Alek wasn't expecting the reaction he had gotten from Sage. The boy was tripping over himself he seemed so happy, Alek was glad he could make someone's day even if it was in the smallest of ways. "Don't worry about it," Alek dismissed the boy's worries as he dumped the contents of Alek's satchel on the ground. It was a mistake, he could tell, but Alek didn't mind. Worse things had happened, he was just glad his satchel hadn't ended up in the fountain... again. "It's alright, I'm not very particular about the way my things go in." This was a lie, but Alek covered it up with a smile and a bit of a shy scratch beside his eyepatch. Once his things were sorted he rehung his bag and made his way out.
As they walked into the lunchroom, Alek surveyed the area, glad that he did not see his self proclaimed fan club anywhere. The group of girls that followed him around were very annoying and he wasn't sure why they insisted on shadowing him. They had earned themselves more than one lunch detention, so Alek would not be surprised if he passed by the main office and saw them sitting in a silent circle. He did, however, see an even odder sight though, his favorite irrational was happily speaking to two students and his heart swelled with pride. Alek had met Reyna in Mao Village and he knew her to be very shy. He felt somewhat protective over the girl since her older brother had failed at that task and the patrolmen that were posted around the school were useless for protecting anyone proclaimed different.
"Why don't we eat with them?" Alek turned towards Sage, gesturing to the group. William, a boy in the year below them had just strode up to Vincent, Keahi, and Reyna and Alek wondered if they had arranged this before hand. Regardless he would ask to join, figuring it was better to eat with new people than the normal group of semi decent students that would somewhat ignore him while he read at the table. Alek wasn't as good at making conversation as he pretended to be. His parents had drilled small talk into him, but beyond that Alek was in the dark. "So do you have any favorite books? You're always writing so I figured you must be pretty into literature." Real paper was a commodity on Castle Rock. It was reserved for the blind who needed unblemished sheets in order to read. Most other paper was recycled and normally you could find flecks of newspapers and other passages when you picked up new notebooks. Rumor had it that the King horded old novels whose pages were untarnished by sun and weather. Nothing on Castle Rock was new really, most everything, including the seats on the train, were recycled. There were tubes around the academy and throughout the sectioned neighborhoods that would suck up the trash and take it to the recycling center, where it was burned or melted and recreated. Alek thought it was wonderful how nothing was ever wasted and he often wondered if the ground lived like this as well, or if there was so much space that they needn't worry about reusing what they had.
He never spoke of these musings to anyone aside from his sister, who enjoyed contemplating these things as well. Alek blinked, realizing he had spaced out and could have possibly missed Sage's answer, but from the looks of it the boy was still deciding. "Take your time, we seem to have plenty considering how long the lunch line is." Occasionally students would bring left overs from the cold box at home, but academy provided one meal a day for free and it was encouraged to gather in the dining room for it.
Reyna watched as the events before her unfolded like a map of the city slowly being put together. A boy bumped into Keahi who appeared as though she were going to explode when she realized she bumped into a snowy white haired girl Reyna had noticed had been moved to their academy class. "Celia!" The Reyna pipped, suddenly remembering her name and walked over to the other female, taking her hands in her own and looking directly into her eyes. "Um-do you want to join us for lunch?" The expression on Reyna's face was sincere and intense and should anyone else have seen it they no doubt would have laughed. It had taken much courage for Reyna to do something so outspoken and she drew in a shaky breath as she waited for an answer.
In that moment, William, whose artwork Reyna often stopped to admire walked up to them and requested to join them as well. She was so glad so many people were eating with her today! "Of course!" Reyna nodded her head, her smile wide. They moved up on the lunch line and she collected her food, the smell of vegetable loaf wafting under her nose. Meat was reserved for special occasions and holidays, it was rarely served in academy unless they were having the end of the year meal or a student had been honored by the king for being especially exceptional.
Reyna waited for the others to gather their food before making her way outside. The sun was warm on her back and in the distance, boys were already throwing off their blazers and rolling up their sleeves in order to begin a game of soccer. Reyna loyally sat beneath her favorite tree, she would not abandon it now that she had new friends to eat with, especially if these friends proved to be like others and simply thought they could make a few jokes at her expense. Unfortunately it would not be the first time and nervously she began to play with the tag around her neck, wondering if they had only agreed to eat with her in order to humor her and really had no intention of staying friends.