we smile at the moon

SEVENTEEN | GIRLS LIKE ROYALTY

"YOU DID GREAT," I muttered, wrapping my arms around Adelina as we started our walk back to the Portal Station. "Semi-finals on your first ever attempt, Ade. That was fucking amazing."

Adelina smiled. "Yeah. I know. I'm actually so amazing."

But James' brows were still scrunched up when he turned to glance at her. Our eyes met, and he shook his head.

He was the one who told me, before we left the building, that Adelina was upset. No one else saw it. I didn't believe it either, and then he told me that he'd seen her upset before. She was disappointed she could eliminated. And since James knew him trying to comfort her would only incite another argument, I was set on the task.

"Fucking god, that's who you are," I grinned, releasing her. "I'm starving. Can't wait to have food."

"Yeah, talking of that," Cait turned to the front. "Coach! Are you sure we can't stop at a cafe or something here before heading back? We're literally so hungry, sir!"

Coach turned around and glared. "We'll all be back at school in an hour."

"School food sucks," Adelina said pointedly. "Come on, sir. There's like a thousand coffee shops around, just let us buy a sandwich or something."

Coach stopped before letting out a sigh. "Fine. You all have fifteen minutes. If you don't come back here by that time, we're leaving without you."

Everyone grinned as they ran off in a second. Since there were only two coffee shops nearby and one was very obviously more expensive than the other, they all went into the same shop and joined in on the already-massive queue.

"Chances none of us get back in fifteen minutes?" I asked, one brow raised.

"Extremely high," Cait sighed. "Oh hey, look. That's Coach. Right behind us. Hi Coach! Are you hungry too?"

Coach stared. "I need a coffee."

Cait nodded again. "Understandable, understandable. We're all very tired after today, aren't we?

Coach did not deign to reply. Cait let out a loud laugh and turned back to the rest of us. "What are you two getting?" And the boys were graciously ignored again.

"Sausage roll," I told her. "I have enough water, so I doubt I'd be getting a drink."

"A sandwich, probably," Ade shrugged. "I'm actually, genuinely really hungry, and it's only four. Dinner's not until six. I need to fill my stomach. Worst case scenario, I break out my snack supply tonight."

I narrowed my eyes. "You have a snack supply?"

Adelina batted her eyelashes. "Maybe?"

"And you never thought to share?"

"Perhaps?"

Cait shook her head mockingly. "So selfish, Adelina, so, so selfish."

Ade stuck her tongue out.

It ended up taking twenty minutes, but since Coach was the last one who left the coffee shop, no one was unfortunately left behind.

And so we all started on their journey back to school, going through the Portal and then walking back to campus, where Coach left us. Cait waved goodbye and started walking back to her house. The rest of us went in through the school gates, where we were immediately greeted by the sight of a band of Sorren girls, Nadia at the lead.

"Oh!" Nicole grinned, walking forward. "You guys must have just finished the duelling competition! How was it?"

James' brows knitted slightly as he stole a glance at Adelina, whose face was a bit tighter than usual. Since James wasn't technically a competitor, Theo was never going to say a word and I didn't want to risk Adelina getting emotional, I braced myself and replied, "We all did decently. Everyone made it to the eliminations round before losing."