❝ Sheep abide by the herd complex; safety in numbers. When all are the same, no one can be singled out.
A fox among sheep is able to infiltrate the herd only a handful of ways: under the veil of dusk, or by clothing itself as the prey, shedding i...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"I'M SORRY ABOUT yesterday. I didn't mean for you to see me blow up like that in the way I did; that's never happened before. Right now is just a sensitive time, you know?" Guilt refused her from being able to meet his eye; her sincerity was clear.
"It's fine; no worries."
Jonah knew her outburst wasn't directed at him. To his knowledge, the two friends had forgiven and forgotten each other's wrongdoings; Elise's missing temper and Henri's insensitivity towards Bêtemont's body count of dead or missing citizens. Unbeknownst to them, Jonah's mind was someplace else, far from the table they shared in the canteen. The thoughts he was engaged with demanded him far more than whatever his friends were discussing.
Jonah was certain his father and the Dartmoore family were connected. The boys in the photo had to have been his friends. Furthermore, he was inclined to believe that one of the boys was Opal's father, and the other, her uncle. Now, all Jonah needed was to figure out what he was going to do with this information. He was contemplating whether he should attempt to find Opal's uncle and ask him about his father.
"Well, I've got maths, so I'll see you both later."
Elise hopped off her chair, abandoning the boys at the table. In the last day or so, Jonah had noticed Henri was starting to open up around him more. Since this development, he would willingly stimulate a conversation with Jonah rather than leaving him to listen to the ones he has with Elise. Jonah didn't dislike Elise, per se, but he couldn't deny appreciating the level-headedness of Henri.
Jonah was coming to see how well they balanced out each other's personalities, being that they were on completely opposite ends of the introvert-extrovert spectrum. Elise and Henri were an unlikely pair but got along just fine.
A cackle of laughter startled Jonah, coming from the other end of the canteen; it was Jade, surrounded by her new group of friends. It turned out he had nothing to worry about, as she immediately found her rank amidst the pyramid of high school hierarchy. Even he belonged to a group of friends; Henri and Elise. It seemed like they were both acclimating well to small-town life.
"We should get going," Henri suggested, and the synchronised scrapes of their chairs voiced Jonah's wordless agreement. Not even a moment later, the ear-bleeding ring of the bell filled the canteen.
"English, right?" Jonah asked. The red-headed boy nodded. He was amused to discover that Henri would be joining him in his class of advance English, being that Jonah was sure he only knew a maximum of two phrases.
"If you forget about the fucked-up family thing, Monsieur Dartmoore is relatively laid back. You haven't got anything to worry about," reassured Henri. "Anyway, you never mentioned why you moved to France. How come?" Curiosity had gotten the better of him.
"My mum was offered a job in the next town over, and my dad used to live here," Jonah answered bluntly. He wasn't a fan of talking about himself.
"Really? What's your dad called? I might have heard of him."
