Fell On Black Days (A School for Good and Evil Fanfic)

Isolated Souls

Hester didn't understand why the lunchroom still terrified her so much. Perhaps it was because she couldn't control every one of the flood of students coming in, or because of the disjointed noises as trays slammed down onto the tables.

She found herself holding her lunch tray like it was an anchor, feeling like a spooked freshman on the first day of school. In a way, despite being a senior, she was, given that yesterday she had skipped lunch to wander around the school and this was her first lunch. She scanned the room, trying to find an empty table, but the emptiest was the one in the far corner, the only student sitting at it being Anadil Beaumont. Against her will, Hester found her feet taking her toward that table. She wasn't sure how it would be to talk to Anadil so soon after the tutoring incident yesterday, but she seemed immersed in the book she was reading, so perhaps she wouldn't notice Hester sitting across from her. No such luck. As the lunch tray hit the table, she looked up, those strange red eyes meeting Hester's once again. They were intimidating, but at the same time kind of entrancing.

"Can I sit here?" Hester asked.

"Sure," Anadil said, looking back down at her book. "Don't worry, I'm not very social."

Hester nodded awkwardly, putting on her headphones to escape the situation. Well, not entirely. Throughout the course of the meal, she would occasionally find herself glancing up, a few times catching the other girl doing the same. There was just something about Anadil that she couldn't help to be drawn to, some kind of mysterious air. It was why, after school, she found her feet taking her toward the library. Anadil was a mystery, a mystery that Hester desperately wanted to solve.