Chapter 49: Ruined Breakfast

Starlight decided to just ignore the dozens of glances aimed in her direction and tune out her surroundings. If the entire academy wanted to stare holes into her head while she ate breakfast, then fine. Let them stare. She refused to let anything ruin the first meal she had genuinely looked forward to in days.

She picked up a second egg, her eyes slipping shut as a soft sigh escaped her lips. The warm, savory flavor was absolute perfection. She almost felt lightheaded from the sheer satisfaction of it. Gods, how much she had missed eating these little beauties.

Her moment of bliss was abruptly cut short when Chloe suddenly looked up past Starlight’s shoulder and went completely pale.

"Oh no."

The raw fear in that whisper immediately drew everyone’s attention. Ariel and Elle turned at once, while Starlight twisted in her seat to see what had caused such a reaction.

An unfamiliar girl was storming straight toward their table. The girl looked absolutely furious.

Her face was twisted with pure anger, her fists clenched tightly at her sides as she stopped before Starlight, looking as though she was using every ounce of self-control she possessed to keep herself from throwing hands. Starlight frowned up at her, wondering what was going on and who on earth the girl was.

"So you’re the thing that stole my spot?" the girl spat, pointing an accusing finger at her. Her voice dripped with contempt. "Has the Apex Ranking Board become such a joke that anything can jump through the ranks with absolutely no effort, pushing aside those of us who’ve actually worked hard for it?"

For goodness’ sake, when am I ever going to get a long break? Starlight resisted the urge to rub her temples. It’s one thing after another.

Honestly, she didn’t even know which spot the girl was talking about. In the span of a single day, she had bounced from Rank Fifteen to Rank Sixty-One before shooting all the way up to Rank Three. At this point, there were probably dozens of people who would come claiming that she had taken their precious place.

But calling her a "thing" in such a condescending tone crossed every line Starlight had drawn for werewolves. She was really getting sick and tired of their arrogance and their habit of looking down on everyone around them. Why couldn’t the earth just split open and swallow all these assholes the moment they decided to live among humans? Now one of these clowns had gone and ruined her blissful breakfast over a stupid ranking she had never even asked for, attracting every eye in the dining hall as if the students who had been staring at her earlier weren’t enough. Even those on the upper level had leaned over the railing to watch the drama unfold.

If there had been four or five phones recording Starlight earlier as she ate breakfast, now there were dozens pointed in their direction, clearly expecting a confrontation and eager to capture every second of the unfolding drama.

Starlight pushed back her chair and stood up. The girl immediately straightened as well, her shoulders squared, practically vibrating with tension as she waited for Starlight to engage her or do whatever she had in mind. Instead, Starlight let out a heavy sigh, turned her back on the girl completely, and reached for one of the small paper takeaway bags provided near the serving stations. Since she already knew she wasn’t going to finish all the eggs on her tray in one sitting, she had been planning to pack the extras and snack on them between lectures before lunch. As far as she was concerned, preserving her breakfast was currently a far higher priority than entertaining another werewolf’s tantrum.

If she engaged with this girl, the little sanity she had left might finally snap, and she would end up saying something she’d regret. She had learned that some people simply weren’t worth the effort, and she was also painfully aware of the dozens of eyes fixed on her from every corner of the dining hall, waiting for her to give them another spectacle they could clip, repost, and gossip about on AsterBuzz.

Well, jokes on them, Starlight was not interested in playing along. She refused to feed into the drama they so desperately wanted. And maybe if she kept refusing to give them a reaction, they would eventually lose interest in her, strip her of the unwanted spotlight, and hopefully forget she had ever existed at all. What a relief that would be, to be free from the constant attention and the never-ending parade of aggressive idiots who seemed determined to make her life miserable.

"Meet me in class when you guys are done with your breakfast," Starlight said calmly to her roommates as she picked up her takeaway bag and tray. "I’m going to head to the lecture hall early." She didn’t wait for a response, turning on her heel to leave.

"Hey! Where do you think you’re going?" the girl snarled, lunging forward and grabbing her arm, her fingers clamping down hard enough to stop her in her tracks.

"How dare you ignore me, you dirt-born rat?" she hissed, yanking Starlight back toward her. Her eyes blazed with fury. "Do you have any idea who you’re disrespecting right now?!"

"Okay, maybe a little bit of drama won’t hurt after all," Starlight muttered. Without hesitation, she spun around and swung the stainless-steel tray with every ounce of strength she could muster.

CLANG!

The tray connected squarely with the girl’s face, and the impact rang through the dining hall like a gunshot. The werewolf staggered backward, both hands flying to her nose as her eyes widened in stunned disbelief. Blood immediately began gushing from both nostrils, streaming over her upper lip and down her immaculate white shirt. The tray was deeply bent in the middle, the metal visibly warped from the sheer force of the blow, before slipping from Starlight’s fingers and clattering loudly across the floor.

The entire dining hall froze in a heavy, absolute silence before exploding into complete chaos.