Chatoyant College Book 13: Chapter 43: Pancakes

Saturday, May 20

Dawn was just starting to wake up and decide whether to actually get out of bed yet when she heard a quiet knock on her door. A quick glance told her that there was no one in Naomi’s bed; sighing, she got up to open the door.

It was Corrie. “Oh, good, you’re awake,” she said, smiling much too cheerfully for this early in the morning. Though Dawn realized it probably wasn’t that early—it was just that it was Saturday.

“I am now,” she said.

Corrie’s face fell. “I’m sorry. I thought I was knocking quietly enough that you wouldn’t hear if you were still asleep.”

“It’s okay.” Dawn shook her head. “I was just waking up. What’s up?”

“I wanted to see if you were ready to head to breakfast, so we can go see Troy and Link afterward.”

Dawn tried to smooth down the hair on the back of her head. It felt sticky. “Do you mind if I have a shower first?”

“Sure, just knock on my door when you’re ready. Edie isn’t awake yet anyway.”

Dawn gathered her things and went next door to the bathroom. After a quick but hot shower, she felt much more awake and human. It looked like a beautiful day, so she dressed in a sleeveless top, then went to Corrie and Edie’s room to knock.

They both answered, Corrie looking much more cheerful than Edie, but both of them dressed and presentable. “Ready to go?” Corrie said. “Good, I’m starving.”

Edie hid a yawn behind her hand. “Morning, Dawn. I hope they have pancakes.”

“Pancakes sound great,” Dawn said, suddenly realizing how hungry she was. “Let’s go find out.”

They headed out to the dining hall—it was a warm day—and found that, in fact, both plain and chocolate chip pancakes were being served. All three of them loaded up, plus sausages for Corrie, fruit salad for Dawn, and hot chocolate for Edie.

“You need chocolate to go with your chocolate?” Dawn teased her as they sat down.

“The dining hall hot chocolate hardly qualifies as chocolate,” Edie said mournfully, looking into her cup. “But I wanted something warm. Not sure why.”

“Are you feeling okay?” Corrie asked. “You’re not cold, are you?”

“No, not at all. Maybe I do just want chocolate to go with my chocolate.” Edie took a piece of chocolate chip pancake with her fork, and with her mouth half full, added, “These are really good.”

Dawn tucked into her pancakes and found them very satisfying. It was almost disappointing to take bites of the fruit after the over-the-top sweetness of the pancakes. Unfortunately, she found herself getting full very quickly, and when she simply couldn’t take another bite of pancake, there was still a good stack on her plate.

She sighed and poked at them with her fork. “I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach.”

“Mine, too,” said Corrie, who had an even bigger stack than Dawn left—but hers had been enormous to start with. “This is good, though. We can bring them to Troy and Link. Surely they’ll appreciate pancakes.”

“They’d better,” Edie said. “I’d hate for these to go to waste.” She had a few left as well.

“Here, let’s put them all on one plate,” Corrie said, pulling Dawn’s plate closer to hers. “Then we can just carry one pile.”

“We can’t take plates from the dining hall,” Edie said.

“No one will notice. Besides, I’ll bring it back next time.” Corrie was piling the other pancakes onto hers as she spoke. When she was done, the stack definitely looked like it held enough pancakes for two people. Dawn added her remaining fruit salad on top.

She and Edie took their dishes to the dish return, and the three of them left with the stack of pancakes. As Corrie had predicted, no one seemed to notice, except a few other students, who didn’t care. They made their way out of the crowd of the dining hall and walked quickly to Darnel, where Troy and Link lived.

Since Corrie was carrying the food, Dawn took the lead, finding Troy and Link’s rooms. She made a guess and knocked on Troy’s door first, and was pleased when it opened a crack and Link looked out. He had lost his customary smile, and his face looked tight and pinched. “Oh, it’s just Dawn,” he said. He relaxed his grip on the door, letting it open a few inches, but they still couldn’t see in. “And Corrie and Edie. Hi. Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m not letting anyone in.”

“We heard about what happened,” Dawn said. “We just wanted to check on you.”

He frowned even harder. “You heard?”

“The magic professors told us,” Corrie said. She held up the plate of pancakes. “We brought some food.”

“We don’t have to come in,” Edie said. “But we want to make sure you’re okay, and we’re trying to find out more about what happened. If you feel like it, we’d like to hear the story.”

“I smell pancakes,” Troy said from behind Link. “If they brought pancakes, let them in.”

Link rolled his eyes, but his expression lightened as he stepped back, pulling the door open. “All right. If you already know everything, you might as well come in.”