The Zodiac ✓

chapter ²³

"Why are you back?" Veronica asked bluntly. No how are you doing, no nice to see you again, not even a simple hello. How I missed her daily dose of rudeness.

"Long story," the room started to fill up and I looked around, "Don't you have a partner though?"

"No, I work alone. Besides, I'm the best cook here, everyone would just slow me down."

"If you think I'm gonna sit back and let you do all the cooking, you're wrong." I stood my ground and for a second, I thought she was going to argue with me. But instead she just nodded.

"Okay."

Okay? That wasn't a typical Capricorn response.

Class started and Mr. Fernando started his pre-lecture before we started getting our aprons and measuring the ingredients. We were making some seafood dish that the Pisces had invented a long time ago. Personally, I wasn't really a fan of fish since I could never get the funny taste out of my mouth. Also, everything was supposed to be eaten raw, so I didn't have high hopes for today.

Once the lecture was over, everyone started rushing towards the front to grab the many ingredients that the recipe called for.

"I'll get the dry ingredients if you get the wet ingredients." She said and I nodded. We grabbed separate trays and waited in line.

After I weighed the fish, blue rice, seagrown veggies, sand fruits, kelp cubes and salt flakes, I walked back to our kitchen, where Veronica had just come back with the thirty different liquids to make the four specialty sauces.

"I'll do the sauces, you mold the rice." She instructed and I didn't object; I loved getting my hands dirty.

After mixing everything together but the garnishes, I flattened the ball with my palms and molded it so it looked like a rainbow. Getting each rice rainbow to stand on its own was the only challenging part. About a third of them would collapse and I'd have to really squeeze everything together.

"Some of them aren't staying up. And the fruit's falling out."

"Try coating them with a dash water. If that doesn't work, put some salt on your fingers. And if that doesn't work, cut the fruit into smaller pieces and use less rice."

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?"

"Did it work?" She asked instead as I followed her advice.

"Like a charm."

We worked in silence for a few minutes so I took the time to eavesdrop on Sky and Daphne in the kitchen across from us.

"I thought she was staying with Mars," Daphne was saying and I didn't need to ask who they were talking about, "Did she tell you why she came back?"

"She's going to tell me at lunch." Sky sounded very faraway—not just physically but also emotionally, like there was a big gap between us now.

"Maybe they got into a fight or something. I mean, why else would she come back? You said yourself that she chose to leave you guys behind." Sky didn't have anything to say to that. "I bet he shut her out after his dad died and she didn't want to handle it. Or she got too honest with him and he snapped at her. You know how she is."