Chapter 18 - Today is gonna be a good day

I was the first one to wake up, though that wasn't very strange. I had always been an early riser though I did often stay up really late, maybe that's why I'm really pissed at my classmates most days. Or they're just annoying, that's pretty likely. I sat up, moving my hair out of my eyes, I took a few moments to drag my fingers through my hair, detangling a few of the nots that had built up. I was pretty sure most of the other girls' hair was starting to get messy too but why does it even matter at this point, we're all going to die…we're just doing this to pass the time. I shook Opal awake, not wanting to be alone with my thoughts when they were like this. Last time I let myself be alone for too long when I was thinking like that…we don't talk about that. Let's just say there's a reason I have such a high pain tolerance. Opal was a little groggy when she woke up but quickly rolled over and sat up against the wall, she yawned stretching out. "Morning, I think, it's kind of hard to tell when you can't see the sun" Opal admitted "Yeah, dude I'm so pale I look like a ghost. I know I didn't have much of a tan before but at least I wasn't all ghostly, I just looked like a burnt chicken nugget" I frowned. Opal let out a small laugh, she was still quiet but I was happy to have at least a moment of normality, today would be a good day. "It isn't that bad," She assured me "At least you aren't as pale as Elizabeth is…was" Opal corrected herself, there were a few moments of uncomfortable silence before I shook Penelope awake. "Hey…wake up!" I yelled at her, Penelope nearly sucker punched me in the face but I was able to doge so she only slightly skimmed my cheek. Penelope opened her eyes abruptly, her eyes wide as saucers before they softened "Sorry, I thought you might be the Min-" Me and Opal both cut off Penelope's apology by yelling the simple warning, "Don't say his name!". "Don't you remember names have power? Or do you have the memory of a goldfish?" I scolded, Penelope sighed "Sorry alright, for almost punching you and for nearly saying his name" She apologized. "Well you owe us one, so we aren't doing anything too crazy today alright" I huffed, putting my hands on my hips. Opal made a noise of agreement, standing up and stretching her arms above her head, she did a small core twist before letting out a deep sigh. "Fine" Penelope rolled her eyes, moving her hair away from her face. I stood up, shaking my arms out all over, "One of these days, I'm gonna flap my arms so hard I'll fly away" I joked. It was a pretty common joke between me and my friends and I always thought it was pretty funny. Opal laughed, a happy genuine laugh that sort of warmed my heart, Penelope didn't seem as amused by my joke but looked at her sister softly. I'm pretty sure Opal's the only person Penelope actually liked, sure she thought me, Miriam, and Basil were all useful, as well as most of the group, but it didn't really seem like she actually liked any of us. Not that I liked her all that much anyways it just…hurt a little. Goddess above, why do I even care?! "Let's get going, I think my ear might get infected…hopefully your brother knows what he's doing Addie" Penelope did actually seem worried and I guess I was too. Sure I had faith in Basil but I didn't have faith that we had the right supplies or that they would ever let us have them. Maybe we could do something to be able to convince somebody to send in a box. We had done it once already but that had been a while ago. What had we been doing differently back then? Sure we'd had a smaller group, had Elizabeth been the reason we were getting boxes? No. Nobody liked her, at least I didn't and I know most of our group didn't. She kind of freaked me out and I was glad she was gone, it was one less mouth to feed and we wouldn't have to worry about her snapping and just killing us all. Speaking of mouths to feed, as we walked I heard both mine and Opal's stomachs grumbling. "We should've brought food or something" I mumbled, kind of pissed off we hadn't thought of that despite knowing we were all practically starving. I had started to fiddle with my dagger again which did seem to put Penelope slightly on edge. "Give me a minute," She said, digging through her shirt pockets, she pulled out a small sprig of some kind of herb which I recognized almost immediately. The small white flowers narrowed it down quickly, then I took a look at the hairy base and triangular leaves alternating along the stem in a way that reminded me of a fern. Usually one of two of those things wouldn't be enough but all three together paired with the fact that I had already seen this exact plant a few days before keyed me in as to what it is "Chervil" I mumbled aloud, interrupting my own thoughts because I guess I just suck. "What?" Opal turned to me, visibly confused, she looked at the plants in Penelope's hands. "Bur chervil, that's what the plant is, it's an edible plant that's usually used as a seasoning herb. It shouldn't be that bad on its own, but it won't be very good…how did you get that? I thought Basil kept it in the box with the rest of our supplies" I asked, looking at Penelope accusingly. "I grabbed it a bit before we left. I figured since we might be gone for a while and the others had food back at the fountain I should take it with us so we didn't y'know…starve to death" Penelope admitted. Opal's eyes widened, I sighed "That was a smart move, but you still shouldn't have done it. Just…pass it here, split it evenly and I won't tell anybody" We both looked at Opal, silently asking her if she would tell anybody either. "I won't say anything either just…please split it evenly, I think I might pass out if I don't eat soon" Opal frowned, Penelope nodded, starting to split up the herbs into three portions. She passed me and Opal a portion each, they seemed even enough to me, not like I cared anyways, I was too hungry to care. I shoved the herbs in my mouth, I sucked on them for a while as we walked, it helped with the hunger a little. Or at least it settled my stomach enough so that I wasn't feeling like I'd just run suicides during gym on an empty stomach without a water bottle. That was a real hell of a day. Though I did get to use the scooter boards afterwards, y'know the ones. They're like these little boards on wheels that sometimes we get to drive around during gym. We played European handball on them sometimes, though I'm getting sidetracked, onwards!