I thrum my blunt fingernails against the citrus-smelling lunch table, eyes darting about for Pearl.
She isn't hard to find- her tall stature and flaming ginger hair offer her the rudimentary likeness of a candlestick. I catch her emerging from the lunch line, walking towards me with a tray of rubber food in one hand, and a stainless steel coffee canister in the other.
Despite being one of the most feminine human beings I know, she drinks coffee like a veteran construction worker- straight black and in bulk. I've seen her down entire pots of the buzzing liquid on exam days, and I've come to personal belief that her functioning bladder is one of the seven great miracles of this earth- succeeded only by tardigrades and my uncanny ability to f**k up every good thing that comes to me.
The co
