Chapter 9: Into the Canteen

"I'll start then, since I was the one to suggest introductions!" said the girl with glasses and short, brown hair.

"I'm Athena, I hope that we can be great teammates." She said.

She looked like someone responsible; someone who could act as a leader in our group. I mean, the introductions had been her idea after all.

A few other people introduced themselves. By the end of the introductions I remembered a few people who stood out.

Adam was someone who you could depend on; he made it clear that he was helpful to his classmates. 

For example, if anyone would be struggling in a subject, he'd be the kind to either help or do anything to find help.

Charlotte seemed to be the kind that valued performance and got good grades.

In the case that we'd have to choose someone to compete in a quiz with other groups, she'd be a good choice.

Chris came up as someone highly charismatic and out-going; he made it clear that he wanted to make the most of his high school days.

If we had to talk and make decisions with other groups, he'd probably be our safest choice.

It seemed our class had a lot of interesting individuals, which made me feel excited about what would come in the near future.

After the introductions ended, I pulled out my phone, checking to see if I had been sent what classes I was in, but there didn't seem to be any notifications.

"You were Zenon, right? Could you give me your contact information? I'm making a group chat with everyone here." Said Athena.

"No problem, here it is." I said, showing her my profile on the messaging app.

This was really the first time I had been in a group chat for a class, I never really bothered with them.

But I felt that in this case it'd be different; I'd be living at this school, and probably doing lots of activities with my classmates.

Usually, I would've gone home after school and called that a day. It's not like I didn't have friends, but I never really hung out with them on a daily basis.

Anyway, a few people started chatting on the app, while some of my classmates preferred to talk face-to-face.

I decided I'd follow Will and Hannah and chat with whoever they will, since I already knew them and would be more comfortable with that.

Hannah looked to be on her phone, but she didn't seem to be messaging through the group chat. 

She then stood up and told us to follow her.

Apparently, she had been messaging privately with another girl, and had decided it'd be better to start talking face-to-face.

As soon as we sat down next to her, I remembered that it was Charlotte, from the introductions.

She had golden hair shaped in two braids and wore thin, black glasses.

There was also a boy sitting down next to her; I remembered his name was Noah. His introduction was rather dull, so I didn't get his personality.

Noah was a short, black boy. He seemed to be prepared to meet with us; so I assumed Charlotte and him were already friends.

Later I learnt that they had met at the train station yesterday, and had spent pretty much the entire day together.

I wasn't talking much; just filling in with my opinion in a few key moments where I felt it was relevant. It was mostly Hannah leading the conversation.

I felt I was a stranger to the conversation and didn't fit in, so I decided to check the group chat to see what was going on.

Apparently, Athena had suggested most of our class go eat together, as it would make it less awkward between us quickly.

I'd thought it was a good idea; I was actually looking forward to it. I told Will about it and everyone else agreed on attending too.

We ended up being a group of 12 people. The rest of the class decided to eat in smaller groups or go eat with their friends, since we didn't have to return to classes after lunch.

We entered the canteen in a large group; it was full of students eating. The place was full of large white tables.

A lot of the students were wearing a uniform, which meant they were upperclassmen.

We got to the queue and read the instructions on the front. The menu cost 500 Halsey Coins, which was pretty cheap compared to what I paid at the coffee shop.

That was when I understood why so many students were eating at the school, rather than at the nearby restaurants.

We could choose two dishes from the menu, and the food seemed really good. After everyone got their trays ready, we went to an empty table and sat down.

I sat down in front of Will, who was next to Hannah. On my left sat down Adam, who I had remembered from the introductions.

Meanwhile, to my right sat down a girl called Mia. She was sitting in the corner of the table, and seemed rather shy. She had been nervous during her introduction, so I didn't know much about her.

I decided to text Sophie and ask how she was doing and if she had made any new friends.

"Hey Zenon!" Said Adam, extending his hand.

"Adam, right?" I said, shaking his hand.

He had a firm grip, and a smug face that looked like he was always sure of what he was doing.

"You seem really interesting, let's be friends." He said.

I was really perplexed about his comment. "Interesting… how?"

"I'm not sure how to explain it, but you've got something in your eyes that tells me you're special; you look like you're watching everyone." He explained.

"Ah, that's because I'm not really used to talking to people I've just met, so I'm just watching everyone." I shook off.

Will turned his head and faced us. "No, even with people you already know, there's something mysterious about the way you watch us."

Athena looked like she was following the conversation. "That's probably a good thing, I really hate when someone I'm talking to isn't listening to what I say."

"I mean, it's only natural that I listen to someone who talks to me; that doesn't happen every day." I commented.

Hannah burst out laughing. "Oh, look at what this guy just said."

It wasn't a joke, and nobody else was laughing. The mood turned slightly awkward after her comment.

We spent the lunch talking about what we had done yesterday and things of the sort.

I decided to go back to my room, since it was enough socializing for today.