𝐖𝐄 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐖𝐀𝐘 ~ 𝒄𝒎𝒃

Chapter Nine: I know how to lock my heart when necessary

I'm surprised when I reach my room, the others are still up. They all smile widely when they see me entering the room, and before I can say anything about what just happened, they start babbling.

"Liz! We were just talking about you. Or not you in particular, just about how Corbyn acted today. That poor boy is completely fascinated by you," Christina exclaimed.

"Yeah, he keeps looking at you in a certain way. It makes me wanna punch him in the face, but I know it's for a great cause, so I'm keeping it together." Jonah grinned, and I smile against my will. He's so overprotective.

"He's falling for you, I can already tell. Good job I'd say." Zach smirked.

I open my mouth to tell them they should reconsider that, but Christina starts jabbering again.

"And his friends were nice as well. Those two girls seemed cool. Not as cool as us, of course, but they're okay." Christina shrugged with a smile.

"The boys seemed nice as well. They acted like they had known us for years," Zach added, and Jonah nodded agreeing.

That's it. I'm done with hearing they're such kind people, when one of them just said the most disgusting things about me behind my back.

"Could you please stop this? I can't take hearing another word about Corbyn," I snap, sitting down on my bed with my head in my hands. I immediately regret exploding, that was truly the last thing I wanted to do.

The three of them look at me with shocked expressions, then look at each other with those same looks, and then instantly rush to my sides. They know when I explode, something really is wrong. I never do that.

"Liz, what happened with Corbyn? Did he say something?" Christina asked worried, rubbing my back.

I wanna tell them everything, but as soon as I try explaining, I burst into tears. Christina immediately pulls me close to her body, trying to call me down with her embrace, as the boys hug me as well.

"He said I'm.. His father said I'm.. He yelled..," I try, but instantly start sobbing again.

"It's okay, we're here. Don't worry," Jonah whispered with a soft voice, stroking my cheeks trying to wipe away any tears.

After a few minutes of bawling my eyes out, I finally catch my breath and slowly tell them about what Corbyn's father said behind my back.

As soon as I finish talking, Jonah jumps up and clenches his fists. "I'm gonna kill that guy! I don't care he's the principal, nobody talks about you like that. They can send me back to the dome after I chop off his head, I don't care, he's not gonna get away with this," he yelled with flushed cheeks of anger.

"Jo, I appreciate that, but don't. We need you here," I try calming him down.

"But don't you understand he's probably just like everybody else? Nice in your face, rude behind your back. I'm telling you, we can't afford making friends," I continue.

"But Corbyn's friends were so kind," Zach hesitated.

"Zach, don't be naive. Them being kind is just an act. Think about it: why would they be nice to the children of the biggest criminals in their country? It doesn't make sense, they're obviously told to act like that. It's just to better the reputation of the town, like Corbyn's father said. No one here is nice to us because they want to. No, they're nice to make themselves look better," I scoff.

"I guess so," Zach whispered.

"And besides that, how would you feel if you made friends, and then have to betray them? Or you accidentally spill the reason why we're really here? Just don't. It's gonna keep us a lot safer," I add.