SPT; The Anchor to Betweenness (being rewritten)

TBI: Chapter 18

Things were awkward, to say the least.

Christian seemed more than normally willing to work in his medical study packet as the rest of my group trained. I was leading them and helping them, though it was difficult to know what to do. But according to Melli, it was enough.

She'd proven to be a great friend. She always had something nice and intelligent to say and shot Lillian down whenever she tried to say something mean.

Cuz apparently, she'd heard about last night.

"How can we have him as a captain?" She was demanding, trying to get people on her side. "He's had two psychotic episodes in the last 24 hours!"

Montague, who was literally sitting to her side, sighed heavily as he paused on the rowing machine, "Lillian, cut it out. I swear to god, if you don't stop, I'm going to wring your neck."

She glared at him, and he shot back an equally as terrifying glare, but she didn't stop. In fact, she grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him down, talking lowly into his ear.

But not low enough.

"If you don't shut up, I'll see to it that you're miserable for the next week. Got it?" Her voice then immediately switched to chillingly sweet, "Come on. Be a good boy. For me?"

He tensed and pushed her away, angrily beginning on the rower again. He took a few deep breaths before he could break the machine, biting hard on his tongue.

"It's not a psychotic episode," Meili defended me, readjusting her hair. It was up in two buns and was perfectly made, but perhaps it felt a little lopsided to her. "And it's likely caused by something very legitimate. I suggest you shut your mouth."

Lillian started to yell at her, which she took in stride. After realizing she wouldn't try to include me, I glanced at Melli and moved on after she gave me a reassuring smile.

I came over to Carlos, greeting him in Spanish, "Hello."

He glanced up from the bike, a grin on his face, "Hello."

"How are you?" I asked. I intended to keep this conversation in Spanish as much as I could.

"I'm well, and you?" I couldn't help but noticed that he used 'usted' rather than 'tú'.

"I could be better." I replied, "And please, don't bother with formality. I just want to be friends."

"That's a relief. Thank you."

"Are you doing okay?"

"Yes. I'm tired, but I'm doing well. I wanted to use the shooting range, but I decided to ride the bike. I need to run better."

"I see. Well, you talk to me if you need anything, okay?"

"I will. Thank you!"

I nodded and moved onto Julian, Kade, and Amane. She was talking their ears off, even while obviously breathless, but they didn't seem to mind at all.

"Hi, Hart!" She suddenly stopped what she was saying to grin at me, then dropped the weights she had and jumped up to hug me.

It caught me off guard, thoughts of me getting shoved into a wall invading my head. Immediately, I pulled her off and backed up a bit, then ended up tripping over something.

I heard Lillian's voice immediately, "Look at that! He almost hurt Amane cuz he freaked out!"

Amane was still standing there, sending Lillian a bland glare. I quickly fixed my breathing, pulling myself up.

"Amane, I'm sorry--" I immediately apologized, stopping as she gave me a slightly wary look. Realizing she was starting to believe Lillian, I swallowed hard. "I was just startled. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you."