lunch to school, looks like I will have to do the same here as well.

But won’t Sarah find that weird?

What makes you think Sarah will want to have lunch with you again apart from today? She probably offered because she felt sorry for me.

I doubted Celyn would be too happy to see me at their table and I was damn certain she would convince Sarah to stop being so nice to me. Okay, I needed to stop being so negative. I was yet to find their table in this maze and Sarah didn't strike me as someone so easily influenced or controlled and even if she was, I was fine without her or her friendship.

I’d feel a lot more at ease if I had a friend in this place, but that didn't mean I wouldn't survive without her. I'd certainly survived worse situations.

Behind the transparent glass was a large buffet style with delicacies schools shouldn’t be able to afford. I chose a meal at random, not even bothering with its contents before turning around with my stomach in knots.

The cafeteria was crowded and noisy, like every other school. There was a long table in between two other raised seats, just like in my old school, but that was where the similarities ended. Where the seats had been brown benches in my old school, here the seats had backs and they looked to be made of leather. And I was pretty damn certain I spied someone eating spaghetti bolognese and another eating a chicken sandwich.

It was cozy and the air conditioner was on full blast but even at that, walking about the several rows was one of the hardest undertakings of my entire life.

I’d taken only a few steps before I froze in place. There were easily over a hundred students -or more- eating lunch right now. I had no conceivable way of locating Sarah unless I went through each table, and that was the exact reason I was frozen. I was so damn petrified of the mini monsters. What if they jeered at me?

Damn it. I set fire to my father’s car to teach him a lesson. I’d taken my mother and flown to begin life anew in a different continent. I could fucking walk through hundreds of students having lunch without breaking out into hives.

With my tray out in front of me like a shield, I set out into the midst of munching monsters, expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

The tables all had a certain theme though, the first five to my left certainly belonged to the nerdy teens. Several books were piled high at three of the tables and four students in the last two seats wore glasses. Following stereotypical rules, they were the dweebs and nerds.

I saw clutches of goth themed dresses and paraphernalia. These seats were rather silent though, the students all munching quietly and not conversing.

Though no one seemed to pay me any mind, it felt like everyone's attention was on me when I kept walking with no end in sight.

All the tables were full. Each table sat six students and I’d passed ten rows on each side and each and every single one of them was full. I’d come to the end of the rows, braved weaving through the not so straight lines between seats, all in the hope that I would catch a glimpse of a familiar blonde head. I saw blondes, several of them as a matter of fact but none belonged to Sarah. Oh, if only I had a phone.

I was about to give up when I chanced a look up and found that there was a sort of mini indoor balcony tucked into the corner of the room. A curved stair led up to it.

There was even a red velvet rope just before the first stair. The velvet rope appeared to be barring movement but there was no one guarding it though. Now I was wondering why there would be a guard by the stairs in a high school cafeteria. But total movement couldn't be barred because I could see people up there.

It was the only other place I could look for her, I certainly wasn't going to brave the mess hall again.

Putting my tray in one hand, I uncuffed the velvet rope with the other. Then the weirdest thing yet happened.

As one, every single student in the cafeteria inhaled audibly, their shocked gasp loud enough to raise the dead. I whirled back in alarm to find the entire cafeteria deathly silent.

And Every. Single. Student. on their feet, staring at me with varying degrees of alarm and trepidation.

Holy shit, I think I just broke the school's unwritten rule.