Extra Chapter 1: Half a Fish

The sunlight shone through the window, hitting Victoria like a slap in the face. For once, she woke up earlier than she should have, so her roommate Lakshmi was still asleep. The capable Indian girl usually made breakfast for the both of them, since Victoria had zero percent self-sufficiency with food. But since she was already up, the Seychellois decided to try and find something to pack for lunch. There was a whole fish left-over from Lakshmi's attempt to teach Victoria to cook. She had burned most of he outside, but they found that the inside was well-cooked and tasted decent. Victoria packed the fish on top of some rice she found, but decided not to burn down the dorm trying to cook breakfast. When Lakshmi woke up, she made some simple egg Biryani and the two freshmen sat to eat breakfast.

Victoria decided to leave a little bit earlier than usual. It had been a while since she took a walk in the courtyard. But passing by the senior dorm, she saw some smoke drifting out from one of the rooms. Recognizing the room, Victoria shook her head and began walking away. But barely a second passed when the Brit burst out of his room, cursing about a dysfunctional oven and letting the smoke clear out from his dorm. Startled, Victoria had spun around, only to see Arthur Kirkland in his pajamas, holding a baking tray of what seemed like charcoal. He obviously didn't make the same decision as her regarding breakfast.

"Oh, Victoria! Would you like to try some of the scones I just made?" Arthur asked the moment he saw her. He obviously saw nothing wrong with them. Remembering her own mess with cooking, she decided to try one, even though she knew Arthur had even less skill in cooking than her. But she couldn't even lift the scone from its pan. It took the combined efforts of the junior and the freshman to pry it off.

"It's a little burnt on the outside, so just break it in half and eat the inside." Arthur suggested. But when she broke the thick crust, the inside was a oozing dark brown liquid. They both stared at it, disgusted. Swallowing his pride, Arthur took the scone back from Victoria suddenly, and threw the whole tray away. He mumbled "Nevermind" and was about to go into his room, but the smoke hadn't completely cleared up yet. It was an absolute mess inside, and Victoria wondered how many attempts had he done to make breakfast. Then, his stomach made a loud sound, embarrassing Arthur even more. As much as the usually grumpy British man with thick eyebrows annoyed Victoria, she couldn't help but feel bad for the guy, especially since he hadn't even eaten anything yet.

"Hey Arthur, I have some food. You wanna have some for breakfast?" she offered, taking out the plastic container from her fish-shaped bag. He agreed, but hadn't expected her to have a blackened fish on top of rice.

"It's a little burnt on the outside, so just break it in half and eat the inside." she mimicked from his previous offer. Arthur was unamused, but did as she suggested, hoping it wasn't goopy and liquefied inside. Luckily, it wasn't. In fact, it was quite tasty on the inside. Victoria was satisfied that she had finally succeeded in cooking something, even if it was only the inside of a fish.

"Why are you closing the container, Arthur? You've only eaten half." Victoria inquired when he began packing away his utensils. Was there something wrong with the fish after all?

"This will be fine, Victoria. You packed this for lunch, didn't you? I shouldn't eat more than half of your food." He answered. "Was Arthur being considerate?" she wondered. The thought made her a bit flustered, and for some reason, embarrassed. So she hurriedly put the container back into her bag, and left his dorm, explaining that she was going to be late for class. She left so fast that Arthur didn't have the opportunity to thank her for the food.

She went to her classes, but really wanted to lounge outside in the courtyard. She had window seats in all her classes, so she was able to find the best spot to relax a bit: the big tree by the main entrance. The period before lunch, she was supposed to have Modern History I, so she decided to skip class since the teacher was Mr. Adnan. Once in the courtyard, Victoria leaned on the big tree and slid down into a sitting position. She kicked her shoes off and closed her eyes, enjoying the little bits of sunlight that filtered from in between the roof of leaves. But before she could drift into sleep, she heard a familiar French voice, speaking to her, almost lyrically. Victoria listened to Francis Bonnefoy talk about the fateful coincidence of happening upon her during his free period. When he mentioned that they could eat lunch together next period, Victoria snapped her eyes open and remembered the fish she made. Surely Francis would be proud that she had finally cooked something tasty? She sprang up from her sitting position, and took the plastic container out from he fish-shaped bag for the second time today.

"Try some! I made it last night." Victoria said, handing it to Francis. He was a bit surprised at the offer, and opened the container while Victoria was saying something about the fish being a "little bit burnt on the outside." But when he opened it, he found that there was only half a fish left, and she quickly explained how she gave Arthur some earlier that morning. This made Francis remember how he had woken up to the smell of smoke, assuming that Arthur had burnt his breakfast. So the Frenchman had cooked extra of his own breakfast, only to have the Brit feel insulted by his offer [he had been called a "presumptuous frog"] and slam the door in his face. But Francis snapped out of his flashback, and replaced his scowl with a defeated look. None of this was technically Victoria's fault...besides, now he was a little jealous of Arthur for getting to taste her first good cooking before him. He sighed and closed the container, but then she complained that he was supposed to try some. Francis, smiled, offered his hand for Victoria to grab, telling her that they could eat her cooking together.

Fish?:

I don't know... I said I'd write about this scene, didn't I? It's a little stupid...I think, but I don't really know.

I didn't really know what Indian people ate for breakfast...so I just looked up some stuff and found Biryani, which is a rice-based food made with rice, spices, and meat, fish, veggies, or eggs. I suppose they can eat that for breakfast, right?

I don't really know what burnt scone look like on the inside...so I let my imagination wander.

I know no French, except for "I only know a little bit of French," "I am a potato," and "You are a pineapple."