“That’s okay,” I called, trotting over to where the large silver trays of food sat under warming lights. She was right. It was spaghetti night, which was always a favorite of mine, but the remaining sauce had dried out and burned onto the corner of the pan, which was fine because there were only a few stray noodles left anyway. There wasn’t even one lousy piece of garlic bread left. It looked like another cereal dinner. With a sigh, I grabbed a bowl and quickly filled it with the crumbly remains of some sort of bran cereal and grabbed a milk carton from the counter, ignoring the fact that it had lost its chill hours ago.

Turning toward the door again, I almost ran full force into Mrs. Smith, who stood with her arms crossed, watching me in disapproval. I barely managed to steady the bowl of cereal before it dumped all over my front. She studied me for another second, and I wondered if I was going to get chewed out for something when she sighed and held up a finger.

“Stay,” she said before turning and disappearing back into the stainless-steel labyrinth of the kitchen. I stayed. You didn’t mess with Mrs. Smith. She was scary. When I was a first year, I’d seen her make a cocky fifth year mop the entire mess hall because he had the audacity to start a food fight. She’d stood over him the entire time, her eyes narrowed and mouth pursed into a thin line, and the kid had practically shrunk five inches by the time it was all over. If she said to stay, I’d stay.

A moment later, she was back, a small foil packet in her hands. Without comment she confiscated my sad bowl of bran crumbs and handed it to me. It felt warm, hot even, and I looked up at her in surprise.

“A growing boy can’t grow on this,” she said, holding up the offending bowl like it was full of bugs and not cereal. “Now get back to your dorm. If you get caught in the halls after lights-out, I’m not vouching for you.” I stared at her another second in surprise, my fingers burning a little on the hot packet, before mumbling a thank-you and bolting for the door.