Mirror, Mirror

1.02 Lunch

"You're in Poppy-Anne's spot," Starla said matter-of-factly. The young man occupying Poppy's seat turned and gave her a calculating look, as if trying to decide whether it was worth arguing. As if it wasn't Starla's destiny to save his stupid life, and the lives of everyone else in this city, from impending doom, so why shouldn't people do what she told them?

Starla communicated all of that in one cool glare. Finally, the man seemed to make a decision, made a show of gathering all his belongings, which were taking up a ridiculous amount of the table, and left after shooting one final dirty look at Starla.

Satisfied, Starla took her seat next to the one the man had been occupying, setting down her lunch tray. It was the spot she liked best, the one near the windows where the light came in and made her feel closer to the outdoors.

"That was unnecessary," Cinderetta commented from across the table as she ate her own lunch, looking annoyed. "There are no assigned seats. You don't get to hoard 3 entire seats."

"Of course not, but everyone knows I like sitting here, and my cousins like sitting next to me. That's on him for trying to pick a fight," Starla said dismissively, tucking her damp, freshly washed hair behind her ear and delicately beginning to eat her lunch. Moments later, Poppy-Anne and Riv arrived, taking their seats next to her.

"Did you win your fight?" Poppy-Anne asked brightly, setting down her things. "With, you know." She nodded her head 'subtly' at Cinderetta, who was sullenly eating her food.

"Of course I did," Starla said. "But that's old news. So. My birthday ball. I know everyone has been dying to know the theme, so listen closely." Starla smiled inwardly as others quieted down and elbowed each other to listen in. People always wanted to know her party's theme. Every year, she threw a ball and invited all her classmates, even the ones she didn't like (which honestly was most of them), and it was the talk of the town for months before and after.

"The concept is fairy soirée," Starla said theatrically, and she felt as her classmates whispered to each other in excitement. Cinderetta, on the other hand, was rolling her eyes. Starla put down her fork.

"Cinderetta, you are this close to getting uninvited to my birthday ball," Starla snapped. "The only reason you're still invited is because I feel bad for you. I get that you're upset about losing the fighting match, but that was a fool's errand from the beginning. Let's all be mature and move on." Cinderetta glared but ducked her head and continued eating. What was her deal anyway?

"Anyway, as I was saying..." Starla continued describing her elaborate plan for her birthday ball until lunch was over, and she and her cousins went their separate ways for their next classes.