Elara's pov
I hate mornings.But today, I hate lunchtime even more.The cafeteria's packed, loud in that way that makes you feel even more alone. I head for the corner where I usually sit, the one no one bothers with.. but it's taken. Some guy with a guitar case and a loud voice.I pretend I don't care and sit two tables down, headphones in, no music playing. I just need people to stop trying to make conversation that never goes past "what class are you in?"
And then she walks in.She's not smiling. She's scanning like she's lost something or maybe like she owns the place and is just deciding where to start the fire.
Worn denim jacket. Boots. Headphones hanging around her neck like a fashion statement, not survival gear.She walks like she's allergic to giving a damn.I hate her already.I try not to watch. I fail.She takes the only free seat, the one right across from me.
I blink. She doesn't ask. Just sits, opens her sketchbook, and taps her pencil like she's drumming.I pull out one earbud.
"You know, there are literally five other places you could sit."
She doesn't even look up. "Yeah. They had people."Wow. Okay."You're not very friendly," I say before I can stop myself.She shrugs. "Neither are you."And just like that, we're silent again, only now, there's a weird charge in the air, like the kind before a storm. Like something just shifted.I try to focus on my sandwich. It tastes like cardboard.I wonder if she always taps her pencil like that.I wonder if she even noticed me before today.Then I remember I don't care.I absolutely do not care.
Roe's pov
I didn't mean to sit with her.I just saw an empty table and made a beeline. It wasn't about her. But then she spoke, and her voice was sharper than I expected... low, kind of irritated, like she'd already been through three conversations in her head before I got there.
And her eyes…They looked like they'd been up all night, not from crying, from thinking.People here all kind of blur together. Same polished ambition, same fake confidence.
But she looked real. Like she didn't want to be seen, and that made me notice her more.I don't know why I said what I said.I just… liked that she didn't fake a smile.
And I definitely didn't expect her to talk back.I glance at her when she's not looking.Still chewing, eyes down, trying too hard not to glance at me.
Maybe this school won't be that boring after all.