CHAPTER 52: 52-THEY CALL ME A MONSTER

Clementine:

Haiden now stepped back, pacing aggressively across the room. At the same time, Ian was glaring at me like he wanted to kill me. Then there were Troy and Yorick, who both looked really hurt.

It seemed like I had a choice, but I didn’t.

"You know what they said to me back when they took me to the basement?" I started to speak, just as they began walking toward the door.

"Shut the fuck up," Ian yelled, turning around. "You almost got us killed. If you didn’t want to be part of this, you should’ve stayed behind, not gone there and ditched us!"

"And if any one of us dies in the North, our blood will be on your hands," Haiden added, reminding me that we’d be going back to the North again in the future.

"You think they would’ve let us go just because you said you wanted to quit?" I tried to speak up again but then got intervened. Haiden lunged at me so suddenly that I backed into the wall and hit my head. He didn’t touch me, but the way he came at me was so terrifying, I had no choice but to step back.

I instantly grimaced and placed my hand on the back of my head, rubbing my scalp.

"No more words," he said. "And you know what, little Miss Clementine?" He leaned down, placing his hands on his knees so he could meet me at eye level, making direct eye contact. "Since you love North so much, we will be leaving you there this time," he hissed.

"Our mission will be slaying the monster among us," Ian said, clearly calling me a monster.

Yorick was the last one to leave, and he had to have the final word.

In a hurt tone, he said, "One of these days, you really need to start behaving. Because Clementine, this kind of behavior will get you killed. When you talk about a squad—trust and loyalty matter."

Then he slammed the door shut and left the room.

I stayed in the room for a while before leaving for lunch. We were all asked to be at our tables, so I walked out, feeling defeated.

Once I reached the hall, I realized everyone was already seated and the food had been served before anyone arrived. There were large trays filled with steaks, sushi rolls, dumplings, and other food items. It looked like a good treat, to be honest.

As I began walking toward my team, Haiden extended his leg, raised it, and placed it on my seat, blocking my path to sit down. I grabbed my tray of food and looked around. Everyone was now watching me. They could clearly see my squad mates didn’t want me to sit with them.

"Clementine, come sit with us," Oriana spoke up, gesturing to me. Her table was right next to ours, and they had a spare chair. So I grabbed my things and went to sit with her. I sat down and placed my food, awkwardly playing with the chilies using my fork.

"Are you and your squadmates okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, it’s just that we have a lot of disagreements." I continued avoiding eye contact, keeping my head down.

"Oh, I remember the comment he made last night. Did you two know each other before coming to the academy?" she asked, referring to Haiden and his comment about me not treating my friends well.

"Yeah, he and two others used to go to the same high school as me," I said.

Her eyes widened. "Oh wow. I mean, I know some people too, but they’re from other squads. But I got to know my own squad members." She almost whispered the last part since her squadmates were sitting right beside her.

There were usually six members in every squad, or at least there were supposed to be. Some had died during the first mission, and others, I realized, didn’t survive the test with the ogre in the ruins. I had thought that our roommate was the only one who had passed away during the ogre test.

I think the Red Squad had lost the most members. They must have lost one during the ogre test because now only four of them were sitting across the table after losing Sadie.

"Meet Jessie and Valerie. These two are sisters," she said, pointing at two girls from her squad. It was odd that both sisters had been brought here. It made me wonder how many siblings they had, or maybe they were from the same father but different mothers, and the stepmother had probably sent them away.

"Meet Matthias," she added, pointing at the silent guy sitting alone, even though he was at the same table. He seemed isolated, having pulled his chair all the way to the back and away from the others. He had black spiky hair. His eyes were brown, but one of them was shut, covered with a cloth that looked like a pirate’s bandage.

"What happened to his eye?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "Nothing when he arrived here, so probably something old," she said.

"Anyway, what about your squadmates? They’re all so buff and big. You must feel so protected out there," she said, almost gushing over the arrogant alphas.

"Oriana, it’s no joke. They’re not very kind. You see how inflated their muscles are? Yeah, they’re all alphas, so imagine their egos," I said, feeling the need to vent. But these were things I would say even in front of the alphas, so it wasn’t like I was sharing a secret.

"Oh, I see. Then it must be so scary," she said, and I nodded.

Just then, I accidentally dropped my fork. I bent down to pick it up, and as I looked under the table, my eyes landed on the White Squad’s table. I saw Suki touching a guy’s leg with her own under the table.

I sat back up with my fork, wiping it clean, but my eyes unintentionally returned to the White Squad. That’s when I realized the guy she was rubbing legs with wasn’t her boyfriend.

"Who is he?" I asked, pointing at the guy I had noticed earlier at the station, the one with red curly hair and an innocent look on his face.

"Oh, the guy sitting next to Joshua?" she asked. I was surprised she knew everyone’s name, and probably all the gossip too.

"Yeah," I said, nodding.

"Oh, that’s Joshua’s best friend from back home. He used to be his royal warrior, the two have been together like brothers," she said with a smile, until she noticed the look on my face. Then she leaned in, almost touching my hand, trying to be discreet.

"Do you know something too?" she asked. The sparkle in her eyes told me she knew something as well.