Human

Ch. 3 - Adrian

"Mira!" Carmen yelled. "Mira!"

The girl named Mira turned around from the food table and greeted them with a smile and a friendly wave.

As they approached, Adrian noticed the clashes of smells and scents around them. It was different from the usual, as things were normally a cacophony of cheap perfume and too much deodorant. For some reason, this smell felt different.

"Mira, this is Adrian of the Lunaris Pack. Adrian, this is Mira, my cousin," Carmen quickly introduced them both with practiced ease. "I figured you could tell him all about the ins and outs of Rosewood."

Mira then extended her hand toward Adrian. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he said politely as he shook her hand, still rather confused on what exactly was going on.

"So what classes are you thinking of taking?" Mira asked while she took something from the refreshment table.

"I haven't exactly registered yet, so I'm not sure."

Mira's face scrunched for a second, but then it returned to neutral.

"You should probably do that soon, before all the classes you want are full."

"You're right." Adrian added it to his mental list of things to do.

"So, what subjects do you like?"

Adrian thought about that for a moment. It was his last year in high school, and it might be his last chance to do something for himself.

"I really like the culinary arts."

"Cooking? Really?" Mira asked.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Adrian tried not to get offended.

"No, no, not at all." Carmen was quick to diffuse the situation. "It's just, Mira can't boil water without burning something."

"Hey!" Mira defended herself. "I'm not that bad."

"You burnt ramen. I don't know how you can even burn ramen," Carmen pointed out. "You even burnt canned soup. How does one even burn soup from a can?"

"I . . . forgot about it." She shrugged sheepishly.

"It's okay. My sister's probably worse. She thought that the potatoes were onions, and she burnt them while she was trying to sauté them," he added to the conversation.

"How do you mix up potatoes and onions?" Carmen's face was painted with confusion.

"I don't even know."

"So culinary?" Mira asked. "I think we have a few electives for that, but I'm not sure. I'm not much of a master chef—"

"Far from it really," Carmen interrupted.

"But I have a friend who took a few classes. I can ask her if you want to know about them."

"Yeah, sure. That sounds great," Adrian agreed. "So, what else is the school known for?"

Mira hummed for a moment. "A lot of things really, but we're really big into sports. You?"

"They're okay. I don't mind it, but I don't think I'd play competitively."

"Really?" Carmen sounded genuinely curious.

"Yeah. They're more up Nick's alley."

"I heard my name," Nick said as he seemingly magically popped up from nowhere.

"Hi, my name's Nick. It's nice to meet you," he greeted Mira and Carmen.

"Mira," she replied.

"I'm Carmen," Carmen introduced herself a little more formally than Mira. "How are you?"