Chapter IX: Little Taste of Heaven

"Super!" the jittery Mushi chimed, bouncing on her heels. "C'mon now, let's go, before all the good stuff gets taken!"

Harvey gave a shaky sigh, smoothing his maroon sweater against his underlying white tank. What he wanted to do was finish organizing his room, then perhaps call his parents and talk to them before classes started and maybe get some advice from them. (Son, it's fine if you want to bring any friends you make home with you, but remember, you can't ask if they can spend the night!)

But his father had said to make plenty of friends, and as this Kimberly girl appeared destined to play a large (if abrading) role during his stay at this freak school anyways, he figured it was best to get on her good side.

"Here it is, Harvey," Kimberly said with reverence upon reaching their destination. "The Mess…such a beautiful sight!" Kimberly said as Harvey and Mushi both blinked, unable to determine the source of their new friends' awe. It was a nice place, to be sure, with high ceilings, the outer wall made entirely of glass panels, and a neat little courtyard sat outside the front doors, complete with a few picnic tables and benches. Through the class, Harvey could see what looked to be like any other school cafeteria, if a bit nicer.

Kimberly chuckled. "Just wait until we can try the grub! I bet it's first-class!"

"Mushi," Harvey said quietly, glancing about at the small number of students. "why were you so worried about getting here on time? There's hardly anyone here…"

The slimy girl smirked. "'Harvey, if there is anything I learned from growing up in a bakery like my mom's, it's that you always wanna get here before the crowd, it's first come first served, dog eat dog, yadda yadda. Besides, I'm starving - oh, lookit, burgers!"

Mushi led the trio to one of the many buffets that lined the walls. Harvey looked at the spread of food with awe - there were the standard cafeteria staples, of course - the aforementioned burgers, fries, pizza, and chicken wraps. But there was also pasta with several different options of sauce, a cart of rich, steaming soups, lasagna, tacos, desserts, and even - was that ice cream?

Harvey shifted his attention to the food at hand. In front of him was a tray of large double cheeseburgers, stacked with lettuce, tomato, and onions. Every single one looked straight out of a McDonald's commercial, with perky buns and juicy beef.

Trays were grabbed as the group looked down at the perfect burgers. Kimberly plopped one on her plate, lifting the lid. She clucked indignantly. "The things they do to impress us Freshman…" she lamented. "Take a gander, Mushi - three pickle slices! Ridiculous!"

Harvey looked down at his empty tray, then back up at the fantastic spread before him. The sturdy green plastic suddenly seemed grossly insufficient. "Is it like this every day?" he asked to no one in particular.

"I hope it is!" Kimberly said, drooling a little bit. "Lookit this - extra pickles on the burgers, extra pepperoni on the pizza - I bet the lasagna even has an extra layer!"

"No, I meant…is there always so much?"

"Oh," Kimberly giggled. "I ain't gawt a clue, but, mah gut's tellin' me that you be best to get used to eating. This stuff is so different from what my Ma fed me back home!"

Harvey looked nervously at the picturesque burgers. They were so big…he shouldn't. He'd already had, like, four pieces of candy!

"Y-you know, I really shouldn't," he said, putting his tray back on the stack.

Kimberly looked at him incredulously. "Whaddya mean, ya 'shouldn't'? You plannin' on livin' off that there gift basket the whole semester?" She shook her head, grabbing the tray and shoving it back into her roomie's hands. She promptly populated it with one of the burgers, and some fries for good measure.

"…But-"

"Ya'll ever heard the story of the skim-milk man? His wife allers skimmed his milk before he drank it. He eventually got so dang thin that one day, the wind done picked up, and he just blew away. Now chew the dang burger."

Mushi, who had taken the liberty of hopping along in search of more food, had already parked it. Kimberly and Harvey joined her, setting their trays on either side of the munching girl.

"What took you so long?" she asked through a mouthful of burrito.

"Harvey," Kimberly jerked her head at Harvey, "decided he didn't want nothin'. Had to force him to take the dang thin'."

Mushi licked her lips. "I'll take that from ya, if you don't want it!"

Kimberly flicked her outstretched hand. "Oh, stop it, you. Go ahead, Harvey, take a bite."

Harvey looked down at the huge burger with trepidation. On the rare occasions his parents took him and Rachel to McDonald's, he'd always gotten the chicken nuggets - four-piece, of course. He didn't even know if he could finish the thing. With Kimberly's expectant eyes upon her, he slowly lifted the burger to his lips. Struggling to get his mouth around the two buns, he took a sloppy, lopsided bite, a bit of ketchup falling onto his pristine outfit.

"Oh!" he cried as the condiment plopped onto his shirt. "My mom just made me this - wow." his impending panic attack stopped in its tracks. "Wow. That's good."

He chewed the succulent meat slowly, its flavor powerful against his tongue. He swallowed.

"Ain't it, though?" Kimberly said, grinning.

Harvey quickly composed himself, wiping the ketchup off his clothing. He frowned at the tiny stain it left. "I hope that'll come out..."

Kimberly rolled her eyes. "Oh, it'll be fine! Now, tell me that there burger wasn't the bettermost thang you've ever eaten."

Harvey felt himself blush. "It's really good," she admitted, "but it can't be good for you."

"He's impossible!" Kimberly cried, returning to her meal. "Fine, give it ta Mushi ifin' it's so terrible."

"Yea, give it to me!"

Harvey couldn't help but grin at his friends' expressions. "No, no, I think it'll be ok just this once."

As Harvey continued to explore the wonders of that burger, a steady trickle of freshmen began to file into the room, along with a few 'guides' such as Rachel (the R.A. of Harvey's floor) and Kuki. Soon, the place was buzzing with small conversations. Harvey steadily worked his way through his meal, listening to his friends chat about their summers. Midway through his burger, he expected to feel full, but, curiously, he went and got more food, he was still hungry. By the time there were only a few bites left of his latest helping, his middle felt uncomfortably tight, and he was sure he couldn't eat another bite.

"Oh, c'mon, you can't finish a single one?" Mushi taunted. "You know, one time I ate five, on a dare?"

Harvey slouched lower in his seat, eyeing the remnants of her burger and the spattering of fries with disdain. His stomach had never been this full - but then again, he'd never eaten anything this good.

With slow deliberation, he picked up the last bite, sighed deeply, then shoved it in his maw. He groaned as it hit his overfull tummy, shifting uncomfortably.

"Lightweight," Kimberly teased as she licked grease from her fingers. "I'm goin' ta git some ice cream. Ya'll want any? Harv?"

Harvey, who had both hands resting gingerly over the barely-perceptible bulge in his middle, looked up at Kimberly expectantly when suddenly, a voice came on over the intercom.

"Attention. The Freshmen Seminar will be held in the cafeteria in fifteen minutes. All freshmen please report to the cafeteria within this time. Thank you, and have a wonderful day!"

"Well, it's a daisy thang we're already here…" Kimberly said, standing up. "So, ya'll want some ice cream?"

"S-sure, I could go for some…just hurry back, I'm not sure how, but I am just SO hungry, like, SO damn hungry!"

"We'll be right back!" Mushi said before turning back to Harvey. "Unless the freshman seminar starts, that is…"

Harvey couldn't be bothered to move as more freshmen began to file into the room. He'd finally found a relatively comfortable position and didn't intend to ruin it. Oh, boy, if his parents could see him now…he shuddered.

He began to feel drowsy as his body began to digest its large (exceptionally so) meal. He must have dozed a little bit because the next thing Harvey remembered was a heavy plunk of someone sitting in the seat next to him. He gave a start, and looked over to see a rough-looking, blond-haired girl, telling him how the food here is 'the shit'.

"E-Excuse me?"

"The shit, I said that the food here is the shit!" came an unfamiliar voice from the unfamiliar girl as she took big crunchy bites of her taco, "I mean, I'm right, right? This food is fuckin' fabulous!"

As Harvey's eyes readjusted to the lighting of the cafeteria, having grown somewhat slack during his supposed snooze, he could make out a rather rough-looking girl that had taken a seat next to him. Her blond hair draped down in front of her shoulders, peeking into the large opening left agape by her unzipped black hoodie, and her eyes were sky blue. She half-turned from her food to steal a glance at Harvey, perhaps put off by his lack of an answer, before continuing her conquest of crunchy cuisine.

"Right?" the girl asked expectantly

Harvey still did not answer her, taken aback slightly by the girl's frequent use of swearing to make a point. His parents and his big sister had never allowed swearing at home, said it made anyone who did it seem stupid, but that didn't stop them from letting out a string herself when the situation called for it. Even so, it seemed strange to him that the first impression that this girl wanted to make was that she thought something was 'the shit'.

"Hello?" the blond swearer now placed her taco back on the tray in front of her and turned fully to face the quiet bucktoothed teen, in the process revealing her pierced ears and various tattoos.

"Wh-What?" Harvey asked, startled by the sudden (to him) outburst. He was still a little drowsy.

"The fuckin' food!" his new tablemate said crossly, "Do you like it?"

"Y-Yes I do!" Harvey squeaked defensively.

"Thank Gawd the mute can talk!" the girl with the piercings and tattoos prayed sardonically with her hands up in the air, "I was just askin' if you thought the food was as good as I did and it took you, like, twenty fuckin' minutes to say 'Y-Yes I D-D-Do!'…" she mimicked Harvey's voice cruelly with a simpering nasal tone. Harvey shrunk into his seat, turning beat red.

"Oh get up, I was only teasing." Said the impatient student, "So, what, you've already eaten?"

"Y-Yes I, I had a hamburger," Harvey said cautiously as he eased himself back into a seated position, "It was good. It was very…"

"The shit, right?" she took the liberty of completing Harvey's sentence for him, "I never had anything like these killer tacos before!"

"R-Right," Harvey agreed with a wary smile before remembering that the two of them were not formally acquainted, "I'm Harvey McKenzie, a-and I'm a freshman…"

"Oh! You're Frostbite's little brother! That's bitchin'!" his new acquaintance said jovially, "I'm one too, and I've also got family here at the Institute!"

"R-really?"

"My name's Ashley Uno." She said with vigor, "Room 364"

"Oh, my room's pretty close to yours!" Harvey said excitedly, "My roommate and I are in Room 363!"

"Awesome Possum." Ashley said happily, "How do you like your room so far?"

"Oh, it's so big, but not as big as the room I have at home. I can't wait to put my spin on it, you know decorations and posters and all that."

Ashley opened her mouth to reply, only for a tap on the microphone to interrupt her. The Freshman Seminar was starting!