The day after striking their little alliance was probably the perfect day for Cecile and Isen to meet up and begin her physical therapy together. She would get started on the path of recovery in earnest, and Isen'd start having someone to hang out with on the regular. Unfortunately for both of them, Cecile'd received a message from Headmaster Vaughn: he wanted to have a conversation with both her and Doctor Ezwa.
And, of course, the Headmaster had scheduled it for first thing in the morning, too. Luckily, she'd remembered to catch Isen one more time before classes let out for the day. Cecile found him stretching by himself in the middle of the hallway, so she deliberately caught his eye before entering a classroom that had just emptied out of both its students and the teacher.
When she turned about face, Cecile pointed right at Isen. He mimicked her, pointing up at his face in a perplexed attempt to verify her intents. With a nod, she pointed downwards this time, keeping her hand the same level as it was before; it was a silent command of Come here. Now., clearly designed to isolate both of them once again.
What am I, a dog or something now? Isen felt his face turn a bit red out of embarrassment, already hating the short leash he had no doubt Cecile thought she had on him. His albeit comedic resentment of this treatment didn't stop him from walking into the classroom with her, moving to close the door behind him before being stopped.
"Don't bother, this won't take long." With a second's glance to the side in hesitancy, she took out her cell phone and held it out to Isen. "It'll be difficult for us to schedule if we don't have each other's numbers. I'm not going to make you do it or anything but, well, here."
Looking down at the phone, Isen couldn't help but feel a bit excited at the implications of this. Absolutely no one got Cecile's number except for Otis, and everyone knew that. He'd heard that the top reporters in the club did not have that kind of honor, even those prone to proving their loyalty by going above and beyond the ethical norms— namely the bullies and the blackmailers.
Taking the phone very gently, trying and failing keeping his hands from jittering the little totem about with all of his eagerness, Isen got a quick glance of her address book before clicking 'Add Contact'. It was absolutely stark-barren, only six names listed in total: Otis at the top as a favorite and marked in the standard-issue 'Family' group by himself; Hoi Gael, labeled simply as 'Lawyer' under his name; Elroui and also Adaline, several numbers associated with each of their names as noted by the address book UI but no description of who they were; the name of a hospital he did not recognize; and finally Wellston, saved all on its own.
I can't believe it, they were right. They were really right. He thought to himself as he entered his phone number before Cecile caught him spying on her contact list, She really did keep everyone off her phone. Even Arlo's not on here. It was of course possible that she'd had his number when she was Queen but deleted it a while ago, but it was cooler to him to think she'd never had it to begin with.
That meant that Isen was now joining a pantheon, an exclusive club all of its own. It was droll and completely juvenile to get worked up over something like this at his age, but for him it was hard not to be so pumped up. He'd gotten tons of numbers on his phone by now, ranging from his friends to old class project partners he didn't have the heart to delete, and plenty of girls that he'd managed to get numbers from. All dead ends on those last ones, though.
But this one was real, and it was guaranteed to work if he texted it. Absolutely wild.
Seeing through his scatterbrained behavior, she took the phone and looked at examined it before shooting out a single message: 'No'. It was quicker to type as a test than a 'yes', and it had a wider implication that she wished to convey. When Isen got his own phone out to add the number, Cecile put her finger right onto the notification at the lock-screen and leaned forward. "This is for scheduling, nothing more. Don't send me anything weird in the middle of the night, and especially don't try to flirt with me on this thing. I'll block you without hesitation. Understand?"
YOU ARE READING
Flesh and Bone
FanfictionYou were once so haughty, so powerful, so sure of yourself. You were in control. But where are you now? You're lying there, bleeding out as you realize the indignity of the world. It is the pain you feel when you get up from your hospital bed, it's...
