Unmatched

Part 10 - Lunch

(Kallias) In the few times I had come to Kent, I had never heard of this place.

The Hengist.

It was a cozy little area. It resembled a small cottage, with its white walls and exposed brown wood. Especially with string of fairy lights wrapped around the dining area.

I sat next to Rett and James, two sophomores from America who were fanatics of football, or soccer as they put it.

"Kallias, did you watch the game last night?" Rett asked.

Rett had blonde straight hair, wisped in front of his eyebrows.

"I wish" I said, removing my jacket.

"Did we lose?"

For the rest of the time, the three of us exchanged commentary, thoughts, even jokes about different players. I thought about Luca and Ansel as I talked to them.

Speaking of which, I hadn't talked to Ansel in a bit. I made a mental note to be sure to text him later tonight.

Ansel was German, well his mom was, and his dad was American. He had gone abroad for university in Boston and graduated last year. I remember the big old bear hug we gave each other at the airport when he finally arrived.

We had met making s'mores actually. We were in 8th grade on a summer camp in Virginia. I was on my second one when I noticed the boy next to me kept burning his marshmallow. So I offered to help and taught him the perfect fire to roast ratio. Afterwards, we made jokes about the sticky marshmallow goo on our fingers, and when it was time to wind down we realized we lived in the same bunk.

He always leaned on the reserved side, even now, and Luca always found a way to tease him about his lack of approaching women. I huffed a laugh just thinking about it.

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I sat at the corner of a table with Caterine, Lisa, and a few other girls near me. I was just about to choose what to eat when Lisa,

"So Maya!" she said.

I looked up.

"I don't know much about you. Where are you from?" her blue eyes sparkled at me along with a grin that was far from genuine.

"I'm from South Carolina"

"Oh, I mean like..." she paused.

"Like where are you from, ethnically?"

"My parents are Hawaiian" I said, saving myself the headache from telling her I am half Maori. She'd probably ask me "what that means" and then say "that's so exotic!"

"Omg, I love Hawaii! It's so pretty. You must be so lucky to have family from there"

I threw her a small grin and looked down, again, at the menu. She turned to talk to the other people around her.

2 weeks downnn, 12 more to goo. I exhaled.

After I was done eating, I looked over to where everyone else sat. Everyone's tables were filled with chatter, people laughing, and talking.

Must be nice.

I mainly kept to myself so it wasn't anyone's fault but mine that I didn't have anyone to bond with. I was trying to break that habit. But it felt so natural that I barely noticed that I hadn't ever tried talking to anyone new.