The Rose Boys

Chapter Three

Special thanks to EmilyKent for the awesome Cover Art. It totally made my day. ♥ (Also, sorry for any stupid spelling mistakes, I have to wear long gel nails on one hand for classes right now and it makes me screw up with my typing.)

I had gone to the Cafeteria for lunch on my first day of school. As soon as I had stepped into the large room, filled with the noise of clanking dishware and talking students, I knew that St. Clairmont was not going to be like any high s I had ever been to. 

The entire room, aside from the wall connected to the school, was lined with windows that stretched from floor to ceiling. They showed off the amazing view of the ocean blue mountains, powdered with snow as white as icing sugar. They almost looked delicious.

The whole room was set up like a giant restaurant. Students went up to the kitchen counter where at least fifty people bustled around like bees, making food and getting orders, got their food and sat down in one of the many booths. 

I walked slowly towards the counter, watching the other students, clad in their white dress shirts and grey skirts and pants. Some had their ivory blazers on as well. When I got to the counter, a woman asked me what I wanted. I looked up behind her, where the meals that they were serving today were posted up on a large chalkboard. There was a lot of French Cuisine that I had never heard of. I saw that they had toast so I asked for it. Simple and easy. At least I knew what I was eating.

Since the cost of Cafeteria lunches was covered in tuition, I didn't have to pay for it. I grabbed a couple of packet of grape jelly and a plastic spreading knife and placed them on my tray. I turned around and searched for an empty booth to use. 

All around me, there were faces that I'd never seen. I never realized how many students went to this school until now. I felt so out of my element and I didn't like it. I caught the eyes of some students but they just looked away. Some people say that the rich can sniff the poor out.

I found an empty booth in the furthest corner, pushed up between the two windows. I placed my tray with my four pieces of toast onto the table in front of me and spread jam onto them. I stared out the window as I ate, looking out at the grounds of the school over the tops of the trees. If I didn't know any better, I would have said that this school was located in the middle of nowhere, where the land had not been touched by mankind. It was a peaceful kind of place.

"What are you doing in our booth?" An annoyingly familiar voice asked me.

'Are you effing kidding me?' I thought to myself angrily. I turned my head to face them. All of them. The Rose Boys all stood before the booth, staring at... me. I didn't know what to say so I sat there and stared up at them stupidly. 

"Is that grape jelly?" The blond one asked, pointing at the piece of toast that I had just bitten into. I looked at the toast in my hand and then back at him. 

"Y-yes." I stammered as he slid into the booth and grabbed a piece of toast off of my plate.

The athletic one with the steely grey eyes slid in beside him and grabbed a piece of toast off my plate as well. "This stuff is great, Mom doesn't let the chefs keep it in the house for some reason."

I stared at them dumbfounded and realized that all the chatting in the cafeteria had stopped as of that moment. I looked up and saw that all eyes were on us. "Well, move over then." Darren Johnson said, his arms crossed against his broad chest. I guess he really didn't have a choice since his friends kind of made up his mind for him. I obliged and slid over to the window.

"You must be January, pretty eyes." the athletic one said, shaking his long, black bangs out of his face. "I'm Nick Monterro, head of the Soccer Team."