The Void Duelist

Chapter 3 - Master Chef

Aria's POV

I hadn't realised I had fallen asleep until I could feel myself being shaken awake. I cracked my eyes open to see the figure of Jaden in front of me, once again. Brown eyes staring down at me.

"Get up Aria. It's dinner time." He told me.

"Uh. Fine" I groaned as I tried getting up.

Keyword: tried.

As I swiveled around and went to stand up, my legs collapsed in on themselves and I landed with a thud onto the floor.

"Hey! You alright?" He asked, a slight hint of panicking making it's way into his tone.

"I'm fine. I always get this."

I latched onto a wooden panel above my bed and pulled myself up.

"Here. Let me help." He sighed.

He pulled one of my arms around his shoulders and placed one of his around my waist. As a reflex, I elbowed him in the stomach and he crippled to the floor.

"Sorry. Reflexes." I apologized.

"What the heck. Do you take judo or something?" He groaned through his agony.

"Well I used to, yes."

I stretched out my legs until I could feel them again. I then helped Jaden up and we made our way to the mess hall. Once there, I was immediately disappointed with the food. It was just a bunch of sushi and mash potatoes. It was so dull.

"What is this?" I asked, displeased.

"It's dinner." Jaden pointed out.

"I know that...but...it's just such a dull dinner." I sighed.

"Well this is the best we can make. After all it's not like we can afford a chef like Obelisk or Ra."

"You may not be able to afford one..." I starred. "But you have one."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I may not seem like it but my mother taught me how to cook." I told him. "Just show me the kitchen and I'm sure I can whip up something much better."

"Okay. You're welcome to give it a shot."

He showed me the kitchen and where everything was. It was a small wooden kitchen but it wasn't as bad as it could have been. It was very clean and organised. There were plenty of ingredients to work with.

"Good luck." Jaden said, as he took off back into the main mess hall.

I say hall, it was more of a room about the side of two or four dorm rooms put together. Not all that big, but big enough to fit all of 20ish people inside it.

I threw on an apron and tied my hair back, then got to work. I looked through all the ingredients in the cupboards and fridge.

Hmmm...it's too hot for something cooked....and some people might be vegetarians.... Hm...

I spotted a packet of pasta swirls in the back of one cupboard.

Looks like we're having pasta.

I filled a pan with water and placed it on the stove. I poured in some pasta and turned the stove on and let it boil. I then got out some cheese, cucumber and tomatoes and began chopping them up. I placed them all into one big bowl. When the pasta was done I drained it and re-filled the pan with water and repeated the process several times as I knew first time wouldn't be enough for everyone. Once I had enough pasta I added that to the bowl and mixed it all up. I squeezed in some salad cream and mixed that in.

I poked my head out the door.

"Hey Jaden!" I called.

"Yeah?" He responded.

"Can you and some of your friends help hand out some plates and forks. I'll serve everyone the food."

"Okay." He called back.

I went back into the kitchen and got some plates ready to hand Jaden and his friends. When they entered I immediately started piling them up with plates and forks and they got to work. I followed them behind with the pasta bowl. I used a ladle to give out the pasta and soon I had to run back to the kitchen to get the 2nd bowl of pasta to hand around. We were done serving out the food within a good 10 minutes.

"Well now that we've done all that work, let's eat." Jaden declared as he dove into the pasta.

But as soon as he took a bite, he stopped, lifted his head and looked straight at me.

"What's up?" I asked.

I looked around the room to see everyone looking at me.

"What?" I asked again.

Then the while room exploded with laughter and applauding.

"This is amazing, Aria." Banner complimented.

"Oh please. It's just pasta. It's not all that great and fancy. I figured it was too hot for something cooked and I don't know if anyone was a vegetarian, so this was the best I could cone up with."

"But for someone as young as you to be such a great cook, even if it is just pasta, is truly amazing. Especially if they can turn such a simple dish into something so delicious." He insisted.

"Okay...whatever you say."

I started eating my pasta and it didn't taste all that different to me. Except for one thing...it felt like when I ate it...I felt like my mother was with me again and was praising me for such a good job like she used to. It felt a lot...homier. It tasted like her pasta. Although I made it the exact same as her, hers' always tasted much more homie than mine...until now.

I felt a single tear run down my cheek. I let my bangs cover my face. I quickly finished my pasta and left before anyone could notice my odd behaviour. I quietly exited the food hall and entered back into my room. I checked the clock.

It was 9:30pm.

I should probably go to bed if I wanna wake up in time for school tomorrow.

I got changed out of my uniform, folded it up and placed it neatly on my desk. I then got changed into my back joggers and white tank top before turning the light off and jumping into bed. I fell asleep almost instantly, as I always did.

Word Count: 1044

A/N: Bit of a shortie, but I guess it's a little nice to have shorter chapters sometimes to describe the more mundane days.