Her Melancholy

Her Melancholy

The wide-spaced hallway was filled with the bustling of students—some chatting with each other, some rummaging through their lockers, others fiddling with their devices, and most trooping out to the cafeteria for lunch.

"What are we having today?" The cool voice of a female with a faint scent of oranges drifted off.

"Is there even a need to know?" Another, a male with flashy blonde hair, whistled. "Obviously, it's poison with a slightly different décor. Why do we even pay for this shit? I envy Anne."

The girl rolled her eyes. "You know she cooks her own lunches on her own, right? You don't need to envy her… just do what she's doing."

He was silenced and could only pout in dissatisfaction. They finally arrived at the cafeteria, moving to the queue, which was smaller than usual, to take their meals.

"Do you think," Frank muttered to Sabrina, "if we use Anne's identity as head of the student council, they'll consider us, as her friends?"

Sabrina rolled her eyes for the nth time today. This child was getting stupider with each second.

"Go off, bro," she replied sarcastically. "But that auntie…"

She pointed at the ginger-haired, large-sized lady with a perpetual scowl that made her seem more like an MMA fighter than a school cook.

"I don't think she's the type to 'consider.'"

In the end, Frank could only accept his fate of eating whatever the slush on his plate was.

"Yuck."

Sabrina slammed her fork onto the table. "This is the fifth time, Frank! If you hate it, pour it away. I swear, one more—"

Her words were cut off by the suddenly rowdy cafeteria. Before they could comprehend what the whole bustle was about, a student's excited voice rang out.

"Welcome, President!"

What followed was like a domino effect. Suddenly, everyone in the cafeteria was giving their greetings in cheerful voices, and some simply cheered.

Had this been someone else, this would have been simply absurd. But this was Anne… What was the quote again?

[You merely adopted popularity. I was born and molded in it.]

Wait, wrong word used… should be darkness, right?

After the whole spectacle, the students finally settled down, but the excitement visibly hung in the air. It was just like that. Anne's presence always had such a magical effect—suddenly, the dull cafeteria filled with the loathsome moans of students being stuffed with poison had been exorcised.

Anne walked towards them. Her short brown hair cascaded softly onto her back, and along with her cat-like green eyes, which shimmered like gems despite being covered with a pair of spectacles, her features were sharp and gorgeous.

Face card was so lethal and dominating, that she could go bald and still floor 90% of the girls in school.

Sabrina sighed. Some people were just proof that God did favoritism—nothing you could say to convince her otherwise!

Miss Pheromone Shower eventually arrived, and just as they were about to tease her, her eyes glared down at them coldly before she skipped their table and went to the one near the window.

They both froze. What just…? Sabrina panicked.

"Frank, wh—" Her eyes caught the heavy downpour on the male's clothes, and suddenly her vision trembled. She curled her fist.

"What the fuck did you do?"

Frank escaped her fiery gaze. "I… ate her lunch… But to be fair, she has like two—! And she was sleeping, so I thought she would skip so as not to have it waste—"

He shut his mouth as soon as a sharp kick underneath hit him. Anne's eyes dug into him from her faraway position with deep hatred. He motioned an apology but was overlooked.

Sabrina glared at him fiercely. "Tell me you at least tried to wake her up like you said you did?"

Frank's lips quivered. He didn't. He had taken one bite and ended up finishing the whole thing, and by the time Sabrina was back from the bathroom, he pretended to had tried waking her up. After all, a thief wouldn't exactly want to be caught.

If looks could kill, then he'd probably be ten times dead from Sabrina's glare. Well, he truly was fucked.

---

Anne wasn't angry, to be honest. She was mad—mad enough to become maniacal. Was it just failing the promise to wake her up as soon as lunch break began—which meant she had no more extra time to do anything?

Or was it eating her favorite of the lunches! That bastard! Out of the two, he had to pick that one?! She was sure as heck he actually looked through it and chose the best—oh, she was so gonna…

"!"

Her eyes drifted through the window, latching onto its target. To be an artist, one's eyes had to be sharp—even if they were like her, needing glasses. They still had to be sharp enough to capture things with their eyes, because some things weren't meant to be missed, and when they were, the chances of them ever repeating again were very low.

There was a tree in the courtyard. A very large tree with leaves so thick no sunlight could penetrate through them. It used to be popular… until a snake fell onto a student one day, and their eyes rolled back into their head almost immediately.

After that incident, only very few daredevil students went there, and one of them sat under the tree right before her eyes.

It really shouldn't have captured her attention, but she was probably bored eating without her phone—she had an image to maintain, after all.

The daredevil scooped one spoon of the yucky nonsense that had been served to them and took a bite. In that moment, Anne's expression morphed into one of shock.

With each bite, their features would bloom, like the prettiest golden rose soaking up all the sunlight surrounding it.

There was no smile, but every bite was framed with a resplendent look that blindsided Anne. She leaned in, shocked, and then her eyes widened.

The daredevil had been seated with messy curls hung low, and when they sat up, Anne narrowly captured their eyes. They were so… plaintive.

Their plaintiveness was a sore difference to their expressive face. Big, doe-like brown eyes with a forlorn look and an animated visage…

A spark was struck within her heart, and it burned so vigorously she was left suffocated. Her eyes watered, perhaps from staring a bit too much and a bit too long.

She used the hem of her shirt to clean her glasses before putting them back on. Her eyes widened, the daredevil… Was gone! Her hands slammed onto the table, and she stood up with a start, leaving her tablemates flinching.

No words were spoken. She merely left the rest of her lunch with Sabrina and ran out of the cafeteria, leaving the duo astonished.

Sabrina stared at the appetizing meal with a gulp, and seeing Frank's paws reaching out slowly, she huffed and slapped them away rather harshly.

"Augh!!"

Needless to say, those restless paws stayed to themselves.