Chatoyant College Book 9: Sundered

Chapter 67: Dinner

"I'm starving," Corrie announced as they left the magic building, and the others agreed enthusiastically, so they headed to the dining hall. "Though I don't know why," she said, tucking her hands deeply into her pockets—it was really cold again, and she'd forgotten her gloves. "We don't usually have dinner until a couple of hours later than this. And I had lunch."

"It's because we got up so early," said Edie. "Even if it wasn't that much earlier than you usually get up, it still messed up your metabolism."

"Oh." Corrie's comment turned into a yawn, then a laugh. She grinned at Rico as he held open the door to the dining hall for them. "I guess that makes sense. I'd better get to bed early tonight if I can manage it."

"I didn't think it was strange to be hungry," said Rico.

"You're always hungry," Dawn said with a laugh.

"That's true. At home I would have snacks whenever I wanted them..."

"Me too," said Corrie. "Though your mom probably didn't leave out carrot sticks and baked sweet potato fries."

"Yuck," said Rico, wrinkling his nose. "No, my mom left out tamales and empanadas."

"Wow, I want to come stay at your house sometime," said Edie. They joined the line going into the dining hall—which was probably a reason they didn't usually have dinner this early, because Corrie couldn't remember there being a line in the past. There were actually only a couple of people ahead of them waiting to swipe their cards, but before they could reach the door she heard someone calling Dawn's name. They all turned to see what was going on.

It was Naomi, quickly followed by Annie. Naomi waved at them with huge gestures until she reached Dawn, then stopped and crossed her arms over her chest. "Where were you? You left your phone in the dorm."

"Did I?" Dawn asked in surprise, checking her pockets. She shook her head. "Sorry about that. Oh... thanks." Naomi had handed her the phone with a grin. "I guess I figured with Corrie, Edie, and Rico with me no one would be trying to get in touch with me. You never call anyway."

"True," said Naomi. "But where did you go?"

"Oh, we went to talk to Professor Lal. I looked for you, but I didn't see you all day. I guess it didn't occur to me to call you."

Naomi laughed. "Fair enough. Okay, you can tell me about that later. I captured Annie on the way over here and we agreed it was time for food." She gestured at Annie, who grinned shyly.

"All right," said Corrie, grabbing Edie and Annie both by the arms and pretending to haul them into the dining hall. "Food time. For real this time."

Sadly, there were no sweet potatoes available as one of the dining hall's choices that evening, but she did get some carrot sticks from the salad bar and wave them in Rico's face. He proceeded to outdo her by bringing Dawn a hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and feeding Dawn the whipped cream in such a disgustingly cute manner that even Dawn stopped blushing and laughed.

"I know you're jealous," said Dawn, pointing the spoon at her. "You need a new boyfriend."

"You have a whipped cream mustache," Corrie observed, pointing at Dawn's upper lip.

Dawn hastily grabbed a napkin and wiped at her lip. "Don't change the subject. Come on, jump back into the dating pool. It shouldn't be hard to find someone who's an improvement on the last two."

"And if you want something less serious than a boyfriend, I can introduce you to some great guys," said Naomi with a suggestive grin.

Corrie shook her head. "I'm not... I mean, it's not like I'm avoiding dating. I just haven't run into anybody I feel like bothering with. It's not a big deal." Poor choice of words. She remembered the way she'd literally run into Byron, and thinking of him made her lose her appetite. She decided not to get the piece of cake she'd been considering. That hadn't gone too well, had it? And it hadn't been entirely his fault.

"Come on," said Edie. "You're the only one of the three of us who's single."

"I'm single," said Annie.

"See, I'm not alone. Annie's not lonely either, are you, Annie?" Corrie grinned knowingly at Annie, who blushed and looked away.

"What about you, Roe?" Dawn asked. "You've been quiet. Have you seen Troy lately?"

Roe groaned and put down her fork to cover her face with her hands. "I don't want to talk about that."

"Are you okay?" Corrie asked, pleasure that she'd managed to turn the topic of conversation away from herself being overtaken by concern for her friend. "I don't have to beat him up, do I? I will, if I have to."

"No, no." Roe lowered her hands. "There's... well, something I promised I wouldn't talk about. But we're not seeing each other anymore."

"Well, that sucks," said Naomi. "I do have guys I can set you up with. I was serious about that."

Corrie thought about the last time they'd gone along with one of Naomi's plans, the Halloween party. She shook her head. "I'd better do some homework before I crash. Anyone else ready to head back to Gilkey?"

"I'll walk with you," said Annie. Corrie grinned with private triumph.