Vampire talking in my head

They finally entered the cafeteria. It was located on the ground floor of one of the many buildings that the Máville owned. The floor had large windows and seating arrangements for students and the staff of the university.

On her way, Lauren felt the eyes of people on her. She also saw students passing by turn to stare at her as if she were an alien who had just landed from Mars.

"Is it my imagination, or can you also sense some of the people looking at us?" whispered Lauren to Alara as they made their way to stand in one of the two queues like the rest of the people.

"Not us, but only you because you are new and also well known among students nowadays," she shrugged her shoulders as they walked past tables.

Lauren didn't understand what it meant by "well known," and Lauren didn't try to explain either. Was she referring to what happened in the parking lot? But that wasn't because no one knows what happened a week ago.

In reality, they were just curious to see her as they turned their heads side to side because she was a privileged girl who was the niece of the headmaster.

"It's strange," murmured Lauren.

Lauren tried to ignore the stares and kept walking with her head held high. She knew that her outfit was unconventional, but she felt confident and comfortable in it.

When the students in front of her cleared, it was finally her turn to get her meal, and if there was one thing she had to praise, it wasn't the ambience, the architecture, or the vast grounds on which the university stood.

It was the variety of food that this place had to offer. The food was specially cooked for Laurence's welcome, with many dishes on the lunch table. Lauren thought to thank her uncle for this and approved it from the bottom of her heart.

There was a little crowd at the university today after a whole week of long classes. Students finally got some free time to enjoy the weekend.

Lauren was walking forward with a tray in her hands. She noticed someone waving at her and confusedly turned to look behind her as she realised he was waving to Alara.

"Here they are," Alara pointed out. "I was worried we would have to wait after looking at the full table for seats," said Alara with a sigh and took Lauren to the table, which had four chairs, two of which were already occupied by two students.

A girl, who was sitting with her head buried in her phone, looked up. She had her hair red from the ends, and furthermore, she bore an uncannily resemblance to Alara Lauren felt certain she'd made a mistake with both of them.

"Hey guys, meet my new friend, Laurence," she turned to face Lauren. "This is Raden, my friend, and Feyre, my twin sister," she squeezed out a smile introducing happily.

"Hi. I'm Lauren. It's a pleasure to meet you both." She introduced herself and smiled at them.

"Raden Cole," the curly boy introduced himself. "Welcome to the university," he said with a soft smile on his face. He was handsome, from the depth of his eyes to the gentleness in his voice.

Lauren thanked him with a smile.

"Let's take a seat, Lauren." Alara suggested.

She took a seat, with Alara sitting next to her in front of them. While Raden had spoken to her, the girl in front of her didn't say anything, which made Lauren think that she didn't like her sitting with them.

It will not hurt her feelings if this girl really doesn't like her because she will happily walk to another table and sit there alone while not saying anything to anyone here.

The idea was good, but Lauren decided to put her doubts aside, convinced that the girl in front of her didn't actually dislike her.

"May I ask you a question?" Lauren heard Feyre spoke; her voice was a little gruff, but she had a soft expression on her face.

"Yes, if you would," Lauren spoke with confidence, not knowing what she wanted to ask.

Feyre was serious when she asked, "Why did you get admitted in the midst of the semester?" She wasn't making any statements or anything; she was simply asking a straightforward question that anyone could ask if they knew the situation Lauren was in.

As if realising her tone, she spoke softly, "Don't mind me, please. Actually, I am surprised to see that the university is still accepting students this late," explained Feyre, her eyes curiously looking at Lauren to know her story.

Lauren swallowed her nervousness and said, "My aunt passed away last week. We had lived together for many years, and it was so difficult to adjust to the house without her." Lauren looked down at her tray, her expression was sad.

"It felt so empty and eerie without her presence, and I thought that maybe starting something new would help me cope with her absence."

"We are sorry."

"No, it's fine." Lauren immediately looked up, forcing a smile. She despised it when she saw pity in their eyes for her.

With a gentle nod, Feyre looked at her and said, "I understand your situation." Raden and Alara also nodded as Alara said she would go get Feyre's tray from the counter. Following their departure, the table's quietness was broken once more as the two girls sat there awkwardly. The two girls were at a loss for words.

Lauren shifted her gaze around the cafeteria and noticed that many students were having meals. Some students had left the university to visit the other coffee shops outside of the university.

Which was very difficult if it was Lauren in their place to go out into the forest in this chilly weather. No, sun. There's nothing but snow out there.

She asked, "How long have you all been studying here?"

"For three years. Students who belong to the elite family have been studying here for around four to five years compared to us ordinary students, who started here late. But then that is only because most of us were not able to get admission," explained Feyre but Lauren stopped her.

"I didn't know the students here were divided into two groups," Lauren voiced her thoughts.

With a slight shake of her head, Feyre chuckled, "You would be surprised with how things are here."

Soon, Alara and Raden came with two trays in their hands, putting them down on the table. Lauren was glad to sit with them, even though she just met Alara a few hours ago and spent a few minutes with Feyre and Raden.

She could see herself spending the next two years with them. While they continued their meal together, she learned from their conversation that Raden had chosen the arts as his major while Feyre had chosen medicine.

Lauren heard whispering among students and had to find the source. She was annoyed by the way everyone behaved, leaving their meals and having their heads held high like some majesty had walked in.

Lauren saw a familiar face walking with two more boys and a girl. They were so handsome that Lauren forgot to eat, and the girl was walking with them.

She was the most beautiful girl she had ever laid eyes on, even more beautiful than Feyre. Did I just compare them? thought Lauren, looking at the entrance.

"Ignore them and just eat," instructed Alara, with a bitter expression.

Lauren furrowed her brow to her right to look at her fist under the table. Although, Lauren also wanted to ignore them, seeing the reaction from Alara, she wanted to know what they did to her to get this reaction from her.

There was a group of students walking inside the cafeteria, and Lauren noticed when they were close enough to sit at the table across from them.

"Who are they?" Curiosity is a disease, and Lauren was its most common patient of it.

At the same time, Lauren's eyes met Zaiden's, and he waved at her.

"They are the most popular group in our university. Look at the girl; she is Vittoria Ceretti. The boy with blonde hair is Noah Cruise, and the boy with green eyes is Zaiden Rodriguez. The boy with black is-"

"Elliott Rodriguez."

Everyone at the table turned to look at the source of the voice to find that Alara had completed his sentence. So, it had something to do with this boy, thought Lauren.

She looked at them as they walked past their table. Now she remembered that Elliot was the one from the corridor they saw.

"Bastard!"

Lauren was confused when she heard Alara curse at him, and the same boy with black hair, named Elliott, smirked when Lauren looked at him from her side.

He was able to hear the compliment that was passed to him just now because of his abilities.

On the other hand, Lauren wanted to know the whole story but held her curiosity to herself. This was not the place or time to ask her.

Furthermore, Lauren could wait.

"I had heard that they all have some connections with the university. Because I have been seeing them go into the headmaster's office often," shrugged Raden.

Lauren didn't know what to ask more about because her mind was on what he did to piss Alara off.

"Maybe they just got called by the head because of their behavior here." Feyre voiced her thoughts.

Feyre was showing that she was fine and stronger than one could have thought. But Lauren know how she was acting and trying maintain her mind to be present here. She knew there's something that was disturbing Feyre.

Lauren came to know that it was true to hide your fears in yourself, but when you come out in the crowd of people, who would kill you because you are weak?

At the table of four, everyone started to eat their meal and forgot about the group that had just come like they owned this place and had their trays in front of them but was not eating.

Lauren tilted her head to look at that specific group or should one say strange group and saw how they didn't touch their meals.

Elliott noticed someone was staring at him, and his dark eyes swept over her back in such a way that she nearly fell out of her chair. Lauren couldn't believe she was seeing him.

She remembered his face with almost visible blood on it, but she was still able to catch a good sight of him that day.

His eyes weren't red anymore; instead, they were ocean blue. With no appearance of pale skin. She thought. Is he a vampire?

To think that she was sitting in a room with a bloody creature.

"Scared?" His deep and masculine voice echoed inside her head, causing the already tensed Lauren to flinch.

Lauren looked around as if someone had just whispered something near her ear, but there was no one beside her except her friends. She realised that she was clutching her coat so hard that her knuckles had turned white.

She tried to calm herself down, reminding herself that he was just a stranger and that she had nothing to fear. However, his imposing figure and piercing gaze made it difficult for her to relax.

She stared at the table in front of her before looking up at the man sitting there. 'A vampire is talking in my head,' thought Lauren, and for him to give her a broad smile.