4. Old Friends
Celine
“Well, well, well, look who’s spending the night here” drawled James in his cute Irish accent from the doorway of his room. “It’s Araan’s favourite golden girl and her little human sidekick”.
I scowled. I hated it when people poked fun at my height. And I wasn’t human, which James knew very well.
“James” Rhea said sarcastically “A pleasure, as always”. I could tell by Rhea’s tight lipped glare that James’ presence here annoyed her, she had never trusted him and neither had I.
Then she turned to face me “Celine, have you found our room yet”.
I frowned towards the map Araan gave me when he’d assigned us our rooms. The underground section of the hideout where the dorms were was so much larger than I remembered it and much more confusing.
James grinned mockingly and Rhea ignored him and glared at me.
“Girls” James interrupted “This is the boy’s dorms”
Rhea grimaced and snatched the map out of my hands. I scowled, dropping my hands to my sides and shot Rhea a dirty look
James watched the exchange cheerfully and opened his mouth to speak, Rhea gave him a dirty look and her face momentarily mirrored mine.
She stared intently at the map and confusion swept through her face. Then she sighed and let go of the map. Letting it fall to the ground.
“Come on, I expected much more from the incredible Rhea and Celine” he said bitterly, looking away. I scoffed, bemused at his scorning comments and exchanged looks with Rhea who only looked slightly annoyed.
Then he turned back to us and a playful grin returned on his face. “Everyone has heard the stories about what you and Celine faced in the forest” he said as some sort of explanation
“You know, how you got captured by the Government when you were trying to sneak into their hideout and then you escaped after three days, by poisoning the humans who were guarding you and how you overpowered all their Rapids and finally getting out with the information you’d seen”
Rhea looked at me, blatantly amused by the absurd exaggeration.
“And you Rhea” he continued without a breath “Leading the rebellion that freed hundreds of Rapids and burning down the Government Training Centre. While the rest of us spend our days filing paperwork and helping build the New City”
Rhea sighed, opening her mouth to speak.
“Face it” he said “You guys are really famous around here”
Rhea rolled her eyes
“And yet, you can’t even find your way around the Rebel dorms” James finished. He took a step towards Rhea in an attempt to intimidate her.
