Bridget took a deep breath and knocked on the ajar door. The light from the corridor cast her shadow that crept into the dark room.
"Get out."
"Lady Amalia was looking for you," she said softly. "You weren't in the arena too. So I stopped by to see if there's… if there's anything wrong…"
"Wrong?" The girl winced as Hera raised her tone. "WRONG? The whole damned school is what's wrong here! There's a letherian on the loose and we're lettin' it freely walk in our school grounds! A LETHERIAN."
"But- but Adeleine is not bad." She looked away, fiddling with fingers. She was unable to meet the other's heated gaze, or more like, she doesn't want to be swallowed by the scorching flames. She knew she will be mad.
"How do 'ya know?" Hera stood up beside the window and took a step closer, her voice close to the edge. "Did your SIGHT tell you that? So, what? She's different?" She jabbed the shorter one's shoulder as she dripped her words in sarcasm. "Bridget, did you forget what happened to us back in THAT island? What THEY did to us?"
Bridget's voice got caught in her throat. She couldn't move. She whimpered as her hands shook.
"They did so many unspeakable horrors. Unforgivable things. And the next thing 'ya knew," Hera took a step back, giving room for the other to breathe, despite that, Bridget remained as a nervous wreck. "She'll do the same thing. And when that happens, y'all will be sitting there, watching as everythin' we've built for burn. Because what? You trusted her…as a friend. You WILL be betrayed."
Bridget shook her head fervently, trying to hide her discomfort but also getting a grip of herself. Hera is too far down to reach. Scarred, she closed herself in a circle she called protection, unable to break free from an already severed chain. Deep down, Bridget knew, Hera is desperately trying to claw herself out of the void…she needed a little push.
She whispered, "You should let go of the past, Hera."
"You speak as if it was that easy as brandishin' a blade."
"She's not bad as you think she is…" Bridget placed a hand over hers and smiled. "Just because she's Letherian doesn't mean she's evil."
"No, Bridget." Hera pulled away. "Listen to me. This is the reason we get in trouble in the first place, this is why those things happen to us. You're too forgivin', too naïve, too gullible. Not again." She firmly stated, resolve in her eyes. "She's not our friend, she's a letherian. She's dangerous."
Bridget stood there quietly and rubbed her arms as she looked down in regret. Hera walked past her. Before the latter could get exit the door, the word flew out of her mouth like a broken record, "I'm sorry."
Hera paused, her back facing the shorter one. "No, you're not. You shouldn't apologize for somethin' you shouldn't be apologizing for." Then, she continued walking.
Bridget tilted her head. "Ummm…where are you going?"
"To clear my head, what else?"
"But…what about the clean-up?"
"Fuckin', way to ruin the mood," she sarcastically remarked.
The shy one yelped an apology. "But…Lady Amalia will be displeased. It will ruin the family's reputation. It's kind of them to take us in and…I just don't want to give them trouble than we already have."
"Ughhh, fine. I'll go. Just stop pesterin' me about it."
~~
"How 'bout a candy? No? A cupcake? Still no?" Ria followed her around while she continued to ignore her. Now, the senior had been bartering baked goods in change for her forgiveness.
Adeleine stopped to glare at her before continuing on her way back to Mir dorm with a raised chin.
"Oh! Oh! How about the almighty triple-layer chocolate cake." She grabbed behind her back a plate of dessert that seem to have come out of nowhere.
Adeleine looked at her in surprise. However, she shook her head and narrowed her eyes, grabbing the mir's wrists and pushing it down. "I don't want any of your sweet talk. You left me."
"But- but- but! No one has turned down the almighty triple-layer chocolate cake before! Maybe, because you haven't tasted it yet!"
"No matter what the taste is, I STILL would not accept your betrayal."
She turned, flicking her hair with a humph. Ria stood there, mouth agape.
"How could you decline the triple-layer chocolate cake like that! How could you not know of its glory!" Ria threw her hands up in the air in exaggeration.
"Well, how could you," Adeleine growled as she sharply faced her, pointing accusingly. They stopped right in front of the main door. "-leave me hanging like that! I was chased down! I almost got caught!"
Once again, Adeleine spun around, almost hitting the taller one in the face with her hair if it weren't for Ria's fast reflex. The door hit the wall with a thud, heavier than she intended to so, she apologized...in her head. She couldn't show any other facial expressions other than annoyance since it would ruin her persona right now. She's supposed to be still mad.
However, it seems like fate is against all of them.
Sitting on the armchair in the lounge was a certain silver boy with a permanent frown on his face. He was holding a book but, it broke his focus when the two entered.
"You have to be jesting," Adeleine grumbled when their eyes met.
He huffed, throwing Adeleine an irritated look due to their prior encounter. Compared to a while ago, his ruffled hair was wet and drooping, giving him a different look.
"Damn that's the most heated gaze I've seen so far from him," Ria whispered to her ear to which she ignored.
Not wanting to back down, she matched his glare.
"Wait, what's going on?" Ria glanced back and forth between the two. "Oh! Oh! Are we having a no blinking contest? I wanna join in!"
Adeleine narrowed her eyes at him as she growled. How dare he had the audacity to be mad when he was the one who let her fall off the building. She should be the one stomping her foot here! "I want an apology."
The boy raised his eyebrow and scoffed at the incredulity. "Bold of you to even show your face, much less, demand an apology when you were the one who dumped that rubbish on me."
"Didn't you hear?" Adeleine raised her voice, irritated, "It. Was. An. Accident!"
"As they all said," Clandes waved the book in the air dismissively, rolling his eyes. He doesn't believe her and continued reading. "I'm not a fool. Those imbeciles must have thought I'm weak that even a Letherian could dare mock me."
Seriously! How stubbornly stuck-up this person could be?!
"Do you think I would really do that on purpose? I don't even know you that much!"
"Wrong. We met at Enol Forest. You did that as payback because of what I did to you."
"I'm not that petty," she forced through her grinding teeth. "At least not as petty as you. You yeet me off the tower because of what? Because of throwing that rubbish on your pretty hair?!"
He gave her a side-glance. "What else could be the reason?"
She stomped over to the armchair and swooped the book out of his hand. "Ey!" he complained.
She prodded his chest, glaring down at him. "Alright, you son of a bi-"
The door opened. "Someone recently broke in the dean's office. I need you all to keep on guard of any suspicious activity—" she stopped, however. "What's going on here?" They all turned over to a confused Kellie standing at the entrance in surprise.
Clandes was the first to react. He scowled as he pushed Adeleine away. Dusting his clothes—particularly the part where Adeleine jabbed him, he pulled his lapel as he gave her a cold glance of aversion. He disliked being manhandled…or touched, in general.
"Clandes, what did you do again?" Kellie asked, ready to scold the child.
"I did nothing," he sharply turned to her with a hiss that took all of them aback. Although Kellie's expression didn't change, you can tell from her silence. "Why is it always me? Why not them?" he pointed at Adeleine while still facing the tall woman.
Ria kept glancing between the three of them with her mouth sewn shut and her cheeks puffed up from the crackling tension while Adeleine watched them with confusion and curiosity. The air was heavy.
Kellie narrowed her eyes. "Then, what DID happen?"
For the first time, Adeleine heard a rise in her voice. She glimpsed at him under her lashes with bated breath. If he were to tell Kellie, they'll have to reveal everything...including the fact that she was almost caught lurking in the dean's office.
She drew the shorter end of the stick again—it seems like fate is really toying with her.
She dared not to look at Kellie as her heart thumped wildly inside her chest. Who knows how she'll react when she finds out they both fell from the tower? They said that non-emotional people are the ones who tend to explode.
He crossed his arms and looked away. "Nothing happened," he assured her but, his prickly actions told otherwise.
"Why is your hair wet?" she pointed out sharply.
"OH!" Ria hammered her fist on her hand as if something just dawned on her. "Are you guys talking about how the two of you fell down the tower?"
Three of them looked at her in an instant, one in surprise while the other two were pointed stares. Both of them bore holes in her head that she couldn't even miss.
Upon realization, she deflated with an "Oh…" and nervously laughed, rubbing her head apologetically at the two. "I guess I wasn't suppose to say that?" The pinch in her voice told them Ria didn't do it intentionally but that doesn't mean Adeleine wouldn't slap the confetti out of her.
"You FELL?"
Adeleine winced as she kept her head low. However, Clandes snarkily yanked his arm away from Kellie's grip. "It was nothing. It was fine."
"How and why did you even fell the tower?" She pressed.
Ria raised her finger like it was matter-of-fact. "Oh we were ru-" Adeleine slapped her mouth, stopping her from getting them into trouble again. She gave her a hard disapproving look but luckily, Kellie was more occupied with the young man's defiant behavior.
Kellie took a deep breath to regain her composure. "If the two of you refuse to speak, you'll kneel beside the door for an hour."
Adeleine glanced again at the young silver man but he kept his mouth shut. She guessed he also doesn't want to reveal the idiocy they did which will result in more severe punishment. She was glad he's on the same boat.
Besides, how bad can kneeling for one hour be?
"Fine. If that's how it is, you'll be starting your punishment now. You'll be kneeling on beans." And she left them.
~~
It's only been five minutes and boy, she took back what she said. To whoever made this simplistic torturous do-it-yourself device, may they forever be tormented in Nirvana Falls or never be reborn again.
Adeleine shifted her numbed and aching knees uncomfortably on the grains that stuck to her skin. Her palms padded on the wall for support as she hissed. She contemplated that maybe adding another week to her previous punishment wouldn't be as bad as this.
She could have told Kellie.
Speaking of it, Clandes was beside her too. Compared to her though, he was quiet and never moved even once. He only kept his head down.
"Why didn't you tell her?" Despite the sizzling feud ongoing between them, her mouth couldn't stop her curiosity even though she knew his answer to that.
Silence came after. Well, she already expected this response. After all, He looked like the type who ignores everyone.
"Isn't it obvious?" he sarcastically replied.
Look at the nerve of this guy to remain cocky. She scoffed and smirked, "Well, of course, you can't. You're the one who ill-intentionally made me fall."
A tick mark appeared on his forehead. "And you pulled me along with you. That doesn't make you any better."
"Well, yeah, it's because you let me go instead of pulling me back up!"
"You were running away from the dean."
Her heart dropped. Of course…OF COURSE, HE WOULD USE THAT.
"Imagine if word got out—a letherian sneaked in to the dean's office. What would people think?" He watched and snickered as she filled with dread. "Pfft, that little fall we took from the tower is nothing compared to the fall you'll take if word gets out."
Her fingers curled. She wanted so much to punch the contemptuous smirk out of his face right now. "So, you're using it to blackmail me now?"
"I hate to say that I'm glad we came to the same conclusion."