Cassandra abruptly put her "crab claws down" before slinking guiltily towards the figure. "Hi Chief Mentor Mac" she said cheekily, "What do you need?"
"Chief Mentor Mac" just shook her head slightly before turning to Emily. "I need to speak to you about something" she said, giving a sideways glance to Cassandra. Reluctantly, Cassandra strolled towards the doorway, giving a final "crab claw" as a farewell.
Mentor Mac just sighed and turned her focus back to Emily who stood in front of her. "Hey Emily, My name's Mackenzie I'm the senior mentor here but as you've heard, the girls all call me "Mentor Mac". Sounds quicker I know, but the syllables are the same." She sighed, "I really don't get why they bother." She added cheerfully.
Emily paused for a second before asking hesitantly, "so you're Cassandra's "big boss"?".
Mackenzie chuckled before replying, "I wish I was a big boss. To you lot yeah, sort of, she gives things to me and I give them to the bigger bosses, you know? I'm the biggest boss you'll see unless you get yourself in some deep shit." Emily just smiled in reply.
"So, you're pretty close with Cassandra already huh. She's a good kid, all things considered..." She paused for a second, seeing Emily's confused look. "She did tell you her past right?" She asked.
"No..." Emily replied. "She said she'd tell me if I asked her, but I didn't want to ask." She said bluntly.
"You're not curious?"
Emily just shook her head and smiled. "If I can help it I don't want to be prejudiced against others based on their past actions. So, as curious as I am I won't ask".
Surprised, Mackenzie seemed to ponder this for a minute before continuing with a sigh, "you'll find out soon enough I guess. Anyhow, serious business time. I think its best we take a seat"
The two walked back to the table Emily and Cassandra had sat at previously. Mackenzie folded her hands on the table and leant back slightly and sighed. "There's no nice way to say this so I'll say it bluntly. The trial is in a month. I was told to ask you if you'd agree to go as a witness."
Emily's mind went blank, her hands trembled slightly under the desk. "How...how long do I have to" she took a deep breath "decide". She looked up hesitantly.
Mackenzie replied promptly "a month, but if you're definitely opposed you can tell me now. If that's the case I won't bring up something like this again unless I see it absolutely necessary".
"No... I want to go, I think.... But I don't know if I can you know..." her voice trailed off.
She remembered vividly, the dull trudging of his footsteps as he walked slowly up the porch, shovel in hand. She remembered how he had missed the first step, falling harshly onto the wooden planks, cursing loudly. She was watching from the window, eyes peering fearfully through a roughly drawn patch on the fogged glass.
His cursing had woken her Mum up, and she came behind her, scolding her with a sharp slap to the back of the head. "So what if he's back" she had said, "let him wait, he doesn't deserve our attention". She had protested "He's got a weapon this time he might-"
Before she could continue, her mum had trudged off, merely giving her a scoff in response. She had stared through the patch as he walked closer, until only the tip of the shovel poked out from under the overhang...
"Emily. Emily? Are you okay?" Mackenzie's voice brought her back to her senses. She grabbed her hand worriedly, "If you want to talk I'm here, I'm employed as a mentor for a reason. You don't have to go if you don't want to, we can send in a recording, do it virtually, there are other ways, please don't feel pressured that's not my intention."
Emily shook her head softly, "Sorry I just... I'll do it but..."
"It'll take time, no need to rush, we'll assist you. If you want I can get that good-for-nothing Cassandra to help you figure things out. It seems she has way too much time on her hands for a 'leader'."
Emily laughed, but, visualising her sleeping at the desk, surrounded but all that work, Emily felt that she was quite hardworking despite her outward laidback attitude.
Mackenzie patted her shoulder and stood up to leave, "I'll leave you to think about it. If you want to find me, either ask Cassandra where to look or go to one of the admin buildings and ask someone there ok?"
"Thanks, will do, but expect me to agree."
Mackenzie gave her a thumbs up and started walking out but stopped after a few strides. She sighed, clenched her first and turned around, seeming as though she wanted to say something but, in the end decided against it and walked out.
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Walking out, Cassandra was in a good mood, the imitation crab claws still making her chuckle. She was surprised to see Meghan waiting for her outside the door. "Oh? Meghan. Fancy seeing you here." She smirked, "did you follow us all the way? Wow, how desperate, I'll invite you next time if you ask, you don't have to resort to following me" She raised her eyebrows.
Meghan rolled her eyes, "For the record, Mentor Mac told me to come here so she could talk to Emily privately and make sure to get rid of you. And I'll have to ever so politely decline your invitation for a tour, I'm good. Shall we?" She made an overexaggerated gesture, pointing to the park bench beside them.
"She doesn't know does she" Meghan said.
Cassandra was quick to look down, fumbling with her fingers as she mumbled. "Ah, yeah she doesn't yet."
Meghan sighed, "you should've told her straight away. The longer you leave it the worse it'll be. You know that and you still-"
"Of course I know that!" Cassandra said raising her voice, "Of course, but... I really did try ok. I prompted her twice. Twice! And both times she didn't ask and said she wasn't going to. What was I supposed to do? Just tell her there and then? It wasn't the right time-"
"You know that's an excuse, is there ever a right time?" She sighed and leant back on the bench, hands folded on top of her head. "She's going to find out eventually. Its either you me or Isabelle. Which would you rather" she said dryly.
Cassandra gave her a sideways glare, "You know I can't now otherwise it'd end up..." her voice trailed off. It'd end up like a justification.
"If you'd rather I can but, well, its not going to be pretty. You've roped me in too now. We're both stuck. How pathetic."
"Anonymous message?"
"Obvious. Insensitive."
"Get Mentor Mac to-"
"Idiot, you can't shift the responsibility to her. Emily's probably having a jolly time with her right now, you don't want her to blow up at three people, two of which, mind you, are rather uninvolved".
Out of ideas, Cassandra sat silently, contemplating. "I don't want Isabelle to tell her"
"I know."
" Seriously, I'd rather it any other way but not her".
"I know."
Meghan turned to her and folded her arms across her chest and sighed exaggeratedly. "Cassandra. It's only been a day. It's not too late to break things off with her and tell it to her face, she'll recover after a few days and she'll still have time to get accustomed to things here..." her voice trailed off.
Cassandra had a complicated expression on her face, she was still fiddling with her fingers in her lap. Meghan's eyes widened.
"Cassandra, oi, you're not serious. You're not even considering it?" She stood up. "It's been a day! One day! No way you're that attached to her already." She shook her shoulders with each word. "Let. It. Go. Come. On."
Cassandra allowed herself to be yanked back and forth my Meghan, her eyes still displaying reluctance and hesitancy.
Giving up, Meghan plopped down next to her on the bench. After a moments silence she spoke up again.
"Oh my god, You like her."
"Shut up"
"You really do huh~"
"Shut up."
Meghan smirked and leaned back once again, closing her eyes. Cassandra remained frozen on the bench, her thumbs still twiddling absent-mindedly.
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Emily remained at the table for quite some time. It's in a month huh. What would I say? What do I even want to say? That it's his fault? It is his fault. Why did I even agree to go...There's nothing to say..."
She was only interrupted once she heard two pairs of footsteps coming in from the door accompanied by scuffling and a few exasperated yelps from a voice she recognised to be Cassandra's.
She turned around to see the pair standing awkwardly a few metres away from her. Cassandra kept trying to hide behind Meghan, but Meghan was adamantly pushing her out in front.
Out of options, Cassandra stopped trying to resist and stepped forward, clearing her throat. "Mentor Mac swung buy to scold us for leaving you alone so we came here... how are you feeling? I don't know the details but for her to kick even me out it sounded serious..."
Emily smiled in return, "I have time until I need to make a decision, I'll worry about it once I get details."
Cassandra nodded in return. "Sounds good. It's almost evening, want to join us for dinner in the dining hall?"
Emily nodded and followed them.
Seeing as they were already in one section of the hall, they didn't have to walk far to reach the other end.
This "other end" was however, notably more lively.
Unlike the modern, beige coloured walls of the casual area where they were in previously, the larger communal area was comprised of mostly wooden beams, and carvings in the walls, giving it a much more homely feel.
Emily walked, mouth agape as she took in the various designs, from the large central spiral on the centre of the roof, to the vine-like patterns that decorated the columns. The food appeared to be self-service, a row of heating cabinets facing them, tongs at the ready and she could see many of the centre's residents lining up to eat.
She nudged Cassandra, "There's boys here?" I thought it was separated?"
"The communal area is common" Cassandra replied. "it's also monitored", she subtly gestured up to a camera strategically placed above one wooden beam.
"Oh...I see" Emily replied.
The trio grabbed a red tray and lined up behind the rest, getting a few apprehensive looks on the way. Many of the participants in front, on their way back, gave a subtle nod in Cassandra's direction, while many avoided eye contact all together and chose to hurry along.
Noticing that Emily had picked up on their behaviours, Cassandra chucked, "I don't normally eat here at this time, I tend to, well..."
"She has no sense of routine" Meghan interjected. Seeing Emily's curious eyes she continued, looking Cassandra dead in the eyes, "I've known you for quite a while, and bet I could count on one hand the number of times you decided to eat dinner at a reasonable hour. It's always "let me just finish this" or "five more minutes" that."
Cassandra just scratched her head mumbling, "Meghan, stop exposing me you-"
Emily laughed and added "My sense of routine isn't the greatest, but at least I'd definitely need more than one hand to count the number of times I ate reasonably".
Cassandra smiled. Meghan just shook her head and shoved them aside, hand extending towards the tongs, "move lemme get my food". They had made it to the front of the line.
After finding a quiet table in the corner of the dining hall they prepared to tuck in. Tonight's main dinner was a chickpea curry and Emily noticed with amusement that Meghan seemed adamant on avoiding the actual chickpeas, instead opting to just eat the sauce plain with rice.
"You don't like chickpeas?" She asked curiously. Meghan looked up confused. "I love chickpeas."
"She's like a five year old, leaving the 'best bits' until last". Cassandra added.
Emily was beyond surprised and couldn't help but double over laughing, clutching her sides. "Meghan seems so much more serious- I can't" She burst out laughing again. "No wonder you two are friends, like two peas in a pod with this childish attitude-".
"Hey- who are you calling childish? I'm not like her at all. Hey-. Emily, explain yourself!" But Emily had lost it completely, barely able to catch a breath in between the laughs. So Cassandra could only shake her head and smile.
After a while the three finished eating and returned their empty plates and glasses to the front before making their way to the dormitory block.