Rose, Monique repeated the name to herself, her roommate’s name is or was Rose. The student council president referred to her roommate in the past tense, not even giving hope that the missing girl was still alive. Does Katrine believe that Rose is no longer alive? Could it be that somehow, some way Katrine knew that Rose was dead or was involved in the disappearance of Monique’s roommate? 

“It's sad to say, but she went missing shortly after we sent out acceptance letters to our new students. Her grandparents reported her missing to the school over the summer. They told the school that the girl went on a walk and never returned."

“Oh uh, I don’t know all the details but I did hear that all the missing kids went missing on the exact same night.” 

Monique’s purple-red eyes widen in realization. What Katrine said about Rose going missing contradicted what that male student told Monique about the missing students. Monique remembered that the male student was going to tell her the name of one of the missing students before he got drenched in water by Kamari.

“I didn’t know any of them personally but there was one student who went missing that everybody in the school knew.” The boy said. “Her name was Ro-”  

That male student might not have been able to finish his words, but Monique could see now that the boy was going to say the name Rose. It seems like her roommate was popular around the school if everyone knew her name. However, why is it that when Monique asked about Rose’s disappearance, Katrine made it sound as if only a few people knew Rose went missing? If that was true, then how did the male student know Rose went missing? 

In the case that Katrine was lying to Monique, which wouldn’t come to a surprise to her, that means that Rose did not go missing in the summer. 

Instead, she had to go missing far earlier than the time frame the student council president gave Monique. Most likely during the previous school year and there is a possibility she didn’t go missing alone. A piece of information that Katrine did not tell Monique, for Katrine only admitted that one person went missing. The male student not only said that Rose went missing but specifically another student, the previous volleyball captain.

Then again, Monique did not ask Katrine if any other students went missing. Monique couldn’t prove that Katrine was trying to hide that information from her. It could also be said that Monique had no proof that the male student spoke the truth about the missing students. The boy was only repeating the rumors he heard, so there is no telling if what he heard was true or not. 

In summary, Monique frowned, she did not have enough information about the missing students nor on her missing roommate to come up with a reasonable conclusion about the situation much to her dismay. After comprehending all the information she had learned over the course of two days and failing to get answers out of the given information, Monique was beginning to get a headache.

With a defeated sigh she decided to take a break from thinking for a few seconds and rest her brain. At the same time her stomach growled at her reminding her that it was lunch time and that it was ready to eat. Then Monique remembered that she had someone waiting to eat lunch with her and scrambled out of the bathroom. 

Monique shook her head and smacked herself in the face for getting lost in her thoughts while she fast walked her way through the halls of the main buildings. She frowned at the thought of Vallin going hungry because of her and felt her heart twisting in guilt. Monique also hoped that Vallin wasn't too mad at her for taking so long to meet up with him. At least she didn't waste too much time, since there was still some time left to grab lunch.

Yeah, Monique thought on the brighter side of things, the situation would be a lot worse if they both missed lunch. If that had happened then they would have to sit through their clubs with empty stomachs and wait hours until dinner time to eat. 

She approached the dining hall, glancing around until she spotted her black twisted haired acquaintance. Vallin was sitting against the wall of the dining hall with his legs drawn up to his chest and his head resting against his knees. His locs covered his eyes leaving Monique unsure on whether or not Vallin could see her approaching. 

“Hey Vallin! I finally made it!” Monique called out to Vallin as she walked over to him. However, she did not receive any response from Vallin, who didn’t even move an inch from his sitting position.

“Vallin?”

Still getting no response, Monique stepped closer to the sitting boy and crouched down to his level. She stared at him for a little bit silently debating on what she should do next. Then Monique brought her hand to his face and gently swept the locs off the boy's eyes. 

"Huh? Did he fall asleep?" 

Monique examined Vallin's face as she held up his locs. Vallin's different colored eyes were closed and he was breathing softly and slowly. He must have fallen asleep while waiting for Monique to show up.

"He must not be getting enough sleep. No wonder he fell asleep out here." Monique mumbled to herself,noticing the darker skin underneath the sleeping boy's eyes.

She let go of Vallin's locs and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Vallin, you need to wake up. We still need to get our lunch before the dining hall closes.” Monique gently shook the sleeping boy’s shoulder until he began to stir. 

Monique stood up as Vallin mumbled something unintelligible and lifted his head off his knees. He let out a yawn and Monique could imagine the taller boy's multi-colored eyes blinking slowly behind his locs. Vallin turned his head away from Monique to rub his eyes before standing up. 

"Please tell me I didn't sleep through lunch." Vallin let out another yawn and frowned. 

"Nope, we still have at least 15 minutes left until lunch is over." Monique reassured him with a smile as she walked over to the dining hall's double doors. 

"After you Mr. Doe," Monique joked after she opened one of the doors and held it open for him. 

"Thanks." Vallin mumbled as he walked past her through the door with a small smile on the visible part of his face. 

Monique had no idea how Vallin was able to see with all that hair in front of his eyes. If she remembers to, she'll ask him about it later but right now Monique's only priority was food. Her stomach growled, either agreeing to her decision or prompting her to feed it. She didn't know which one was the right one but stepped inside the dining hall and closed the door behind her.

Monique went over to where the food was being served and joined Vallin, who was already in the process of picking his lunch. There were three lunch options to choose from, fruit salad, nachos, and hot dogs which came with a side of chips of their choice. There were four drink options, water, strawberry milk, white milk and chocolate milk. Monique glanced over at Vallin's tray while he was checking out. Vallin's tray held  two hotdogs covered in ketchup and mustard with a side of Zoritos and a bottle of water. After Vallin was done checking out, Monique chose the nachos and a carton of chocolate milk.

"Where do you want to eat?" Vallin asked as Monique was checking out. 

"Hmm…." Monique thought about it for a second as she finished typing in her number." I don't know. On the first day of school I ate lunch in my dorm room."

Monique didn't have any friends to sit with in the cafeteria and she didn't want to sit by herself in the cafeteria. So she ate alone in her room while watching her favorite cartoons on her computer. Good thing Monique's lonely days of eating by herself are over or so she hoped. Don't wanna move too fast into a friendship and scare him off, she thought. Monique turned to face Vallin, having to raise her head up to look at him. Something she was going to have to get used to if they were going to be friends. 

"What about you? Where did you eat your lunch on the first day of school?" Monique asked, eager to stuff her mouth and fill her empty stomache. 

“I sat outside on one of the benches and ate my lunch.”

“I don’t mind eating outside, it beats eating inside my dorm room. Let's go!” 

Monique cheered and Vallin led the way outside. This time it was Vallin who held the door open for Monique and she thanked him with a smile. They picked a bench to sit at and began eating their lunch. Monique devoured her nachos while Vallin took his time eating his hotdogs and his Zoritos. After she was done eating her nachos, Monique washed it down with her chocolate milk. 

“Ah! Those were some good nachos…” Monique sighed with a smile, leaning against one arm while patting her stomach with her other hand. 

“Did you even chew any of your food? Every time I looked over , you were just stuffing more and more nachos in your mouth.” Vallin said before eating the last bit of his hotdog.

“Yes, yes I did and I enjoyed every single bite.”

“You didn’t have to rush to eat your food like that. There is still enough time before we have to go to our clubs.” He pointed out as he picked up his Zorito bag and dug a chip out.

“Vallin, I could've cared less about the clubs. At that moment I was hungry and ready to eat.” Monique grinned at him and took another sip of her chocolate. “Anyway, now that I’m full, I can finally get down to business.”

“What do you mean by that?” Vallin asked, eating the chip in his fingers. Monique could imagine him raising one of his eyebrows at her.

“First things first, I owe you an apology."Monique gave him the puppy eyes with her hands clasped under her face. "I am sorry that I made you wait on me for so long. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me?” 

“There is no need to apologize, I didn’t mind waiting on you.” Vallin laughed with the widest grin Monique has ever seen on his face. 

“Great! Now I can tell you why I took so long.” Monique dropped the puppy eyes and gave Vallin a mischievous grin. “It all started when I was leaving my stall in the girl’s bathroom.”