~ Café Cafeteria ~
Cons in every pocket began buzzing when second period was over. I jumped a mile, as I figured I would every time it happened until I got used to it.
We took an elevator up to the next floor. “See you at lunch,” Harmony said when we went down different hallways.
Sassy and I walked into a really cheerful room with giant yellow butterflies hung along the walls. Four tables seated the kids that were coming in. The teacher, Miss Rivers, was a string bean with pointy glasses connected to a loose chain that wrapped around behind her neck.
Since I was only there for three days, she told me to do whatever I wanted while the rest of the class did a worksheet focusing on some of the great artists of the past. I got into some yellow clay and made little flowers, which I sprayed with sticky stuff and dropped into a bowl of gold glitter. It was difficult with one hand heavily bandaged, but maybe when they dried I could use them to decorate my bed and wardrobe.
Then it was lunchtime. “Thank goodness. I’m starving,” Sassy said as we walked down the hall toward the elevators.
“Me too. Do they serve regular cafeteria food here, like chicken nuggets one day and pizza the next?”
“Eww.” Sassy laughed. “No, they put together a kind of soup, salad, sandwich buffet at lunch and a full-blown buffet from the time classes are over until lights out. That way you can eat whenever you’re ready.”
We stepped into an elevator with two other girls who were talking about what clothes they were packing for next week when we went south. It sounded like the white suits we were all wearing weren’t included.
I waited until we stepped out of the elevator onto the first floor to ask Sassy about it. “Where do kids get clothes from when they live way up here? You can’t go shopping, right?”
“Well, there’s a secondhand room where girls drop off clothes they don’t want anymore. You can take whatever you want from there. But most of the girls in our hall go to Miss McCree when they need anything and she helps them pick things out of catalogues and then takes care of ordering it and getting it to you. I’ve got a few catalogues in our room, though. We could look through them together after classes and make a list of what you want. Then I’ll give it over to her. You should have a few basic things in your wardrobe already, and you can always borrow our clothes until we get yours. It takes forever, so Miss McCree might actually have to try and figure out a way to get them sent to you in the Southlands.”
We walked through an opening into what looked more like a café than a school cafeteria. The walls were golden brown and red spheres hung from low ceilings over each circular table, providing the soft light that lit up the room. Four red padded chairs surrounded each table. A few kids had pulled two tables next to each other to seat more people together. It actually seemed pretty cozy, in spite of how big it was. It should have been called Café Cafeteria, I decided.
Two long, identical buffet trains were on either side of the entrance we’d walked through. I followed Sassy to get in line for the one on the left, since it was pretty short.
“What do you think so far?” Sassy asked me.
“I love it here.”
We each grabbed a plate and began piling food on it. No desserts, I noticed. “It’s a lot better at dinnertime,” Sassy said.
“There’s Nadine.” She pointed to a table before she stopped at a glass-front freezer at the end of the buffet that was stocked full of bottled water. We each grabbed one and headed for Nadine. “Headmaster keeps sugar out of our diet during school hours. He thinks we’ll be able to focus better, which is probably true.”
“Where’s Harmony?” Sassy asked Nadine as she sat down. “She usually beats us here.”
“Talking to Mr. Fielding about the Cinder-Haven dance. She said it’s the only activity we’re in charge of this year. Cinders are picking up the rest.”
“There’s going to be a dance?” I asked, a little surprised.
“Yeah, we have one every winter,” Sassy said. She suddenly put her hand over her mouth and gasped. “Oh my gosh. There’s a room full of ball gowns in the west wing and you’re the only one who hasn’t picked one out. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. We’ll pick one out together tonight, okay? I love doing dresses.”
“She can’t,” Nadine said. “She’s got a date with Roman.”
“Aw,” Sassy groaned.
“It’s not a date,” I said. “We’re just going to watch a show or something. You guys could come with us.”
“No, trust me. It’s a date.” Sassy gasped again. “We can look for a dress tomorrow night. Tonight I’ll give you a makeover and help you pick out what to wear.”
“That’s okay. I can go in this. I don’t really want to have to worry about makeup and hairdos.”
“Mind if I sit here?” someone said from behind me. I turned around as Roman set his plate and water beside me.
“Go ahead. I’ll get another chair for Harmony,” Nadine said.
Roman opened his bottle of water and drank a lot of it before he turned to me. “The show’s at six tonight. Do you wanna meet me here at five so we can eat first?”
“Sure.” Dinner and a movie? It really was a date. I was freaking out a little inside as Nadine set a chair down between herself and Sassy about the same time Harmony got there.
“Hey, guys. Sorry I’m late. Activities committee stuff, you know,” Harmony said.
“What’s the dance going to be like?” I asked.
“Well, the Cinders always have the dances and celebrations in this dark dungeony place. We were thinking medieval, maybe—like dragons and swords and stuff. Headmaster said we need to think of the southern school and its tastes since they did it for us when they put together the dance here last year, which kind of sucks, cause then nobody ever gets to put together the dance they want. It’s always for the other school.”
“Medieval sounds pretty cool,” Nadine said. “I think it’ll be a lot of fun.”
“Me too,” I added. It sure sounded better than a traditional pastels and punch bowl sort of dance.
“Hey, Fayre,” Rose called from the next table over. She was sitting with Adora from the track team and a couple of guys. With her long hair down now, she looked like some sort of super model. “Were you serious about joining the Tracers next year, or just trying to get Coach Ling off your back?”
I shrugged. “Maybe.” I honestly wasn’t sure.
“Just so you know, I think you should definitely join.” Rose turned back to the kids she was with.
“You’re thinking about joining the Tracers?” Roman asked me.
“I’ve been wondering, is that like their team name or something?” I asked, wanting to avoid the question.
“Yeah. They came up with that name for the girls’ track team when they started it years ago because they’re supposed to be so fast they leave tracers behind them.”
“Huh.”
Harmony set her sandwich down and stared at Roman. “Kristine beat Rose.”
Roman looked startled. He glanced at the table where the two runners sat. “Rose Jennings? Her?”
I shrugged.
“She’s the fastest girl there is. And you’re not sure if you’re going to join the Tracers? You could be team captain, like me.”
“I don’t want to be team captain. I want to be a regular student.”
“But there’re only a handful of captains in this school. It’s a major status thing, and you don’t want that?”
“I don’t know. Not yet.”
Sassy put her arm around me. “Leave her alone. She’ll run when she’s ready to.”
“I know, I just...” Roman shook his head and picked up his fork before he started eating his mostly meat salad.
“Who cares about status anyway?” Nadine said. “The competition’s just for fun.”
I was definitely with her on that. Life was meant to be lived, not wasted on worrying about what others think or things like social status.
We spent the rest of lunch eating and helping Harmony come up with ideas for the medieval dance. I hoped Roman wouldn’t ask me to go with him, because I really didn’t want to hurt his feelings.
After that, Harmony and I went to English Composition. I nearly fell asleep during that one.
Math was fifth hour, but since that was canceled, Harmony and Roman showed me around the first floor. I wanted to go outside, but they said it takes forever to get dressed up warm enough for that and just as long to get undressed when you come back in, so I had to settle for a tour of the inside. But I made sure I got a good look at the winter wonderland through the giant windows beside the mountainous castle’s front doors. We explored the lounge, rec room, library, and auditorium, each one leaving me breathless at how vast and well-equipped it was. A person could spend their entire life on that floor and never get bored. It was kind of disappointing when our cons buzzed, letting us know it was time for sixth hour.
We headed up to the fifth floor, where all the classrooms were, and Harmony and I went to Advanced Zoology, which I fell in love with.
After that, Harmony and I went down to the cafeteria for some snacks and then up to our room.
“I’m gonna go shower,” Harmony said, reaching in the wardrobe at the head of our beds and pulling out a pair of jeans and a soft white sweater. “They’re at the end of the hall if you want to come with me. They’re all separated.”
“I’ll probably head down there in a few minutes.” I needed a shower, but I wanted to see what the basic clothes Sassy told me about were first. She and Nadine were nowhere to be found at the moment.
“All right, meet you back here.” Harmony left the room, so I went to the wardrobe at the foot of our beds and opened the two upper doors.
Inside, I found two pairs of jeans, a yellow skirt, a pair of white sweatpants, two beautiful blouses, and two sweaters. I couldn’t believe it. They were exactly what I would have chosen for myself. I smiled as I pulled open the two bottom drawers. The first had several pairs of socks and underwear, plus two more bodysuits, and the second had all the basic necessities—toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc. I picked out a pair of jeans and the blue sweater with long sheer material wrapped around the waist, left to wave gently behind when I walked.
As I was closing the top doors, something caught my eye on my bed. A sparkle. I walked over to the side and leaned down. There on my pillow was the most beautiful notebook I’d ever seen. The entire cover was made up of gold glitter, but felt smooth like plastic. A set of sketching pencils had been placed beside it. I sat on my bed and picked them up, opening the notebook to the first page to write my name inside. But someone had already done it for me. My full name was written in the upper left hand corner inside the cover and a message was written halfway down.
Dear Kristine,
I’m delighted to have you here at my school and hope you will find only happiness in the years you spend here. I also hope this notebook will serve you well as you fill it with the things of your heart. I’m available any time you wish to discuss anything, day or night. So please, never hesitate to ask.
Best wishes,
Headmaster Veziamo
It was wonderful. The clothes, the notebook, my room, the girls I shared it with—all just wonderful.
So that was my first day at North Haven High School. Now, for my first night....