Royal's point of view

Royal and Skittery made their way to the mess hall in silence, Skittery side glancing her every few seconds.

"How was literature?" he asked, breaking the air with his words.

She shrugged, " we just read. I didn't have the book so I kinda jus dozed off." She chuckled a she recalled the incident "Mr. McRow started exsplodin on me in front of the class cause I wasn't paying attention."

Her chuckles died down and she shrugged once more. Royal waited for Skittery to talk about his previous class.

"Yeah I dozed off a lot too. I have to go ta da teacher aftah' supper though… she wants to 'tudor me'. Figure I might as well go or else im gonna be totally lost every single class."

Royal smiled at him, suddenly filled with pride in how well he was handling their awful situation.

They entered the mess hall and Skittery pointed out Wits and Ozz who were sitting at a table in the back of the large room.

The room was about two times the size of the distribution office and its walls were of a pale color. There were 3 vast windows in the room from which, streams of sunlight were filtering in. A line of children had formed along one of the walls, heading towards a line of food. The children had trays in hand and were leaning against the wall disdainfully, waiting for their turn to get lunch. Several rows of the tables stood adjacent to one another, half of them already filled with students eating their mid day meal.

Royal pulled Skittery into the line, handing him a tray from a stack near the door.

The line soon began to shorten as one by one the kids got their food and sat down at one of the many free tables.

Royal slid her tray along a metal rail, collecting her meal in parts; mash potatoes first, coleslaw second and water third.

She and Skittery made their way to Ozz and Wits's table in the back of the hall, grabbing forks as they passed the utensils bin.

"Its as good as it gets." Wit's remarked contemptuously, eyeing his mashed potatoes.

"Well at least you eating today." Ozz responded in a serious tone. She turned her attention to royal and Larkins as they sat down.

"Yesterday he got banned from all meals." She explained.

Skittery looked at wits quizzically. "What'd ya do?"

Wits shrugged and began to pick at the coleslaw with his fork. "Took the hinges off the office door."

Ozz gave a small laugh, "that's not all, he broke the door in two and tried barricaded the door way with the wood"

"Yeah, only the barricade part didn't work to well and I got caught."

Wits looked up at Royal and Skittery, waiting for them to react.

"Wait so dey cut you off meals because you failed?" Skittery asked Wits in an analytical manner.

"I didn't fail"

"I used to miss meals for doing shit like that too. The jockers don't do it as a punishment though; they just want you ta know whose boss… I mean why else would they give a fuck about an attempt to rebel. They want you ta know that they can't be pushed around." Royal argued, deciding to contribute to the conversation that she happened to be oh so passionate about.

"Yeah, last month I had to give up my laundry duty cause I spilled my dinner on the janitor." Ozz put in, probing at her mash potatoes, "Some jocker thought I had done it intentionally but he had no proof so the most he could do was ban me from laundry; not a huge punishment but a regrettable one. The only reason he did that was so I would know that he was in charge… that he had the power to create a punishment for a simple accident."

Her words left the group of kids pondering and contemplating in silence, chewing their soggy, deadbeat food between theories.

Suddenly their thoughts were pulled to the front of the room where a pudgy man was clapping his hands forcefully, trying to signal the kids attention.

The room became quiet as one by one the children heard his raucous and turned towards him.

"I would like to remind you," the man boomed, his voice echoing off the walls of the great hall, "that visiting day will be on the 25th of this month. Feel free to call friends or acquaintances and request their visit though I would also like to remind you that there is only one visitor per child. If two come then one will have to turn around and go back home. There are no exceptions what so ever. Oh… and the roof is now open for any of you who are finished with your meals." The man turned promptly on his heals and left the room at a brisk walk.

Skittery turned to Royal and nodded his head towards the door as if to ask her if she was done and wanted to go. She nodded inertly and picked up her tray, preparing to dispose of it in one of the trash bins near the doors.

"See you guys later."

Wits nodded a good bye to the departing couple though Ozz stopped them,

"Wait what rooms are you guys in?"

"Um…" Skittery paused, searching through his mind for the information, "Bunkroom 21."

Royal watched as surprise drew took over the girls face.

"Wait you both are in 21?"

"I thought 21 was a girls bunk?" wits asked as well, looking to Skittery and royal for an answer.

"It is a girls bunk but… I dunno… I guess Mrs. Muller doesn't care… I for one don't." as royal finished her explanation she looked up at Skittery flirtatiously.

Wits shrugged and began to pick at his food again.

Ozz, noticing her friend's passive behavior, noted "sorry bout his attitude. He's usually friendlier but I guess he has been kinda bummed out about getting caught and all."

Royal shrugged letting her know it was not a big deal before picking up her tray once more and heading for the doors.