Scarlet

I walk through the regular cafeteria full of a lot of unfamiliar faces, along with some that I vaguely recognize from the tournament – each of whom seem to be staring at me whenever I walk past them. Which makes me even more uncomfortable about going to this cafeteria than I had originally expected I’d be. But Belle is a Regular student and wanted to introduce us to her new friends over a meal, so there wasn’t much I could do but come.

It takes me several minutes of wandering around the cafeteria while being gawked at by all manner of students before I finally find Belle, Michael, Emily, and three other people that I have no idea who are sitting at a table next to a window. And it looks like they’ve already seen me and are just watching with amusement as I walk through the crowded cafeteria in their direction, ignoring the stares pointed my way.

Or rather, all of them are watching in amusement but the three strangers, who are also gawking, just like the other students here.

Damnit, this is making me way too uncomfortable…

And the lack of Tar’s voice echoing in my head isn’t helping, since he left at some point a few hours ago – not long after I finished signing the contract with the woman that Allen had endorsed to me in an email prior to the meeting with Viper – and he hasn’t come back yet.

I can’t help but glare at Belle once I get close before whisper shouting, “Why couldn’t we have had this lunch somewhere more private?!”

She just giggles, making my glare grow colder. And the sight of Michael calmly covering his mouth while Emily openly giggles isn’t helping my growing irritation.

Eventually Belle points to the open seat next to her and says, “Go ahead and sit before we order.”

I blink at that, then glance at the seat next to her, then at her, and then at the seat again. Then I simply walk over and sit next to Emily instead, leaving Belle to openly pout at me like a child.

Kind of surprising that this cafeteria has an ordering system, but from what I understand, that’s normal, with each public cafeteria here having both a meal ordering service and a buffet that people can go up to in order to grab their own food.

“Are you going to continue pouting, or are you going to introduce these three before their jaws catch flies?” I coldly ask Belle, a scowl permeating my face, only fading a little when I look at the three people in question, each of whom immediately closes their mouth after being called out on it.

“Right, these three are my suitemates!” she says while waving at them. “The one on the far left is Bridget Colson, while the one on the right is Angel Warner, with the one in the center being Jessica Crow.”

I look between the three for a few seconds. Bridget seems to be a girl at the same age as me and Belle, about 19, with medium length black hair that goes down to her shoulders and a single streak of white running through it. Angel actually looks a little younger, more like 17 or 18, but considering that Guardians Universities only allow adults or those who graduated from high school already – the age of adulthood in the Republic being 18 – it’s more likely that she’s 18 but just looks young.

The girl is quite short compared to the other two, with long hair that goes all the way down to her midback and sleek, metallic silver highlights in her otherwise black hair.

And the last of the three actually looks older, likely in the range of 21 or 22 years old, with just plain brown hair styled in a braid that goes over her shoulder, reaching down to her collarbone. But unlike the other two, who have very soft facial features, with Bridget having quite a bit of makeup on, Jessica has sharper ones, and appears to work out considering the pseudo-body-builder level of muscles she has.

All three of them also stiffen up the moment their names are called, and they’re waved at.

“Suitemates?” I ask, unsure of what exactly she means by that term.

Emily leans in and whispers in my ear, “She means the students that share the same suite as her in her dormitory.”

Oh. Yeah, in hindsight, I guess that was probably rather self-explanatory.

“Oh right, and girls?” Belle says, turning her attention to the three and seemingly snapping them out of their stupor as she points her hand towards me, “This is my best friend, Scarlet Asger!”

None of them seem surprised. Instead, they all just turn their wide eyes back to me again, with Angel’s annoyingly going to my ears instead of my eyes.

“My eyes are down here,” I mutter incredibly quietly, my voice being drowned out by the cafeteria. But surprisingly, the girl actually seems to hear me as she immediately starts blushing and averts her gaze while pointing her head downwards.

Huh. Good hearing? Or maybe she read my lips?

Probably the hearing, considered how glued her eyes were to my ears.

“Hello,” I tell the three with a light nod of my head, my scowl no longer on my face, instead replaced with a polite smile that basically just equates to me lifting the corners of my lips a little. “If Belle ever decides that she’s going shopping, please be sure to warn me so that I can go somewhere far away from her, alright?”

The three look confused for a second before Jessica lets out a single chuckle, following which the three all burst out into laughter at Belle’s expense.

That seemed to do the trick.

Although…

“I’m serious, please do,” I tell them with a light nod, which only seem to make it worse.

Damnit, now I don’t know if they think I’m joking or not… because I’m not.

“Sorry I’m late!” I hear Denise’s voice over the crowd, making me turn my head to find her hurriedly making her way through the crowd towards us while waving, wearing a nice looking white and pink blouse with an equally nice skirt.

I nod my head in her direction in greeting as the others state their own before she sits down and joins us, asking, “Did I miss anything?”

“Just Scarlet teasing Belle,” Michael says with a hint of a smirk on his face that has me frowning again.

“But I wasn’t-” I begin, only for Belle to cut me off as she complains, “I didn’t do anything to deserve it either!”

I narrow my eyes at the two, only for Denise to join in and say, “Oh, well that’s fine then. Tease her all you want.” Which of course has Belle scoffing and throwing a retort right back.

But I wasn’t teasing her… I really meant that.