Stalling (and eating)

Edward was sitting by the counter in a restaurant, too-short feet hardly able to reach the floor from her unsteady perch on the tall stool-like chair. She grabbed one of the few remaining fries from the tiny basket they came in, dunking it in her milkshake and swirling it around for a few minutes before gulping it down. "Stupid." She whispered to herself, absentmindedly picking up another fry and repeating the process. "How long have you searched for something like this?" She raised her voice, looking around as if she expected someone to answer. "And now that you're actually enrolled.. You're stalling. Afraid." She smashed the fry on the counter, liquid slowly oozing off it and forming a tiny river over to her hamburger. "People are watching you." She reminded herself, combing her hair so that it provided a curtain between her and them.

A few more minutes went by in silence, and Ed could see through her hair-shield that the people in the restaurant were turning back to their food, slowly forgetting the odd little girl talking to herself in the corner. She raised her head, glancing over at them before quickly turning back to her own food. "I'm not little." She announced to the other diners, glancing at each of them in turn with her dull black eyes.

Silence. She turned back to her food sadly, stirring her milkshake with the straw stuck lopsidedly in it. "Well, i'm not." She grumbled, propping her head upon the table with both hands.

Edward watched wide-eyed as a random girl came up, sat down and started talking. Was she supposed to know her? Maybe she was the headmistress of the school or something.. But no, she was much too young for that. Besides, Ed doubted the actual headmistress would come down to welcome each student.. So she simply stared, confused, nodding at what she hoped would be the appropriate times.

A question. Answer it, idiot! Ed smiled, holding her hand over the table in an awkward handshake. She wasn't used to shaking hands.. There was never any need for it back home. "It's not.." She cleared her throat, tried again. "Edward. Edward Winters. Nice to meet you.. Tiger."

She shook her head rapidly, pausing a minute and changing it to a nod. "No. Yes. Well, not yet. I will be, though.. As soon as i finish eating." She gulped down a fry to emphasize her point, hardly chewing it and then "Are you?" she wondered, leaning forward in her seat and widening her eyes in excitement.

Ed nodded, staring at the girl curiously. She'd never had friends, back home. Just her Maman and her sister, and she didn't much want to write back to either lest they change her mind and take her back home even before she got to the actual school.

She shrugged, staring at the girl's hair and wondering how they could have named her tiger after that. "Tigers are black and white, or black and orange." She announced, quickly hushing herself and taking a bite out of her burger. It wasn't nice to tell people their name didn't make sense...

"My Maman named me after my father, to keep him from leaving. But he just said that having something like me named after him made him want to leave all the more." She grinned, remembering the story her mother would tell her when she was angry.

"She couldn't tell if I was a boy or a girl. Sometimes she calls me Winter, because that makes me sound like a girl." She cocked her head to one side, staring at the girl curiously. "Would you like to call me Winter?"