Chapter 14

• As soon as the bell rang for dinner a throng of students squeezed out of the reading hall heading towards the dining. I sat back to wait for the crowd to thin out, told Charlie to go ahead without me because I really wasn’t in the mood to rush for dinner of fish stew and potatoes. Besides I needed to finish my assignments and the new report Annabel assigned to me. As much as I hated her weird attention and her need for entertainment at my expense, I was happy to do the reports because doing them was getting me ahead of the session’s syllabus which means good grades and good grades would make mom and grandma happy.
• I was on the last line of my report when I looked up to see that the hall was empty. It was just me in the entire hall, everyone else has gone for dinner. I quickly finished my report and assignments, packed my books and pen in my bag and stood up. The walk to the dining was eerie especially since the only sounds were my footsteps and the noise of insects. Usually, the walk to the dining was always noisy, with students trying to talk at the same, gluttons pushing to get to the dining first and class 1 and 2 seniors dragging their feet because you know, seniors don’t rush for food. The silence was unusual but I liked it.
• The streetlights were on, casting shadows of the trees on the floor. Somewhere over my head, an owl hooted, making me jump. Owls are symbols of wisdom but oftentimes they can be a sign of a bad omen too. I’m not superstitious or anything but I found myself wondering what bad luck was coming my way. I groaned inwardly. Charlie was obviously getting to me with all her talks about the consequences of my nosiness. I’m Jessica Underwood I can manage myself.