Cora

Chapter 8: "Oh well, time for an adventure."

 I wait in the library for an hour after school ended. Lyra didn't show up. My nerves were already spiked from my encounter with Vanessa and Ryker so Lyra not showing up was starting to make me freak out. After an hour and a half, I packed up my books and decided I was going to find Lyra myself. It didn't matter that the school was actually ginormous.

The first place I checked was her dorm room. A tall blond girl opened it when I knocked and told me that she hadn't seen Lyra since she left this morning. Now, I was severely confused on where to look. It was only our second day here! I didn't know any of the places that Lyra would be at. I didn't even know what half the school looked like. Oh well, time for an adventure.

The second place I looked at was the courtyard. To find hundreds of people all talking to their friends. The sight sent a pang of jealousy through me. Maybe one day I could be one of those people that found it so easy to talk so freely to others. I thought about this afternoon, though, and was reminded of my stand-off with rude but gorgeous Vanessa. The memory lifted my spirits a little as I kept up my search for my best friend.

The third place I checked was the smaller courtyard behind the school that gave a beautiful view of the waterfalls that the school was built on top of. I really questioned who thought it was a good idea to build a school on the biggest waterfall on the island. I was considering first checking the classrooms before coming here because Lyra might be talking to a teacher for extra credit or something. She has always been a schoolgirl. Always obsessed with a drive for learning all she could. Sometimes that got her called out as being a teacher's pet or a nerd, but she never seemed to mind. Books were her passion.

Checking this place first ended up proving useful, however. There weren't many people at this courtyard so it made it easy to spot the short, wavy white hair of my best friend. She was standing at the end of the courtyard leaning against the railing and gazing at the spectacular view of the sparkling waterfall. And if my impeccable eyesight wasn't deceiving me, she was standing next to someone. A boy. He also had white hair that was cut short and in his hands were books. Old books that I always saw Lyra with.

My first thought was how could Lyra ever choose hanging out with a boy rather than me. Then, I knew that I was being selfish. Just because I had nobody didn't mean that Lyra always had to spend time with me. She had other things going on and apparently, she had more friends than just me and Rose. This thought brought back the sadness in my heart and reminded me of Ryker rejecting me. Did no one want to hang out with me? What was wrong with me?

I didn't want to barge in on Lyra and her new friend and seem even needier. So, I turned around, wiped the tears out of my eyes, and made my way to the small balcony that I had found yesterday.