ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏɴɢ ꜱɪᴅᴇ

t a m

They were actually delusional.

I couldn't believe how dumb they were.

And yet, I couldn't help but approve. It completely went against the Coaches, which alone I had to appreciate.

The Ambi Coach fainted right then and there, and the other Coaches were too freaked to catch her. Only a moment after, the whole campus started screaming about the plague.

"It won't affect us!" Linh tried to tell a Wayward who was screaming and running past us. He—or she—didn't pay her any mind.

"Don't even try," I said under my breath. "No one's gonna listen."

Linh sighed, but she knew I was right. We stood there in the midst of all the chaos, and I watched the girl's group of friends as they huddled together, glancing around like they weren't sure what to do.

It took what felt like hours, but everyone finally calmed down—if you could call it calming down.

"Are they getting ejected?" a Wayward yelled at the Coaches, starting yet another round of shouting. Good grief. I rubbed my temples in irritation; I was gonna go deaf at this point.

"They have broken countless rules, and have not taken their beads," the red Coach answered, her voice hard. "They have lost their place here."

"Can I get extra beads for them?" one of the group of five called out, and I snorted. Did he really think the Coaches would say yes to that?

The Waywards around us started shouting that they should get extra beads, so many voices fighting to be heard above everyone else's until my head was pounding from a headache.

The purple Coach, who had woken up by now, raised her voice. "Absolutely not," she yelled, her words cutting through the clamor, silencing the Waywards. "Our decision is final, and no one will be arguing."

But the Coaches' words sparked something in my mind. It was probably—definitely—a seriously stupid idea, but it would be undeniably effective.

At the end of the day, I walked up to one of the remaining three of five people from the girl's group. The person pushed their hood back, ready to leap away, and I startled when a cascade of wavy brown hair fell down the person's back.

So this was the one other girl of the five.

I stretched my shadow over hers just as she raised her crystal to the light. "Wait."

She jumped and whipped around, and I unconsciously took a step back, my eyes wide.

This girl was . . .

I gulped, my mouth suddenly dry, and tried to ignore the perfect shade of teal of the girl's eyes, the heart shape of her face, the way her hair fell against her cheeks. "You're friends with the girl, right?" I shadow-whispered before I could go insane.

She blinked, and then narrowed her eyes. "You're the Shade."

Damn it. I wasn't supposed to be like this. I gritted my teeth and pretended she was just a blank face, like any other Wayward here, and ignored her question, pushing down the feeling of uneasiness in my stomach. "Tell her if she really wants to prove the Coaches wrong, she should return with you guys and make a stand."

Her mouth opened, but I turned and left before she could answer.