BatIM Steps of the Survivor

Chapter Twenty

For the next week, Jade had decided to be careful and avoid the trio, though mostly and especially Sasha. Something about avoiding her brother and her best friend's friend made her feel bad, but the two of them assured themselves it would be for their own safety.

Exams had finally started, and the silence of the exam room was chillingly unfamiliar. Jade had tried to pour herself deep into the exam and its questions to keep her brain from wandering too far, but, not paying attention to how many questions were on the test, she managed to fly through it fairly quickly, leaving her mind to go wherever it pleased. The whispers from the ink felt more like screams in the silence of the classroom, and it was almost more stressful making sure the ink made no appearance. To conceal the glowing of her eyes after the test was over, she put her head down and pretended to sleep, so even if others had finished and were looking around the room, they wouldn't see her abnormalities.

After each test was over, Jade and Boris had to soothe themselves, as the deathly quiet brought them each their own waves of anxiety, tides of memories that washed up higher with the stillness. Both had a collective gratitude for Ethan helping them to review, as both had some gaps in their knowledge prior to him trying to help fill it in.

It felt like an eternity, but the final day of the year rolled around with its formal ceremony and equally formal dress code. Jade didn't have much in the terms of what fit the 'formal' code as well as fitting the school's normal dress code, and it didn't help that she didn't dress up much anyway. She got out a dress she hadn't worn in what felt like forever, holding it up. She didn't much like the fact that the sleeves were far too short to cover the scars. With a sigh, she put it on, having not been left with much other choice.

After she was in the dress and had some dark pants underneath it so at least she could conceal one additional scar, she took a breath and left her bedroom to see how Boris was doing.

The wolf was doing just fine. At least, physically he was, but emotionally, he seemed to be quite nervous about the graduation. They had only one day to prepare for it with the seventh-grade junior marshalls, and much emphasis was placed on doing it right, so Jade could understand why he seemed so scared to blow it for everyone.

"Hey, buddy," she patted his shoulder gently. "You'll do just fine today, I'm sure of it. And hey, remember our seats are together for this thing, and we'll be among the last people in so we'll be able to look and see how everyone else does it. Besides, even if you slipped up a little, I don't think anyone would really notice."

Boris smiled at Jade's reassurance, a small toothy grin that, despite its sharp pointy teeth, had a lot of charm to it. Then he took a look at Jade, his ears lowering slightly when he saw the scars on her arms. They looked more serious than he remembered, and it's was Jade's turn for the nerves to set in. She didn't like feeling so exposed.

"I should... probably find some way to cover those..." Jade murmured, no longer finding it in her to meet his eyes as she tried to use her hands to cover up her arms.

After a moment, she heard Boris walk away, and she was confused until she felt something soft placed on her back. She tried to get a look at it, only to realize a couple of seconds later that Boris had given her a jacket. "Thanks, buddy." She gave him a soft smile as she put it on. She'd probably be feeling hot for the duration of the day, but it was better than possibly showing some kind of secrets, or revealing that not all was quite well with her.

Then it was Boris's turn to try and find something formal, but he had even fewer options than Jade did. It took most of the time they had before they had to leave for school to finally decide on something, and even then, it wasn't the fanciest, but it would do.