THE ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING this year's formal full boarding dinner was announced in early March, to the surprise of all. It hadn't been thrown last year for some reason, and I hadn't even been aware it was a thing. But apparently it was, and it was set for the weekend immediately after.

Yunji was ecstatic when we got the news. Apparently the one she'd had when she was in fourth form had been spectacular, even though the food had been absolute shit (after all, a school kitchen attempting formal, fancy food was usually not the best of ideas).

Formal dinners did happen regularly. We had a house one last year, and this time around I'd brought a qipao dress from Hong Kong that used to belong to my mother. It seemed fitting. Since a majority of the full boarding students were Chinese anyways, they'd recognise it. It would work.

But despite that, there was one problem.

"There's going to be a seating plan," one of the Lower Sixth girls, Yara, told me with a glum look on her face. "They're going to be splitting us all up. It's going to be so fucking awkward."

My face dropped as well. "Wait, like, in years, or like, everyone is split up?"

"Everyone, from what I heard," Yara said. "They've been trying like crazy to merge all the years into, like, one massive friend group, haven't you noticed? You don't have socials anymore because it's nearly your exams, but we do. With the Lower Fifth and Fourth Form. It's so incredibly awkward, I hate it."

"Oh shit," Yunji swore. "Let's pray to god we get to sit with someone good, then."

"Yeah, start praying," Yara huffed. "Well, I think I'll survive. I actually do know a lot of people. But like, imagine. If you get put at a table with no one in your year and your house. How bad would that be?"

"Absolutely awful," I agreed.

Analisse frowned. "Clearly they see how bad of an idea this is?"

Oliana rolled her eyes. "You think they care? They see us everyday and they think we're all antisocial. That's apparently how most full boarders work. I bet that their logic right now is that if they can't make us befriend the locals, they'll make us befriend each other. One massive unit. Bitch please." Oliana always had a way with words that even I didn't dare to mimic. Her mouth and brain were just on another plane of existence compared to the rest of us. That was a widely accepted fact.

Yara let out a hearty laugh. "You have one way of putting it."

Oliana just smirked in response, clearly proud of herself.

Yunji shook her head. "Oh well, it's not going to be longer than two hours anyways. And like, they're all full boarders."

"Yeah, true," Analisse murmured. "We actually do know a majority of them, even if we don't really talk to them regularly. We live in the same place, we bump into each other a lot."

"But we're not really friends," I mused.

Yara's eyes twinkled. "Maybe we could use this chance to turn them from acquaintances into friends."

"Yeah, you do that," I snorted, "me, I have JCMs to focus on."

Yara pouted. "You're no fun, Honoria. Honestly, you don't need to stress this much. It's nowhere as bad as you think it is."

"I know, I know, but if I freak myself out more I study more and become better prepared for it."

"That's a horrible logic," Yunji said blandly.

"It works for me, so shut it, Luo Yunji." I stuck my tongue out at her in response.

"I think not!" Yunji shot back in response, rolling her eyes while she threw herself onto the couch and stared at us. "I actually feel so dead right now. You don't know what I've been through this week."

"Oh?" I asked, one brow raised.

Yunji pushed herself up. "Do you guys know how many people hate Qinguan for absolutely no reason? She's literally a new student and everyone just absolutely despises her."

Oliana stared at her in disbelief. "You mean you didn't know that everyone hated her?"

"Wait, what? How long has this been going on for? Why?"

I tilted my head. "I only heard about this recently as well, wasn't aware either. Apparently it's because of how she's really annoying in class?"

Analisse tilted her head thoughtfully. "I knew people disliked her, but I didn't realise people actually hated her for it. But yeah, she's actually so annoying in class. Raises her hand for every question, keeps trying to kiss the teachers' asses. Like, why is she trying so hard?"

Yunji frowned. "I have lessons with her, but it's not that annoying. And like, she knows the answers."

"Except she raises her hand even when she doesn't," Analisse argued. "I've seen her raise her hand, have the teacher call her name and then sit there like an idiot staring at the teacher for a whole minute before blabbering out that she doesn't actually know the answer."

"Yeah, but that's not a good reason to hate her..."

"I'd argue that's enough," Yara murmured. "There's a boy in my year like that too. Everyone just wants to slap him in the face. I don't know why he thinks it's so funny, it's really not. It makes no sense to me whatsoever."

"But like... Qinguan's so nice."

"Most people don't really talk to her outside of class," Oliana pointed out. "It makes sense people might only know her off how she acts in class, which, I have to admit, is not the best. I admit that she's pretty pleasant to talk to privately, but in class..." she gave a little shiver. "God no."

Yunji's frown had deepened, and she sat there, clearly unsure of what to say. She'd mentioned it expecting support. She hadn't expected all of us to agree. And we'd all made it so clear that we were alright with her as a person too, so she couldn't even blame it on us being prejudiced against her.

Not to mention that they shared a couple classes together themselves.

Yunji was in denial. I knew that, most of the other girls had realised it by now, as evident by Yara's immediate attempt to change the subject. "So, how prepared are you guys for JCMs?"

"Not at all," Oliana moaned. "I'm freaking out. Honestly. But I have Easter, so it should be fine?"

"Yeah, we still have time," Analisse said, "and like, we've already studied most of the stuff anyway. We just need to reboot our memories and work on what we didn't do well during the mocks. It won't be difficult. It'll be fine."

"I'm stressing myself out," I admitted, "but like, I do think I'm ready for it. I've studied my ass off in the past while."

Yunji nodded as well. "Same. I think I'm ready."

"That's good, that's good. But like, just remember, JCMs are nowhere as bad as you think they'll be. Trust me, it gets worse."

"Thank you," Analisse said dryly. "I really appreciate that."

"You're making me feel worse, Yara," Oliana remarked. "Is ACM kicking your ass already?"

"Yes," Yara said, slanting her a glare. "It's absolute shit and I hate it, thank you very much. I chose the wrong subjects."

"What are you doing?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Magical Beasts, Herbology, Music and Maths. Let's just say three subjects of pure coursework were not good ideas."

"Why would you do that to yourself?" I asked, horrified.

"Because I didn't realise," she shot back, "and because those are the only subjects I'm good at in the first place. Anyways, my days are all taken up by extra sessions of coursework. One for Beasts, one for Herbology, one for Music. And I still have Maths once I get back. It's not fun."

"I can tell," Oliana muttered. "I was wondering why I never saw you in house after school."

"It's because I'm busy traipsing across half the school for extra sessions, Oli, that's why."

"Well, mystery solved," Oliana said with a little shrug. "Boohoo, poor little you. We can't help."

"I wasn't looking for help."

Well, this was going to end with an argument if no one stepped in soon. Instead I slid onto the floor. "Does anyone want to get takeaway with me tonight? I'm feeling like some ramen, not going to lie."

Yunji shook her head. "I'll pass. I can't waste any more money."

"I'm interested," Analisse said, one brow raised. "Which restaurant?"

I shoved my phone, with the restaurant opened on the takeaway app, into Analisse's hands. She nodded. "Yeah, I'll get this with you later. Text me when you order."

"I will," I said, flashing a smile in her direction.

—

"ARE YOU READY, Honoria?" Yunji yelled from outside my door. I stared into the mirror, tugging slightly at my pearl necklace so that it would be in the correct spot, before standing up and opening the door.

"We have time," I groaned. "Like, ten minutes, and we're right next to the cafeteria."

"I want to go early just in case," Yunji pouted. "Like, if it's a seating plan based on cards and stuff, we could maybe mess around with it so we're not surrounded by complete strangers."

"That's incredibly risky and ruins the entire purpose of this dinner."

"Tell me you're not tempted."

I stared her in the eye. "I'm not tempted."

She let out a deflated sigh. "Fine. Let's wait, then. What are you doing anyways? You look ready."

"Finishing touches of my makeup," I admitted, "I started a bit later than I should have."

"I'll wait out here, then," Yunji said, and I nodded before letting the door slam shut.

My qipao was white and slightly too big for me, though you couldn't really notice it. I had my hair half up with a ji, a Chinese hairpin, and I wore a dark red lipstick with little eye makeup except a tiny bit of eyeliner and mascara. I'd realised that I didn't look good with any intense eye makeup after a few experiments last year, which had been strange at best and disastrous at worst.

Once I'd finished fixing up my eyeliner, I stood up, smoothed my dress, and opened the door. The girls had all gathered in the few minutes that had passed. Oliana was dressed in a purple bubble dress. Analisse was wearing a cream-coloured suit, and Yunji wore a little black skirt with her hair clipped back in a bun. Everyone had cleaned up nicely.

"Let's go?" Analisse asked, glancing at me.

"Yeah, let's head off."

So we arrived at the cafeteria, which had only been briefly decorated, though the lights had been dimmed and there were flowers on every long table. The teachers simply told us to search for our seats. Some of the students had already arrived, and Oliana was quickly called away by one of her friends who had already located her seat. Yunji found hers soon afterwards—she was sitting with Kwanfong and Nicole, which didn't bode too well for her.

As for mine...

"Fuck me," I muttered as I glanced at the two cards next to mine. Theodore Yu. Logan Wang.

Fuck me.

This was not going to be a fun dinner.

I glanced at the other cards at my table and realised there was only one other girl from my house. That was Rebekah from Upper Sixth, who was funny, but would most likely be talking to the other sixth formers at the table, of which there was plenty. There was also a fourth former and a Lower Fifth. I knew the Lower Fifth girl, Kara Fong, though she was in Sorren. We weren't that close by any means, but we could definitely talk.

If only she wasn't sitting at the opposite end of the dinner table from me.

That was just wholly depressing to a new level. And I had the feeling that both Theo and Logan were going to have a blast laughing their asses off at my situation.

But it would be fine. I would survive. I always did.

(And now I was being slightly overdramatic. It actually probably wouldn't be all that bad.)

But I sat down, and no one at my table was there yet, which was rather sad. I fished out my phone and stole a few glances—the teachers had made it explicitly clear that they didn't want to see us on our phones the whole night, but a few looks once in a while should be alright. Besides, no one was even here yet.

A water jug floated towards me, and a glance in the magic's direction showed one of the kitchen staff levitating filled jugs onto all the tables. Once it was down, I immediately poured myself a cup and started drinking. I had an odd feeling that I'd be drinking a lot of water tonight.

The conversations were going to be so awkward. I was starting to regret not having switched the cards like Yunji had suggested. Nothing too extreme, of course, but like, moving to the end of the table with Kara. Or sitting next to Rebekah, rather than between Logan Wang and Theodore Yu.

Even sitting next to Seb would be less awkward. Because at least he wouldn't talk to me. But these two? These two certainly will. And they won't ever stop throughout the whole dinner.

I already wanted to punch someone. And the meal hadn't even started yet. The people I was dreading hadn't even arrived.

And when they did, the reaction was exactly what I'd guessed it would be.

Logan and Theo came together, which wasn't surprising since they were both in Aesir House. Theo noticed his card first, and took a glance at the ones around before yelling out to Logan to sit over. Neither of them said anything to me until they'd settled down around a very uncomfortable me, as I continued choking down water as if my life depended on it.

When I finally put down my cup, Theo began, "Well, this is a strange situation."

He was talking to me, and most likely me only, since he wasn't aware that I'd talked to Logan before, most likely, unless he told him. I turned to glare at him. "You think I enjoy this?"

"You don't, I do."

"It's very entertaining," Logan chimed in. "You want to change seats with me?"

"Yes please," I said, not bothering to hide the desperation in my voice.

"I think not," he murmured, "the teachers might get annoyed."

Now, I turned to glare at him instead. "Why would you even suggest it in the first place, then?"

"Because I felt like it."

And that sounded correct enough that I had nothing to say in response.

Actually, there were plenty of things I could have said in response. But he was Logan Wang, and I'd already gotten a taste of what he was capable of during our brief but heated conversation last time. As for Theo, well.

I certainly knew my chances against one of them, much less both of them at the same time.

The thought was chilling to the bone. Not really, but it was enough to ensure that I decided the more prudent thing to do for dinner would be to remain quiet and not utter a single unnecessary word. Even if it made me a coward. Or perhaps it wouldn't. Perhaps it would make me look more cool and cold and make them seem more immature instead as they kept taunting me throughout the night.

I didn't have a lot of hope for it, though.

As everyone began settling in, the table became more squished. There were eight people at the table in total. Kara, Rebekah, Logan, Theo, one fourth former called Evan Tsun, an upper sixth called Henrik Sorenson (who was apparently from Denmark, which I was fairly surprised to know), and two lower sixth boys from Wadsworth by the names of Royce and Francis. They seemed to be best of friends, and had talked (or pressured) Evan Tsun into switching places with one of them so that they could sit together.

And then the headmaster went and gave his speech, which no one really listened to but everyone applauded for, and we all waited for the first course to be served. It was some strange dish involving three different kinds of fish, was extremely cold (though I rather suspected it was meant to be served hot), and also had vegetables stacked up. I did not enjoy the dish at all, and half-heartedly used my fork to mess around with the food I'd left on my plate to at least give the illusion that I'd eaten it.

Besides me, Theo shoved one bite of the fish into his mouth and made a face. I glanced at him. "It's absolute shit, isn't it?"

There I went, breaking my own rule one course in.

Oh well.

Theo grabbed his cup and swallowed the food down with some water. "What on earth is that?"

Logan glanced over. "I believe it's meant to be tuna."

"It doesn't taste like tuna, it tastes like shit."

I glanced at Evan, sitting across us. "Watch your language."

"You literally swore just a second ago!"

Matter-of-factly, I said, "I said it softly. You practically screeched that."

Theodore rolled his eyes very, very hard. I ignored him and continued fidgeting my fork around. Not only was my company for the night horrendous, so was my food. That was just an excellent way to start this entire event. I could be doing something else right now. Like studying. I could really be studying right now.

Okay, I had to stop thinking about studying.

Logan suddenly said, "You look like you stepped out of a period drama tonight."

Self-consciously, I reached up and patted my hairpin to make sure it was still in place. "That was the point. I look like one of those da xiao jie from the big families, don't I?'

"If that's the way you want to put it."

"Shut it, Wang."

Theodore raised a brow. "You look like you stepped out of a history book, more like."

"Yes, thank you, that's the entire point."

"Why the fuck would you wear a qipao to a formal dinner in England?" Logan asked incredulously.

"It's pride," I huffed, "and it looks good. It's not even that out of place. It's not like I'm wearing one of those silk robes with the massive sleeves. That would be out of place."

"Yeah, but like, it's still weird."

Theo wrinkled his nose. "It's not that weird, is it? I think you look very good."

I glanced at him in surprise. "Thank you."

He met my eyes, and for the first time in a while, he smiled at me with no mocking in his expression. "You're welcome. You cleaned up really nicely."

"I know, I tried."

Logan let out a loud, loud snort besides us. I turned to glare at him, and was mildly surprised to see that Theo had done the same. Logan let out a huff and turned away from both of us to talk to Royce.

And I turned back to picking at my food, deciding to pretend that that interaction had never happened.

But clearly, they had no intent of letting that happen, because a moment later Theo turned to me again. "Yunji and Qinguan haven't been hanging out together at school a lot. Or am I missing something?"

I paused in the middle of my bite. "Theo, I think you're a tiny bit too much of a busybody for your own good." The fact that I ever thought he was cold and distant was almost laughable now. He craved gossip even more than I did.

"No, no, it's just interesting to notice this kind of thing. But I haven't seen the two of them hanging together all week."

And that was partially true. No doubt it had something to do with Yunji's revelation that Qinguan was heavily disliked among a majority of the students, but I had no place to say anything regarding that. Instead, I glanced sideways at him. "You're really fucking annoying, did you know that?"

"I'm just pointing it out. And, if you want to become best friends with Luo Yunji again, this is probably your best chance."

My eyelids fluttered shut. "Theo, this has nothing to do with you. Shut it."

"Hey," he protested, "I'm just helping. You look awfully sad around the girls in your house, did you know that? I swear, you have no close friends there anymore."

"I don't need close friends in house."

"That is such a lie," he muttered, "you know it, I know it."

"It doesn't matter to you anyways," I said firmly, "I don't see why you're bothering with this. Don't you have other things to be focusing on? Exams? Homework? Things like that, you know? Rather than observing me and all my friends like a fucking creep?"

"I just notice details, that's all."

"Apparently all about me and my friends."

"Don't worry, you're not that important. But Lok is most definitely the most dramatic. Queenie seems to be awfully close to Kai these days, and Clark surprisingly doesn't seem to be giving a shit."

"Well, he did almost get expelled last year because of it."

"But he didn't," Theo said with no small amount of satisfaction.

Logan glanced over. "He deserved to be, though."

"But he didn't."

"Because of money," I said blandly.

"Most likely because of money," Theo said in agreement.

Logan let out a loud, loud snort. "God, I hate this school."

"You say that, but you're still here, aren't you?" I asked, turning to him with one brow raised.

"It was a bit too late to leave by the time I'd realised how crap it was. And I don't think there is actually a better British boarding school than this one. The rest are even shittier."

"Well, get used to it then."

"I don't think I will," Logan murmured, "I'm out of here in a few months, you see. Already got the university offer. If I don't fuck up my ACMs, I'm guaranteed a place there."

My eyes widened. "Goddamn, nice job, man." He grinned.

Theo rolled his eyes. "He's been flaunting it every day for the past week."

I pursed my lips, "Perhaps that's a tiny bit less nice, then."

Logan let out a loud snort. "Come on, it's not every day you get an offer like this one, I have the right to be proud, I think. Sure, perhaps I've been a tiny bit obnoxious in the past few days, but genuinely, like, I have the right."

Theo huffed. "It got annoying the second time around."

"Boohoo," Logan laughed, "cry me a river, then."

Theo promptly ignored him. I did the same. Logan, I decided, was Theo with an even more extreme personality. That was the easiest way to put it. I did not like it at all.

Actually, I did, but it was one of those personalities more fun to watch than actually have to talk to. The former was hilarious, the latter was simply a pain in the ass.

I was going through a lot of the latter right now, and it wasn't particularly enjoyable. But there wasn't anything I could do about that except ignore him, and god knew that wasn't really working so far.