The thing about cafeterias is… they suck.
They always smell like melted cheese and poor life choices. The tables are never clean. And if you're lucky, maybe half the food won't try to kill you. I don't usually eat here — I smuggle snacks into the library like a criminal.
But after this morning? Yeah. I needed carbs. And distance.
Except I got neither.
Because she followed me.
Again.
She didn't say anything at first. Just walked behind me. No tray. No food. Just her high heels click-clacking across the linoleum floor like they owned the place — which, considering her last name, they probably did.
I tried to lose her. Zig-zag through crowds. Sit in the nerd section near the microwave with the weird smell.
Didn't matter.
I sat and she sat next to me.
Correction: pressed herself next to me like we were on a date. Like I'd invited her. Like we weren't in a cafeteria with 150 other college students staring at us like this was some kind of student council anime arc.
I felt them watching.
Especially the cool kids. Rich guys in varsity jackets and expensive haircuts. The ones who usually ignore my existence unless they need homework done.
Now?
They were watching like I'd stolen their yacht.
"You always sit alone?" she asked, turning her full attention to me. Her voice was syrupy now — soft and smooth and just a little too sweet to trust.
I didn't look at her. "Sometimes I hide in the library."
She hummed, like that was cute. "You don't talk much."
"Words cost energy."
"Smart answer."
She leaned in. "So. What's your name?"
I paused. Thought about lying. Giving her something like "Darth Vader Jr." or "Leave Me Alone Please."
But she was staring at me like she already knew.
"…Kai," I muttered. "Kai Tanaka."
She smiled.
It was… unsettling.
Not because it was fake — but because it wasn't. She looked genuinely pleased, like I'd just passed some invisible test she'd made up five seconds ago.
"I'm Celestia," she said, even though everyone already knew. "But you can call me whatever you want."
"I'll stick with Celestia."
She tilted her head, fake-pouting. "Boring."
"Accurate."
She giggled. Like I was hilarious. Which I'm not. Ask literally anyone.
Then she shifted closer. Our shoulders touched. Her perfume hit me like a truck made of roses and war crimes.
She whispered:
"Do you have a girlfriend, Kai?"
I froze. I didn't answer. She didn't wait though.
> "When are you gonna break up with her?"
I blinked. "…I don't."
> "Don't what?"
"Have a girlfriend."
"Oh," she said, and then smiled like I'd just told her Christmas came early. "Good."
"You're insane."
> "Possibly."
"You don't even know me."
> "I'm learning."
I turned to face her. "Why are you doing this?"
And that's when it happened.
The switch. One second she was cute and coy and bratty.
The next, her expression dropped — eyes sharpening, voice quiet, almost too calm.
"Because you helped me," she said, lips barely moving. "Because you didn't stare at my chest or ask for my number or try to impress me with your daddy's car."
"Because you treated me like I was a person."
She leaned in closer. "And that pisses me off."
My breath caught.
She kept going. "You made me feel something. I don't know what it is yet. But I'm going to figure it out. And you—"
Her eyes flicked to the guys watching us.
"—are mine now."
Then, just as fast, she smiled again.
Flawless. Flirty. Like nothing happened.
She reached over, took a single tater tot off my tray, and popped it into her mouth.
"Ugh," she said, grimacing. "This is disgusting."
"Then why'd you eat it?"
> "To remind myself I'm better than everyone here."
And then? She winked.
She winked.
The cool guys were still watching. One of them whispered something to another. I couldn't hear it, but it didn't matter. The look in their eyes told me enough.
I wasn't invisible anymore.
I was something else.
A target? A joke? A threat?
All I knew was… lunch was officially ruined.