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Chapter 3: A Set Of More Reunions

"Okay, it's clear now!" Vanille bounced out of the room with her half eaten blueberry muffin.

She was right. While you'd been sitting in the lounge with her and Arrigan, the hallways had been loud, frenzied and full of the type of life that could only exist in high school. Youth, combined with curiosity and a dash of naïveté.

"We're currently in the food section of the building," Arrigan said as the two of you began to walk with Vanille. "As you may recall, the lunch facility, 'Restaurant Road,' is right over there." He pointed to the left.

"Restaurant Road!" You grinned. So many good memories. It was definitely a huge step up from the cafeteria you had been assigned when you'd first transferred in.

"There are more restaurants in the Road now," explained Arrigan. "It's so we can have a bigger variety of food to choose from. I personally have become fond of the Balamb fish."

"Ah, it's a bit too fishy-tasting for me!" Vanille interjected. "It's okay with a bit of cheddar and cauliflower, though. You should try it, [name]!"

"I'll make plans to." You nodded. "Maybe we could go together?"

"Yeah, great! So, Hope's mom's class got moved over here too, because the remodeling people thought it'd make sense to have all the cooking stuff in one place..."

As Vanille continued to talk, you caught a whiff of something. You could tell that it was sweet... and that it was inside the oven... and that it was probably made of chocolate.

"Vanille." You hastily grabbed her arm. "Where is that delectable aroma coming from, and can we go there right now?"

"It must be in the baking room," replied Arrigan, pointing to a door.

"The baking room? Have they separated cooking into sects?"

"Yep, they did!" Vanille nodded. "There's the meals course, and then the baking course."

"Oh, okay. Does Mrs. Estheim teach both of them?"

"No, she only teaches the meals now," replied Vanille. "But something tells me you'll like the baking teacher too..."

As you got closer to the room, you were able to tell what it was that was cooking: brownies. Having a brownie did sound amazing right now, especially if it was an end piece. End pieces were always the best ones, they were so crunchy and delicious...

~ * ~

You were the first to walk into the baking room, and the sound of the door opening alerted the person in the room, who was just removing the brownies from one of the ovens, to your presence. You instantly noticed the straight, shoulder-length black hair, but once they turned around, you smiled for what had to be the thousandth time that day.

"I should've known it was you when they said 'baking.' You've grown up a lot, Spencer-Lynn."

She really had. You thought of the last time you'd seen her; she'd been sixteen years old, a somewhat awkward girl with a bony frame and a pixie cut. Now, her face seemed to be more full, her hair was longer, and even the way she carried herself seemed to exude maturity.

Her green eyes stared down at you, seemingly confused about what you had said.

"Spencer-Lynn, don't you remember?" asked Arrigan. "This is [name]. The person that helped you be with Logan, even when your sister didn't allow it?"

She continued to stare at you. "But they said you wouldn't wake up."

"They said she probably wouldn't wake up," corrected Vanille. "Probably. There was always hope!"