Chapter Text
Lloyd exited the classroom with a sigh, shoulders hunched and head down. He walked down the hall quickly, avoiding anyone else and keeping his eyes trained low. He swerved between other students, making sure not to linger or make eye contact. If he didn’t draw attention to himself, he might get out of the school without a problem.
Taking a turn, he almost crashed into someone, dodging out of the way with a muttered apology and racing away before he could be confronted. Before he could get very far, however, the guy grabbed his arm roughly.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked in an annoyed tone.
He didn’t answer, it always got him into more trouble. The guy tugged his arm, trying to pull him closer, but he tugged against them, trying to escape.
The guy growled angrily, reaching out in an attempt to grab his other arm. Lloyd shifted the other side of his body as far as he could to keep it out of reach, but this didn’t seem to deter the guy. He just switched to reaching for Lloyds throat. Panicking, Lloyd struggled more, pulling his arm harder to try to get away.
He felt the guy's fingers ghost his neck, and he moved to kick him back.
He saw a flash of red out of the corner of his eye, and suddenly the guy released him shouting in surprise. Lloyd didn’t waste a second dashing off, only catching frustrated yelling of “What the hell, man!”
Not long after he heard the thundering footsteps of a group of people not far behind him. Cursing under his breath, he didn’t need to look back to guess it was the same group from earlier. He turned down the hallways, paying no particular attention to where he was going. He just wanted them off his trail.
“You can’t run forever, Garmadork !” he heard behind him, accompanied by snide cackling and jeering.
Lloyd screwed his eyes shut, making one last sharp turn into a more dimly lit hallway. Looking around for only a moment, he sped towards one of the doors, praying it was unlocked. The knob twisted with ease and he dove inside.
The room had no windows, being on the inner side of the hallway, and there wasn’t much light near the door. The dark wallpaper made the area feel dark and quiet, but he saw faint, warm lights out of the corner of his eye.
He took a deep breath, leaning against the closed door. He hid his face in his hands, trying to calm down. His heart was still racing from sprinting across the school. As his breaths evened out, he slowly stood back up, turning to go check if the group was gone.
Before he could reach the doorknob, however, it was harshly slammed open, hitting Lloyd in the head and sending him tumbling to the floor. He grabbed at his forehead with a pained groan, making no attempt to pick himself up off the floor again.
“Found you, freak ,” the guy from earlier sneered down at him, a small crowd of other students gathered behind him.
He tried to scoot back, get further away. The group only snickered, and the guy reached out to grab him again. Lloyd stumbled to his feat, backing up as far as he could and inadvertently allowing more of the group access to the room. As he continued backing away, he bumped into something, a table by the shape. Frozen, he screwed his eyes shut, refusing to look.
The group only cackled, and he felt a pair of hands ghost his shoulders again. He tensed, pulling himself inward, but all he heard was a scoff before he harshly grabbed, this time by multiple people.
They tugged him forward, pulling and shoving. One of them grabbed at his hair, tugging at it and causing even more pain in his head. Another person gripped his arm, twisting it in their hand with a dark chuckle. Someone's hand went for his neck again, and he almost screamed.
Suddenly, something wedged its way between them, pushing the group back. Shouts of surprise and anger echoed across the room, but Lloyd couldn’t see. He wasn’t sure he wanted to open his eyes.
“Out,” a stern voice commanded, cold and dead. It wasn’t shouted, but carried throughout the room, almost deafening despite the previous protests from the students.
“I said out. Now .”
He finally forced himself to wrench his eyes open. The group of students was backed up against the wall, some of them pushed back out the door. Their expressions ranged from confused to annoyed, with a few trying to push themselves back toward him. A young woman blocked them from going further, stance wide and stood tall, with her arms crossed in front of her and a wooden spoon in her hand. Her narrowed eyes and stern look reminded him of a disappointed mother, though this woman couldn’t have been older than a college student.
The group continued their protests, and whatever patience the woman might have had disappeared completely. Setting the spoon down on the counter, she stepped forward pushing the group back out of the room. She didn’t touch them, her presence and aura alone were enough to scare them into backing off, her impressive height allowing her to tower over them.
“ Shoo, shoo, out of my room!” she exclaimed, waving her hands to fan them away.
Once they were all out of the room, she slammed the door closed and locked it. Turning on her heel and dusting her hands off.
When she looked back at him, her expression softened, and she slowly approached. Stopping a few feet in front of him, she asked, “Are you alright there? I know that must have been upsetting to go through.”
Lloyd just nodded, refusing to look her in the face. If she didn’t recognize him, he’d get out of this fine.
“Sorry to get your way like this ma’am. I’ll get out of your hair,” he responded, shuffling toward the door.
She raised a hand, which gave a pause. “Ah, I wouldn’t leave just yet. They might be waiting outside, and I don’t think either of us want to deal with that again.”
He thought for a moment, nodding.
“Would you like to stay here for a little while?” she offered, gesturing to a table and chair next to her.
Though it was a nice offer, he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to get in your way anymore. I can just go.”
“Hun, I really don’t mind. I’d honestly rather you not leave right now, and I don’t think you want to, either.”
He gripped his wrist, thinking. He really didn’t want to go back yet, she was right. But if she recognized him, she’d probably just throw him out anyway.
Though, he supposed, if he stayed long enough without her noticing his identity, the group might be gone by then.
Finally, he nodded, making his way over to the chair and sitting down. The woman hummed, seemingly satisfied, and walked off. Without much to do, he got a better look at the room. It was a small culinary classroom, with an industrial kitchen. The large ovens were polished and shiny, same with the countertops, refrigerators, and sinks. The woman’s back was to him, in front of the stove with the spoon back in her hands cooking something in a pot just out of his sight.
Turning back away from her, he pulled at his fingers, tapped lightly on the desk, any little thing to keep himself busy. Eventually, he pulled out the book he was meant to read for English, deciding to get his portion done before he had to head to training later. The sizzling of the food in the pan and the woman's humming made for an oddly relaxing white noise.
He wasn’t sure how long it had been by the time she finished her cooking, he thinks about half an hour. He heard her approach from behind, and a pair of scarred, chestnut hands gently set a container on the table in front of him. Reaching out, he found it was full of pasta noodles with creamy sauce.
“Creamy lemon pasta,” her voice was quiet and warm as she explained. “I thought you could use something nice after the whole debacle. I was already cooking and ended up making way too much, so I thought it was the least I could do.”
Lloyd stared down at the container, unsure of how to respond. Finally, he looked up and faced her. Warm, honey-colored eyes stared back. She smiled, a small smile, but was so warm and comforting, and he almost teared up.
Shaking his head, he tried to hand it back. “I can’t take this.”
The woman only pushed it back towards him, insisting, “Take it, hun. You deserve it.”
Unable to say anything he just stared in a sort of confusion. The woman only shook her head in a sort of fond exasperation, turning away to take off her apron and hang it up on the rack in the corner. He just watched, unsure what to do, as she untied her hair and allowed the dark curls to fall down around her face. A single green streak curled beside her face, the bright color a stark contrast against her dark hair. Turning back to face him, she fiddled with the brooch fastened over her heart, a silver star that seemed to glow against a circular, dark emerald backing. As she stepped toward him, the glowing star seemed to get brighter.
“I’m sorry, again. That whole situation was probably very stressful, and I kept you here longer than you had probably meant to stay,” she apologized, drawing his eyes back up to face her.
“No, no, it’s okay. Really. You were right, it was best I didn’t leave then,” he assured her.
She smiled. “Thank you for humoring me, regardless. I don’t hear them outside, so they’ve probably left by now. I’m heading out, too, so I’ll have to lock up the room.”
He nodded, shoving his book and the container in his bag and making his way towards the door. “Thank you, Miss…” he trailed off, realizing he didn’t know her name.
She giggled. “Just Tessa.”
He smiled. “Thank you, Tessa.”
She nodded and waved, seeing he was heading out. “No problem. I’ll see you around!”
With that, he stepped out and closed the door. Taking a deep breath, he made his way down the now-dark hall and out of the school.