[Revised] 

As Zara shoved her way through the throng of students in the corridor, she was continuously slapped in the face by backpacks of different colours and sizes. It was annoying. If her life was a cartoon strip, then she would have had several bruises and lumps across her face and head, paired with a toothless grin to reassure her viewers.

Saffron sashayed behind her, grinning and waving at people he knew. It was at times like these that Zara wished that she was a giant—that way she could just stomp her way through anything or anyone that got in her way. And if she thought the corridors were crowded, the cafeteria was worse.

One of the largest rooms in the school, the cafeteria was a place both of wonder and consternation: you wondered how in the world you hadn't died from eating the yellowish slop they called "mashed potatoes", and were appalled at how loud the place was. On one end of the hall, you had a row of cafeteria ladies scooping various shades of gunk onto your plastic tray, in the centre were the plastic tables and benches—overflowing with starving children—and at the other end were the red doors leading to the freedom of the courtyard.

Zara almost gasped when she saw how long the food line was, but in the end, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to her. If you made the foolish mistake of arriving about 0.2 seconds later than the rest of students, you could expect to still find yourself in line after celebrating your 100th birthday. Not only that but the teachers were also allowed to cut the line, basking in the temporary glow of power that they had over their students.

After resigning herself to her doomed fate, Zara looked over the daily menu on the wall to kill time.

Gross. Disgusting. Pretty sure the meat is synthetic. Nope. 

Last on the list was "chocolate lava cake". Yes. The chocolate-lover inside of her purred with glee.

Zara turned to inform Saffron of the groundbreaking discovery, but to her surprise, he was nowhere to be found. She instead made awkward eye-contact with a freshman and immediately swivelled back to face the front, irked that her friend hadn't informed her of his departure. She took one step forwards, then another, the line moving excruciatingly slowly, like a snail on antidepressants.

Finally, twenty minutes into lunch, Zara reached the tray rack, grabbing the one that looked the least crusty and held it in front of her. All she really wanted was the cake and was just as happy to have it dropped into her mouth before she could be on her way. But the school rules dictated that you could only be served if you had a tray.

Stupid school.

"Beef or chicken?" A gruff voice asked, a dirty ladle halfway into a heap of gravy.

"Nothing, thank you." Zara replied politely, and the woman's dead eyes were immediately off her and onto the person behind her.

This process continued until she reached the last lady, who eyed her empty tray with an eyebrow raised.

"Chocolate lava cake, please."

She grabbed a plastic spoon and a carton of milk on her way towards the seating area, her eyes darting back and forth as she searched for her friends. The four of them usually sat at the same table every lunch and recess, so it was surprising when Zara saw a different group of teenagers sitting in their place.

"Zara! Over here!" A voice called out, and her head snapped towards the sound. Aurora was waving at her from a couple of tables away from where she stood.

"—I'm going to strangle that douchebag," Saffron's angry words became clearer as she approached the table and slipped beside Aurora.

"Hey. What's up?" Zara asked, more out of habit than curiosity. She took her bag off her shoulders and placed it on the bench beside her, then unzipped it to take out her lunch.

"That douchebag Sebastian..." Saffron reached up to touch his cheekbone, which was still a little red from the blow. He bruised easily, so it was a surprise that his face wasn't half-purple.

"What he do?" Orion was invested in his food—steamed chicken dumplings—and was having a hard time caring about his surroundings.

"He elbowed me in the face! For no reason!"

"For no reason..." Aurora repeated slowly, her attention on her phone. She finished tapping away on the screen with a thumb and pressed the sleep button. "Do you really, truly, think that it was for no reason?" She looked up at him, a black manicured nail tucking a strand of hair the same colour behind her ear.

Saffron stopped grumbling and looked up at her, an eyebrow shooting up into his hairline.

"You're telling me...that—that lying, conniving idiot would have a reason for elbowing me in the face. Other than for simply being an asshole?"

"You'd be surprised." Orion screwed the tin he was eating from shut and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. "They may come across as stupid, but they aren't," he stated.

"Please explain. I'm having a hard time understanding, over the sound of how goddamn stupid you are!" Saffron ripped his bag open and pulled out a large meatball sub, angrily slamming it against the table.

"Stop being such a whiny bitch all the time. No wonder they targeted you—you got the word dumb-ass written all over your forehead."

Zara silently munched on her sandwich, reading the label of the milk carton to stop herself from joining the conversation.

I few people around them turned to glance at them judgmentally, but when Saffron glared at them, they immediately returned to minding their own business. He rolled his shoulders back and sighed, passing both hands through his hair. After taking a controlled breath, letting the insult wash over his head, he reached down and slowly unwrapped the sub.

"That Sebastian, not only him but the entire group. Look at them," Orion continued, and the four of them snuck a glance over at their table, which was on the other side of the room. Max was talking animatedly, using his hands, whilst the others around him guffawed.

The four immediately turned back to each other before their staring became too obvious. "Yeah, son. If you think we're bad, those guys are worse."

I wonder what he means by that.

"How can you tell? They just seem like rich douchebags," Aurora inspected her nails, "kind of like me." She added with a smirk.

"Don't compare yourself to them," Saffron warned, already halfway through his six-inch sub, "You may do shitty stuff, but you're a good person. Orion, on the other hand, is right, They give off bad vibes."

"I suggest we stay away from them," Orion stated, "this isn't some trashy chick flick. They aren't just the dumbass jocks that try to make up for their tiny dong by playing football. Nah, these guys are much worse, because they're the real deal. They might get in our way," he looked at each of them in the face, expecting them to agree.

Everyone nodded except Zara.

"—I don't think Max is like them," Zara muttered, against better judgement. Having finished her sandwich, she balled up the tin foil wrapping and immediately began to tuck into the lava cake, revelling in how the chocolate oozed down its sides after jabbing it with a spoon.

"Say what!" Orion exclaimed, cupping his hand behind is an ear, "Say that again? I must have misheard. He's the ringleader! He's the worst one of them all!"

Again with the judgmental looks all around.

"I just think that—"

"Let's agree to disagree, alright?" Saffron interrupted, his phone in his hand. Zara threw him a look, but he ignored her, his thumbs rapidly tapping the screen.

It was weird how she shared so many classes with him, yet the two never actually spoke to one another. Max actually seemed to be kind of nice, disregarding his anger issues and douchebag nature. 

"I heard that Rob got in a bit of a cat fight with you on the bus today," Orion said nonchalantly, changing topic. He watched Zara intently, probably waiting for her to begin a heroic rant about how she defeated the fire-breathing-dragon with nothing but her bare hands.

Zara shrugged. "It was no big deal."

"No big deal?" Aurora's fake eyelashes fluttered and she flipped her hair over a shoulder, "She punched him so hard, he now has a black eye!"

Orion looked at Zara and grinned mischievously, then he turned back to Saffron and the two of them began to gossip. He's watching you, the voice warned. You're so clueless. I'm only allowing this because of the chocolate.

Zara winced and turned her head towards the other table again, barely catching Max red-handed. He averted his gaze elsewhere, then onto his friends. She rubbed her temple—maybe she had imagined it.

Zara tuned back into the conversation just as Saffron said, "Jerk-face, three o'clock."

"Hey, Aurora." Saffron and Orion both looked up with a scowl at the voice.

It was Brad, one of Aurora's many moronic exes. 

"What do you want?" Aurora snarled, keeping her back to him.

The two had been dating for six months before Aurora had discovered that he had been seeing other girls, on- and-off, the entire time they were dating. He owed his warped sense of entitlement to the fact that he was part of the school's basketball team and hence thought that he could get away with anything, even cheating. 

Aurora had a knack for dating narcissistic assholes, but because this was her most recent relationship—and the guy really seemed to be different from the others—Brad didn't leave unscathed. After pulling a few strings here and there, Aurora managed to get him kicked off the varsity team for his junior season. Needless to say, he never bothered her again. Until now. 

-:-