4. Dinner at Lunch

The lunch cabin was down a dirt path lined by small, hand-painted stones. Berry was surprised she hadn’t run across the path in her previous wanderings. She supposed that showed just how big the Reserves were.

It was a bigger cabin than the others, and it had picnic tables out front. A few kids were already sitting with cafeteria-style trays, and their eyes followed her as she approached.

Tammy released her there with “Have a great dinner!” and a giant grin, so Berry was forced to go in alone. There was a surprisingly small amount of direction here, and that worried her a little. She was used to a more rigid schedule.

Inside, there were long wooden tables and benches, and a serving line on the left side. Nervously, Berry got in line.

Glancing around, she thought she recognized some of the kids who had been playing at the lakeside, but it was hard to tell (they had been pretty far away).

“What’s your name?” came an alarmingly cheerful voice. Berry realized the person in front of her in line was not only speaking to her, but some sort of counselor.

Berry quickly tucked her hands into her jacket pockets, on old habit, and looked over the girl quickly.

She was tall and looked to be in her early twenties. Her hair was styled in identical braids and she had a very symmetric face; when she smiled, both sides had dimples. She was wearing a maroon polo with the words ‘Highwater Reserves’ embroidered on the front, and baggy cargo pants. (Was that the uniform?) To top it off, her name tag read “Kristee” and was embellished with far too many glittery sticker hearts.

Berry looked around as if she’d be able to find a place to hide in a lunchroom (sorry, lunch cabin), and her eyes finally settled on Kristee’s chin, which was at eye-height. “Um, Berry. I just got here.”

The words were barely out of her mouth when Kristee said, “Fantastic! It’s great to meet you, Berry! We’ll be eating dinner, then breaking up into small groups for an evening activity! For now, I’ll show you to a table I think you’ll like!”

Berry could virtually see the exclamation points flying out of the other girl’s mouth, and tried to keep the polite smile on her face.

True to her word, after both of them were served a generous blob of mashed potatoes with chicken nuggets on the side, Kristee steered Berry to a section of table near the doors.

Two kids about her same age were at the table already. The girl was very pretty despite (or perhaps because of) her lack of hair. It looked very bad-ass to Berry, but maybe that was the heavy black eyeliner talking.

The boy was listening to her talk, and he looked suspiciously normal until he turned his head. The left side of his face was scarred; it looked like burns but it also didn’t look that bad. As in he still had a pretty nice face. Not that she was a great judger of faces.

Berry realized that Kristee was talking again. “—so I think you’ll all get along super good! I’ll be over at the counselor table if you need me!”

Kristee bounced away and Berry stood awkwardly before lowering herself down next to the girl.

She realized that they had probably already seen her hands, and that at this place it would be fine, but she still slid them carefully from under the tray onto her lap. Hidden.

“So you got here today? How long are you in for?” asked the girl. She swung a leg over to the other side of the bench, straddling it to face Berry. Berry noted that her black converse were muddy, as were the ends of her black jeans. Her dark grey tank top, however, was mud-free.

“I’m just here for the weekend,” she said, glancing between her two table mates. She was hungry, but she didn’t like them watching her, and she didn’t want to lift her hands above the table.

The boy with the scars nodded. “In and out, that would be nice.” He had nice blue eyes and short dark hair. He was wearing a thin forest-green hoodie with the words “Gotham City University” on it, which meant: nerd. (Berry wasn’t judging too hard; she had recognized the Batman reference, after all.)

“How long are you guys here?” Berry asked. She still didn’t even know their names, but her social ineptitude prevented her from asking. Heck, Kristee probably said their names while she wasn’t listening.

Scar Boy said, “I’m here a week. So, six more days.” So, he just arrived as well.

Eyeliner Girl laughed unabashedly. “You guys are funny. I’ve been here for a month. I don’t know if they’ll ever let me out.” She didn’t look upset, just amused by this fact.

Berry had an uneasy feeling in her stomach that made her want to eat her potatoes and chicken even less.

"I'm kidding!" Eyeliner said, turning back to her food. She pushed a chicken nugget into her mouth then said around it, "Well, I'm not kidding about being here for a month. They won't let me go until I 'learn to respect my peers', which I totally do." She snickered at Scar, who smiled a little. He did however, share a small, worried glance with Berry. She was glad he seemed normal.

"Anyone else want more nugs?" Eyeliner said, standing. Berry realized that she had eaten only the 'nugs' and none of the potatoes.

"No thanks," Scar said. Berry shook her head.

Eyeliner got up, and Berry stared at her food until Scar leaned over the table towards her. "Sorry, can you remind me of your name? I'm so sorry, I always forget..."

Berry actually laughed. "No, thank goodness you asked, I don't know either of yours," she admitted, looking at him. "I'm Berry."

He smiled back and reached out a hand. "Finn. And that's Indigo."

For a moment Berry weighed the social consequences of refusing to shake hands, then forced herself to raise a hand and put it quickly in his.

She didn't miss the surprise on his face.

Her face heated and her eyes dropped down to her untouched food. Her hand retreated quickly back under the table.