The Hijinks War

20. Capture the Flag

With curfew checks just finishing, I slipped out of my room. The teacher conducting checks was still at the end of the hallways and I quickly scurried in the opposite direction and turned a corner so I wouldn't be seen. I tapped lightly on a door at the junction of the hallways and squeezed in when it was opened.

"Congratulations, Nic!" Jackson draped his arm over my shoulder and squeezed my face.

"Yes, yes, congratulations to you and the Aces," Katia snapped. "Now what's this all about?" 

I examined the dorm as I walked in. The living area was crowded with bodies that looked oddly out of place. The furniture and walls were standard, but the brightly colored fuzzy blankets, the sparkly embellished throw pillows and the unmistakable smell of scented candles, made it obvious this was a girl's room. Katia's dorm.

I settled down on the ridiculously large yellow bean bag puff as Hadley eyed me, "She called the meeting? Since when do we let the lowerclassmen call the shots?"

"Since the lowerclassmen are the ones who hear all the interesting things!" I sniped, shifting so I didn't look as if I was being swallowed whole by the bean bag.

"So?" Kellen's tone was tired and irritated. I supposed I could have waited till tomorrow but the headmaster's words had made it difficult for me to put it off till morning.

"I was outside Corbis' office during the game. He doesn't seem to like being headmaster very much which makes me wonder why he took this job in the first place."

"Is that all?" Vivienne yawned. "Everyone knows that already."

She was right, but I couldn't shake Corbis' tone from my mind, so I ignored the superior looks they were all giving me and pushed on. "I mean, he really hates us. He was talking to someone on the phone about having to babysit our sorry bratty asses. He saw someone out past curfew. He said he's tightening security and reinstating the dormitory guard so us 'asswipes' stay where we're supposed to." 

It was as if the room itself took in a sharp breath. Eyes darted around the room, catching the gazes of all the others in worry. "Are you sure?" Katia asked in a calm, measured tone.

"Of course she's sure!" Kellen hissed. "No! She's playing a game of let's scare the crap out of everyone for no reason!"

"Calm down!" Leon's hand slamming down on a small table caused a candle to shake and teeter, and all of our attentions to snap to him. "We're all reasonably smart individuals," he said softly, much more like himself. "I'm sure we all know how serious this could be."

"And we also know that she's not joking about it. Look at her, she's actually worried," Vivienne gestured at me.

"Also, no one in their right mind would risk pissing both of us off at once..." Katia attempted a joke. "Thank you, Nicole."

"Yeah. Thanks, Cole." Kellen caught my eye as he said it, nodding me to the door in some kind of dismissal. "You don't have to stay. We have a lot to discuss, you guys up for it tonight?"

"We have to be," Jackson said plainly, eyeing Hadley who looked like she might complain about losing sleep. He yanked me up from my seat and curled his arm around my neck in a headlock. "Thanks for the extra work, Nic! Be glad you get to leave." He whispered jokingly, and then furrowed his brow at me. "You good, Nic?"

"You mean other than smelling your pits, Goof?" I grimaced at him from under his arm, refraining myself from flipping him over.

"Vivienne, the Code," Katia said, sounding resolved to getting work done. She pursed her lips and Jackson and I. "Goodnight, Nicole."