unending line for lunch. She’d dawdled too long in the classroom after the bell rang. Her old class was half the size of this one, so she’d forgotten how intense the lunch rush could be in the overcrowded Seoul schools.
She did her best to ignore the few students who whispered about her. She was an expert at ignoring stares and gossip. But her hearing was so good that it caught a few words, and she noticed that her name was continuously paired with Ahn Jihoon’s. It seemed Baek Hana’s friends hadn’t liked his stunt with the headphones. They thought she and Jihoon had acted too friendly. And the rumors of them dating spread like wildfire.
It worried her. These rumors garnered too much attention. But it was also a departure from some of the harsher rumors she was used to hearing. Ones that called her Ice Queen.
As the kids jostled around her in line, one of them bumped her shoulder. The contact brought with it the taste of something bright, as if electricity raced along Miyoung’s skin and strengthened her muscles. She hadn’t even realized they were aching until she felt this rush of energy. It was the student’s gi. Young and fresh and there for the taking. She almost turned, almost grabbed the boy. Her hands had reached halfway toward him before she stopped herself.
Instead she gripped her palms together so tightly her fingernails dug into skin.
A hunger protested from deep inside. She closed her eyes and took three deep breaths. It was never this bad this soon after her last feeding. It felt like the energy she’d absorbed at the last full moon had not lasted the full month like it usually did. Leaving her hungering for more.
She knew it must be because she no longer had her bead inside. Without the bead to store the energy, it had seeped out of her like water leaving a cloth sack.
She finally reached the front of the line and took one of the metal trays, glad for something to fill her hands. The lunch staff filled each compartment in the tray with food: steaming rice, miyeokguk with its cloudy broth, bright red kimchi, and savory meat. The students seemed particularly excited about the fact that they had meat today.
She could practically taste the excitement in the air. It made her stomach rumble for something other than food.
She exited the line, eager to escape to some dark corner, but the room was packed, barely a seat available. No matter where she sat she’d be squeezed between groups of kids.
Then she spotted Jihoon and his friends. Lee Somin was a prickly seatmate, but at least she left Miyoung alone. And Oh Changwan was a nervous, bumbling boy, but he was always polite to Miyoung. She sighed and walked to their table.
“That’s just because you want to ogle her up close.” Somin stabbed her chopsticks into a fish cake so hard they clanged against her metal lunch tray.
“Ogle who?” Miyoung asked, though she knew the answer.
Jihoon glanced up. Changwan froze beside him.
“What are you doing here?” Somin refused to meet Miyoung’s eyes.
“There’s nowhere else to sit,” was Miyoung’s only reply as she took the empty seat by Somin.
“How are you liking our school, Miyoung-ssi?” Changwan stuttered out, his cheeks burning red.
“It’s fine.”
“Usually people ask permission to sit,” Somin said.
“Why do I need to ask when no one was using this seat?” Miyoung asked, taking a calm bite of rice.
Somin flushed, her cheeks puffing out as if her anger gathered there. Miyoung could almost see it around her, an energy so bright that it made her glow.
Miyoung had never fed off a girl before, but she thought perhaps Somin’s energy would fill her to the brim.
“Miyoung-ssi, didn’t you want to see where the kids play soccer during lunch?” Jihoon blurted out, pulling Miyoung’s attention to him. His eyes were wide as they watched her.
She wondered if he knew what she’d been thinking and guilt tightened her chest. “Sure,” Miyoung said, accepting his offer of escape.
She dropped her utensils on her tray and stood. Perhaps her steps were a little too fast to be casual. Perhaps she let her tray drop in the discard pile a little too loudly. But she needed to get out of the room, filled with bodies and gi and temptation. She could barely breathe for wanting all that delicious energy.
The hallway was blissfully empty, and she took in gulping breaths