Opposites: The Staff of Light [Book One]

13. Chaos in the Cafeteria

Alice

“Uh, yeah, you do,” I replied. “Excuse me for being stubborn.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes away. “Oh, shut up, already.”

Georgia and Raven came to me and tapped me on the back. “Hey, Alice,” Raven said. “The rest of the cohort’ll be at the mess hall. Are you coming along?”

“Sure, I will,” I replied as I shot my arm through hers. “How about you, Annabeth, are you coming along with us? Come on. It would be great.”

Annabeth didn’t look surprised. She just put on her normal face and said, “I-I’ll catch up. I’m waiting for Mistress Demetria.”

I shrugged as the two of them dragged me to the cafeteria. “See you, then.”

Annabeth

“Your sister looks a lot like you,” Colton said. “If you just had the same blonde hair, maybe you and her look nothing different and… bingo! You get another Alice Candum!”

I punched him in his elbow. “Stupid,” I sneered. “She’s my twin sister, dude.”

He stifled back a laugh for being an idiot. Colton fixed his glasses into place and cupped his chin. “I should have known,” he chuckled as he glared at me with a smile. If he was joking, I honestly didn’t get it. “Go figure.”

“I don’t get it.”

Colton looked embarrassed, but he certainly had a good strategy to hide his humiliation. “’Course, you don’t,” he added. I’ve spent my entire day with this lunatic. He’s a pretty cool guy, I guess. He seems nice. He does work perfectly. He doesn’t seem to have this really nerdy way of acting. And he’s really, really, knowledgeable. “Hey, you know that Divergent book?”

“Sounds familiar,” I muttered. “I-I have, but Mom never bought me that book before. That book must be so awesome.”

“And don’t you ever forget the movie,” he smiled. Colton put out a red little box from his bag and opened it, showing off a golden necklace. It had this solid gold circle with gold flame designs and had this outer outline of a bigger circle. I mouthed a compliment when I saw it. It was beautiful. “Lovely, isn’t it? It’s The Flames of Courage necklace, otherwise known as the Dauntless Fire necklace. I bought it from Los Angeles a week ago and trust me, this thing is a collectible hard to find. It’s exclusive. I have no exact idea what it rolls in the book or movie, but I think it’s pretty cool.”

I looked really impressed. “It sure is,” I agreed, crossing my arms.

“And I want you to keep it.”

“What…? What do you mean ‘And I want you to keep it’? Dude, you said it yourself. That very necklace is exclusive. Do you have any idea what exclusive means?” I protested. “Exclusive means, fashionable, limited, restricted, elite, privilege… it’s the cream of the crop! Do you have any idea what the hell I’m saying here?”

Colton was the least person I knew who wouldn’t dare to chuckle. “Annabeth, relax, dude, ‘kay? It’s not like this thing will kill you or anything. If you’re asking if I understand every synonym you gave… my answer is apparently no. You lost me at restricted.” I grunted as I heard it. “But dude, do me a solid and keep this for me, please? I want you to have it, as long as I know that the necklace is in good hands. I dare you to keep it.”

I could have forgotten to speak, especially when Colton made me turn around and wore the necklace around my neck. “Wow,” I managed once I’d finally remembered how to talk. “I-it’s beautiful, Colt. Thank you.”

He put out an arm for me, an old English gesture, like he wanted to take me for a dance. “Care to go to the mess hall, m’lady?”

I punched his elbow, but the smile on my face couldn’t go away. I tried to make it not obvious that I actually wanted to go out with him. “No fanciness, please, m’lord,” I replied in a British accent. “I’d rather take on a vending machine, for a change.”

He suddenly laughed as we made our way to the cafeteria. “Well, one thing’s for sure, I got no competition when it comes to you and your British-ness. Come on, Queen Marie Antoinette.”

I laughed with him. “Stupid,” I thumped his elbow. “Queen Marie Antoinette’s French. She was in the French Revolution, remember?”

“How about Queen Marie, what does she stand for?”

“Dude, that’s Hazel Levesque’s mom.”

He looked at me frustrated. “Fine, but could you please tell me a queen that lived in UK?”

I so wanted to laugh so hard. But I guess I couldn’t blame him. “Queen Elizabeth,” I suggested. “She’s a splendid majesty.”

Colton smiled. “Then it’s settled. You’re Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain.”

I tugged her arm and I paced up faster for the cafeteria. “Come on, Odysseus!”

Alice

“I mean, dude, that thing was amazing!” Mitch complimented as he shoved his knuckles on Tyler’s head. Tyler whined in annoyance as we all laughed. “How did you do that?”

“Let’s just say I like to do it,” Tyler answered. “Come on. It ought to be a time for a snack.”

We entered the cafeteria where a bunch of kids were hanging about, eating snacks. Some of them stopped eating when they passed. I suspected them to be scared, or maybe thought we were the freaks. One of them whispered something to another, and the other giggled, then both of them glanced back at us.

I shot them a mean look, but I was afraid that it didn’t come out well. Annabeth always had the mean chances, and Alex and I didn’t. I stared at them for some time until I felt a hand pull me towards a table, snapping me back to reality. “Come on,” Tyler made me sit down beside him. “It’s not worth it.”

“I mean, what do they want from us?” I asked in a soft voice when everyone else in the canteen’s voices rose louder. “I mean, seriously, they’re a bunch of jerks. Is there something wrong with us? And if there was, I don’t know what to do.”

Suddenly, the voices broke into silence again when Annabeth and her new boyfriend… what was his name again? Whatever, but she and him walked inside the cafeteria as we looked over on how they would react. “Oh, yeah, we walk in and you all shut up,” Annabeth scowled as she glared the other tables with literal fiery eyes.

The boy with her tried to bribe her attention to get out of there. “Annabeth, come on,” he insisted without enthusiasm. He looked at Jimmy Fort mournfully as the jerk looked at him with a smirk. “This isn’t worth to stick around for.”

Jimmy Fort shouted to the air. “Nerds!” The entire cafeteria burst laughing, but Annabeth or the other kid did not find it funny. “And how about that, Cotton? This is an amazing love story we have here! The movie nerd meets the bookworm! How are her lips, lover boy?”

Annabeth looked disgusted. “It’s Colton, Fort,” the boy growled. “And yeah, if I were a director, Jimsworth, yeah, I’d never hire you. And what the hell, Jimmy! She isn’t my girlfriend! And her lips? Wow, why don’t you try?”

Suddenly, Arthur the speed kid pinned Colton against a wall faster than light. “Got more to talk for, punk?” Colton looked rather relaxed. “Why? Are you scared to let your little girlfriend see how her boyfriend will be flustered?”