Raven: His First Everything

3|Three Centuries

Raven's POV

"Do you want that?" One of the low ranks asked me as he pointed to the pancake on my plate.

"Zack, there are more in the kitchen," the cook, Pam told him.

"Which I will eat later," he glared at her before looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

I pushed my plate to him.

"Take it," I sighed as I got up. "I don't like pancakes anyway."

Breakfasts in the morning don't feel the same anymore.

It was just the three of us, but sometimes it would just be me alone.

"I'll see you two later," I told them as I picked up my backpack and they both waved goodbye.

____

I silently sat in the cafeteria as I ate the lunch Pam had prepared for me.

Sophie and Chloe were sitting at a table further down from me.

I decided eating by myself would probably be best.

How can I approach them after yesterday?

I've never had friends like them before.

They're loud, persistent, and unapologetically kind.

Apart from Alana, it's unfamiliar.

I'm not sure how to let people like that in.

I picked at my food, trying to shake the thought of my head.

In walked Cassian Hawthorn, headphones slung around his neck and a book tucked under his arm.

One of his security guards walked in line with him as she held his lunch.

He didn't make a sound and he didn't look at anyone.

A few students looked back at him and began to whisper amongst themselves.

He eventually stopped at an empty table near the corner of the room and silently sat down.

He immediately opened his book while his security guard placed his food in front of him.

I couldn't help but watch him.

He seemed so out of place here, so different from the others.

And yet, somehow, he didn't look like he cared.

His eyes suddenly locked with mine and I immediately looked down.

There was something unsettling about the way he looked at me.

It was neither harsh nor judgmental this time.

Just...curious.

It looked like he was trying to figure me out, just like I was trying to figure him out.