When one o’clock hit, Maya knew exactly where to go. She’d seen where the school lunch hall was marked on the floor plan of the building. When the professor released them, she walked to Elena, who looked like she had just woken up — which could easily be the case.

“Wanna go to lunch together?” Maya asked.

Elena was still a little dazed and wiping off her drool, like she was just getting back to reality.

“Okay,” she said with a dry voice and began coughing. “I think I swallowed a bug.”

“I hope you still have some room for lunch.”

Elena looked at her, confused at first, but then narrowed her eyes and smirked.

“Pfft.”

It seems Elena found her joke unexpectedly amusing and was looking at Maya like if this snarky little comment had won her approval.

Since they were on a break, Maya hoped to meet the rest of her classmates, but they all just passed by them. She couldn’t help but feel like she was being shunned for being the headmaster’s pet. After all, it was like she had just appeared out of nowhere with no one to vouch for her and receiving special treatment from the highest authority.

“Don’t worry. It’s not you, it’s me. Hanging around me won’t get you many friends,” Elena said.

Maya returned her gaze to Elena, not expecting her to show this level of self-awareness to admit it.

“Why do they all dislike you? Did you do something to them?”

“Is that really something you haven’t figured out yet? I’m not fun to hang out with. Anything I do offends people.”

“But they all laughed at your jokes at the hall earlier.”

“Because I’m funny,” she said, ironically.

“You don’t seem too bad to me,” Maya tried to cheer her up.

“That’s because I haven’t been a mean bitch to you, just yet.”

“You haven’t?” Maya teased her.

She was mostly mean and derisive, but Maya concluded Elena may not have amazing social skills, just like Maya herself, making her tolerant of her mistakes.

They got together to the ground floor of the central part of the building where the lunch hall was. Maya was overwhelmed by the food choices. They had a variety of food from all over the world to pick from. Most of it she’d never even seen before or knew what it was. Everything looked homemade and healthy, and they could eat as much as they wanted to.

“The choice is amazing,” Maya said.

“They’re probably just showing off because it’s the first day,” Elena mumbled.

Maya was indecisive while Elena just filled her tray up with bizarre food combinations. Piling from the buffet, sweet, sour, salty; all flavours would meet on her plate. Ending up with a plateful of meat with a side dish of sliced oranges she stocked from the dessert section.

At Maya’s judgemental looks, she argued it could easily be considered gourmet if this was a nice restaurant.

‘Has she ever been to a nice restaurant? I don’t think their portions would seep out of the plate,’ Maya thought to herself.

While they were looking for a free table, Maya began to accept that they would have to join an occupied one as the hall was already crowded. It wasn’t a loss as it would give Maya a chance to meet more people. However, while Elena was walking unbothered toward one table that had some free space, students sitting there suddenly looked frightened as they noticed her approaching.

“Here, Elena. You can have this table,” one of them said, almost bowing as if not wanting to disrespect her.

Maya watched them in confusion as they scurried away, looking for another free table.

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“Are they… scared of her?” Leo said with a hint of worry. “Maya…”

Elena just sat there without saying a word or acknowledging the weirdness of the situation.

Maya stood there for a second longer, bemused. “What was that about?”

“No clue. I guess there’s a lot of rumours circling about me,” Elena responded as she casually adjusted a strand of her hair that was getting in her face. “But, hey, a table for ourselves,” she pointed at the fortunate outcome with a wide smile on her face.

Maya was amazed at how unfazed she was about it.

Familiar voices came from the background. “Look, there’s Maya. Their table’s almost empty, let’s sit with them.” Cheerful Andrea decisively walked toward them, Ignoring Sarah’s protests. “Hi! Can we join you?”

Elena paused eating in surprise. To her, it was more unexpected that someone wanted to join them than students running away trembling in fear.

“Of course,” Maya smiled happy to see her.

Andrea introduced both herself and the rest of the group to Elena. Witnessing the preceding scene, Maya felt it was a brave act. There was no need for Elena to reciprocate the introduction, as everyone likely knew who she was. Still, she did, albeit nonchalantly bypassing the handshake.

While the rest were friendly and polite, Sarah was quietly demanding they sit somewhere else.

“Don’t be silly,” Andrea cheerfully dismissed Sarah. “There’s plenty of room for us here.”

They took their seats, while Sarah hesitated for a moment but ultimately gave in. Andrea initiated the small talk as they ate. Maya was surprised by Elena’s pleasant responses to the questions, contrary to her expectations of dismissiveness or rudeness. However, Sarah was in a bad mood and spent the meal quietly chasing salad around her plate with a fork.

From being lunch-break buddies, Maya had learned that Sarah and Isaac were from LA and Wisconsin, respectively. Andrea was the one starting and leading the conversation so it flowed quite smoothly. Even when Sarah appeared uninterested in participating, Andrea would speak on her behalf.

“How about you two?” Maya inquired about Andrea and Linda as it was clear they had foreign accents.

“I’m from Italy. Linda is, well, from China. Who would’ve guessed,” she joked a bit about Linda being Asian.

“Ha, ha. A Chinese girl from China,” Linda didn’t seem fluent in English.

Maya wasn’t sure if she was making a sarcastic joke or trying to clarify that she was, in fact, from China. Although it seemed like Linda was being dragged along the ride by Andrea because she was too shy to interact with people on her own, Maya found her rather relatable. There was kindness and pure support in her eyes even though they just met.

“Where you from, Elena?” It was Linda who asked.

“Russia, mostly,” Elena was more interested in eating than their conversation.

“Mostly?”

Elena didn’t elaborate further.

“Isn’t it weird that we’re freshmen again? Like, were starting high school all over again,” Maya changed the subject before it could become awkward, having prior experience in interacting with Elena.

“What’s a freshman?” Linda asked.

“It’s a term to describe someone new. Like, a first year of high school,” Isaac explained.

Although Isaac didn’t seem too interested in any of the interactions the girls had so far — only answering when being addressed — he did seem like a perfect translator for Linda. He would quickly explain things to her when catching her having a tough time understanding as if he was very used to it.

Isaac was of geeky nature, and Maya couldn’t exactly say he was winning in any department such as looks or charisma — perhaps having her standards unfairly raised after first meeting people like Elena, Keith and Sarah — but he seemed like a person you could quickly get to know if you tried.

“This isn’t high school,” Linda said.

“You’re right. But what do we call it? Magic school?” Isaac realized.

“How about Elementary school?” Andrea suggested, giggling. “Get it?” she got overly excited. “Like, we study Elements here.”

They chuckled at her pun. Sarah laughed a bit too hard and received some raised eyebrows, mostly from Elena. Sarah sneered at her and turned away. At this point, Maya was certain that it was Elena that Sarah had a problem with.

“I don’t understand,” Linda admitted, causing another round of laughter.

“It’s just a silly joke,” Isaac assured her. He was still amused but didn’t think it necessary to explain, leaving Linda puzzled.

“I like you guys. Let’s hang out after school! We can discuss clubs and study groups,” Andrea proposed.

Maya was all for it, but remembered she had a prior engagement.

“I have to visit a tailor. This is a temporary uniform.”

“Perfect. We can go thrifting! I’m excited. Let’s meet downtown after our assignment!”

“Thrifting? But I need a new one. They told me to look for a tailor.”

“Oh, you misunderstood. Here, all clothes from the old world are in thrift shops, whether they’re second-hand or expensive brands. The costly designer clothes are made by Mellgrah brands and sold in their own shops. I just thought you might want to buy some since you only arrived yesterday.”

“Oh.”

“Furthermore, tailors are commonplace here. They’ll adjust anything for you. You can even purchase the fabric and have them make you something from scratch. You’ll see. Since the influence of Vetus Orbis is limited, fashion in this world follows its own direction. We’ll show you everything trendy!”

“Sounds great!”