(A/n: Please enjoy)
Chapter 10: Starting Anew
"W-why is this place so beautiful?" Pip sniffles, his eyes glistening with tears under the vivid lights overhead.
"Well, we can't eat in an ugly cafeteria, can we?" Someone standing right beside him responds lightheartedly. Two more are behind them, though they are in their own conversation.
"Yes, that is true," Pip says, feeling a bit embarrassed.
The four teenagers are currently waiting in line near the upper center of the expansive cafeteria, where there are five stainless steel buffet counters lined horizontally next to each other, leaving at least a one-meter gap between each other. Stationed near the corner a little further away from the buffet counters are a blood dispenser machine and a drink machine. Not all vampires drink blood with their meals, sometimes they'd mix the red fluid into their soda or juice, just to experiment or yearn for a more unique taste.
The line Pip is in inches forward a little, there are approximately four more students and three teachers in front of them. "Fuckin' hell, can they go any slower?" The teen next to Pip grumbles irritably. Fifteen minutes have passed since they entered the cafeteria.
"And what's worse is that it's never everybody in here at this time, yet it takes this long to get something to eat," one of the boys behind them add, the other one nodding in agreement. Seems this is the norm, Pip notes, annoyingly so.
These three sophomores were initially Pip's classmates in second period, but now they are also his friends. The development happened so fast and easy that Pip honestly couldn't believe it, and was a teensy bit skeptical of their carefree approach. One of them - which just so happens to be the exasperated teen named Allen Johnson - was the first to beckon him over towards him and his two buddies, Adam Evergreen and Carl Cloud to help him get up to speed with their teacher's current lesson. Allen is the tallest of the four, standing at about five foot ten with neck-length light brown hair and blue eyes. He's a really nice and jovial guy so seeing him looking frustrated is kind of scary, but it is understandable given the situation right now. Carl has spiky silver hair and pretty eyes the color of emeralds, he gives off a calm and mature air but can be just as much of a jokester like Allen, the silverette is an inch taller than Pip because of his bristly hairdo. Adam has unkempt brown hair and lemon yellow eyes, he's three inches shorter than Allen. To Pip, Adam looks more like a werewolf or even a demonic cat if those kinds of species existed. Although he was really curious about Adam's nature, Pip chose not to ask him nor his friends about it. He didn't want to seem rude, especially not after he'd given his fellow classmates such a mirthful greeting, not displaying his nervousness since he was the only human in that class.
Four vampires in front leave the line, prompting the rest to move forward a few steps. A balding administrator supervising the line stops them. As soon as the remaining four get their food and walk off, it'll be their turn, much to Allen's relief that he expresses out loud. Pip still can't understand why only four at a time can grab their food of choice, the buffet counters aren't that small. In fact, five to seven people can at least go through them, it wouldn't be crowded at all.
This is actually Pip's third time being in here, and the cafeteria's appearance never ceases to amaze him. This morning when he came in here to have breakfast with Gregory, Ike, Gary, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny the humans learned that the color schemes alternated throughout the day, but only on weekdays. Kenny had told them. At that time, the colors were red, black, and white. During lunchtime, it was orange, black, and grey; and now it's purple, black, and white. So that just leaves tonight's colors, and Pip can't wait to see them. Right off the bat he knows black is going to be among them, since it seems to be Ms. Biggle's favorite color. But despite it being a dark, depressing shade, it went excellently well with the other two colors the vampiress chose.
After two additional minutes, it's finally their turn. The quartet shuffle closer to the stainless-steel bar, grabbing a porcelain plate, then scanning the variety of foods held in eight metal containers. Allen and Adam already know what they want thus they start filling their plate. While Carl continues to calmly search for something to eat, Pip practically has heart-shaped pupils in his twinkling light blue eyes, his mouth slightly agape. He wants to gobble up everything here, the fried and baked fish, the salad, the multi-flavored chicken wings and drumsticks, the diverse pizzas that are nearly gone, the side dishes such as sweet potato fries, regular golden crispy French fries, and etc.
"Oh my God, they all look so delicious! I don't know what to get!" And these are all evening snacks. The chefs cook four meals throughout an entire day: breakfast, lunch, evening snacks, and dinner. They get weekends off. Pip is very eager to see what they'll prepare for dinnertime later, most likely more five-star restaurant cuisines.
"Now you're holding up the line."
Shutting his mouth and blinking his eyes back to normalcy, Pip first notices Allen, Adam, and Carl waiting for him away from the buffet counter, then peeks behind him to see a long line of grumpy looking students and teachers either glaring at him impatiently or grumbling for him to hurry up. His cheeks heat up instantaneously. "S-sorry!" Ignoring his friends' laughter, he seizes a pair of tongs inside the salad container and puts some on his plate. Making his way out to join the three vampires, he grabs a plastic fork and a packet of ranch dressing.
"Just a salad?" Allen snickers. "After all that staring, that's all you're gonna get?"
Pip pouts, his blush darkening. "I was panicking, okay? I actually wanted some chicken too."
"I'll share some of mine with you," Allen offers. On his plate are two slices of cheese pizza and several barbecue flavored chicken wings.
Pip looks to him with grateful eyes. "Thank you!"
Allen laughs at his expression. They head towards the blood dispenser and drink machines. "You're gonna owe him later," Carl says. All he has are three slices of pepperoni pizza. Adam only got some fried chicken and plain French fries.
"No, he won't. He's new so I'll share for free."
Pip is glad, what if he had to give him some of his blood in return? He shudders inwardly at the thought. They stop before the drink machine. Carl goes first, examining the bottles of juice, soda, and water before coming to a decision. Settling on getting a bottle of water. Acquiring a beverage from here is free, which is a fortunate thing considering Pip didn't bring any money with him. He asked why this was the case this morning during breakfast, Kyle told him that they had no need for money and left it at that. Not even Kenny cared to elaborate further. Naturally, the humans found this odd, and more questions accumulated in Stan's mind about how this academy worked. But they soon figured that the apathetic care for money was due to them being stationed in the middle of the woods, which made perfect sense in the end.
"I have a question," Pip suddenly declares as Adam takes his turn to obtain a drink.
"Shoot," the brunette says pressing two buttons for a Sprite. He cringes once it's roughly dispensed into the hole that's appropriately shaped like a bottle located on the lower right side. He grabs it out. "I hate when it does that," he mutters moving to stand beside Pip.
"Yeah, cuz last time it exploded in your face when you opened it," Allen points out teasingly. Carl laughs while Pip suppresses his laughter with his free hand over his mouth.
"Har har," Adam mocks dully. Allen then contemplates what beverage to get. "Anyway, what'd you wanna ask Pip?"
"Well actually, it's more of a theory. I thought that vampires only survived off of blood."
Adam and Carl turn their heads his way, eyeing him silently and blankly. Allen mimics them after he claims his soda, a Coca-Cola. Pip looks back and forth between the three, feeling that he'd either asked a dumb or forbidden question. He can feel a drop of sweat forming near the brim of his hairline the longer they remained eerily quiet, the background chatter overlapping the heavy rain outside somewhat easing his discomfort.
"You're wondering about that now?" Allen asks, dumbfounded. "You didn't think about that during breakfast?"
Again, Pip becomes embarrassed. "Uh well, I did, but..." He asked about their finances (kind of) and that didn't please Kyle, so he didn't want to ask anything else that would've annoyed the redhead.
"It is true," Carl answers. "We need it to live and keep sane, but we can eat and drink human foods and beverages."
"You've been watchin' too many t.v shows and movies, dude," Adam comments. "They're obviously fake now that you're seein' the real deal."
"I-I have not, and I know!" Pip retorts, frowning.
"Alright, let's relax and go eat before our food gets cold," Allen advises.
"Hold on, I need to get a drink." Pip nears the drink machine, Allen telling him that they'll save him a seat as they walk away. He thanks him.
Six rows of long tables are lined vertically, stopping half a meter away from a wide stage with big black curtains. On top of the tables are silky, smooth purple cloths, they are somehow lengthy enough to cover them as a whole by themselves. They each have four small clear vases that contains two flowers of different colors, the water fresh and filled halfway. Separately colored black and white plastic dining chairs are occupied by over fifty vampires, the rest are neatly tucked underneath the tables. Two Gothic Victorian chandeliers hang apart from each other on the ceiling, brightening every aspect of the cafeteria and reflecting off of the creamy white ceramic tile floors below, spotless of any leftover crumbs from meals, spills from drinks, dirt from shoes - pretty much from anything. The front is not only the buffet counter area, behind them are three jet black double doors, all closed. The chefs can be heard working hard in there, preparing dinner.
Pip stares through the rectangular plastic glass in front of him, appearing like he's deciding on what drink to get when in actuality, he's recalling past events he's encountered at this academy thus far. He'd like to forget what happened last night with Craig, his two boyfriends, and Tweek - who he'll check up on later. That was a scary meeting, and he realizes that Kyle hasn't apologized for that. Shaking his head, Pip thinks about all that transpired today instead. Unlike at South Park High School, where he didn't have any friends - let alone had anyone who liked him - he's already made four friends here on his second day at an academy. He was right to accept this abrupt change, even though in the beginning when him and the others found out this academy's true identity he had his doubts, it later turned out to be for nothing. Kenny, Allen, Adam, and Carl have been really friendly, he hopes to make more friends like them in the future. So far, this week is looking to be a promising one.
Smiling gleefully, Pip pushes two random buttons on the pad. His naivety leaves him oblivious of the upcoming days, one should know that good things never last long...
(A/n: Am I the only one who pictures Pip being OOC over food? Yeaah, I blame my anime mindset lol I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be up soon)