Snow Fall

13

Before leaving the room, she said " Find at least two classes you're interested in, and get back to me." Proceeding to hand me a large list.
I don't exactly know what she thinks will happen if she keeps me alive. I'm not here to rule the world, I'm here to survive.
Snow is my ticket to a better life. As of right now, I don't know how that's going because I don't know what he's thinking.
Within my thoughts, I'm brought back to what happened.
He had to have known that Tigris was there. If he did know, why would he let us-

"An assistant?" Melzabar stood at the entrance. I jumped, and I'm sure I had a look of shock on my face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She walked slowly towards me. The echo of her shoes tapping filled the room in a way that intimidated me.
"I heard you'd be in the library." I said.
She leaned up against Dr.gaul's desk.
"And I heard you'd be here. Sounded more interesting." Melzabar pulled out a cigarette, lighting it and dragging before offering it to me.

"Oh sorry, I Dont smoke." I said in response.
"Hm." Was her only response.

"You seem troubled." Melzabar looked straight ahead, almost as if she didn't need to look at me.

"Troubled? No."

"Diiiid something happeeenn?" She dragged her words in a low, mocking tone.

"No."

"This is easy to say, but you can trust me. What happened? The first fall of snow?"

I could feel my eyes shooting out of my head. I was choking on my own air. What the fuck does she know?

"I don't know if you had anything planned after this, but you should come to the library and hang out with us." as if she said nothing. As if she said absolutely nothing before this friendly invite.

"I- uh, okay."

She smiled with no teeth.
"Let me know when you're done here."

Last time I went to a library? Six years old. It was nothing like this one. This one oozed money. Every shelf went all the way up to the ceiling. Every shelf had at least one ladder. Any wood that you could see was dark and fresh looking. The lighting was warm and cozy, and just as you would expect in a library, the shuffling was quiet.
It felt like we had been walking forever before we finally got to the table.

"Look who I brought with me." Melzabar said, pulling up a seat for me right between Dorian and Snow. Just my luck. From the corner of my eye, I could see Snow turn around to look at me, slight shock in his face.

"Home schooled girl, right?" Festus said.
"Yes." I smiled awkwardly.
"Is that how you greet anyone?" Melzabar asked. Taking a cup of coffee from the table that seemed to be waiting for her.
"Well for now until we get to know her better." He replied.

I couldn't look at Snow. I tried, but I couldn't. I found myself looking to Melzabar for comfort.

One of the girls that was at the table that had never seen before, got up with some form of excitement, and rushed towards me.

"Oh lovely, look at her fucking cheekbones." She started to touch my face, I wanted to back up, but I thought it would be rude. I knew it wasn't but at the same time, the setting is too new to come off rude.
She pushed my chin up and moved my head from side to side.

"Can you not be a fucking creep?" Festus said.
"I don't often agree with Festus, but we got to stop doing that, right?" Dorian agreed.

I look over at Melzabar again, confused. The touchy one went back to her seat, staring at me.
"Sophie is a clay artist. She takes inspiration from everything. One of her cute little hobbies." Melzabar explained.
"My hobbies are quite big actually. And of course, how could I not take inspiration from someone so beautiful." Sophie said. I only smiled as a thank you.
"She's okay." Clemensia said, arms crossed and mean mugging like a five-year-old told to sit in the corner.
"Most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Dorian said.
From my peripheral vision, I saw Snow snap his head towards Dorian. Did that bother him?

I tried not to smile, as there seemed to have been a tension in the room.

"So, Y/n, what classes are you taking." Sophie asked.
I shut my eyes in irritation.

"None, at the moment."
They all scrunched up their eyebrows at the same time, as if I had said something wrong. Well, everyone except Melzabar.

"They usually make you sign up for classes like months before school even starts." Festus said.

"It's because of the...homeschooled thing. It took a bit longer to get set up. I was told I have to pick from this list but I'm not sure which one to choose." I pulled out the paper Dr.Gaul gave me.

"OO OO OOOO, you should take my wood burning in art class." Sophie said.

"Y/n, do not fucking do that, take out of world history." Festus said.

"Sweetheart, no, it's literally just the evolution of discovering planets and aliens, irrelevant nonsense. Take advanced psychology. Even though it's advanced, I can get you in." Melzabar said.

"Or take archery." Dorian said.
I looked at him with intrigue.
"Archery? Wouldn't that be considered more of a sport." I asked. He seemed amused by that question.
"I guess you can say that, but with my major, I'm required to take it every year. It once was a hobby for me, so if you needed any help, I'd be around." Dorian gave me a wink and instantly I could feel my lungs fall out of my body.

"That class is stupid." Snow mumbled under his breath.
"It's actually one of the most promoted courses on camp-"
"Nobody FUCKING asked you Clemensia!" Snow said, slamming his fist on the table. The table went silent, and we all looked around to make sure nobody had too much attention on us.

"Snow are you feeling alright?" Melzabar asked.
"I'm fine, sorry, I'm okay." He adjusted himself, fixing the front of his suit, and making sure not to look at me.

"Anyway, if you ever wanted to try it, highly recommended, and remember, we'd be in the same class." Dorian said. The way I was smiling at him made me feel stupid, but the way he was looking at me showed that he didn't think I was.

"It would be smarter to take hunger games 101. Under Dr.Gaul, I'm a tutor for that course, and trust me, none of these other classes matter, unless you take that one." Snow said coldly.

"With all due respect, it's my second semester, and that class hasn't been necessary for any student I've met." Dorian said.

"With all due respect you barely believe in the hunger games anyway, so what is your opinion worth in this case?" Snow snapped back. Everytime Dorian attempts to connect with me, It sends Snow into a spiral. Dorian had a confused smile on his face,

"That Sejanus mindset." Festus said with a snarky undertone.

"Watch it." Snow said, his jaw tightening with irritation.

"It's really not about our opinion, it's about what Y/n is more intrigued by, it's her pick." It felt as though Dorian was not talking about classes.
The whole table looked at me, waiting for me to choose.
I awkwardly looked down at the paper, and back up at everyone else. I could feel Snow's eyes burning holes into me.

"I-."