“Allison, quit it,” Jayce snarls, his voice merging with his wolf’s, deeper, rougher, colder. This time, the room goes silent as Allison pales.
“I was just- Ah!” She gasps as she drops her hot chocolate all over herself and turns instantly to Maralai. “You did that!”
Maralai snorts. “Shut it, bitch.”
“Ok, can everyone just quit it? This division fucking sucks,” Valerian mutters.
“Everyone just needs to learn to respect one another,” Jayce says, now standing. “I’ll have a word with you after classes, Allison.”
“Sure. I always enjoy our after-class meetups.” She smirks as if she knows what that means, and it makes a sliver of jealousy tingle through me.
“And what about Maralai using magic!” Himari asks.
“Oh, I did not!” Maralai retorts. I glance at Shahira, who is looking down at her food, but when she looks up and our eyesmeet, I realise it was her.
“It doesn’t fucking matter who did it, or if you’re just fucking clumsy. You deserved it. You’ve been a bitch towards Sienna since the start,” Artemis snaps.
“Ok, ok, guys, I’m sorry. I’m legit sorry for starting this,” Bruce says as Lucius and Renji sigh.
“We really need some kind of mediation,” Brock adds.
“I’ve already made myself clear, but some of you aren’t getting the fucking memo. You’re on your last chance, Allison.” Jayce’s voice is icy.
“But there’s only been problems now, like, since she’s joined,” Himari adds, pointing at me.
“Both of you are going to be running 300 fucking laps today after classes,” Jayce commands before he downs his coffee as Allison stares at him, shocked.
“B-but I had booked the afternoon off. You knew that I was going to go shopping.”
“Too bad you were being a petty little bitch then.” This time, Artemis and Renji are the ones to choke at Jayce’s blunt words.
Oh, how I’d hate being on the receiving end of his anger. Allison looks humiliated before she nods, clearly fighting back her emotions. She glances at me, and her eyes seem to glisten with unshed tears. But it’s fleeting, and she quickly turns and walks away.
“I’ll see you all for training. No one better be late.” Jayce warns.
“Thanks for the food, Renji. It’ll be my treat next time.” Artemis smiles at him, and Renji nods. I feel guilty that the morning was ruined, and it clearly only happens when I’maround. Should I talk to Allison?
I watch Himari rush out after her and sigh inwardly.
“Finally, I can enjoy my food.” Renji sighs as he sits back and rips into his baguette. Lucius sits forward, combing his fingers through his hair.
“Don’t blame yourself,” he says to me with a small smile. “Allison has issues that stem from her own egotistic ways. Ignore her.”
“Easier said than done.” Artemis frowns as she gets up to leave. “In all honesty, she needs to learn what it means to be a team, or she’ll get us killed when it comes to going out on missions.”
A silence falls over the room, and Maralai looks over at Shahira. “You ain’t as innocent as you look, but nice one.”
Shahira blinks before looking down sheepishly. Renji chuckles but doesn’t say anything.
After we finish eating, Shahira and I help Renji clear up the rubbish and thank him for breakfast before we head to training. Jayce is waiting outside the training hall for me, and motions for me to follow him.
I glance at the others before following him. He leads me to an empty room nearby, and one glance around shows me we’re alone. I stare at him as he closes the door. His face is unreadable, and my heart is hammering way too loud.
“I wanted to try something different for training this morning. You were going to tell me about your powers, something that causes you trouble, but we never got around to finishing that conversation. Want to fill me in?”
No ‘Good Morning’? No ‘Hi’? I feel a little disappointed as I look down at my feet. Fine, if he wants to play it cold, I can dothe same.
“When there are a lot of negative emotions, my own power spirals,” I reply simply.
