Rhea
I pushed the door to the cafeteria, but the usual noise died down the second I stepped in. It wasn’t a comfortable silence. It was the heavy, suffocating kind that precedes a storm.
Elara hovered close to my side, her knuckles were white as she gripped the strap of her bag. Her eyes darted to a cluster of students by the drink station.
"Rhea," she whispered, her voice barely a thread of sound. "They’re staring. They’ve been looking at their phones since we walked in."
I didn’t need to ask why. The air felt thick with bad energy. I walked toward a corner table, I could hear only the sound of my boots thudding against the floor. As I walked I could feel the heat of a hundred glares tracking my path.
"Please…," I muttered, sliding onto the bench. "I’m hungry, and I’m not letting a b
