Page 94 of Fractured Fates

Just when Iwas beginning to actually possess a social life, it’s been firmly snatched away from me. What with kitchen duties, dueling team chores and a ban from leaving campus, my social life has permanently stalled. I caught a glimpse of the ball. And now I’m back to rags in the cellar.

At least I have Winnie to share in this misery.

“It’s really unfair,” I tell her as I scrub yet another giant pot with some unrecognizable food stuff smoldered to its surface. “Someone pignapped Pip and we’re the ones being punished.”

“I’m sure they’ll be punished too once they’re caught,” Winnie replies, her hands lost in a bowl of bubbles.

“I doubt they’ll evenbecaught.”

“Stone said he was looking into it,” Winnie says with a teasing tone. I ignore her and scrub harder.

I don’t know why he’d bother. Not because he actually cares. Obviously. The man cares about nothing – except maybe his bike and his books. I scrub harder not knowing why that makes me angry.

Winnie lifts a frying pan from the bowl, runs a sponge over its base and drops it onto the draining board. “I’m just relieved my mom hasn’t heard about this. If she knew I skipped class, she’d string me up by my braids.”

I pause my scrubbing. “Would she really?” I ask skeptically. Winnie’s family sounds utterly lovely, confirmed by the fact her mom sends her packets of home-baked goods in the post every week.

“Well … no,” Winnie admits, “but the lecture would be pretty horrific and the disappointed face my mom makes is a killer.”

I toss my sponge at Winnie and she ducks.

“What are we going to do this weekend, though?” I moan. “I’ve spent my entire life entertaining myself.” I was damn good at it. I didn’t have a choice. “But now I’ve had a taste of more, going back to darning socks and rearranging my books does not seem appealing.”

“Are you really worried about having nothing to do, Rhi?” Winnie asks. “You’re going to have so many chores to do, you’ll barely have time to sit down.”

“But the evenings …” I mumble. “Everyone else will be going out.”

The hangover may have been hellish after last time but I enjoyed myself more than I ever had that night. Even the dressing up proved fun.

“We can play Scrabble,” Winnie suggests and I groan. “Or watch another movie.”

“Yeah,” I mutter, heading off to find my sponge. “Another movie.”

* * *

“You’re banned for a month?”Andrew asks me the next day in the library.

“Yep,” I say with a pout. “No leaving campus for a month.”

“That sucks.”

“Uh huh.”

“I was going to suggest the pool hall Saturday night. It’s quieter than the bar and I’m a bit of a pool shark.” He grins.

“Well, I won’t be joining you.”

“Another time.”

“Yeah, another time,” I say, picking up my book and resuming my reading.

Except come Saturday night, as Winnie and I are holed up in our room listening to everyone else getting ready for a night out, there’s a knock on our door.

We look at each other and I gently push Pip’s sleeping head from my lap and go answer the door.

It’s Andrew.

“Hi,” he says.