The Monsters Inside and Out (Scott Howl x Depressed Reader)

59. Lunch Meeting

Lunchtime arrives, and as soon as you get your lunch from the line, you are cat called by Amira. You walk over to the table everyone is sitting at. Everyone is eating their lunch, except for Vicky who has apparently already finished. She is sitting up straight with her hands intertwined with eachother, a big smile on her face. After seeing that, you slowly and cautiously take your seat in one of the chairs. You nervously ask, "Is.. Is this a cult?" Amira snickers, "Yeah, for Oz." Oz begins blushing like crazy, but you're still confused as heck. Vicky pipes in, "Allow me to explain, (Y/N). Seeing as Valentine's Day is coming up in two weeks, we have called this meeting to discuss tactics at how to have the perfect date! While we're here we will discuss and practice multiple scenarios that may happen in preparation for anything. Any questions?" A few do pop into your mind but before you are even able to speak, Vicky says, "No? Perfect! Alright everyone, let's start by taking Monster Prom's Stupidest Pop Quiz Ever! (tm)." Vicky reaches into her bag and pulls out a magazine with a picture of Miranda, smiling widely, on the cover. Vicky takes her thumb and pushes it between to pages, opening it up. It seemed as though she has done this 100 times, seeing as she flipped perfectly to the page she wanted, and there was no form of bookmark anywhere. For the next 10 minutes, she goes through each question, and makes sure everyone answers them fully.

Once it is finished, she tallies up everyone's scores. According to the quiz, Brian is bold and fun, Oz is smart and charming, Amira is bold and charming, Vicky is smart and creative, and you are an even spread of each category. Vicky states, "Alright! Based on these results, it seems that Oz," she raises her hand to point at Oz, "You should probably start spending more time in the auditorium. That'll give you a creative boost, and we all know Zoe likes that creativity." Oz salutes to Vicky, saying, "Aye aye, captain!" She then turns to Brian, "Alright Brian, you are a bold zombie that really knows how to party! I think you're doing great! If I may suggest one thing however, I would suggest you try to embolden yourself a bit more, that'll make Damien like you even more!" Brian sleepily gives her a thumbs up. She turns her attention over to Amira, "Alright Amira, who are you after this time around?" With a wide smile, she says, "My girl, Vera," while pointing gun hands. Vicky continues, "I thought so. Well, in that case, you should probably study some more, Vera likes a smart monster. I suggest paying better attention in class." With a certain confidence, Amira replies with, "I'll do my best." Vicky looks back at the magazine she's holding and says, "Aaaand, I seem to be doing good as well. Maybe if I spend more time in the auditorium with Oz, I could get a creative boost too, Liam will be sure to like that." Vicky continues to analyze herself and her future decisions for another minute, until she turns her attention to you. "Finally, (Y/N). Your stats really don't matter, just be nice to him and everything will work out great!" She smiles, and you weakly smile back. She's being friendly as always, but you can't help but have some sort of bad feeling about it. Your thoughts end up drowning out any sort of outside noise. After thinking about it a bit longer, you notice something. You were pretty early to lunch. You were by no means the first person, but you still made the attempt to get to the cafeteria a bit faster because of Vicky's text. On any normal day, you would've beaten Brian and Amira to lunch at least. Brian's too lazy, and Amira's usually just hanging back to socialize. Sometimes you would beat Oz as well, and Vicky once in a while. But today, everyone got here before you. You didn't really notice it at first, because you thought it was going to be some big, important thing. But all they wanted to do was talk about romancing your friends? Not just that, but they also have strategies and practices scenarios? Normally, you'd just push those thoughts aside and chalk it up to them just being the lovable weirdos they are, but one more thing still bothered you. You got here early, so there's no way Vicky had already finished her lunch. Vicky never misses a meal. Not that she's fat by any means, but she's a very healthy person, and she usually sticks to a pretty consistent diet. Yet here she was, making her friends take a stupid quiz. You decide to say something about it. "Uh, Vicky, did you eat?" Still looking at the magazine and her notes in front of her, she says, "Nah, I don't really feel like eating." Her answer takes you aback, and you look at the others, expecting them to be shocked at the statement as well, but they aren't. The four of them are very close, so it's very odd to see that none of them are concerned whatsoever. In fact, as you study your friends closely, you realize that they're acting strange as well. Amira has sat down and stayed quiet almost the whole time, listening intently to everything Vicky had to say. And Oz seemed different as well, he seems visibly more nervous than usual, and you notice his little phobias are frantically taking notes. The only who seems to be acting normal is Brian. He still looks tired, uninterested, and bored. In fact, he's even looking at his phone, scrolling through it. You really didn't want to have to be the one to do it, but no one else will say anything, you might as well take it upon yourself. You swallow your fears and say, "Don't you think you should eat something?" In that moment, time seemed to freeze. Or at least, Vicky did. She has stopped moving completely. You look at the other three, only to see their eyes on you. Vicky says, "I think this is a bit more important than food." "W-Well I don't think so. Y-You need to take c-care of yourself." Hearing those words come out of your mouth almost makes you feel sick. You feel like such a hypocrite saying it, but you almost feel like you need to. She continues, "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to have a successful Valentine's Day. I can miss a meal, I'll be okay, I'll survive. If you're not going to share our passion, then you can eat somewhere else." She glares at you as you make your decision. You look at Amira, who has a similar expression. Oz avoids eye contact, and Brian continues to scroll through his phone, unbothered. You pick up the tray of your half-eaten lunch, and make your way towards the cafeteria doors. You throw away the remains of your lunch and exit the room.

You walk down the hall, not sure where to go. Lunch is only half over, so there's not much you can really do. Before you know it, you've leaned against the wall and sunk down to the floor. All you wanna do is cry and disappear from the world. That is, until a large mass plops himself right next to you, and puts his arm around you. You begin to cry as Scott rubs your arm for comfort. As this happens, you feel another person sit down next to you, as her ghostly arm wraps itself around you as well.