The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism Novel - Chapter 248

We finished lunch with the specific energy of twenty people trying not to think about the thing they were all thinking about. The cafeteria noise swelled and receded around our table like ocean surf, punctuated by Eden accidentally setting his napkin on fire with the lighter and Maribelle extinguishing it with her smoothie while calling him an absolute child in a tone that communicated approximately fifteen years of practice.

Caden made three separate jokes about wall reinforcement, each worse than the last, and Marco laughed at every single one with the loyalty of a best friend whose standards had been demolished long ago.

Percy calculated our optimal departure time, factoring in hallway congestion from 1-A students leaving their own post-lunch session, and Rina appeared from nowhere with her sheep mug, settling at the edge of our table without speaking. Her white hair fell across her face as she stared into the ceramic, and the tension in her shoulders suggested she’d spent lunch eating alone before gathering the courage to approach.

Nobody commented on her arrival. Caden shifted his tray to make room, Marco offered her a chip without looking up, and the space she occupied became occupied the way spaces do when people simply belong in them.

At twelve-forty-seven, Percy closed his notebook and announced departure in three minutes. The table began moving.