"The tragedy of life is not death ... but what we let die inside of us while we still live."
Adalynn Stanton is accepted into one of the highest competitive schools in her state, the Greenhouse Academy. At first, all she thinks she will have to do...
"It's who we are. Doesn't matter if we've gone too far. Doesn't matter if it's all okay. Doesn't matter if it's not our day."
~ Who We are by Imagine Dragons
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"Well ... that was crap."
Adalynn glanced up at Jackie through misty eyes. She gulped and nodded as she examined her own strawberry smoothie. "Yeah ... it was crap."
It'd been seven hours since the explosion.
The two girls were seated at a far corner in the school cafeteria. They were at a table, two half-empty smoothies sitting in front of each of them. The only other person in the cafeteria was the staff member behind the counter. The uniformed lady aimlessly wiped the bench a few dozen times, frequently checking the clock on the far wall.
Adalynn had no idea where anyone else was, although she knew that Hayley, Alex, Eric and Mr Woods had gone straight back to their house only a few minutes after the explosion. Adalynn, Jackie and Max had helped them carry their stuff from their dorms and walked them to the car. Then they were gone, just like that.
Louis and his children, Jason and Brooke, were most likely in the principal's lounge. The remaining staff members and teachers had simply disappeared into thin air and the rest of the students had either gone to a secluded spot outside or retreated into their bedrooms.
The Academy was quiet ... too quiet ... and Adalynn didn't like it, not one bit.
"Sooo ... what now?" Jackie put forth the question that was nagging at both of their minds.
Adalynn shook her head, trying to keep her tears in check. "I dunno, Jackie, I dunno. Oh my gosh, did you see Hayley's face when that rocket exploded? It went completely white. There were such pain in her eyes, Jackie ... I - I wouldn't know what I'd do if I lost MY Mum."
Jackie placed a comforting hand on Adalynn's. "At least you remember yours. Mine died when I was a baby."
Adalynn looked at her, surprised. So far, this was the most Jackie had ever opened up to Adalynn and while it saddened her that Jackie had never known her mother, it warmed her heart to think that she might be the first to know about it.
"I - I'm sorry, Jackie. That must be awful."
"Yeah," Jackie shrugged. "I suppose you don't really know what you're missing out on if you've never had it though, so it doesn't bother me THAT much."
"Well, what IS bothering me is what Mrs Woods was saying before the takeoff," Adalynn responded soberly. "She kept making out as if she KNEW she wasn't going to come back." Suddenly, Adalynn leaned forward and whispered, " I mean - what if she did know?"
Jackie raised her eyebrows. "So, somehow she knew there was going to be a malfunction and somehow she knew she was going to blow up? Geez, if I knew that, I wouldn't have gone ten miles near that rocket. You need to quit being silly, Ad, okay?"
Adalynn hesitated before sitting back with a sigh. "Fine. I think it's just odd, that's all."
Jackie uttered a low, forced laugh. "Odd? She was going in a blooming rocket, of course there's a million things that could've gone wrong and Ryan knew it. She was just taking precautions that's all."
"You think telling Hayley to remember that number and saying it was too dangerous to tell anyone else about it was a precaution too?" Adalynn scoffed. "I don't think so."
"What's going on here?"
Both girls jumped and whirled around in surprise. They'd been so intent on their conversation that neither of them had noticed that Jason was hovering near the doorway nearby.
"Uh ... oh ... nothing," Adalynn stuttered, giving him a petty smile and a wave.
"That's NOT what I heard," Jason pushed himself off of the doorframe and advanced towards them.
Instantly, Jackie and Adalynn were on their feet.
"You're acting very suspiciously. What were you two talking about? Do you know something about the launch that the rest of us don't?" Jason demanded, his brow furrowed. When he was met with silence, he gritted his teeth and growled, "C'mon, spit it out! What the hell were you two discussing just now?"
"JASON!" Louis' voice echoed throughout the room. "What are you doing?"
Jason glanced towards his father, his eyes wide with shock. "Oh, nothing, Dad. I - I was just making sure these two girls were alright. They seem pretty shaken up after what happened."
Louis' intense, stern gaze softened as he turned to Jackie and Adalynn. "We're all shaken up. It's okay, girls, Hayley and Alex are gonna be okay."
Jackie sent him a small smile and a nod in return. "S-sorry for creating a disturbance," she muttered. "Can - can we go now?"
Louis sighed. "Yes. You can. I - I'd better go back and check on Brooke, I don't think she's doing so well either."
As he began walking off, Jason glared at Jackie and Adalynn as he snarled, "I'll deal with you two later." He stalked off, head high in the air. If it had been any other situation, Adalynn would laughed aloud at the peculiar sight that he made, but she didn't.
Instead, she grasped Jackie's arm and steered her towards the nearest door.
The two girls ended up at the skatepark, which was completely deserted. Neither of them, however, felt like skating, so they just sat down on one of the park benches nearby in silence. Both of them were in so much shock over what'd happened that they couldn't find the words to speak.
A few minutes later, Adalynn spotted Max walking across the Academy lawn towards them.
"Hey Max," she greeted him as he approached them.
"Oh, uh, hi," he returned, his gaze fixated on the open screen of his Louie.
"What is it now?" Jackie demanded in frustration.
"Have you guys seen this?" Max questioned, glancing up at both of them. "It's the most recent NEWS article. It's about the Athena Launch."
Adalynn frowned and shook her head in response as she dug her Louie out from her back pocket. Opening it up, she tapped on the screen a couple of times until she chanced upon the particular page.
She gasped and her hand flew to her mouth as she read and reread the article ... just to make sure she wasn't making things up.
"You've GOT to kidding me!" Jackie groaned as she too flicked through the news report.
Adalynn's eyes skimmed over the title, which read: "POLICE ARE NOT RULING OUT A PROBABLE SUICIDE IN THE CASE OF RYAN WOODS".
"What the actual heck?"
~~~~
Gif: Jackie listening to Adalynn's conspiracy theories. :)
A/N: Ooohh wow!! Another cliff-hanger. Sorry, Ik I'm soo mean guys. I promise I'll update again tomorrow. Sooo ... what do you all think? Do you reckon Jason is a suspicious character or not? Do you think Ryan actually caused the explosion? Or did someone else do it? Do you think Adalynn's right to worry about Ryan's last words to them? Please voice your opinions in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks so much for reading! Have a great night guys! Love you all. xx
