Reigning Queen

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki guessed that if this school didn't have such a good gymnastics program, it would be a little harder to deal with, all the horse-crazy people around her were really getting to her last nerve, but she would make do, as she wasn't going to drop to the level of begging her parents to move her to another school. No, Nicole Victors didn't beg for anything. Bribe and coerce, sure, but never beg.

Walking into the cafeteria, she looked around the room before walking over to the salad bar and filling a plate with a range of crispy colours and threw on a splash of dressing before she headed over to the fridge for a bottle of juice, a tub of plain yogurt and a bottle water, and then walked over to swipe her card through the machine, having no interest in the Italian cuisine being offered that day. Flashing the woman there a smile, she turned and then turned toward the tables.

She knew that the cheerleaders seemed to think they ruled this school, and she had been here for long enough that she decided it was time that the gymnasts took over, and she walked to the empty table in the middle of the room. With a smug smile, she sat down, silently daring anyone around her to tell her to move.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina was running a little bit late to lunch, so by the time she'd made it to the cafeteria's doors, quite a few people had already settled into their tables. Without looking around, she headed for the hot food section and ordered her meal, grabbing it with a smile and then carrying it over with a bottle of water to the register and swiping her card through.

Only then did she briefly glance around, spotting the almost empty middle table, and shrugged to herself, heading over and setting down her tray before she cued Derecho under the table and sat down herself. She glanced up at the other girl sitting at the table with her and smiled briefly, before turning to her meal - Food first, conversation later.

[Joanne Blackthorne]

Jo hurried into the canteen, having to take a sudden step to the side to avoid flattening a minuscule girl in a green blouse who clearly thought that it was a hell of a lot warmer than was actually the case. Oh God; she was late, she was late... The brunette hurried through the process of buying food as quickly as she could, which wasn't very considering that the attitude of the canteen staff seemed to be that people who were late had no one but themselves to blame. And to be fair, they were right; she'd overslept this morning, and she seemed not to have caught up with herself yet.

Glancing around, she couldn't spot a free table, and so she resigned herself to social interaction as she approached the central table and asked, "Mind if I join you?"

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki was playing with her salad more than she was eating it, now regretting the dressing she had chosen, but she had been raised not to waste food she had selected herself, so she would eventually get around to eating it.

She swapped the fork for her water bottle as a shadow fell over the table, and she curled her nose when she saw the dog vanishing under the table. "How long does it take to train a dog to do that?" The question surprised her, as she had fully intended to tell the cheerleader to take herself and the canine elsewhere. "And by that, I mean to ignore the smell of food that is everywhere."

He attention was momentarily diverted by the voice of a fellow gymnast, and she vaguely waved toward the other chairs in way of giving the girl the affirmative.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina looked up as she was asked a question about training, chewing her food before she answered. However, she was briefly interrupted by another girl arriving and gestured at the seats, much like her gymnastic counterpart, having no objection. Once she had swallowed her mouthful, she returned to the question she'd been asked, "The basics, a few days. But then upping the value of the food and the difficulty takes a lot longer - I could ask him to hold a hamburger now and know he wouldn't eat it, but I wouldn't have tried that with him as a youngster."

[Joanne Blackthorne]

Jo gave the other two a smile and a brief nod of thanks before sliding into one of the empty seats and settling in as best as she could. The girls seemed to be talking about dogs, an area in which Joanne's knowledge was notable only by its absence, and so she kept herself quiet and started in on her lunch. Quite aside from the potential for conversational embarrassment, she was ravenous, and felt she could quite happily eat everyone else's lunch as well. All in all, it was best all around that she should get on with putting something in her stomach.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki nodded as she continued playing with her salad, before pushing the bowl away and opening the yogurt. "So, pretty similar to training for any sport." She commented between spoonfuls. "Star with the easy stuff and then progress the difficulty when you, or in this case the dog, is ready." Comparing it with sports, or gymnastics, she was tempted to ask how many dogs were rushed through their training and then had to find a new career, but she left the question unasked, because she really wasn't that interested in disgusting, germ-carrying, dogs. Even if they were better than horses.

She diverted her attention slightly to the other girl sitting at the table. Jo was an alright gymnast, but no where near her own league, so she didn't feel threatened by the bug sitting with her. "How's training going?" She asked sweetly. Sure, they trained in the same studio five hours a day, but it's not like they had time to talk while in there.

[Joanne Blackthorne]

Joanne glanced up with a smile as her fellow gymnast addressed her. "Not badly, thank you," she responded cheerily, spearing a piece of chicken with her fork and regarding it contemplatively as she finished her sentence. "Hard work, though." The brunette had no interest whatsoever in pursuing the sport as a profession; she was well aware of the fact that she was never going to achieve Olympic standard at this point, and she wasn't especially displeased by that. The world of competitive gymnastics was just so... well, competitive. If she was honest, Jo didn't think that she could survive for long in that kind of atmosphere; it just wasn't what she was cut out for.

"You look nice," she added, taking advantage of the moment to continue with her lunch. Because yes, the brunette was starving, and while she would make conversation out of concession to customary politeness, she wasn't about to let her stomach start digesting itself.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki nodded at the younger girl's words, their training was tough, which she put down to them having a coach who already knew how hard it was to reach the top, as he'd already been there.

She tipped a little juice into her yogurt tub, and mixed it around, before finishing off the yogurt. She then fished the juice off and took a sip of the water, wondering if she really should have chosen the juice, as the amount of sugar in it must be about a week's worth.

She preened slightly at the compliment, and she always did her best to look her best all the time, as you never knew who was watching at any point... though she guessed that being on a campus like this, there wasn't that much of a chance of her being spotted by anyone that she would care about. "Do you always eat like it's your last meal?" She asked with an arched eyebrow.

[Sina Aleardi]

Sina nodded at Nikki's analogy of what she'd said, then turned to pay attention to her own food as the girls started talking about their gymnastics training. However, the silences between them stretched as each of them ate their lunch. As Nikki had to make a cutting comment, Sina frowned, but stayed quiet, wanting to let the new gymnast - She didn't even know her name - respond on her own without immediately jumping to her defense.

[Joanne Blackthorne]

Jo glanced up from her meal, taking a moment to process the remark because she wasn't entirely sure that she'd heard it correctly the first time around. She kept on chewing though, and, having swallowed, returned, "Only when I'm hungry," with a grin and her most cheerful tone. She wasn't about to let Nikki get her down; she had dealt with far worse than that in the past. This was why she would never get into professional gymnastics, though; the atmosphere was toxic.

[Nicole Victors]

Nikki pushed the bowl with her salad away from her, making a note to lay off the dressing next time, or at least use a little less - less is more and all that.

Her eyebrows arched at Jo's reply, ever so slightly impressed that she even got one, and not an apology. "Fair enough." She replied with a shrug, then rolled her eyes as her stomach released a growl. It would just have to cope until her energy drink after the stupid equestrian classes and before they headed back to gymnastics.