Page 6 of Darkened Wings
I breathed them all in and then let them go, or tried to. Plus, I was too busy chasing a scampering Astra. She stopped at a half table near the back of the room, and I sat in the chair, putting my back to the wall. I felt more protected that way.
Astra looked down at her plate and dug in. This was pathetic. Judging by the behavior of the students so far, I’d stepped into the dark ages.
Bullying went out of style a long time ago.
“Why do you sit all the way back here?” I asked her, but she just shook her head. I realized there were hierarchies between not only ravens but students naturally, but to cause someone to eat in a corner with their head down was downright horrible.
“Well, at least give me the gossip on who all these people are.”
Astra’s demeanor changed in a flat second. Her eyes brightened, and a sly smile rose on her lips. She took another bite and cleared her throat. “That I know.”
“Do tell.”
I ate while she spoke for the most part. After all, I needed to know who I was dealing with.
She began talking, nodding toward the groups. There were the theater-focused group, the outsiders, of which Astra was also excluded, on and on, but she skimmed over the boys and girls across the room. They were rowdy and loud, and there were couples making out and some on their phones.
“Who are they?”
“Oh my god, do not look at them.”
I laughed but stopped when she gave me the stink eye of the century. “What?”
“The girls, well, they are beautiful and popular, and they get away with everything because of it. They aren’t the nicest people, either.” As if one of the girls heard Astra, she turned around and squinted. I wanted to wave at her but figured I shouldn’t push my luck.
“And what about the guys?”
I had noticed the guys as soon as we sat down. How could you not? They were the type of guys that simply demanded attention. My eyes were drawn to them over and over, no matter how many times I tried not to look.
“Those are the popular kids. Or they think they are.”
“Huh. I guess even a raven academy has social hierarchies.”
“No different than any other college, I guess. I think it’s ridiculous. We are here to learn and mature, not carry over the awkwardness and childishness of high school.”
I nodded and took the last bite of my hot roast beef over mashed potatoes. If I was allowed to eat ten plates of this, I would be set. “They are all together?” I noticed each one of the guys in the group had a girl attached to him with a sluggish grip.
“It’s weird. They all kind of…share.”
I snorted. “Well, at least they aren’t lonely.”
Astra and I talked about the classes we would face the next day, and I cringed at the thought of being so behind. My parents had told me little about Raven history or anything like that. We knew what we were and weren’t ashamed of it, but they were skimpy on the details.
I was the one everyone was ashamed of. I’d accepted it a long time ago.
Astra got on a verbal kick about the teachers, listing each of their qualms and quirks and while I should’ve been paying every bit of attention, my consciousness was elsewhere.
My heart stammered overtime in my chest so hard and prominent that I would swear the entire dining hall could hear it. I was more nervous about being around these people than I was the classes.
Not one, not two, but most of the students were staring at me. Despite the chaos around them and between bites, they stared. I even turned around to see if there was blood running down the wall behind me or some kind of other supernatural event, but there was nothing. But when I turned back to face them, nothing had changed. It was jarring to say the least. Even humans didn’t pierce me with their gazes like these people. All they saw when they saw me was damage.
“What are their names?” I asked, interrupting my new acquaintance and daresay my friend, but the desire to know was almost overwhelming.
“Who?” Her eyes followed where I was staring and she sighed. “I can’t name all of them.”
I snapped out of it, at least a little. “Not all of them, of course. Come on, I just need to know who to look out for, who to stay away from.”
Astra gave me more of a rundown, but she didn’t know many of the other students by name. Still, it was obvious who I should stay away from.
