The clock struck twelve thirty, and students began piling out of the laboratory to go to lunch.
Three more days had passed. Things with Coriolanus went smoothly. There wasn't much conversation besides brisk remarks on the assignment, the blonde boy keeping to himself as much as he could for the science portion. But honestly, sometimes no conversation was easier with him.
As Coriolanus gathered his belongings, he asked, "Are you staying, Liville?" She hadn't made any attempt to move, despite the bell chiming above them to signal lunch hour.
"I'm gonna wait for Sejanus," she told him. "He hasn't come back yet." Clemensia pulled him away as always.
Coriolanus finished packing up his notes as he said, "I'm sure he'll meet us at lunch."
Meet us at lunch.
Liville felt a small smile tugging at her lips. The last few days, Liville and Sejanus had walked besides Coriolanus to the lunch hall after class. She didn't know if he enjoyed their company on the walk, but he hadn't verbally said he minded it, so they continued walking with him each day.
Today, since Sejanus wasn't here yet, she just assumed she'd let Coriolanus go while she waited behind. Liville hadn't wanted to walk into the lunch hall alone, but now it became apparent Coriolanus didn't mind walking with her. Smiling at him, she said, "Okay." She gathered her things and walked beside him.
They sat down across from each other at a table in the cafeteria. Coriolanus wasn't making conversation, but the fact he'd been unbothered sitting by her at all felt like progress. It was funny, because Coriolanus was always so hostile, she found herself believing everything was progress.
He had a full tray. Yet as always, he ate it slowly and paced. Liville couldn't imagine how it was possible he ate that much food every day at lunch and still remained so skinny.
Actually not...skinny. Fit. Briefly, she allowed herself to glance over his chest and arms. Though the academy uniform covered mostly all of him, she could tell by the slight strain in the cloth by his shoulders that he was a tall, built man.
Coriolanus looked up, and caught her staring at him. Quickly, she decided to speak, covering for herself like she'd only glanced over to ask a question.
"Did you and Clemensia always get high marks on your assignments?" she decided to ask.
He gave a simple, "Yes."
"And that counted towards both of your class scores?"
Another plain, "Correct."
"Hm." She recalled what Sejanus had told her before, why Coriolanus and Clemensia were always hurrying to get the lead over one another on assignments. "She's your top competitor to get the scholarship at the end of the year?"
"I don't have any real competitors," he told her.
"I thought someone was tied with you."
"Festus thinks he is," Coriolanus mumbled. He set down his utensils, putting his attention on the conversation now. Of course it was spite that got him most talkative. "But only until last month's grades set in. He was absent too much. He'll be pushed down to third."
"You seem pretty confident in yourself."
He stared at her a moment, before asking with suspicion, "Are you competing for the Plinth Prize? Is that what you're doing here?"
"The Plinth Prize?"
"The one that goes to the top student at graduation."
"Oh, the scholarship. No."
