With apathy, Angela poked a fork at her lunch; a tray of roasted moa, mashed yams, and string beans. The food probably smelled delicious, but Angela had long ago lost a sense of smell.
"And that is why I will never have a torta from a street vendor again." Grey's voice came into earshot, followed by Azeris and Elric.
"That was truly disgusting," Azeris said.
"It would have cost you nothing to not have shared that story with us." Elric sighed. "Now it's too late. That time is long gone."
With their food trays, the three of them sat down at the table with Angela; Grey, next to her, and Elric next to Azeris. Angela looked up at them, wondering, not for the first time, why they chose to keep sitting near her.
"I gotta say, guys..." Elric began. He was lean, strong, and tall, with a head of close-cropped brown hair. In the middle of his freckled face was a nose that had been broken at least more than once. "I'm really excited to be graduating soon. Have you guys given any thought to what you're going to do?"
"With these certificates, we can pretty much do anything... Sky's the limit really!" Grey replied, taking no time at all to sink a fork savagely into his poultry and take a large chunk out with his teeth. With a huge bulge in his cheek, he chewed voraciously. As his nickname implied, he had wild grey hair that could never be tamed by a comb. He was at least six inches shorter than Elric, lending to their friendly rivalry. His hazel eyes were wide with excitement as he continued his attack on his food tray. "Someone pass the salt, please."
"I didn't really need the certificate," Azeris murmured, tenderly lifting up her moa with a fork and peering underneath, seemingly worried that the different foods were touching. She was small, barely standing above Greys shoulder and at least three inches shorter than Angela. She had long raven hair, with straight bangs cut just above her thin eyebrows. "But even so, having one opens up a lot more jobs, even if you don't end up using it."
"Well, what about you, Azzie?" Grey asked, pointing his fork at Azeris."What do you want to do?"
"Gross," Azeris gasped, and giggled, covering her eyes. "Can you not point a fork at me with your mouth full of food?"
"C'mon," Elric prodded, bumping her arm with a soft elbow jab. "Nobody's gonna make fun of you. We're reserving that for Grey."
"Hey, piss off!" Grey hissed and catapulted a piece of bird at Elric’s head. Elric nimbly evaded the morsel of meat and stared Grey down with murder on his mind.
"Watch yourself," Elric growled, and pointed a finger dead at Grey's face. Grey feigned a bite at Elric's finger and winked suggestively. "I will twist you into a pretzel."
"Okay, fine, I'll tell you guys if you promise to stop fighting," Azeris sighed, squeezing the bridge of her nose.
"That's a negatory," Grey replied, adjusting his collar with an air of calm, calculated coolness. "I cannot make such a promise. Our rivalry is set in stone."
"Shut up, Grey," Elric snapped.
"If I said that I wanted to be a florist, would you guys laugh?" Azeris stammered, her hands balled into fists on her lap.
"No, not at all," Grey replied, dipping a piece of his meat into the yams. "That's actually kinda cute."
"A florist?" Elric asked, a hint of disbelief in his voice. "You really didn't need the certification at all to become a florist..."
"I know, but..." Azeris sighed and looked out the window, to the one place everyone always looked- at Khagilos, which was setting in the West. "Doesn't hurt to go the extra mile, right?"
"I guess so. Still seems like overkill to me. Not to mention, you also suck in a Battle Frame." Grey grunted, his mouth again full of food. "We could’ve just got you some seeds and some pots to grow in and called it a day."
"So what, you're just gonna open up a little flower shop and that's it?" Elric asked. "You don't have any inclinations toward the military whatsoever?"
"I don't think it's wrong... to want to help things grow," Azeris said with a small smile.
"That's a relief," Grey sighed and patted his belly. "I was starting to think I was the only one who wasn't a psycho with a deathwish."
"Is that what you think I am?" Angela said in a low tone, startling the other three.
"No! No no no!" Grey stammered hurriedly, waving his hands. "No, not at all, Siegfried! I just think... that a lot of kids at this school don't really see the big picture. Some of us..."
"There are other ways to serve your people other than fighting, you know." Elric beamed. "The biggest fight comes after the war."
"Which is?" Angela pressed.
"Well, alright. Since we're all sharing what we want to do after we graduate..." Grey began, his face becoming red. "I want to be..."
"C'mon, spit it out, string bean." Elric goaded him.
"I want to be a baker!" Grey blurted out, louder than he probably would have liked. The other kids seated at the adjacent tables turned and looked, and went back to their respective cliques.
"A baker?" Elric grinned. "Ha! What a joke!"
"I've already told you!" Grey hissed and slammed his hands on the table. "The hell?"
"Elric, don't," Azeris whispered, tugging at Elric's sleeve.
"Listen here, asshole," Grey growled, standing up over the table, his face almost purple. He pointed a fork dead at Elric's heart. "There's a lot of poor, hungry bastards out there. They're gonna be clamoring for my bread. Foaming at the mouth. You'll see. My bread is gonna make you weep... like a little bitch. But... Y'know, like in a good way."
"He's very serious about baking," Elric replied, barely containing a snicker. "Who knew that that abomination you made in home ec last week would give you such an epiphany?"
"Says the construction worker!" Grey huffed and sat back down.
"Hey," Elric shrugged, with a self-aggrandizing smirk on his lips. "Those unions treat you pretty well if you play your cards right. You better believe that I am making the most out of my certificate."
"That makes so much sense..." Azeris whispered, stars in her eyes. "You always did like lifting up really heavy things."
"But seriously..." Elric continued, turning his head to Angela. He put a hand over the Neuro-Synchronization Base, or NSB, that had been cauterized into the base of his skull, and on all four of the student's- a direct connection port to their nervous systems. "What would the point have been of doing this stupid operation in the first place, if we weren't going to do something good with it? Sure, we can kick ass in those battle suits, but when it comes down to having the right tools to help rebuild the cities... That's something I care about."
"I guess that's admirable," Angela said apathetically. "But do you really think that's how things are gonna shake out for you guys?"
"His dad's an architect," Grey said quietly, aside to Angela. "He's pretty loaded."
"Yeah, yeah. Keep making fun and I won't offer you that job after all." Elric grunted as he stretched his arms. His shoulder cracked. "Ooh. Hey, what time is lunch over?"
"Don't forget, we're taking that class trip this weekend to Martarta!" Azeris waved her hand excitedly. “I’m so excited, I need to pick out what to wear!”
"No way! They picked Martata this time?" Grey gasped.
"You’re seriously only finding out about this now?" Elric said with a raised eyebrow. "The permission forms are due tomorrow, dude."
“Aw, crap!”
It's useless, Angela thought. They'll never get it.
Angela left her tray down on the table and ignoring her friend's stares, she was gone, heading towards the dorms which were across the parade grounds.
Once in the dorm building, Angela walked through the courtyard, passing by tall marble columns and black tiles laid alongside quartz. Aeos was bright, and while its light was hot, it gave comfort to the red grass and the butterflies in the small plot in the middle of the living quarters.
Angela stopped, sensing movement to her right. Overfield and his goons. One of them limped on crutches, and another had a bandage over his eye. The fourth was nowhere to be seen.
"So, this is around where you shack up at..." Deren said calmly, his tone reverberating on the tile. "Nice digs, for an underclassman!"
"What do you want, Overfield?" Angela sighed. "The fight's over."
"Not for me it isn't." Deren stepped toward her a pace, his hands balled into fists.
"Hey, back off, man!" Grey shouted from behind Angela.
Great, everyone's following me around nowadays. Angela sighed, lifting up her sleeve and rolling it up.
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