Chapter 32

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NAOMI'S POV:

"I'll be unavailable between six and nine, which means if you need something then you'll have to reach out to Mr. Patry. I'll try to finish as soon as I can."

"Okay." I stared out the window, trying to silence the annoying curiosity festering inside my head.

"I've already delineated the terms of your grounding and that your privileges have been revoked to Mr. Patry." He explained, glancing at me in the mirror. "So, even though it's Saturday, you're going to spend the rest of the evening in your room."

"Yes sir."

Of course; I finally get back to the Academy where I can see Jasper and I get grounded. Our paths haven't crossed much in school, which isn't that surprising since he's a year above me, but I thought we'd at least be able to catch up on how things are going with classes and anything else. There hasn't been a passing day this week where I didn't give him a thought, but we've had very little opportunity to get together or even talk over the phone. I wonder how his week has been.

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~ Earlier that week ~

JASPER'S POV:

The smell wasn't that of electrical smoke, instead it was thicker that caused instant irritation to my eyes as I opened the dryer door. Seeing that the color was green, I knew instantly it was a smoke bomb. Fortunately, there was not enough smoke to set off the detector, not even anything close to as much as there would have been had it been ignited, but clearly the hot temp of the dryer caused it to explode.

"Where did this come from?" I reached inside to find it, feeling nothing but the hot remains.

"You used that dryer?" Jake asked from behind me, his laundry basked sitting on his stomach. "Have you been living under a rock? Ryan put out a word that it's off limits because that's where he stashed his stuff."

"Yeah well I don't exactly pay attention to anything related to Ryan." I glanced at him, annoyed, over my shoulder.

Both of us began coughing as soon as I unfolded my clump of clothes, allowing all excess smoke to travel into the open air. My clothes weren't completely stained, which was a relief, but they smelled horrible. I'll have to wash them at least three times just for that smell to go away.

"Ryan's going to be pissed." Jake added.

"I don't give a damn what Ryan..."

"What the hell is that smell?" Mr. Patry came inside, swatting the small wave of smoke circling around his face.

Jake and I froze instantly, glancing at each other but neither of us even attempted to answer him.

"Are those your clothes?" Mr. Patry asked me, stepping forward and kneeling down to search inside of the dryer.

"Yes sir." I said clearly.

"Hmm," He pulled out the crumbled green bits of what was left of the smoke bomb, holding it up for me to see. "What'd you do? Forget to take this out of your pocket?"

Ryan you son of a bitch. I've been here a long time, mostly in and out, and I've never snitched on anyone...but I never found myself in a situation where I was collateral damage from someone else's actions. I know Ryan wasn't going to step up and admit fault, but I don't want the subsequent consequences once word gets out that I blamed another student.

"A smoke bomb?" He examined the parts. "It's been a while since I caught you with one of these Jasper," His eyes shot up. "but I guess old habits die hard. Don't they?" Scolding me in front of Jake, he tried to make an example of me.

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