The white butterfly tango

Chapter VI

"Ruth, right?" Esma asked curiously and then noticed how the girl nodded in answer to her. "Is the dean here?"

"Not yet. Mister Hubert said that he's stuck on some meeting." The girl shook her head and kept leading Esma somewhere.

"Where are we going then?" She then asked her another question, as they passed the hall.

"To eat. Or you only subsist on the butterflies?" Ruth smirked and opened an old wooden door and Esma smelled something very tasty. "Meet Esma, everyone! Esma this is everyone. Everyone, this is Esma." She then waved to the people in the room that somewhat reminded of a canteen. They took a curious glance at the loud noises but then quickly returned to their meal. It was one huge table but people seemed to group into small packs and enjoyed their food along with lively conversations.

Esma turned red again, being terrified to see so many people. She realized that each and every one of them had their own superpower which they trained to maintain here. Maybe someone also dealt with insects' attacks like her. She thought of Dan and how the boy would react to it. He'd probably befriended them all till the end of the lunch and they would discuss some topics in a larger group.

"You want rice or mashed potatoes?" The woman at the counter asked her seriously, putting the girl to reality.

"Potatoes, ma'am. Thank you." She nodded respectfully and got a plate on her tray.

"You should sit with me since no one else really knows you, I suppose." Ruth smirked and headed to two spots near the people, Esma already saw today.

"Alright." The girl didn't even notice how nodded but only then realized what the other girl meant. "You know me?"

"You fed me that time you walked home with your boyfriend, remember?" Ruth stated calmly and took a curious glance at Esma. "He is quite a psycho, though. Threw a stone at me and almost hit me... Jerk." The girl then took a step and almost tripped over another girl before her.

"Watch how you are going!" The two girls in front of them stood a bit surprised to get pushed like that. "You are not hurt, Sora?" One of them had blond, almost white hair and really pale skin. She frowned her brows and tried to protect another girl, being much taller than her.

"It's fine. They probably just didn't notice me." The girl, she was referring to, spoke up kindly and then glanced curiously at Esma and Ruth. She had long bright pink hair and was quite short. "You are that Esma, everyone keeps talking about?" She then asked and smiled sincerely.

"Esma Whittle. That's me." Her smile put Esma into blush and she answered quickly.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Sora Rosenberg and this is-" The nice girl spoke up again and put her hand to her chest, while still holding a tray. She then pointed at the irritated girl but blondie interrupted her.

"Anna Morozova." The girl spoke up very seriously, still frowning her dark brows, unfitting to her almost white hair. "You should pay more attentions, Ruth." The girl had a bit of weird pronunciation as put too much pressure on her 'r's.

"Relax, bear bear. Your little friend is fine." Ruth said calmly and shrugged her shoulders, pointing at Sora with the tip of her head.

"Don't get mad, Anna. I should have been more careful too." The little girl with pink hair spoke up kindly and smiled again, showing that she wasn't, in fact, hurt.

"See? We found the common ground." Ruth smiled and nodded her head but Anna seemed to only roll her eyes at such behavior.

"Esma, is it? What's your curse?" She asked just as seriously and looked down at Esma, who now again looked as pale as snow in winter.