The Masquerade

Potatoes and Pigs

There were several shocked gasps and a couple of hidden chortles among the crowd, but I think most notably was the disbelief and anger on King's face.
Every single eye in the cafeteria was on us now. A spray of speckled crimson dots had found their way onto the Masquerade's -- our -- dinner table. I must've hit him a lot harder than I had intended too. I finally broke the silence with a soft and rather shocked "Oh my god." I think that actually sums up the current situation really. I'm dead. King's either going to exile me, kill me, or exile and then kill me. Being exiled would be much better than being killed; I could find another small town and just become one of the officials there. How long had it been now? Five minutes... An eternity? Who knows. But hey, at least King had finally moved. Yeah. He returned the favor. A chorus of "Ooo"'s rang through the room, as if echoing the pain I had received. I really hoped that Aaron wasn't watching this whole ordeal, he was the closest person I had as a friend, I mean, if you could call it that. It was more of an awkward acknowledgment thing really. King threw a mean punch. I could tell he was ready for a major brawl with me right now, but I think he actually took the surroundings into account for once and realized that starting a fight with a girl in a room full of unhappy people probably wouldn't be the smartest choice in his career. "Take what you want for dinner and leave. I'll talk about this with you later." He snarled. His eyes glowed with seething rage. I nodded once, then took my plate and disappeared into the kitchen, away from the public eye.
Some of the Masquerades working in the kitchen were staring at me, having seen through the kitchen windows what had happened. Slowly one of them scooped some mashed potatoes, peas, and chicken into my plate. They were staring at me. I hated being the center of attention, so I quietly thanked them and then looked around for a different exit. There was no other exit other than the one I had just walked in from. I'd have to go back out there. A walk of shame? Maybe.
As I stepped back out, the little tick of my heels on the cold cement floor seemed to announce my presence, wanting me to be noticed. It was dead silent other than the clicking. As I turned to go out, someone finally spoke. It was King... Again. What did he want? Every time he opened his mouth, it was always something unintelligible. "Bitch." He called after me. Just as I had assumed, it was something unintelligible, as always. He never got to me with those sort of things, but I guess this time he just pushed me over the edge. Aaron was staring at me, warning me with his eyes that whatever I was going to do, I needed to stop. But he wasn't my boss. I was the boss of him. With that, I dug a hand into my mashed potatoes and flung a fistful at King. No one else had been served food but me, so thankfully a food fight never had the chance to emerge, but this time it was my turn to say something rather unintelligent, "King. When I think of you, I think of a fat, greasy pig. Dinner is ready by the way." I retorted, pointing at the glob of potatoes just a couple inches away from his feet. I scanned the room once before leaving. Aaron had his hands pressed to his forehead and he seemed to be staring at one specific spot on the table he was sitting at, muttering little things under his breath. He thought I was stupid.