"Don't get used to talking when you get food," John whispered.
"Why not?" Dave asked in a lower than normal voice.
"Hey, no talking in line!" One of Peter's doubles from one of the other wings chided as he watched over the cafeteria.
"That's why," John whispered. "But I've kind of mastered volume control for each of the four wing advisors and Garrett over there is easiest to whisper under, otherwise I'd make you get a butt-ton of napkins to write on."
Dave followed at a slow pace, taking the square of red jello. No whipped cream on top, Dave though, man.
John was carrying his on a small light yellow tray like Dave used to get tater tots on at McKinley. McKinley. Even mention of the word made David think of Kurt and Blaine and even Finn. Woah, he though, have to be careful. Those are not good feelings.
"You okay?" John enquired as Dave tuned back in. Skye was looking at him as though he were about to faint. "Your eyes kinda glazed over there for a second."
"I'm fine," David croaked with a throat that felt almost parched. Just remembering.
"Well, okay, but we'd best sit before you attract too much attention."
Dave joined the three already sitting at the table, who were all looking gloomily down and chewing slowly on their jello squares with a resigned sort of fate. Dave refused to think about why they probably felt that way.
Skye sat on his right and went clockwise around the table. "Dave, this is Coltrane, Tanto, and Iman. Guys, this is Kahuna."
"Wait, that's not right. My name…"
"No names, new kid," Iman stopped Dave short before he could start. "Just in case."
"Just in case of what?" Dave stated, slightly astonished and a little louder than he should have been.
"Did I stutter before? No talking in the cafeteria," the wing advisor intoned with a bit of phlegm in his throat. "What's your name?"
He was at the table, bearing down on Karofsky in a way that made Karofsky feel…well, intimidated. "K..K..Karofsky, David." This is what Kurt had felt, this is what I deserve.
The wing advisor began to flip through a clipboard in his hand. "Not even on my list yet, eh? Must be new."
"Just got here," Dave stated in the way of a half-hearted apology. The rest of the table looked down and chewed their collective desserts like they were cud.
The clipboard king merely shook his head. "Tisk-tisk. Conchari, Terrance, Ivans, and Clouder; You should have known better than to let him talk! One demerit point a piece."
"What?" Dave breathed.
"Wanna push your luck?"
The one that Skye (Clouder) had called Iman (Ivans) let his spoon clatter noisily onto his tray. He got up without looking around much.
"You got a problem?"
"No, south wing advisor sir. Just have studying to do in Colossions before morning prep."
"Ah, good pupil!" South wing advisor's tone changed into one of delight as Ivans got up to leave. His focus left Karofsky and watched Ivans walk away before snapping back to Karofsky, who still had yet to sit. "Some advice, young Karof…Karof…young student. Learn the rules, learn who are your friends here and time will go much easier for you."
Karofsky sat down and looked at his jello as the south wing advisor walked away. He couldn't eat it now, even though red was his favorite flavor.
"Just in case of that," John whispered to him.
It seemed like a long time before they got back to room 42. David felt like he was losing his mind and he hadn't even been in this place a whole day. It was like a special prison here for him, just to rehash his own cruelness back in double time. He felt afraid, his hands shaking slightly.
John merely shook his head as he closed the door behind them. "You'll be okay, Kahuna. Don't let him into your head. That's how they win."
"I thought them winning was the whole point of being here."
"Not like that. Not ever like that."
Dave sat on his bed feeling disoriented and trying to calm down. "Okay, I'll just breath and I'll be fine. Everything will be fine in the morning."
"Not likely, Kahuna. Morning's not better."
"Why not? And why do you keep calling me Kahuna?"
John smiled to himself, a secret smile. "One, I'm not going to spoil the surprise," he stated sweetly with a bit of sadistic glee as he flicked a bang back from his forehead," two, and maybe I should have said this earlier, you have to disconnect here. Even from each other. You can't trust, don't know who will narc from day to day and well, I'd rather kill someone than miss my marshmallow peeps, so I go by a pseudonym so that I won't think about it. At least our small group does."
He continued unabated, leaving Dave to process on his own. "You played football, I guess. I've heard you mention it. Think of it like your team number or nickname or something. I chose Skye because, well, Clouder. Skye is a lot cooler than being named after a Pokemon or something and the drummer of my favorite band used to be Skye. Coltrane is here because his parents thought he listened to the devil's music, which mostly consisted of Coltrane. Terrance became Tanto after we found out that his parents sent him here for befriending a Native American pow-wow league. They thought he was seduced to dark paganistic animal rituals. And Iman, as you might have guessed, is a closeted muslim."
Dave stood up with a surge of energy. "That's horrible."
And then John gave him the first honest, blank answer since they had met. "That's Stone Eagle."
