a sun that never sets

CHAPTER TWO | THAT CAFETERIA SCENE

BREAKFAST THE NEXT morning was served amongst grumbles and complaints. No one was ready to snap back into the routine of waking at seven, and everyone wanted to make clear of that. Even some of the teachers at the front table looked weary and worn.

I was tired too, but I didn't show it as I shoved a piece of toast in my mouth. Besides me, Adelina was giving a melodramatic speech about child slavery and how her parents were abandoning to this fate, while Yunji listened with the mildest bit of interest.

It was a fascinating scene, to say the least.

Louisa, Audrey and Gwen sat besides us, snorting and laughing about their own things. Me, I kept my eyes to the door, watching new and familiar faces walk in and out, in and out. I spotted some of the boys. Nadia Sorren walked through the door, and sat down besides Louisa along with a few of her friends, but she didn't give me any dirty looks like she might have last year.

Maybe I wasn't the only one who had grown. We all had different priorities now. We couldn't afford to be the same people we'd been last year, laughing and giggling and going through drama after drama like we had an endless supply of time. Everyone was feeling the pressure of JCMs, even though we all acted like it was okay. Even the locals, who might put a bit less effort into their studies compared to us full boarders.

"I'm going to fall asleep in Maths," Adelina was moaning. "And then my teacher's going to kill me, and then my parents are going to kill me, and then my brothers are going to mock me, and then I'd have no place to go back to on the weekends."

"You can stay," Yunji remarked. "The doors of Bridewater College are always opened to the legendary Adelina Roche, even on the weekends."

She'd gotten a little bit more confident over the summer, I'd realised. She'd started dressing better, and I could tell that she was wearing the slightest layer of makeup. Nothing too obvious, but it was clear to someone like me who'd spent so much time around her. Yunji had natural eyebags, but those were gone now. Concealer, I bet.

I was happy for her. I really was. But this also made me the only one out of our little trio who didn't go to school without makeup. Curling my lashes didn't count.

I'd considered, very briefly, when we'd met up this morning to walk to the cafeteria, dressing up for school as well. But then the thought that JCMs were so soon and that I really didn't have that much time to spare for everything else...

I'd wait until Sixth Form before that. And the weekends. I could wait. It wasn't like I had anyone to impress anyways, because god knew none of the full boarding boys in my year were passable. And the local students were a bit... iffy. Questionable. I'd befriended a couple, but I was rather sure that they were either gay, or just absolutely insane.

Not boyfriend material.

Not that I was looking for one.

Besides, I had standards. High standards. Ones that were just slightly too high, which was perfectly fine with me right now because I didn't want a relationship anyways. What was the point? If it affected my grades, that was my entire future down the drain. JCM results mattered when you applied to university. I already had my goals.

I didn't want to go into a magical career. I wanted to go to a more normal one. Which was why I'd decided to ramp up the amount of times I went to the after-school GCSE clubs for those of us who wanted to take some other subjects as well. It was stressful as all hell, but I knew it would be worth it in the end.

Anything I did wrong last year, I was ready to fix. I'd found the people to help. I'd cleared out a schedule for what to do and when to do it. I could still relax from now until the end of November, and then it was time to start.