"Devyn," Marcus whispered fearfully next to me.
I looked at where he was staring and was somewhat in shock. The student that walked out of the side entrance was like a shorter replica of Lucious. He had pale moonlight skin and long silvery blond hair. I was really starting to get jealous that all the men around here, for the most part, had long, flowing hair that could only be described as unreal. Compared to them, my shaggy black hair I could barely keep out of my eyes, appeared so unkept and dull.
"Don't worry about him, Marcus. He's about to be very busy. Look," Sicah said quietly, pointing to the left of the entrance where the tall green hedge opened by the building.
When it came to human standards, the student that emerged, followed by a small crowd, was handsome. His hair was a dark coal color, well kept in a side part. His school uniform was so crisp and straight it was almost annoying.
"Kayton," Marcus whispered, this time not as fearful but with longing and disdain.
"The epitome of two-faced. Where Devyn is straight up evil, Kayton is an angel until you turn your back. He befriends everyone until their use runs out and buries them in rumors or trouble. In a way, he's worse than Devyn. Unfortunately, poor Marcus found that out too late," Ory said, looking at Marcus pitifully.
The frumpy, overweight kid put his face in his hands and sniffled, confirming what Ory said.
"We started in the same class and became close friends. Then one day, he asked me to sneak into the school and steal the previous master exam answers from the director's office so we could study together. I managed to do it. The director had left me alone for a while in her office. She practically handed them to me. Afterward, we met in 2C's courtyard and studied for hours. We took the final exam, and both passed. But, shortly after, he ratted me out, telling them I stole previous answer sheets and cheated on the test. I tried to tell them he had seen and studied them too, but they wouldn't believe me. Kayton told the professor he was in the dorm the entire night, and other students lied too, confirming he was. I should have known better. It was a Master's exam, and I blew it."
Ory's story shed some light as to why he was struggling now. Betrayal is a considerable roadblock of memories, forever reminding you of what happened between those involved.
"I don't think Devyn is happy to see Kayton," Sicah suddenly whispered, amused, shifting to his knees as we peered from our hiding place.
"I can't hear them. We need to get closer," Ory said, crawling past Sicah and between the tall hedge and bushes shielding us.
"Good idea, let's head around closer along the hedge by the hot tubs. There's a covered table we can hide under, I think," Sicah said, nodding and following Ory.
I crawled following them, finding it funny that I wouldn't have crawled on my knees to clean under my bed only days ago.
"Guys! Wait! I'm stuck," Marcus whispered loudly in panic.
I turned to see part of his uniform jacket was stuck in some thorns on the bush.
"Hold up," I called as quietly as I could to Ory and Sicah, but they didn't hear me.
Marcus was tugging, and I told him to stop, "Don't rip it. The director said there was a punishment in place for ruining the uniforms. Just hold still."
I had to remove the demonizer ring because it was bulky, and hard to manage my fingers to remove the thorns that were intertwined in the fabric.
Finally, after several attempts, I managed to get them out, but we lost sight of the other two.
"What are we gonna do? If we get caught, there'll be Hell to pay!" Marcus whimpered.
"Calm down. Let's follow the bushes around to where Sicah said we should. They're bound to be there waiting."
Marcus nodded, and we both slowly went through the grass on our hands and knees. The shouting got louder as we approached the two groups of students facing off. Finally, I could barely see Ory's sneakers sticking out from the bottom of a white buffet tablecloth as we rounded another set of thorny coverage. Complete darkness had set in, and if it weren't for the generous lighting, we wouldn't have seen two feet in front of our faces.
Marcus and I crawled under the cloth and were scrunched beside Sicah and Ory.
"You guys left us!"
"Sorry, dude, I didn't know until after we crawled here," Ory apologized to Marcus quietly.
Marcus crossed his arms like a kid that lost his ice cream on the sidewalk.
"Shh, it's about to get good," Sicah said quietly. He slowly lifted the corner of the tablecloth for us to peer out.
"No one invited you! It's against school policy for dorms to invade the personal space of others. So leave, Kayton, or I will be forced to make you leave. You and your nobodies are ruining our good time."
I couldn't see because of the crowd around them, but I was pretty sure the voice came from the one called Devyn.
"I'm sorry, you're right. It is against school policy to barge in on another dorm's property. However, one of your lackeys made an improper pass and groped my friend's sex partner," the other student, Kayton, responded.
Partner? I liked that much more than calling them slaves. The word was offensive to most humans, but what I saw here in Hell wasn't necessarily slavery but a symbiotic type relationship. One side gets the use of power, the other side gets sexual relief, and they both keep Hell running.
"That's ridiculous. We all know the rules. Our SLAVES are off limits to others once matched," Devyn responded, eliciting head nods from both groups.
"Knowing is one thing, Devyn, but FOLLOWING the rule is another. We have a witness, and we have no need to lie. Britten, tell him."
We listened as the student named Britten described the incident.