High Life | ✔️

9

I PUSHED MY PLATE to the centre of the table in desperation.

"Anyone?" I aimed my question for the umpteenth time at the unresponsive table. "Please, I can't possibly finish this on my own."

Jaxon just raised an eyebrow. "I told you."

"Told me what?" I scoffed. "Sorry, I don't take advice from strangers - oh shit," I snapped my jaws shut. "Never mind. Forget I said anything. Sorry for the rudeness."

Jaxon's chocolate eyes seemed to narrow at my odd outburst. I dismissed this and pulled the plate back before me. As a general rule, I tend not to consume food deemed dissatisfactory. The way I see it is, if I had to put rubbish into my system, I might as well not eat. Because it's not even going to be worthy calories.

There were five of us at the table today. They'd introduced themselves, but their names eluded me. Albeit compared to the other day, this crowd was decidedly easier, not so tough of an audience. I couldn't tell if it had to do with Jaxon's presence.

In the short span of fifteen minutes, I came to the conclusion that Jaxon could be a people pleaser, or an analytical thinker when he wanted to. It showed in his carefree confidence that seemed to draw people to him, along with this unreadable expression that he had never taken off.

"So, Andrea right?" Jaxon asked as he leaned forward, clasping his hands together.

I nodded in response. My problem wasn't the fact that I was untalkative - trust me, I can be given the right circumstances - my problem was the plate of quesadillas before me.

"You probably get this a lot. But how are you doing here, at Richmond Park Academy?"

"Cesspool," I echoed to myself.

"Sorry, what was that?"

"Nothing. Richmond Park's alright, I guess. Good teachers, very complete facilities, clean toilets..."

Jaxon cocked his head. "But I was asking about your own feelings about this place, not asking for observations about it's staff, facilities or it's restrooms."

The entire table had their attention on me now, even the ones who previously had their noses stuck on thick textbooks. It put a lot of pressure on me to answer with something unoffensive. I tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ears.

"In academic terms, better than before," I answered cautiously, reading their expressions as I made my way through the unscripted moment. "In spiritual terms... there is definitely room for improvement. Which is why I will be attending the Christian thing tonight."

Jaxon's expression remained unchanged, but there was a visible shift in everyone else's expressions.

"You do know God isn't real," one of the guys chimed in, eyes narrowing in scrutiny.

I shrugged in reply. Speaking of 'Christian thing', I whipped out my phone. I learnt Elias wasn't a slow texter after all. Because he'd responded to my text. All of a sudden, the lunch table faded away. All I could see were the two successive texts that he had sent me.

It's off campus. I can take you there if you want

I can meet you downstairs the female hostels?