By the end of the second period I had a plan and was determined to stick to it. I had not seen the abbey since form and was hoping that during the first break I would be able to go to our usual hangout, it was normally in a courtyard area with a canopy over it. We would often sit and discuss Dungeons and Dragons and video games and comics that had been released. We also discussed the latest films. In hindsight this is probably one of the main reasons we were the outcasts at the school and every group had their own area. The really smart kids would hang out near the science block, the cool kids would be in the back field, this was so they could both play football and sneak off to find somewhere to smoke a cigarette. Then there was the plastic crowd, these were the guys and girls who were obsessed with their image they hung around the lockers near the girls bathroom, this was the crowd my sister hung out with and it definitely showed. Next was the drama crowd. These were the musical kids or the acting kids. They were pretty well liked but most often kept to themselves as not everyone knew all the songs to Hamilton or every line from wicked. Finally there were the outcasts. We were the ones who didn’t fit into the other groups. We didn’t belong with the cool kids as we didn’t smoke, drink or play sports. All though we were fairly smart we weren’t straight a* across the board students. None of us cared enough about our image to be plastic and all though we liked movies it wasn’t the same as live theatre, or so we were told. So we were outcasts. Our space was a small courtyard with a canopy meant for the students with packed lunches to sit around on the benches. This one was never really full as there was another courtyard much like this toward the back field. We took up probably one or two tables at most.
As I approached the courtyard I felt a lump in my throat. I walked slowly, almost hesitant to see if Abbey would be joining us for the first break. My heart almost jumped in my chest when I saw her. I walked over trying to act casual as I approached the table I calmly looked at abbey and commented
“ oh cool you decided to stick with us weirdos then”
She turned to look at me and I once again found myself floating in those deep purple eyes. She smiled and all I could think about was how amazing that smile looked. She spoke softly
“ yeah I feel like your my type of crowd”
I instantly felt a wave of relief . This second encounter had been a little better and nowhere near as awkward as the first encounter had been. I smiled to myself as I sat down close to her. I opened up my bag and retrieved a packet of crisps. I then turned to the rest of the group who were in a deep conversation about if a paladin spell caster who could use magic like a wizard was too powerful. I was about to weigh in with the fact that if you multiclass this would be possible when abbey interrupted them and said very cleary
“ if the paladin has been able to multiclass as a wizard in such a way that it does not offend their deity then surely it must be balanced. I mean otherwise why would they add multi classing if not to do things like this ?”
Everyone aside from mick was stunned. It wasn’t the fact that she was a girl who knew about Dungeons and Dragons it was the fact that she had made a very valid point and no one really knew who she was aside from Mick. She sat silently looking around as everyone else let the fact sink in. No one could argue the logic and soon the conversation changed to if it would be possible to cross breed certain races in D&D and see what mad creatures could be created. Both me and Abbey continued to have a small input here and there. We spent the whole first break discussing a lot of other dungeons and dragons theories. The bell for next period went off and we all gathered our things and headed to our lessons. I again didn’t see abbey until the next break.
I again felt the familiar lurch in my chest as I walked towards the courtyard and again felt my heart jump when I saw her sat eating her lunch with everyone. I sat down next to Mick and opposite the abbey as I took my lunch out of my bag. It was nothing fancy, just a ham sandwich with cheese and a couple of kit-kats along with an apple. I sat in silence as I ate my food. As soon as I had finished I packed my lunchbox away and turned to abbey, she had also just finished eating I paused for a moment as I turned to her and asked
“So what brings you to St. Hubertus school?”