Hunting the Fairy Tale

Chapter 98 - Babes in the Woods

Hunter

Seriously, these bonfires were a lot more fun when I was one of the delinquents causing mayhem and not one of the poor suckers supposed to make things run smoothly.

I can think about it for 100 years, and I still won't understand why I was elected as a member of the blooming school student council. I'm not good at following and enforcing rules. If they make sense and serve a purpose, I am happy to have them tell me what to do, where, when and how. Stop at the red light, throw your garbage in a trash can, and don't piss on the sidewalk; those are all very sensible rules, adding value to our lives. 

Don't undo the top button of your school shirt and loosen your tie when it's choking you and you're about to die of heat fatigue... Like hell! I'm yanking my shirt tail out of my pants, unbuttoning my shirt, rolling up my sleeves, and anybody telling me not to can go stuff themselves with my tie.

There is no way I'm going around telling people to tie their ties and tuck in their shirts... I leave that to people like Raymond Parks, who actually likes nonsensical rules that exist only to show dominance and oppress others.

I'm not expected to do things like that tonight, but I was instructed to make sure that there's no contraband in use during the event, so I'm going around taking bites from muffins and taste-testing drinks. If anybody had drugs or alcohol in their snacks, I'd probably be hammered by now. I told Dex, and he just blinked at me, called me a plonker and said there's a better way to do the job.

He's wrong; my way is at least a little fun. I tasted some pretty great stuff tonight (and some weird, gross shit too), and people are even kind enough to give me some of their snacks and are constantly begging me to stick around longer. It makes up for the frustration and boredom of being appointed as the friggin school drug dog for the night.

Where in the rules does it say that I cannot do my duty by hanging out with groups of people a few minutes at a time, making jokes and burning sparklers while eating yummy stuff that isn't available on the snack table?

I should find Willow. 

I don't know why I ran away from her. I guess seeing her looking all mellow and pretty freaked me out so badly that I just handed her to Paise and ran off. Yeah, the student council had a meeting I had to disrupt... I mean, attend, but it only took a few minutes. She can easily join me while I'm doing my "inspections"; it will help her meet people. There is no reason for me to run from her.

I don't see her in the milling crowd of laughing, playing students, and it's almost completely dark now. I do see Paisley throwing sand balls at Asher and Jake until Ash grabs her and picks her up. He is trapping her in a tight hug now, pinning her arms to her sides so that she cannot hit him. They're heading this way from the stretch of beach leading towards my house.

Where the hell is Willow?!

I thank Elton and Janet for the glass of juice they gave me and start to jog towards the two boys, trying to tame the feral girl. Well, that's what it looks like, and it is not as unusual as it might sound.

"Hunt, wait up!"

I turn to see Dex running towards me. I think the guy has a fever; he looks flushed, and his eyes are overly bright. For some reason, he is not looking at me in the frank, direct way he usually uses when he's looking at me. He seems to be feeling highly uncomfortable.

"Willow," he huffs, a little out of breath. How long has he been running around? He is even bending over, trying to catch his breath. Dex is pretty fit... usually.

"What? Did something happen?" I don't like the look of this.

"She ate some hi-biscuits and... uhm... a few other things."