Cecilia

Chapter four

Cecilia's Pov:

The open stares from onlookers bore into me as I walked alongside the guys. If it was possible, I'd be shrinking into myself as much as I could in attempt to get away from everyone. Of course the staring was all from guys, given that we were still in the boys area of the dorm wing.

"Just ignore them." A voice said from beside me, and I turned to see Gray looking at me, noticing my discomfort. "They always act like this. Like they've never seen a girl in their lifetime." He rolls his eyes. 

"You say that like they don't see girls on a daily basis in class." 

"These guys? Nah. You really think any girls are willingly going up to these little fuckers?" He scrunches his nose and I snort. 

At the sound, his lips quirk up slightly before turning ahead of him. The sound of bustling people and talking grows louder and louder, gaining my attention and I turn my gaze to what we were walking towards, seeing a large entrance to a way larger room. 

"This is the food hall." Gray tells me as we make our way inside. At our arrival, I notice a few students heads turned towards us, openly looking. But this time, I notice it's not me on the receiving end of their intense stares. Their eyes are all locked on the boys beside me.

The four boys seemed to not notice their gawking, and if they did, they seemed totally unaffected. I was honestly jealous of that. The ability to just completely ignore everyone's looks. Me, on the other hand, I had to forcefully dive myself in the comfort that no one was looking at me. I hate crowds and I hate crowds looking at me. 

We make our way to a large line of people beside groups of tables full of food. The scent wafted through the air and towards me, making my stomach grumble with hunger. Looking over the assortment of food, my mouth waters as I contemplate the options. "What are you getting?" I ask quietly to Gray. 

He hums in thought, looking over the table. Laid out were salads, pastas, wrapped sandwiches, some type of fried and grilled chicken, and a bunch more. Finally, he plucks a plastic wrapped ham and cheese sandwich and holds it up to my face. "This."

I nod my head in contemplation. "Are their chicken sandwich's good?" I ask, pointing towards a foil wrapped food with the label on the front.

He grimaces. "Definitely not. Luca tried one once and had food poisoning all night. Wasn't pretty."

I wince with him and put it back, picking up what he did, the ham sandwich. "This looks safe." I shrug. When I get to the end of the line with my tray, I pause unsurely, looking around the filled cafeteria. I look back and notice they were all still in line, picking up sides of fries and drinks. 

I didn't exactly want to go through the embarrassing task of going table to table, asking people to sit with them, but it also felt intruding to just follow along with Gray and assume I was sitting with them. 

Thankfully, I didn't actually have to make the decision as Gray had taken ahold of my elbow, nodding to a table in the back. "C'mon, we sit over there."

Following with him, I gratefully take the seat that Alex had offered me and set my tray of food down. 

"So, you get your schedule yet?" Luca asks over a mouthful of food, making Alex grimace in disgust from beside him.

"What? Oh- yeah." I start to fumble around my pockets, eventually pulling out a crumbled sheet of paper with all my classes labeled in order. 

"I have...Mr. Wiener first period?" I hesitate.

Matteo snorts and Luca and Gray burst into immature fits of giggles. I feel my cheeks heat up into a burning scarlet as Luca loudly cackles, gaining the attention of a few nearby people.

Alex rolls his eyes at the loud display but his own mouth quirks up in amusement as he explains, "his name is actually pronounced 'why-ner' but it's better you made the mistake now instead of having him get all mad at you on the mispronunciation." He shrugs his shoulders.

I nod my head and burn his name in my memory so I don't embarrass myself in front of a whole class tomorrow. Then I start listing off the rest of my classes, making sure to glance up on every name I say, checking with them that I wasn't messing up on any more names.

"What about you guys? We share any classes together?" I ask. 

Luca frowns, thinking over all my classes in his head. "Man, you're smart smart, you're in all honors classes?" He asks in disbelief. 

I shrug sheepishly. "Yeah, my dad always tried to push me into doing the harder classes."

"Well, we have English together with Matteo, Alex, and Gray," He grins, "it's the only class we all have together." 

"Our teacher hates us." That came from Matteo, but Gray nods in agreement. 

I compare my schedule with the rest of them, where I find out that I share three other classes with Matteo: Pre-calculus, science, and World History. I don't share any other with Alex but I have French III with Gray, which I am only taking because it's an easy class I can get credit for even though I'm already fluent.

The chatter at the table continued, blending into the ambient noise of the bustling cafeteria. I listened intently as Luca offered more insights on the teachers and people at this school, occasionally nodding every once in awhile to let him know I was listening. 

As I listened to them talk, I couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. These guys seem way more calm than I was initially expecting and I'm glad I was stuck with them rather than the more...bold ones I'd seen already. 

I'm grateful for Luca's talkative self, because he didn't leave me in the awkward quiet as I searched for conversation starters, his loud chatting just naturally fills the silence. 

As we finish our food and clear our trays, beginning our walk back to our room, I can't help but feel that maybe, this school year wouldn't be too bad. Maybe I actually have a chance at making friends with these guys and having normal school experience without any drama or chaos.