Evan Farrington's Confession | ✔️

thirteen

Evan carefully lifted her lunch tray. The dark blue made all of her food look dull and as grey as the clouds lying low on the town. She used her thumb to keep the tiny plastic spoon on top of her strawberry yoghurt. She did not trust the cleanliness of her tray. She kept her head down as she weaved through the crowded lunch hall to the tables in the corner. She took one of the chairs on the end and began her ham roll. It was not good.

A small group of freshmen took the rest of the seats at the table, the last one to arrive getting stuck sitting opposite her. Evan tucked her bag tightly underneath her legs and squeezed it close to her. She wouldn't be here long, the kids could have the extra seat. As soon as she had eaten her roll and yoghurt she would take her granola bar to the library and study away the rest of lunch.

("Tip your tray.")

Her head snapped up, a mouthful of bread half-chewed in her mouth.

"Mwha?" she mumbled past the food. The boy opposite her gave her a nervous look and Evan quickly turned her attention back to her lunch.

("You heard me just fine.")

As much as she wished she didn't, Evan easily recognised Caligula's croon. He wasn't in the lunch hall though, which was something. His voice wasn't coming from a specific spot, it was all around her. If she hadn't been surrounded by jabbering students she would have covered her ears.

("Tip. Your. Tray.")

Evan closed her eyes and exhaled slowly through her nose. Then she pocketed her granola bar and flipped her tray off the table as gently as she could. It clattered to the floor, her spoon skittering across the floor towards a table full of her classmates. A couple of them lifted eyebrows and snickered at it. Her yoghurt landed foil side down with a thwack and her roll fell apart when it hit the ground. The top half landed next to the bottom, the ham stuck at an irregular angle. The freshmen had stopped talking and were staring worriedly at her. Evan folded her lips tightly and got up. She righted her tray and swept her roll back on.

She reached out her hand to pick up her yoghurt, a sudden chill prickling her skin. And then the pot was crushed as if under an invisible foot. Evan jerked her arm away as creamy liquid splattered onto her hand and up on her sleeve. It completely coated the delicate gold bracelet she had put on again this morning. A few badly contained chuckles echoed around the painfully silent hall. Evan took a deep breath. The smell of strawberry yoghurt thickened in her nose sending light nausea creeping into her lungs.

Chatter didn't take long to start up again and Evan did her best not to think about how many of those conversations she was the unfortunate subject of. She gingerly lifted the upside-down yoghurt pot. The rest of the liquid spilled onto the floor with a wet (retch remember how he fell how heavy the thump how the scissors slid-)

"Here, let me help you." Evan snapped her head up to see William crouch next to her. He scooped up the yoghurt with a green paper towel and dumped it on her tray.

"Thanks." The chill vanished in a perceptible rush.

"What in blue hell happened?" he asked, not a trace of unkindness in his voice. She took a second to reply.

"My hand slipped."

William's brow twisted but he said nothing. Instead, he wiped up the last of the yoghurt and walked over to pick up her spoon. His friends gaped at him but William carefully ignored them. Evan took her spoon back, angled her eyes up at his in one last look of gratitude then turned away. She kept her head down as she tipped her ruined lunch into the bin, put her tray on the rack and hurried out of the hall. William watched her go for a moment before briskly following.