CHAPTER 287: 287-THE SCARY TRUTH ABOUT THE ACADEMY

Clementine:

"Miss Rue, I appreciate you caring for your squadmate, but maybe you’re forgetting that these are the principal’s orders. And from what I can tell, they took very good care of her last night. I’m sure she can manage a few buckets of water. Wouldn’t it be unfair for the others to do her part when it’s her punishment?"

This time, Ms. Lenora entered, siding with Mr. Rick. He smirked slightly, looking pleased.

"Not really. Her uniform was used against her without consent, which is punishment enough. Clementine just did what any crusader would do when their land, property, or anything belonging to them is touched without permission," Miss Rue argued, surprising me again.

Even the others seemed taken aback. Mr. Rick and Ms. Lenora looked disappointed by her response.

"Well, whatever the case may be—" Ms. Lenora began, but Miss Rue stepped closer, cutting her off.

"And all of this happened because of your careless crusader. We were never planning to welcome her into our squad. We were doing just fine, in fact. But somehow, her arrival caused so much tension among my crusaders that I’m beginning to question if letting her in was even a good idea."

The sharpness in Miss Rue’s tone made even Oriana gasp.

"Miss Rue," Ms. Lenora said, turning toward Oriana with a raised brow, clearly unhappy that she now had to listen to Miss Rue.

"Well, it seems we have no say in this matter. You’ll have to report to the principal yourself," Ms. Lenora admitted, swallowing hard as she ended the argument.

"But why should we do the hard work? We weren’t the ones who caused the fight. It’s not our punishment," Oriana said softly.

I noticed my squadmates straighten, clearly angry at her.

"Well, for starters, this punishment wasn’t assigned by the principal. It was decided among the ringleaders. So now, you’ll still have to go and water the plants," Miss Rue continued, making Ms. Lenora clench her jaw and glance at Mr. Rick.

In silence, Mr. Rick and Ms. Lenora walked out of the room, while Miss Rue turned to me.

"Clementine, you’ll come stay in the basement with me tonight. I’ll check your fever and figure out what happened to you last night," she explained.

My squadmates exchanged strange looks with one another, their expressions uneasy as they glanced at me.

It was the kind of look that showed they were thinking something through.

Miss Rue stepped out of the room to give us a moment so I could get ready to leave with her, my squadmates waited outside while I rushed into the bathroom to change into clean clothes.

When I came out, they were still waiting, and Oriana sat on the bed with her legs hanging down, a pout on her face.

The moment I stepped into view, she let out a quiet grunt at my presence.

"Please take care of yourself, okay?" Yorick said. He stood looking at me with those soft eyes, trying to show that he cared.

It didn’t make any sense.

Then there was Troy, staring at me with a pout of his own.

"You don’t need to act like you care," I hissed.

The three of them shared a glance, then awkwardly looked down. Of course they knew what they’d done was wrong. But for what?

Just to taste something new for a few days? They hurt me this bad for that?

"Listen, we’ll talk about all that later. For now, I just want to tell you this is a big chance for you to get close to Miss Rue. Maybe you’ll find out the academy’s secrets. You’ll be staying in the basement, that’s where all the information is," Haiden said.

I was stunned. When they had the chance to question the ringleaders, especially after the Brown House leader died, they said nothing.

They were too busy with Oriana. But now that I was sick and going to stay with Miss Rue, they suddenly wanted answers.

It honestly surprised me.

I didn’t respond. I just left the room.

My body felt weak again, maybe sick was the wrong word. I felt drained.

They followed me out, and even as Miss Rue walked beside me toward the hall, I saw my squadmates trailing behind.

They kept following until we reached the hall, where they were told to stay behind.

Miss Rue walked me downstairs. There, I saw Ms. Lenora and Mr. Rick sitting across from each other at a table, busy with their paperwork.

When their eyes landed on me, I noticed Miss Rue elbow Mr. Rick before both of them pretended to be busy again.

I quietly followed her into her room. She gestured toward the bed.

"You should get comfortable. I’ll bring you food, and then we’ll give you some medicine. In no time, you’ll feel fresh again," Miss Rue said with a small smile as she patted the blanket over me.

"I’m not a bad person, Clementine," she began, straightening her back with a sigh.

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, then turned to the side and grabbed something from the bookshelf.

When she returned, she placed it right beside my pillow.

"I’ll go get you some food, but make sure nobody sees you with this," she said.

As she walked away, I sat up in the bed. Her bed was incredibly comfortable, the pillow soft, the blanket like a cloud.

Once I’d settled my back against the headboard, I reached for the book she had left next to me and held it in my hands.

A rush of emotions hit me, confusion, shock, disbelief, especially when I realized I was holding Bodhi’s diary.

The problem was, I had already read a few pages from it before. But now, something was sticking out of the diary.

/I pulled it out and saw that it was the missing pages I hadn’t been able to find earlier.

For a moment, it felt like a trap. I wasn’t sure if I should read it while she was gone. What if the door opened and Mr. Rick or Ms. Lenora walked in?

What would happen then?

The fear of getting caught made me hold the diary close before I finally opened it, just enough to slip the pages into my hands.

That was when my entire body broke out in goosebumps.

It was Bodhi’s handwriting, identical to the rest of the entries in his diary. But these pages carried something far more important.

They read,

’Why would our family send us to the North, then sit in a hall, watch us suffer while they feast on fine food and bet on us?’