CHAPTER 150: 150-THE DINNER AND OUR BURNING QUESTIONS

Clementine:

The stand my squadmates took for me left me stunned. I had no clue how to respond, and neither did Miss Rue. All she said was that this isn’t a movie and that we better not make any mistakes and get everyone in trouble. Then she left. I could tell she was upset with us.

We went back inside, and for a moment, we were all silent.

"What did Bodhi say about being left in the North for a certain time?" Ian spoke up, obviously the one who had to bring it up. He was very involved with it.

"Yeah, he kind of shocked me too," I admitted, remembering how anxious he looked talking about the North.

"Let’s just hope they deal with their issue soon so we can talk to him again," Troy suggested. Haiden and Yorick both turned to glare at him.

"What?" Troy asked, almost offended.

"You need to stop being so clingy to Clementine. You do realize all these accusations thrown at her were because of you, right?" Haiden grunted at Troy.

"Well, are you guys forgetting that Yorick was also involved?" Then Ian jumped in, stirring things up as usual. Even when trying to stay as a team, he could be messy.

"She’s my mate. I can do whatever the fuck I want," Yorik said bluntly.

"No, you can’t. Not if she doesn’t want you to," Haiden countered.

I put my hands on my head, and thankfully, everyone went silent.

"Are you okay?" Troy asked gently.

"I want to focus on the North right now. Something’s off. Something very bad is going on in this academy. And I have a feeling they all know. Every single one of these ringleaders knows," I hissed, pointing toward the door.

"Yeah, we talked about it a little and decided to keep an eye on them," Ian said, which made the others look at him, then at me.

"You guys talked about it? When? Why weren’t we involved in this conversation?" Haiden argued, making me take a deep breath.

"Anyway, the point is, we know when the train arrives, probably every morning. We also know where it arrives," Ian said. "So how about, one morning, we go there and spy on it, just to see what happens on the train when we’re not boarding it?" he suggested.

While everyone else nodded, I was still lost in thought.

"What is it, Clementine? Are you still thinking about what Miss Rue said?" Yorick called from his bed, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes at me.

"What did Mister Rick mean by ’he would fuck with us so bad’? What is going on?" I whispered, feeling lost. No matter how hard I tried to dismiss it, telling myself it was just a ringleader full of ego saying things on impulse, I kept going back to that sentence.

"I just want to rest," I said as I suddenly felt so down. I don’t know what it was, maybe a cluster of things, and the fact that somebody took a stand for me. I know I sounded like a brat, but it was just my way of coping with something very new. I lay down on the bed and turned my face to the other side.

After a few seconds of silence, I heard footsteps nearing my bed. I felt someone fix the blanket on me, and then I felt lips on my temples, a gentle kiss, a soft peck. "It’s okay, rest," Yorick murmured as he pulled away, and then all of them turned off the lights and lay down. I could tell because there was nothing else for us to do.

I lay down and eventually dozed off. However, my sleep was broken that day. I could hear the whooshing of the wind and the storm hitting, vibrating the windows nonstop.

I had fallen asleep from exhaustion and woke up to loud banging on our door. I guess none of us woke up for dinner, so the lurkers had to come fetch us. We got up, freshened quickly, and headed to the hall. We hoped to get a word with the green squad, but the moment we arrived, we realized things were different that night. The ringleaders were sitting at each table, dining with their squadmates.

We sat with a very smiling Miss Rue, and as expected, the white squad was serving dinner before joining Mr. Rick. That was their punishment. If anyone needed something, they had to call the white squadmates even while they were eating.

"Did you guys have a great nap?" Miss Rue asked, smiling as she took a bite of her jalapeno poppers.

I only nodded, leaning forward with my elbow on the table, my arm bent and my fist raised, my cheek resting against it. I was so tired. I still wanted to sleep.

"Has your anger worn off?" she asked with a smile.

"Why are you sitting with us tonight?" Ian asked, blunt as always.

I raised my eyes, my cheek squished against my fist like a marshmallow. I noticed Miss Rue’s smile fade at his question, but she managed to compose herself.

"We have decided to get along with our squadmates. I guess this year we have been very harsh. Every year, after losing so many squadmates and starting anew, it gets to these ringleaders. I am new, so I am able to smile. But Goddess forbid, if I lost my squad as many times as they have, I would turn stone cold too," she said, pouting as she glanced at her ringleader friends.

"How did you guys know what was going on in the train the other day?" Haiden asked, barely eating.

Miss Rue took a deep breath, then cut another piece of her steak. Every time she took a bite, she closed her eyes to savor it. I wished we could do the same, but every bite was a reminder that we could be sent to the North anytime. It spoiled our mood.

"Because we have cameras everywhere. Haven’t we told you guys about the drones? We run them around to see what is happening in the North, unless some giant or ogre smashes them," she said, almost smiling painfully. Then she paused, nodded, and added like she was convincing herself, "You can ask me anything. That is why I am sitting with you. I’ll be very blunt and honest."

"Okay, then tell us something. How do you guys know when the train is arriving, but not when it is leaving?" Ian pressed, skeptical.

"Because we have drones. We can see the train coming from far away and warn you. But once it leaves, there’s no way to interact with you in the North. And before you ask about cell phones, they don’t work in the North. We tried, but the signal always breaks. Which brings me to the next question you might have—why don’t we give you weapons?" she said, her eyes starting to tear up.

"Because a catastrophe broke out in the past from the weapons the Academy gave to the crusaders."