Magic at Midnight

8. Dining Hall

Unlike the long, cold walk from the Great Room to the Terravere dormitories, walking to the Dining Hall was warm. Still was kind of long with Juno yapping my ears off, but it was warm.

"And you know who else I hate..." Juno continued.

"I dunno you seem to hate a lot of people."

"Lottie Broussard. I hate that little witch!"

"What'd she do to you?" I pretended to sound interested.

"Ya know Stevie Tackett," she didn't wait for me to reply before she continued. "Well, I had a crush on him last year. And one day in Charms Lottie caught me staring at him and was like 'Oh do you like Stevie?' I stupidly said yes, and she offered to talk to him for me and ask who he liked. Obviously, I wasn't going to turn down that offer. She then walked over to him and sat next to him. I walked by slowly, pretending to hand in my paper so I could hear what they were saying, and SHE ASKED HIM OUT! AFTER I TOLD HER I LIKED HIM!"

I could see Juno's face turning red from anger. I can't believe someone like Juno, who knows like everything about everyone trusted Lottie Broussard. "For knowing Lottie this long I don't see why you trusted her. She's been a lying, cheating, snake from day one and it's your fault for not seeing that." I looked over to Juno. She looked pissed. Oh crap, why did I say that!

"My fault!" Juno started yelled. "MY FAULT!" I knew that she was then going to rant about how she didn't know better and that it wasn't her fault, so I just tuned her out by thinking of my current favorite song.

I continued to walk humming 'Paper Bag' by Fiona Apple in my head as Juno followed behind me. Still yelling.

***

We turned a corner and entered the enchanting Dining Hall. I could smell the roasted turkey and homemade mashed potatoes and gravy.

Dinner on the first night always had the same food prepared each year. It was kinda like a giant Thanksgiving Day meal, but not on Thanksgiving.

"Ya know this is one of the reasons I miss this place over summer." I was surprised by Juno's calm tone. I wasn't paying enough attention earlier to notice if she was still ranting or not.

"Marlee!" I whip my head in the direction of my name being called. "I saved you a seat!" I smiled when I saw Cynthia waving her arm at me.

"Ima sit over there," I pointed towards Cynthia.

"Okay!" Juno cheerfully nodded and skipped over to another table. I watched her sit down next to a few kids I recognized before I started walking towards Cynthia.

I sat down next to her. I always sat in the same spot each year. Third table to the right, and we sat right at the end of the wooden bench closest to the entrance to the Dining Hall.

"So, how's your last first day going?" Oh my god. This is my, our last first day at this place.

"How has it been ten years!?" The shock in my voice was genuine even if to Cynthia it sounded fake. "I can't believe that it has been ten whole frickin' years." I stared into space, letting my thoughts take over my mind.

Damn I've been going here for ten years. It's been ten years since I became friends with Cynthia. Ten years since...since mom disappeared.

My mind blurred with thoughts of mom.

"You good?" I snapped back to reality when Cynthia shook my arm.

"Yea, I'm fine" I grabbed a spoonful of mashed potatoes and plopped it onto my plate.  Cynthia stopped looking at me and started serving herself food as well. "Sooo..." I was trying to think of something to start a conversation. "How's Melina? She's what...10 and not going to the academy."

Cynthia turned to me with a mouthful of food, "Norman doesn't want her to go here. He wants her to be normal."

"Isn't it weird for her to know her step-sister is going to a special academy for witches and wizards and she can't go?"

"Yea I guess, but ya know, 'Normans the man of the house and what he says goes'. So, there's no point arguing because my mom will side with him." I didn't want to bother Cynthia more about it. I knew with her mom marrying her step-dad Norman a few years ago, she became a little more sensitive with some things.

I went back to putting different foods onto my plate. Turkey, vegetables, cranberry sauce, corn, and other food. Dinner on the first night back was very similar to foods you'd see at Thanksgiving or Christmas.

With one bite of the mashed potatoes, I was in a trance. All I did for the next several minutes was eat.

***

The sound of a glass clinking caught me off guard and my body jerked. I looked up from my plate and saw it was Professor Grimwood. She was standing up over at the long table in the front of the room that the teachers ate at and was hitting her glass with a spoon.

She repeated the action until everyone was quiet and looking up at her. "Good evening students! I just need to say a few reminders and then you can go back to eating and chit-chatting. First off, class signups are due by 11:59 tonight. You will of course already be placed in the mandatory classes for your age. But any extra ones you want to squeeze in, you must be signed up for them tonight. Secondly, no roaming about the castle between the hours of 1 am and 3 am. If your caught out during those hours, there will be consequences. Lastly, enjoy this school year. For some it is their first and for others it is their last. Have a good night!"

"Same boring speech every year." the girl sitting across from me at the table said.

"You really expect her to come up with a new one every year? This school has been around for thousands of years and probably thousands more to come. And god knows how long Grimwood's been running this place."

Not this again! Every year Lily and James argue over something stupid during dinner. James is this know-it-all kid in mine and Cynthia's year and Lily is his little sister who's very popular in her year. She's a few years below us. 

I watched as the two went back and forth. This is gonna be a long night.

A/N: Sorry for taking over 2 months to update the story. I've been really busy with school and marching band. It's been really hard to get any free time to write, but I slowly did a bit every couple weeks. I don't know when I'll get the next chapter out (hopefully soon), but thanks for reading!

- amelia