Lunchtime
Faces turned to greet her as Amanda strolled down the hall toward the dining hall on a Wednesday afternoon. She walked confidently with a smile spread on her face and relaxation in her strides. Jasminka walked on her left, nibbling on a potato chip from a freshly opened bag that wrinkled with her steps. Constanze walked on her right, quietly with a serious expression on her face. The rest of the students stopped and stared at her.
At Luna Nova, Amanda O'Neill was something of a polarizing figure. Some students looked up to her and attempted to emulate her mannerisms and dress. Others were unnerved by her constant rule breaking, but mainly because Amanda was unapologitcaly gay. She never attempted to hide her feelings toward girls or pretend to have a boyfriend in any way. The way she saw it, she was an out and proud woman with wonderful teammates at her side.
The red team entered the dining hall as a wave of chattering voices entered their ears. Amanda smirked when she saw the menu and turned to her teammates.
"Hey, finally something edible! I'm craving hamburgers." Amanda said, making her and Jasminka drool. Constanze smiled sweetly as they joined the line.
As they progressed Amanda found herself behind Hannah and Barbara. Amanda turned to her teammates, smirk widening. They both gave each other knowing smiles. Hannah happened to glance back and after seeing Amanda rolled her eyes.
"Hey, Hannah. What's goin' on?" Amanda asked smoothly, managing to look cool and confident.
"Uggghhhh. Barb, it's my stalker. She won't fucking quit." Hannah commented to Barbara as they moved through the line.
Amanda who had a smooth answer for every occasion kept pushing the envelope.
"What can I say? I'm a persistent rebel, but I know you like girls with a rebellious streak." Amanda said as they got their food and exited the line.
Hannah and Barbara attempted to walk away quickly with their noses up in the air.
"As if!" Hannah shot back at Amanda. Jasminka and Constanze laughed quietly as they followed Amanda. They cruised over to the same table as Akko and her team.
"Haha, she'll come around. They usually do and if she doesn't, she's missing out." Amanda retorted.
Akko stopped stuffing her face full of food and smiled at the green team.
"Hey, guys! You wanna see me drink 4 cartons of milk through my nose?" Akko beamed as Sucy rolled her eyes.
Amanda looked incrediously at Akko.
"Uhhhhh...Sure, why not?"
"Well, you failed last time so…" Sucy started. Akko huffed.
"No I didn't! You threw dust in my face!"
"It was mushroom powder. I just wanted to see you snort milk and turn purple." Sucy snickered.
"How about we just finish our food." Lotte suggested trying to diffuse the situation.
Amanda took a big bite out of her burger and looked over at the blue team's table. Damn Hannah was so frustrating, Amanda thought. It was so obvious that she wanted Amanda but she was just too stuck up to admit it. Just like Diana.
"God, they all have sticks up their asses." Amanda remarked.
Jasminka paused eating and cocked her head to the side. Amanda glanced at her.
"I'm talking about Diana, Barbara and Hannah. They're all so uptight. God, it must be so boring to follow the rules all the fucking time." Amanda said leaning back and propping her feet on the table.
"Well, I don't think it's that bad." Lotte said looking around the table for support.
No one agreed. Even Constanze held up a small whiteboard that read, "It is that bad".
"Seriously, all three of them are even against the Free Dress Friday thing. They just want us all to be fucking clones of each
other 24/7. Assholes." Amanda said shoving more of her hamburger into her mouth.
Akko looked at Amanda dumbfounded. "What do you mean Free Dress Friday?"
The red team looked at each other in disbelief. "Have you been living under a rock?!
That's all anyone's been talking about. The professors are talking about letting students wear whatever they want on Fridays. It's the greatest thing that's happened around here since, Professor Croix started working here." Amanda said.
"Yeah, she's the best, she doesn't mind snacks at all." Jasminka said with a wide smile.
"Well, she seems more relaxed than Professor Finnelan" Lotte commented, munching on one of her fries.
"Dude, she's got flying robots, a red cape and a sick haircut! She's the coolest professor in school. Who wouldn't like her! Amanda said with stars in her eyes. Professor Croix was her favorite teacher. Amanda wouldn't admit it but she looked up to her. She could see herself with a cool cape zipping around on her broom in the future.
"Well, Professor Ursula seems to 'like' her." Sucy ended with a smile starting on one side of her face.
Lotte choked on her juice and sputtered out a confused response.
"H-hey, nobody knows that for sure! They're probably just friends, they did attend Luna Nova together. I mean if they are more than that… it's a beautiful forbidden romance between two teachers!" Lotte ended with stars in her eyes, influenced by her Nightfall series.
"There's no such thing occurring." A voice from Lotte sounded.
Everyone turned to see Diana behind them with a serious, but annoyed expression on her face. Hannah and Barbara were on either side of her grinning from ear to ear.
Amanda looked at Diana indignantly. Amanda considered Diana to be her number one rival at school. She was everything Amanda wasn't: the heteronormative, model student versus a rebellious gay like her.
"Ha, how do you freakin' know?" Amanda shot at Diana, trying to mask the rising anger in her voice. She was not going to let
this priss think that she was worked up over her. Diana side eyed the red head with measured cool.
"Because I don't live with the delusion that such nonsensical things are happening all around me. I have common sense." Diana stated as Hannah sneered Amanda.
"Yeah, just because you're gay doesn't mean that everyone else around here is. You're making everybody uncomfortable, why don't you just keep that to yourself?" Hannah said behind a mask of haughtiness. Anyone with social skills could see she was running away from the truth. Amanda could read the fear in her eyes. Amanda stood up from the table as the red team started to back away from her.
Hannah was hiding from herself, along with Barbara but they were small potatoes. There was NOTHING Amanda hated more than hypocrites like Diana. She could read the signs and mannerisms of the Cavendish heir, what was Diana trying to prove? Fuck that bitch.
"You know what Diana, it's really sad that you can't see that you're fighting two losing battles." Amanda walked over to Diana, who stood as confident as ever, behind a face of marble.
"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about, so please enlighten me, O'Neill." Diana said, while managing to look down at Amanda at the same time.
Amanda tried not to shake from fury, she hated when Diana called her O'Nell."
"Number one, everyone knows that Croix and Ursula are a thing. Second, your whole vendetta against Free Dress Friday is just showing everyone how much of a stuck up bitch you really are especially when you end up losing anyway."
Other students swirled their heads around to see what was going down.
"You just have no respect for being an actual student here!" Barbara shot back.
"Yeah, uniforms are a part of the deal. Get used to it!" Hannah barked at Amanda. Amanda was seething with anger that Diana was quiet, letting her lackeys defend her.
"Well, are you gonna say anything?" Amanda aimed at Diana.
"Yes, uniforms are a part of this institution's long proud tradition. They maintain order and discipline, some of the core principles that a student of magic must possess to be successful. Doing away with them, even for just a day, would encourage students at best to engage in monkey business and at worst to turn toward deviant behaviour. Becoming more and more like you, O'Neill." Diana finished.
Other students chartered quietly while watching. Akko sat there with her mouth open and food still on her face. Sucy kicked back to watch and Lotte looked very nervous. Jasminka and Constanze both stood up beside Amanda. Constanze glared at Diana while Jasminka threw down her bag of chips and cracked her knuckles.
"You wanna say more about students being more like me?!" Amanda challenged getting right up in Diana's face, inches away. Diana measured her with cool reflected eyes and folded her arms across her chest.
"I don't need to say anymore, I've said my piece." With that Diana spun on her heels and walked back to her table. Hannah and Barbara followed making obscene gestures at the red team.
"H-hey! I'm not done with you yet!" Amanda yelled across the growing space between her Diana. This bitch had the nerve to talk shit and walk away.
Amanda wanted to go after her but knew it wasn't worth it. She sighed and gritted her teeth. Soon, she thought, soon, Diana was going to be forced to confront her own hypocrisy.