The cafeteria is crowded with starving teenagers, scrambling for a place to sit. Some of the loners sit on the floor, in the corners by the windows. They awkwardly fumble with their hot lunches, which are precariously wobbling on their knees.
I feel my stomach twist into knots as I realize I may just be one of those loners. But from the corner of my eye, I see a flicker of movement. Someone unusually tall, walking toward me. Is that... oh, it is! Zoe. So I'm not alone, I laugh to myself and walk over to meet her.
"Hey! Wanna sit with me so we aren't loners?" I grin.
She gives me that dangerous stare again. "Um...yes. Being a loner is...bad, right?"
I shrug. This girl is weird. "I guess," I point to a table in the corner of the cafeteria. "Over here?" She nods and we walk over to the table and sit down. I pull out my lunch, a thermos of split pea soup. My favorite.
She merely sits there, shuffling her feet and staring at my every movement. "Don't you have a lunch?" I ask.
"Lunch?"
"Yeah. Mid-day meal?"
A light of understanding comes to her face. "Oh, yes...yes! Mid-day meal. I have that," she reaches into her backpack and pulls out a small container. She unscrews it, and as soon as the cap comes off I get a whiff of something strong.
"What is that?" I ask, peering over the table to get a good look.
She looks at me as if I'm crazy. Her thin lips purse for a moment as she shows me the contents of the container. "Meat," she says, as if I'm stupid. "Humans eat this, correct?"
I can't help myself, and a bubbly laugh escapes my throat. "Yes, that's correct. Humans eat meat, unless you are a vegetarian. But I'm not. So yes."
"...Vegetarian?"
"..."
"..."
"Nevermind, Zoe. Eat you're meat."
YOU ARE READING
The Emerald Heart
AdventureThe story of Zoe and Elaina, an elf and regular girl whose lives suddenly intertwine. Where every thing they know will change before there eyes and most of all fantasy will become reality little secret
