Summus Proelium

Wonder of wonders, we actually did get through the next several periods without any issues. The incredibly paranoid part of me (so, the majority) kept expecting some dramatic problem to pop up every time a bell rang, the intercom buzzed, or someone slammed a locker a bit too loudly. The girl sitting behind me in third period dropped her book on the floor and I nearly hit her in the face with a shot of blue paint before catching myself. Boy would that have been an embarrassing way to expose my secret identity or what? I probably wouldn’t have been able to talk my way out of that one.

It was just slightly possible that I was a little high-strung. I could probably use some sort of vacation. But I wasn't even sure how I would go about applying for time off from all this. Was there a form I needed to fill out, or some sort of waiting list? Crap, if there was a waiting list, I’d definitely be all the way at the bottom. Maybe I’d get a vacation sometime in the next ten years.

At least things were quiet so far. And Paige’s plan to cover up the fact that I had the real Oak with me was working perfectly. Actually, it was working even better than she had thought, considering some other students had gotten jealous of the ones who had the stuffed animals Paige had brought, so they had gone out on their free period or at lunch to bring in more. And not just of the Cuddle Corps. The whole school was full of a variety of plush toys of all shapes and sizes, and it was so late, so near the end of the school year, that none of the teachers even cared. This was basically the last day of ‘lessons,’ which was a term I was using very loosely, considering half the teachers were playing classroom games, showing movies, or allowing free study time for finals next week. There wasn’t much in the way of normal teaching going on. Which I kind of felt bad about since that was something Oak wanted to see, but when I quietly asked him about that, he said he was enjoying just seeing other students and sitting in a real classroom for a little while without being mobbed by everyone. It wasn’t that he didn’t love his powers and what they allowed him to do, he just wished he could turn it off sometimes and not have to be the center of attention constantly.

All in all, having stuffed animals sitting around wasn't really affecting anything other than to make some of my classmates a little happier. Which, considering everything going on in the city, we all needed. I wasn't the only person who had been affected by someone being hit with Sleeptalk, or the resulting quarantine. Not to mention the rising levels of violence both those things had caused.

Of course, I couldn't make it through the entire day without something unexpected popping up. But in this case, it wasn't one of the Fell gangs attacking, or anything like that. No, this was a very different sort of situation. I was sorting through books in my locker before my last class, with Oak sitting on the top shelf so he could watch people passing by. I felt movement near me and realized someone was reaching over my shoulder toward where he was. Quickly, I spun around and snapped my hand up to grab the person’s wrist before they could touch him. Only belatedly did I realize that it was this tall, smug girl with frizzy brown hair and pale skin named Mandy Delane. She had been part of Paige’s little posse during all that time that the other girl had spent antagonizing me for her dad’s stupid plan. One of her more enthusiastic minions, actually. I was pretty sure she wasn't faking it like Paige. No, in her case, she was pretty much just a bitch. I was kind of surprised she’d been so quiet lately, to be honest. Maybe I was just too distracted to notice her. I wanted to go back to that.

Gasping as I grabbed her wrist so unexpectedly, the taller girl glared at me. “Isn't it enough that your family is so rich you could buy everything and everyone in this school like ten times over? I really don't see why you have to go around stealing shit that doesn't belong to you, bitch.”

Well now I was confused. Releasing her hand while giving her a little push back so she wouldn't keep trying to grab Oak, I shook my head. “Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about. And to be honest, I kind of don't care. I'm not gonna play this game right now. Whatever it is, whatever stupid joke you're playing, just go away and bother someone else. I never stole anything.”

“Oh please,” she shot back. “I know you had that cute little turtle back in first period, before anyone other than Paige brought them. And there’s not a single chance in hell she would’ve given one of those things to you. You must’ve taken him from someone else because you were jealous that Paige brought something you couldn’t have, so just give him back already.” She tried to use her greater height to reach over my head so she could grab the little guy again, while making a scoffing sound.

Boy did I have neither the time nor energy for this stupid bullshit. Before the girl could get her hand on Oak, I kicked my foot backward to hit the locker door so it would close. I felt a little rude for slamming it shut on the little guy like that, but I had to deal with this first. Just to be on the safe side, I dropped my backpack next to the locker so the special Wren bag inside would stay close enough to Oak that he wouldn’t end up getting yanked back to the shop with his siblings. Not only because he wanted to be here right now, but also because if I did have to open my locker again while Mandy was around, Oak having just vanished would probably attract a little attention.

Yanking her fingers back after they were nearly caught in the locker, the girl gave me a hard glare. “Oh really? You’re gonna try to claim that you just happened to bring one of the Cuddle Corps toys, for no apparent reason, to school on the exact same day that Paige brought all the others? It has nothing to do with you being jealous and grabbing one of them because she wouldn’t let you have it? You’re gonna say you weren’t being a selfish, spoiled bitch about the whole thing, like usual? What was your other option, throw your pocket change at the principal and tell him to make an announcement that the toys aren’t allowed in school anymore?”

For a moment, I just stared that way before letting out a long, low breath. “Okay, there is a hell of a lot to unpack in there, and I’d rather just pitch the entire Samsonite set overboard, because I never agreed to this trip in the first place. Let's just stick with the fact that this is completely, one hundred percent none of your business. I didn't steal anything. Besides, you said it yourself, I have plenty of money. If I wanted that thing and couldn't get it from Paige, don't you think I would've just bought it from someone? I'm not sure how you jump from ‘you’re so rich you could buy anything you want’ to ‘you must have stolen that toy,’ but I really don't care either. Unless you've got someone who says I stole it from them, maybe you should just fuck off and go find someone else to throw stupid accusations at.”

Honestly, I really was getting tired of needing to act as though Paige and I were still enemies. Part of that was that I wanted to be able to talk to her at school without raising so many questions, but another part was that the idea of people thinking I didn't like Paige, or that she didn't like me, made me weirdly uncomfortable. I couldn’t explain why, exactly, and I definitely didn't know why it bothered me as much as it did, but there it was. I didn't want all these people to think Paige and I still hated each other. And yes, I realized how little that actually mattered, but I couldn't help it. Mandy coming over and accusing me of stealing just because she found it impossible to believe that Paige would let me have a toy just reinforced that whole thing.

The problem, as it had been from the start of all this, was that Paige and I had basically been at one another's throats for so long that everyone would find it weird if we suddenly started getting along for no apparent reason. They’d never believe that we just randomly buried the hatchet and started being friends, not after everything that we’d been through. We needed to come up with a story that wouldn't be so suspicious. Especially when it came to the Ministry. If it was just kids at school, I really wouldn't care what they thought. But my parents, when they woke up, would know that something was going on. After all, they were fully aware that Paige knew about the Ministry and all that. If they found out that the two of us were friends, I was pretty sure they'd decide she was trying to get close to me in order to get close to them. Which would absolutely convince them that she knew too much and couldn't be trusted anymore. Not that they actually trusted her all that much to begin with. It wouldn't take much for them to decide something finally needed to be done about that. Especially if they decided that she might be using me for her own ends.

I still had that vague thought about getting my parents to order Paige to make up with me, but I wasn’t sure how to go about that. And they were still… not available.

Speak of the devil, a phrase I probably would have meant more literally not so long ago, Paige herself stepped up while Mandy was still trying to decide how to respond. “Well, what exactly do we have here?” Her voice was smooth and faintly curious, but I could tell she had been listening to that whole thing. Which made me blush a bit as I wondered how long she had been nearby.

Mandy looked relieved to have backup, shooting me a smug look. “There you are. I was just trying to get that Oak toy back for whoever the spoiled bitch here took it from. Do you know who’s missing one?” She was already looking up and down the hallway as though certain she would see some random person frantically trying to find their missing Cuddle Corps plushy.

Paige’s gaze slipped toward me briefly while Mandy was looking around, our eyes meeting. I saw a flicker of uncertainty pass through the other girl as she tried to decide how to deal with this. That was when I realized she was having the same problem as me. She didn’t want everyone to think we were still enemies either. She wanted to talk to me at school, wanted to be able to have a conversation without the entire student and faculty population deciding something was horribly wrong. She wanted to stop and chat in the freaking hallway without being afraid that something as simple as that would expose all our secrets to the Ministry. After all, they had to have agents around here, teachers or even one of the janitors. If we suddenly started acting like we were buddy-buddy, the Ministry would find out about it and would start wondering what was actually going on. She hated needing to keep up this whole stupid ruse as much as I did.

Actually, she hated it even more. Because she’d been faking the whole hating me thing from the very start. She was the one who had been forced into it. And now that she wasn’t under her father’s thumb anymore, she still had to keep going with it just because we couldn’t raise suspicions. She was being ‘controlled’ in a more subtle, but no less effective way. There had to be something we could do about that, some way to fix the situation.

But before either of us could come up with anything, and before Mandy managed to spot someone she could claim Oak had been stolen from, the bell rang again. We only had a minute or two to get to class. Paige immediately rolled her eyes and took Mandy by the arm. “Come on, it's just a toy, not worth screwing around and getting a fucking tardy slip for.” Before the other girl could object, she started walking away, pulling her along. Even as Mandy began babbling at her about how I must have taken that toy from someone, Paige looked over her shoulder at me. Once again, our eyes met, and I felt that familiar weird, anxious sensation pass through me. She smiled, just a tiny bit, not enough to attract attention or anything. A faint curving of her lips. Immediately, I found myself returning the expression. I just stood there in the hallway smiling faintly to match Paige’s lingering look. Then the crowd of other students rushing for their own classes filled in the space, blocking her from view, and I shook that whole thing off.

Right, final period, time to go. Turning back to my locker quickly, I opened it up and took Oak out while murmuring an apology to him about that whole thing. He assured me in an almost-silent voice that he was fine, and I carried the little guy with me to my last class of the day.

As though I needed more proof that people would pay attention if Paige and I suddenly started getting along after all this time, Amber was sitting next to me in that class and she immediately asked about what had happened. Not out loud, obviously. We couldn’t really get into it in front of everyone, not even by whispering. Instead, we texted one another while sitting side by side. She asked if everything was okay, and let me know everyone was talking about how Paige and I had nearly gotten into a fist fight over whose toys these actually were. Even though Paige herself had only barely been there at all and most of the confrontation had been with Mandy (which itself hadn’t been anywhere near an actual fight either), somehow the rumor mill already had Paige and me practically rolling up and down the hallway punching one another. Seriously, what the hell was wrong with people? And just how fast was the freaking gossip chain around here?

After letting Amber know everything was fine and that people were just exaggerating (as usual), I asked how she was doing with the whole Whamline thing. She didn’t respond at first, staring straight ahead while tightly gripping the sides of her desk. The teacher was giving us free time to study and finish up any other assignments for whatever class we wanted, but Amber didn’t have any books out. She was just staring straight ahead at the wall. It made me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t have brought that whole thing up at all. Especially not here and now. Oops.

In the end, however, Amber glanced over toward me before texting a quick, ‘Not gr8, but getting there. Need time. Need… a lot of things. Not sure what. Feel guilty. Feel stupid. Feel sick. Feel a lot. Trying to get through 1 day at a time.’

Honestly, I was just glad she didn't try to tell me she was doing fine. Admitting she wasn't suddenly okay meant she was actually processing it. At least that was the thought that immediately came to mind. But then, I wasn't exactly a psychologist. Speaking of which, I really hoped she was seeing one. I couldn't imagine the authorities ever letting her go out if she wasn't, but then again, I was pretty sure they were basically desperate for Star-Touched out there to help keep things under control. Still, I really hoped they would be smart enough to make her talk to someone who could help her get through all those feelings.

And yes, I was ignoring the fact that I should probably be talking to some sort of professional too. Who the hell would I ever be able to talk to who could keep all this a secret and was qualified to help? Unless Fred or Rubi happened to have degrees in therapy, I was just going to have to suck it up and keep going. I had friends to talk to, I had Izzy at home. I had enough. I could deal with it.

Besides, right now, dealing with it meant trying to come up with a way that Paige and I could interact without having everyone in the freaking city decide something was wrong. Yeah, school was almost over, but it would still be nice to have a way to hang out in public. There had to be something we could do about that whole thing.

So, I spent basically the entire class period half-focusing on that while finishing up a couple last minute assignments. I’d been pretty busy with all this going on, so my grades were… well, they weren’t awful. But if I wasn’t careful, I might end up having problems with these upcoming finals. I just had to get through them, then it would be summer and I could focus on… uhh, everything else that was going on.

It was when class was almost over, as everyone including the teacher were watching the clock, that my phone buzzed. Glancing down, I read the message through twice before realizing what it said. Sitting up straight, I found myself reflexively blurting a surprised, “Oh.”

Yeah, that obviously made everyone turn to look at me. I sank in my seat, face pink as I mumbled something about remembering something I had to do, then buried my gaze in a random book until they looked away. Once they finally weren’t paying attention anymore, I looked back to the message on my phone. A message from Sierra.

You might want to hurry over to the shop as soon as the jailers let you go.

We found out what those vials we stole from the M are for.