The ORION Project | ✔

chapter 11

Grace counted down the minutes until the meeting was over and while she did so, she stared ahead at nothing and she knew if she looked Joshua Phillips then she'd explode and say something worse. If there was anything she hated more than everything in the world, then it was being a puppet, it was being deprived of the right to write her own life.

So she sat, uncaring that she looked a mess, that they snuck glances in her direction, past caring about Joshua's speech, every wolf in the room wanted a piece of the sheep among them and every stare weighed heavily in her chest and she swore she'd make them pay.

Grace leaned forward, twisting her joints and savouring the satisfying pop of every bone, she imagined it as Phillips' bones cracking beneath her grip and she found out she felt better at the motion.

"Hey, calm down." She blinked at sound of Kendrick's low whisper. The fluorescent bulbs came into focus.

She leaned back, leaned back into him.

"You're scaring everyone," Kendrick murmured in her ears. "Breathe, Grace, breathe."

"Let them look." She said defiantly and proceeded to ignore Kendrick's slow touch on her palm, he was making little circles on her palm with his fingers and she hated that she liked it.

"I hate them, all of them." She breathe, blinking back tears. There was no venom in her voice, only tired resignation.

"And we will make them pay." He said, the words she wanted to hear and when she turned to look at him, he was staring back with intensity that shone in his multicolored eyes.

And it was then a smattering of applause broke out in the court and people began to leave their seats.

The meeting was over and she hadn't even caught a single word.

She rose when Kendrick did, latching to his side, half scared. The bravado from earlier was melting fast like ice, it was her greatest flaw, quick to get mad and equally quick to melt.

The girl in the hijab was fast approaching them, Grace noted that she was not smiling and she ignored the greetings she got as she passed. A girl like her looked like she bathed in attention. Grace looked to Kendrick, about to comment on her when she noticed that he was staring at the girl with something like wry admiration.

He seemed to know her and suddenly, she let the hand he gripped tight drop from his and he didn't even notice. Suddenly cold, Grace gathered her arms around herself.

How many people from ORION did Kendrick know? How many was he friends with?

"Grace, Kendrick." The girl said, nodding curtly. "Come with me."

"Why? I thought his royal bastard would want to see us and rub his power in our faces." Grace said snidely.

The girl narrowed her eyes but said nothing.

"Not now, Grace." Kendrick hissed.

"I didn't know you two were friends." Grace shot back. She looked at the girl with the most venomous glare she could summon, the stare that so famously made her family shrink back when they saw it, yet this girl stood.

Something like amusement made her lip tug slightly at the corner before fading, she crossed her hands beneath her chest, pushing up breasts that made Grace glance down at her almost flat chest. She chided herself internally for thinking such superficial things.

"Listen, girly," the girl began saying, she lifted up a finger. "There are two sides to me, the bitch plus boss side and the fairly nice side. You don't want to be on my third side."