Hidden Seams

9| Debating my Enemies

I'M BACK--again! Sorry for the lack of updates guys, the weather has been great outside and I literally haven't even opened my computer in ages! Hopefully I'll be getting this out tonight or tomorrow, but idk

:)

They're right. Sorry if the door hits your face...or not sorry, I don't seem to really care, actually.

MONDAY CAME too slow for me. After the encounter with Cole and my brother, I was eager to get back into my clubs and activities to distract myself. And the Debate Club lunch in the library was certainly a good distraction.

"...I just don't get it, how do you expect us to sleep when you give us all this work?" Tasha was asking Lauren irritably when I walked into the room, food tray in hand.

"Haylee and I do so much work every day than you do in a week, Tasha. You have to choose, sports, or Debate Club," Lauren snarked back, practically shaking in fury.

I sighed and set down my tray, recognizing that today was yet another day I would go without lunch. My back gave a twinge of discomfort when I leaned over, causing momentary panic to flood my brain. I shoved it down and straightened casually, striding over to the arguing pair and pushing through the crowd around them.

I really couldn't blame Tasha, for not wanting to do so much work. Especially now, when she was upset and angry because she'd just fallen from the peak of popularity. Something about sleeping with the wrong guy, I'd heard.

"I just don't get how you can be such a brat and get away with it! You're not even popular," Tasha nearly screamed just as I reached the two.

That made me mad. "ENOUGH," I did scream-or technically yell- at the two. It was loud enough that they both stopped dead and stared at me. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself, and spoke again. "You guys are acting like little kids. Tasha, I know you just fell from the peak of popularity to the bottom of society, and now you're trying to fit in again. I've been there and done that, so my best advice is for you to keep up with your work. If you need a tutor, please ask.

"And Lauren, I'd like to have a word with you out in the hall."

Lauren was smart enough to recognize the danger in my tone, and the crowd of students parted for us as we walked past.

I stepped out into the hallway, my sneakers sliding quietly across the tiled floors and matching the rythmn of Lauren's heeled boots. We walked for a while, before she finally spoke. "I just don't get it, Haylee, how come they can't keep up?"

"Hmm, because you're way more insanely focused than the rest of them? Because the rest of them want to have an actual life outside of homework?" I responded, letting my irritation float off of me in the words.

Lauren flipped her platinum blonde hair behind her shoulder and fixed me with an intense stare. "Or maybe because I care about education more than they do?"

"No!" I shook my head. "Lauren I don't know how you do it, live like this and enjoy it, but it's not healthy. I know you like homework and don't think we get enough of it, but the rest of us are swamped and tired. I'm swamped and tired. And I don't like how pushy you've been getting, you need to back off. I'm cutting off some of the work we assign, kids are starting to complain."

Lauren looked outraged. "Then cut them, not the work! We don't have enough already, we've lost every debate this year!"

"Yeah and you know why? Because we're-I'm-going too hard on these people. I'm not cutting anybody, Lauren. Especially Tasha, she needs this more than anything right now," I retorted.

"What? Are you abandoning me for some newbie you don't even know?" Lauren screeched back, sounding for all the world like a territorial crow.

"No," I said cooly, my voice sharpening and raising in volume. "I'm telling you to get a life, Lauren. And remember who's in charge."

She stared at me for a long time, and I stared back. Bright green eyes clashed against dull, feathery gray. I refused to break her gaze, knowing she was fighting for dominance. Finally, she looked down. And when her eyes returned to mine, a moment later, they were filled with a venom that would have made someone lesser recoil. "I don't think you'll be in charge for much longer, Haylee," she warned, her voice going velvety soft and sending a shiver down my back.

I didn't so much as twitch a muscle, except raise my chin. "Oh really?"

"Consider me taking a break from Debate Club," she informed me, using that same tone. I watched as she flipped her hair back and strode away down the hall, disapearing down the corner.

Lauren was brilliant and patient, and she had a lot of influence in the school. Much more than I did. She was definitely planning something bad.

--

I didn't waste time walking back to the Debate Club meeting. The students were still whispering together in groups, and Tasha stood waiting by my lunch tray for me to return. Everyone else avoided her like the plague.

I clapped my hands twice, cheerleader style. "Alright, listen up everybody!"

People gathered around me, waiting for instructions, and probably gossip, too. The second, they would not get. But the first was ready to be delivered.

"Okay," I said once I had everyone's attention. "So, Tasha's right. I think the reason that we're losing the debates is because we're pushing too hard. I'm cutting our work in half, down to the bare necessity plus maybe a few more details. But that means I expect near perfection in your work and studies. Instead of working more on the homework or doing those multiple choice quizzes, let's do more fun study at lunch, alright? Starting the lunch thing tomorrow, but cut your homework tonight!"

A murmur rose in the crowd, soft at first but quickly growing in noise. It was an optimistic, happy murmur of excitement and delight rose inside me at the prospect of pleasing others.

For the first time in a while, I looked at the size of our group. I'd called us a crowd, but I hardly needed two hands to count them all. We used to have thirty members, but so many had quit because of the homework and methods. A weight that I didn't even know I had, lifted off my chest as I realized how much life I'd just brought back to these meeting with those words.

Come at me, Lauren, I thought. Come at me and try to bring me down, now.

--

So here you are! I did finish it tonight, just barely but I did! Thank you for all of my readers!

Have a really good day!

Ivy :)