The Taste of Silver | Fortune's Fool #2

17 | twice the pain

[ t w i c e   t h e   p a i n ]

♥ gabriel ♥

OVER THE EXPANSE of two years, I'd somehow become an expert at stuff like this. It was only a mouth swab and I knew the detection time was far too short for them to notice anything.

I was more interested in finding the idiot who had reported it. There was only one person who came to mind and although something told me that she wouldn't do something like that, I'd learnt to trust my head not my heart.

Arlo was sitting next to me on the front row of the lines of chairs in the great hall. The headmaster was standing on the podium a few metres away with his hands behind his back. He was short, with glasses and reminded me of a postman for some reason.

And apparently had made out with Lexi numerous times in the past as far as I remember.

I scoffed quietly. He was hardly qualified to lecture us on why alcohol and drug use at school was wrong yet were poignant here.

"We thank you all for your patience and for waiting here for the results. The agency has just given us the clear and we are proud to announce that there is nothing to worry about."

My hand twitched against my phone as I wondered what had happened with Talisa.

Deep down I found it odd how Louisa hadn't done anything yet. She hadn't tried to call me, test me or contact me in any way. It left me wondering even more what her intention on returning was.

Five minutes after the pair of girls had left the room, the senior staff had entered and told all students to leave apart from those in the upper sixth. We had them been individually required to take a test and then go to the great hall, where we had been for the past hour.

Louisa had returned but Talisa hadn't.

My thumb hovered over the send button before hitting it.

Where are you?

I didn't care too much. It just felt odd to not have somebody pestering me and it was unusual of Talisa to not tell me where she was.

At home. I heard about the testing.

I felt a pair of cool blue eyes reading my messages. Turning to my left, the almost white-haired man didn't bother averting his gaze. "Do you mind?" I said curtly.

"Actually, yes I do."

My grey eyes held his in annoyance for a moment as Arlo continued.

"Where's Talisa?" he questioned in that omniscient voice of his. I watched his gaze darting around to make sure nobody was listening. "She disappeared from form to go to the bathroom and after came back grinning like mad. If she does the test, she's not going to pass it-"

"I know," I interrupted deeply. "She's not going to do the test. She's not at school."

Arlo's blonde eyebrows crinkled joining the dots that I'd somehow missed. "So Louisa warned her about it? Is that why she called her outside?"

For a moment, I was silent, my eyes staring at the huge stage along the edge of the great hall, pieces of oak hammered into shape. My jaw tensed at my answer to his question. "I don't know."

Why was that always the damn answer when it came to her?

I put my hand up briefly and it took a mere second for the headmaster to nod at me.

My velvet voice spread like molten iron across the room, "May I ask who suggested that testing was needed in our year group? I'm simply curious." I waited for a split second.