Prepsworth Academy

Chapter 81 - "I've never been better."

ElleAfter I'dfinished destroying everything, I sat down in a pile of broken plates andscreamed, before it trailed off into a sob, and I rocked back and forth,crying. Come morning, my tears had dried and my muscles were stiff from beinglocked in such a small position, with my knees curled up to my chest and myhead over my knees. I sat in a room full of destruction, knowing I was the solecause of it, but feeling no remorse. The anger I'd felt was because of many things,one of them being Rose's confession that she'd been the one to set fire to thehouse; and that she hadn't confessed, but the main thing was that I couldn'ttalk to Adelaide. I'd been instructed not to talk to her when she was intherapy, but I still had the option too, if I wanted to disobey my parents. Iregretted that I hadn't talked to her, that I'd done everything I was told. Iwondered if Adelaide had felt betrayed when I didn't call her, but she must'veknown that there was a reason, if she could even think rationally. I wasstill wondering about Adelaide when there was a knock, and the door creakedopen. I didn't look up as I heard a muffled curse and footsteps making theirway over to me. "Did youdo this?" Dylan asked me. I didn't reply, instead curling tighter into a ball,and pushing my arms harder against my ears. "Elle."Dylan said, slightly reproachfully. I scrunched my eyelids tightly together andignored him. After a second, Dylan slowly coaxed my arms up from around myhead, either too tired to argue, or didn't care. I heard the carpet move asDylan sat down beside me and sighed."Do you wantto talk about it?" Dylan asked. "No." Ireplied bluntly. Dylan put his arm around me and stared at the floor."Are yousure? You don't have to be all alone." He said quietly. I laughed quickly, itwas funny how much Dylan had changed from the rebel who didn't care aboutanything to this kind, caring guy. Dylanlooked at me questioning and I waved a hand at him, as if to say "Don't worryabout it.". I thought about what Dylan had said, that I didn't have to be aloneand ducked my head down."Do youwant to know what I was thinking when Rose broke up with me, when she said allof those awful things? I thought she was evil, and that I needed to take herout. I thought she was a witch, here to curse us all. On the car ride here, Iwas plotting ways to hurt her, to kill the witch." I confessed. I didn't wantto look at Dylan, to see the horror and disgust in his eyes."It'sokay. You were tired and upset and angry. We've all made mistakes, been awful people.Your mistake just happens to come at an inconvenient time. And, maybe avoidcalling Rose a witch to her face. Been there, done that, did not end well." Dylan said. I managed a small smile."But,that wasn't why this happened, wasit?" Dylan added. I sighed, rubbing my hands over my eyes."I triedcalling Adelaide. Her phone number's changed." I said helplessly, trying toignore the wave of pain that came with the worsds."And shedidn't tell you." Dylan finished. I nodded and looked miserably out the window.Dylan sucked in air through his teeth and followed my gaze out the window. Itwas a while before Dylan spoke again."The samething happened with Lizzie." He told me, sounding upset. I glanced at him andsaw that he looked truly sad, sapphire blue eyes shining with tears."I'msorry. This whole thing really sucks, doesn't it?" I said bitterly."Nokidding." Dylan sighed. I nodded, and then wrinkled my nose, smelling thestench of alcohol on Dylan's breath. Maybenot such a good guy as I thought, or, at least, less of a one."Yourbreath smells like alcohol. "I told Dylan awkwardly, not sure how to broach thesubject. It reminded me of a conversation I'd had with Rose and the beginningof term, and I wrinkled my nose at the unpleasant memory. Look how well that turnedout."Again,no kidding." Dylan said nonchalantly."Sorry.It's not a big deal. I just thought you changed." I blurted out."You'renot the only one who's having a rough time." Dylan said, sounding weary."I know it'snone of my business." I apologised."It isnone of your business, but – I stuffed up." Dylan admitted. I raised aneyebrow."Really?If I go into your room, will there be a couple of empty bottles of alcoholstrewn around? I asked, my tone teasing. Dylan laughed and shrugged."Probably.Unless I've destroyed the evidence. Besides, it looks like I wasn't the onlyone having a meltdown." Dylan said lightly, before looking around at the room."You really don't like beach-chic décor, doyou?" He joked and I laughed slightly, despite the joke falling flat. "It's oneof the things I hate most about the world." I deadpanned, before glancing atthe destruction. I really had trashed the place, but most of it was fixable, orreplaceable, especially with the massive amount of money Rose's familypossessed."Youknow, you could be a rock star with that talent for trashing hotel rooms."Dylan said smirking."Yeah,the only thing stopping me is the fact I can't sing." I replied flatly andDylan laughed as he stood up and offered me a hand. I stood up by myself andfolded my hands together, behind my back. Dylan saw the movement and frowned atme."What areyou hiding?" He asked suspiciously. I smirked at him and backed up against thewall. Dylan looked amused at spun me around, trying to see what I was hiding. Iran across the room, jumping across the bed and towards the other side of theroom. Laughing, Dylan followed me. I laughed along with him as I darted alongthe room. Eventually, Dylan swept me up, carefully prising my hands my frombehind my back. We were both dizzy from laughing so hard that we didn't noticeRose lurking near the door. Rose cleared her throat, looking sad and our gazesboth shot towards her."It'stime for breakfast." Rose said quietly, and left. Dylan dropped me gently at the same time as Imade to jump down. I landed in a heap on the floor and got up quickly, brushingmyself off. "I'dbetter go to breakfast." I said briefly, before walking out the door quickly. Ifelt Dylan staring at my back until I turned the corner. "Just friends" Ireminded myself. Just friends.RoseIt was myhome, well, one of them, and, it should've felt like home. But ever since I'dstarted boarding at Prepsworth, I'dnever felt at home in any of my family's houses, no matter how luxurious. Butnow even Prepsworth didn't want me, and no one in Prepsworth did either. Thethought hurt me, but steeled me. I would do whatever I had to do to make surethat everything would turn out right.Suchthoughts are fairly solemn over a supposedly light-hearted breakfast of oatmealand fruit, my typical breakfast, but it was a tense breakfast anyway. Everyonestared down at their food, eating automatically without tasting. Dylan noticedmy stillness at looked up at me."It looksgood. Eat it." He said calmly, gesturing at my oatmeal with his spoon. I wasabout to shrug it off when I remembered what Dylan's sister had been through. Inoticed Elle watching me warily, anger in her eyes and remembered what hadhappened to her sister as well. How could I forget?"I'm just not hungry." I protested, but speared ablueberry with my fork, too exhausted to argue. "Who cares. Just eat." Elle snapped, her first wordsto me since our break-up, staring down at her own fruit salad, which had beendiscarded in favour of coffee. I rolled my eyes at her, tempted to point outthat she was being hypocritical. Elle caught my pointed look and began to eather fruit salad. I glanced around the eerily silent table, catching exchangedglances and tense glares. This was nota group united. "So, how is everyone?" Amy asked, her voice breakingthe silence."We're all zombies. Did anyone get a wink of sleeplast night?" Tom said, sounding slightly amused. Everyone stared at each other,faces crinkled in confusion. "How did you know?" Emma asked, her voice soundinghollow. Tom smirked bitterly and pushed his chair back with a screech."Because I couldn't sleep, and I have a lot lesssecrets on my mind than the rest of you." Tom said coldly. Everyone lockedeyes, and there was a shuffle of commotion as everyone stood up and prepared togo wash up. We smiled, but on the inside our minds were whirling with the same pieceof information that a Tom had just shared. "I have a lot less secrets on mymind than the rest of you.", or more specifically, the knowledge that everyonehad secrets, and the fear that they would destroy us all.AmyI frowned as I thought about who knew that Rose and Lukashad set fire to the house. Obviously, Rose, Lukas, Jake and I knew, and, givenwhat Tom had said, maybe he knew a portion of it, but aside from that, I wascompletely lost. I was convinced that telling everyone would be Rose's bigreveal, but other answers, like whyRose and Lukas had set fire to the house, eluded me. I dunked my plate in thesink of hot water, before scrubbing it with the rough sponge I had been handed.After I'd finished, I handed it to Jake, who briefly rinsed it under a streamof water, before handing it to Tom to dry and put away."So, how was your breakfast?" Asked Jake, making apretty weak attempt at small talk. "Exactly the same as yours. Tense, awkward and fullof random sentences of mundane conversation." I replied coldly."Right. Fine." Jake said, backing away. I sighedinto the sink and shrugged."I'm sorry. I'm just tired. Let's have thatconversation again." I amended. Jake sighed and walked back."So, how was your breakfast?" He asked, sounding,strangely enough, exactly the same he had before."Amazing! It was somuch fun!" I replied in fake happy voice. "That's great news!" He said in the same voice. Istarted laughing and began to lean over the sink as I was laughing. The tips ofmy hair dangled in the soapy water I flicked them around, sending bubbles ofsoap around the kitchen. One caught Jake in the eye and he glared at meindignantly, before scooping up a handful of bubbles and wiping them across mycheek. I gasped and grabbed up some bubbles from the sink, looking angry, andwalked towards Jake, glaring at him. Jake started to look worried and backaway, just before I gently dabbed a couple of bubbles onto his nose. Jake burstout laughing in relief, just before a stream of bubbles landed on his head andLily grinned at me over the top of Jake's head, before smirking at him."Why is it alwaysme?" Jake exclaimed as Lily rubbed the bubbles into his hair. My laughter wascut off by Rose drenching me with a bucket of freezing water. I curled intomyself, shivering."Where did you even get that?" I demanded, not surewhether to laugh or cry. Rose shrugged as she threw the rest of the waterbehind her, towards Harry and Emma. They both stared at Rose for a second,before each grabbing a glass and scooping up the sink water. Emma began tochase Rose around the room as Harry faced off against Tom, who had quicklygotten a container filled with water. Soon, it was an all out water fight andthe kitchen was semi-flooded as we raced around the room, either chasingsomeone or being chased. We were all soaking wet and laughing as we skiddedaround the room, sometimes grabbing onto counters to stop us from spinning outof control. Everyone was engaged in battles of their own, grabbing soapy waterand bubbles. Rose was standing on hertip-toes and sprinting, desperately trying to catch Lily, who had beenskilfully evading her for the past two minutes. As Lily spun around the corner,Rose's foot slipped and she fell down heavily, her head clipping the side ofthe counter. There was a momentary silence, where everyone froze, not sure whatto do, or if Rose was going to get up. Soon though, Lukas was at Rose's side,staring down at her intently. Rose noticed his gaze and her eyes flickeredopen, taking in the scene."Are you alright?" Lukas asked Rose, his eyes lacedwith pain and his expression tense. Rose sat up slowly, putting a hand to theback of her head, she brought her hand back and saw that it was covered with inblood, with droplets of blood dripping from her fingertips. Rose looked up atall of us, looking around the room as she grinned slowly, her smile stretchingmanically wide. She blinked once, her eyes wild and dangerous as she laughed."I've never been better."