‘Mystery Meat Monday’ was the unofficially coined term for the funky, uneatable main course slapped onto our plates, a collection of all the leftovers from the previous week.
I took a better look at the thick chunks amid the pinkish slime. “Uh…when did we last have meatloaf?”
Reese grimaced, poking at the gunk on his own tray. “Too long to still be edible.” Surrendering, he finally tossed the plastic spork aside and ate a slice of bread instead. “Why are you here?”
“Looked like you could use some company.”
He continued to eye me with evident doubt, but didn’t say anything.
“What are you reading?” I finally asked, trying to fill the awkward silence lingering in the air. Reese propped up the book he had laid out on the table just long enough to flash me the cover. Charles Bukowski’s You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense. “So…how’s your Physics report coming along?”
“Fine.”
I tried out a couple more questions, still only getting one word responses. “Don’t talk my ear off, now,” I muttered.
He didn’t so much as lift his eyes as he flipped to the next page. “I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Why are you talking to me—here? There are these things they invented called cell phones. You may have heard of them.”
“Ha-ha.”
“Not to mention, you already have my number. The whole reason I returned your phone to you when I did was to avoid this very situation.”
Ouch. “You really hate me that much that you can’t stomach sitting with me?”
“What?” He looked up, confused. “No, I meant this.” His eyes shifted across the room. “I’m not particularly fond of being a spectacle, and I really think you underestimate the killing powers I possess when it comes to one’s social status.”
“I’ll take my chances. Besides, if you were really concerned with not drawing attention, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t dress like that,” I pointed out.
He relented, closing his book. “Let me ask you, what would your reaction be if you saw someone dressed like me, who spends their days performing random acts of illusions, suddenly vanish out of thin air in the middle of class?”
“I’d be taken aback, sure, but I’d find it pretty cool.”
“And what would you do if you saw your everyday jock or cheerleader vanish into thin air right from their desk?”
“I’d…probably scream and run away,” I admitted.
“Precisely. Around here, the weirder you appear to be, the less people pay attention when something unexplainable happens.”
“Do you lose control of your abilities?” I whispered. “Is that gonna happen to me?”
“To one degree or another, yeah. It’s kind of unavoidable. Light Mages evoke their magic through concentration. The harder you focus on something, the more power you expel. So by simply focusing on your studies, you may accidentally make all your reading materials levitate off your desk. It takes practice and discipline, but even I have a slipup every now and again.”
“That’s hardly comforting,” I mumbled. “Did you have a chance to look through your dad’s journals?”
“Came up empty.” Reese finally sighed. “Look, I don’t know if you’re doing this to make a point to those self-righteous assholes you call friends, but you really don’t need to commit social suicide to do so. I don’t need your pity, Princess.”
“Okay, why do you keep calling me that?”
“Princess?”
“Yeah, do you really think I’m that spoiled?”
“Not at all.”
“Then what is it?”
A sly smile crept across his face. “You really don’t know?”
Even though I didn’t regret not eating more from the cafeteria, my stomach certainly did. I’d dumped my tray with most of the food still on it, forcing me to take refuge with the vending machine. Sure, the snacks were far better tasting, but it really didn’t do much to crave my appetite. Reese seemed to be suffering from the same problem, because we both practically tackled the machine the moment lunch let out.
“Sugar works best to fend off the cravings,” he whispered, grabbing a Mountain Dew and two packs of Skittles. “It still doesn’t work as well as having a solid meal, but it’ll hold you over.”
“Is that what’s wrong with me? Is my blood sugar crashing?”
“Sort of. Our bodies heal so quickly because our systems run faster, including how we process things. So we need to eat and drink more frequently. Think of it as having a metabolism on cocaine.”