Chapter 4: Not To Feel

The photo dropped at seven forty-three in the morning.

@saintaurelius_confessions: a slightly grainy shot of Café Maren’s corner table, two figures leaning slightly toward each other over coffee cups, one of them unmistakably Lucien Vale. The caption underneath was short and did not try to be subtle.

‘so we’re just letting this happen? Lucien Vale and the scholarship transfer? someone talk to me’

The comments came fast;

‘he literally just arrived’ 

‘what does he even have to offer?’

‘i give it a week before lucien gets bored and this kid goes home crying’

‘feel bad for him actually. Lucien doesn’t do this. something’s off’

By the time Eli read it at breakfast, there were two hundred and fourteen comments and climbing. He scrolled through them with one hand and ate his toast with the other.

Noah watched him from across the table.

“You okay?”

“Yep.” Eli put his phone face down. “Toast is good today.”

“Eli”

“I grew up being the wrong kind of person in a town that had opinions about everything. Two hundred comments from people who don’t know me is genuinely the least scary thing that’s happened to me this week.” He picked up his toast. 

“I’m fine.”

The winter festival planning meeting was in the main hall at eleven.

Eli was there because Coach Harland had sent three of his fastest people to represent the track team, which meant Eli was sitting in the fourth row with a notepad determined to do this correctly.

The meeting had broken into working groups, Eli moved to the athletics coordination table when two upperclassmen sat down across from him. He recognized one of them vaguely, third year, 

“Thorne, right?” the first one said, pleasantly enough.

“Yeah.” Eli didn’t look up from his notepad.

“New transfer, scholarship.” There was a pause. “Track.”

“That’s me.” he said with a sing-song voice and slightly uncomfortable chuckle.

“Impressive,” the second one said, in the same tone Adrian had used outside the café, which Eli was starting to recognize as the Saint Aurelius way of saying the opposite. 

“Must have been quite a surprise. Getting in.”

Eli kept writing.

“Almost as surprising,” the first one continued, leaning back in his chair. “as Lucien Vale suddenly decided to..” he paused, choosing the word with visible amusement, “date someone like you.”

The table nearby had gone slightly quiet.

“I mean no offence,” he added pleasantly.

“You clearly mean a lot of offence,” Eli said, still writing.

The first one smiled. 

“We’re just saying. Lucien Vale has a certain..” another pause, “..standard. And you’re very..” he glanced at Eli’s notepad, his plain jacket, “…ordinary”.

A few people laughed, Eli put his pen down, he looked up at the first upperclassman with the patient, clear-eyed expression without any fear.

“I think,” Eli said, “that Lucien Vale is perfectly capable of deciding who he spends time with. And I think you’re sitting at the wrong table if you came here to talk about my business.”

The first upperclassman opened his mouth to say something when the voice came from behind Eli.

“Is there a problem?”

The table went completely still and Eli turned around.

Lucien was standing three feet away with his meeting folder under one arm and his pleasant expression, which everyone in the room knew was significantly worse than if he’d looked angry. 

His eyes moved from Eli to the first upperclassman.

“Hargreaves,” Lucien said. 

“Third year. Business faculty.” He said. 

“Your family’s donation was reinstated last year after a conduct review, your continued enrollment is conditional on maintaining a behavioral standard.” A pause, precisely weighted. “I sit on the student conduct advisory panel, in case that’s relevant.”

The room was silent, Hargreaves had gone very still.

“I was just…” he started but Lucien didn’t let him finish.

“You were just leaving this table,” Lucien said pleasantly. 

“Both of you’ and they both left.

Nobody at the table said anything for a long moment, around them the rest of the hall was watching. Lucien sat down in the empty chair beside Eli, opened his folder, and looked at the agenda like nothing had happened.

Eli looked at him for a moment.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Eli said quietly.

“I know,” Lucien said, without looking up.

“Thank you.”