Hexagon

Chapter 53: Dining by Night

I'm sorrryyyyyyyyyy.

I know the update is a week late (again) and I kinda have an excuse? Tigercry has a super important end-of-the-year project and didn't have the time to do much for this chapter. And I….have AP exams I'm supposed to be studying for. Luckily for you, I got tired of studying and decided to go write fanfiction instead. Enough of my whining, thank you to the following fabulous people for their reviews:

-HollyleafML

-DragonoftheStars1429

-Runereader of the Nightwings (x2) (is that a Wings of Fire reference?)

-Ellabellu

-xbloodywhalex

-ravenclawjaguar

-HeyHowAreYou

-Watermist of WindClan

-EggsBenefits (x3)

-Zoeybug

Thank you guys! On with the fic!

Hazeltail's POV:

We had wrangled up six of the girls in our group, from sporty Briarlight to classy Half Moon. The only one missing was Cinderheart, and Hollyleaf had been pacing and worrying about it for the past ten minutes.

I on the other hand wasn't that concerned, if Cinderheart said she'd be back at 6, she'd be back at 6, or at least sometime close to that. She was only a few minutes late at this point, and I was standing behind Briarlight, pulling her thick brown hair into a half up half down style.

"Hollyleaf", I said exasperatedly, watching the ravenette prowl anxiously around the room. "If you keep pacing you're going to wear a ditch into the ground. It's Cinderheart, calm down."

"That's why I am worried!", Hollyleaf exclaimed huffily, crossing her arms over her chest and fixing me with a glare. "Cinderheart attracts trouble like Berrynose attracts girls."

"She does not," Briarlight quipped, playfully butting into our conversation, "Cinderheart's not a troublemaker, Hollyleaf."

"She's just got a habit of being at the wrong place at the wrong time," Half Moon piped up, clearly trying to soothe Hollyleaf's nerves.

"Exactly!" Hollyleaf exclaimed and I fought to not roll my eyes again, "Whenever she's not with one of us she gets injured or attacked by Heathertail!"

"Lionblaze is with her," I pointed out and Honeyfern nodded in agreement. "There's no way in hell Lionblaze would let anyone lay a finger on her while he was around."

Those seemed to be the right things to say as Hollyleaf stopped pacing (finally!) and settled on standing there fidgeting slightly.

Not a moment later the door clicked into being unlocked and the missing girl stepped into the room. "See you later Blaze," Cinderheart waved to the blonde boy who was beginning to head toward his dorm and shut the door behind her.

"Great StarClan," the words slipped out of my mouth without thinking as I gawked at the mess of a girl in front of me.

"Cinderheart! What happened to YOU?", Hollyleaf asked, seizing her friend by the shoulders and dragging her further inside the room.

Standing near the door of the dorm room and hastily dressed in a rumpled maroon t-shirt and sweatpants was Cinderheart. Her usually sleek silver hair was a frizzy, chlorine ridden mess, and her skin looked rather clammy from the chemicals in the pool water.

"You're a mess! What did you do do your hair?" Hollyleaf huffed and started pushing the silver haired girl across the room toward the bathroom.

Despite how messy her appearance was, I didn't think I had seen Cinderheart as happy as she looked right now for a long time. She had lost some of her spark after the events at the Festival. The lively, carefree Cinderheart was one I had not seen in a long time, and the sheepish smile she gave Hollyleaf was genuine but totally not sorry.

"Wait, don't answer that. My brother." A nod. "Good grief. You realize the dinner is literally in a hour right?" Another nod. Hollyleaf groaned and shoved Cinderheart into the bathroom. "Go wash the chemicals out," she said, shutting the door behind her.

She then turned to us. "Girls, we have an emergency situation on our hands."

Determined grins were exchanged between me, Honeyfern, and Half Moon, only to have our determined and serious moment broken by Briarlight giving a snort of laughter behind her hands. I hadn't noticed she had started holding back laughter since Cinderheart walked in till now.

"Briarlight?" Half Moon asked curiously, "what's so funny?" We heard the shower in the other room being turned up, and Cinderheart's signature mint steam began wafting out under the bathroom door.

Briarlight stifled another snort of laughter, sky blue eyes reflected by the mirror in front of us glittering with laugher. She stood up and moved her hands away from her mouth. She grinned lopsidedly, saying, "Nothing, nothing", as she waved off Half Moon's confusion. Her shoulders shook with silent laughter as she remarked, "Don't worry about it."

I stared at her in confusion while in the meantime, Hollyleaf dug through her closet. She pulled out several hair products, coconut oil, and five or six different hair brushes.

Before long, Cinderheart emerged from the bathroom, dressed in a baggy tank top and shorts. Her hair was tied up in a messy knot at the back of her head.

Briarlight and Half Moon practically pounced on her, Briarlight still struggling to keep from laughing, and within seconds she had been shoved in the chair in front of the vanity where Briarlight had been minutes earlier.

Sighing, Cinderheart rolled her eyes and took her hair out of the bun, "Alright guys, knock yourselves out."

Cinderheart's hair went through multiple stages. It went from wet tangles to being smooth and damp, then to poofy post-blow dryer, and eventually, returned to normal. As soon as her hair emergency was resolved, we moved on to other matters, such as our own appearances.

"I swear to StarClan, Briarlight, if you don't stop moving I'll stab you in the eye with the damn mascara wand."

"Sorryyyyy", the brunette whined and fidgeted for the twentieth time. "You're taking forever. Can't you go faster? Or just let me do it myself?"

"Unless you want to have racoon eyes," I said slowly before grabbing her shoulders and forcing her to sit still, "You're going to sit your butt down on this chair and stop moving, for Star's sake!"

"Here," Half Moon stepped over and away from Cinderheart to put her hands firmly down on Briarlight's shoulders. Effectively keeping her still. "You need to get used to sitting still and getting your makeup done Briarlight, you're still so bad at it."

"I like to run, not sit still being poked by makeup products," Briarlight huffed indignantly and I cracked a grin. For such a mature girl Briarlight was nothing short of childish tomboy with anything makeup related.

"Come on Briarlight," Half Moon cajoled her. "You'll look fantastic."

"I'm already fantastic!" Briarlight shot back.

Hollyleaf remarked teasingly, "Careful, your ego's showing." In that moment, Briarlight's foot shot up and hit Hollyleaf in the shin.

"Owwwwww", the ravenette whined. "That was mean."

As they bickered, I marveled at the fact that Briarlight had put on any makeup at all. The chestnut haired runner makes a point out of going barefaced. She finds makeup uncomfortable and a pain in the ass to apply, not to mention that all the sweat from running makes it melt off of her face. As a matter of fact, many of Hexagon's female athletes opt to go barefaced for those very reasons.

Briarlight glared at the mascara wand in my hands, making a face and muttering curses. She thankfully sat still as I finished working on her eye makeup. Once done, I screwed the lid back onto the mascara tube, then stepped back to admire my work. The look I had gone for was relatively simple, the classic winged eyeliner and a smokey lid.

"Not bad", I said approvingly. "I think I got the eyeliner symmetrical." Briarlight examined her makeup in the mirror and pulled a wonky face at the amount of cosmetics on her face, and Half Moon giggled at her reaction.

I smiled, noticing the triumphant look in Briarlight's eyes at making her best friend laugh and smile after the events that had happened this afternoon. Briarlight looked at me through the mirror and grinned cheekily before she cocked her head and poked her tongue out at me. Succeeding in further increasing Half Moon's laughter.

Finally Hollyleaf stepped out of the bathroom in her dress, the same gorgeous royal blue dress that Fallen Leaves had given her that morning (the one she hadn't stopped talking about).

"Oh. My. Stars!", Cinderheart squealed and jumped to her feet. "It looks so good on you! Hold up." She whipped out her phone and snapped a picture. "Just wait until I send this to Fallen Leaves, he's going t-".

Half Moon plucked the silverette's phone from her hands, a smile on her gentle face. "Don't ruin the surprise! I can't wait to see his face when he sees Hollyleaf in that."

Cinderheart snickered, and slid her phone back into her pocket.

"Point." Hollyleaf rolled her eyes in amusement and smiled happily and twirled, letting the fabric swish up around her, much to the delight of the other girls.

The next person to step out of the bathroom was Cinderheart. Instead of a dress Cinderheart had gone with a more unusual approach, and came out wearing a pair of flare-legged dress pants paired with a silky teal top. Tasteful silver earrings dangled from her ears. A silver charm bracelet had been fastened around her wrist, and after some thought I recognized the piece of jewelry. It was the one she had worn on her first day. She posed, suede ballet flats and all, playfully smiling at us all, "don't I look fabulous?"

Half Moon giggled. "Definitely unusual, you and Icecloud are probably the only people I know who would wear pants to a dance Cinderheart. It suits you though, much better than a dress would." Cinderheart playfully raised her eyebrows and straightened out of her pose, "Don't forget Ivypool. Ivypool, Icecloud, and I can and totally will rock pants instead of a dress."

The next person to get changed was Briarlight, dressed in a burnt orange wrap style dress with dark brown ribbon trim. It was tied with a simple bow at the right side of her waist, and fell softly just past her knees. An orange flower was tucked into one of the tiny braids behind her ears.

Halfmoon's dress was a sleek wine red sheath style dress that clung flatteringly to every curve, with faint dark rose designs embroidered into the sleek fabric. Her silky blonde hair was styled into an elaborate braid, her bangs held out of her face by an artificial rose flower crown. A gold necklace rested snugly between her collarbones.

I was the last person to get changed, and I took my sweet time. At first, I had been considering the pale yellow floral print dress I had worn at the Spring Festival.

It had been a last minute decision on my part, but I had had one of my favorite dresses from home delivered on the morning shuttle instead. I grabbed my bag and took it with me to the bathroom, where away from prying eyes, I extracted my dress.

It was a rich butter yellow with a sweetheart neckline, a metal ring set in the middle of the top. A strap of fabric went around my neck to connect with the ring and help support the rest of the dress. A white belt went around my waistline. From there down, the fabric flared out into a swishy skirt. I did my hair, putting the pre-styled curls into a high ponytail and pinning my bangs out of my face.

When I stepped back out of the bathroom, I'm positive Hollyleaf actually screamed. A loud knock came from the far wall, accompanied with a concerned, "Is everything okay in there?" We all immediately succumbed to giggles.

Choking through her laughs, Half Moon shouted, "We're fine!".

The other girls looked me over, stroking their fingers along my dress and speaking admiringly. "No wonder you had it flown up from Earth", Cinderheart said in awe. "It's absolutely gorgeous. And you look good in it, Foxleap will be all over you."

I smiled shyly, and checked the clock. 6:40. The boys would be showing up any minute. Just then, I heard a rap on the door, and hurried over to open it. The heavy doors slid to the side, and Lionblaze and Foxleap practically fell in. Jayfeather, on the other hand, calmly avoided the other two and strolled into the dorm like he owned the place.

Fallen Leaves was the only one who behaved normally, and actually walked in without making a scene. Behind the three of them stood Icecloud with Toadstep, Honeyfern with Berrynose, and Bumblestripe, who was accompanied by Tigerheart. I raised my eyebrow at the Shadow's presence, I didn't see him too much.

The walk to the Grand Room was loud and energetic. Surprisingly, Foxleap didn't partake in any of the shenanigans, instead opting to walk by my side. "Damn, Hazel", he said, smiling. "You look good."

"Same goes for you." I nodded at him. He was dressed in a white button up, the collar loosened, and a pair of gray slacks. "I'm surprised you even own clothes like that." He leaned in close, then whispered in my ear, "I may have ordered them last minute." I laughed. "As to be expected."

We arrived at the Grand Room after a few minutes, and found that it was already crowded. Gone were the Halloween themed decorations from earlier that year. Instead, the room was decked out in the classic Valentine's Day decor. An ornate chandelier replaced the classic spooky iron one. White and pink drapes instead of the moth bitten curtains, elegant banquet tables instead of the medieval one, vases full of flowers instead of the leering gargoyles. The school orchestra was performing love themed music on an elevated wooden platform.

A group of Hexagon servants in their crisp white blazers were hurrying about, setting down tableware. I gasped in awe, letting my eyes travel around the room. The rose-colored light from the setting sun cast itself in through the wide windows, catching the crystals in the chandelier and making the room glow. The soft light shed through the room, and the sunset-pink stained cloud cover outside the windows made for a rather romantic atmosphere.

The room itself, aside from all the students in their fancy clothes, was full of circular banquet tables. Each table seated about ten people, and was decked out in the full Valentine's Day getup. White and rose colored tablecloth, a vase of artificial flowers in the center, the whole shebang.

We took our seats. At our table were Hollyleaf, Fallen Leaves, Lionblaze, Cinderheart, Briarlight, Half Moon, Jayfeather, Foxleap, and I. The one extra seat was utilized by the girls, who gladly took the opportunity to dump their purses on the empty space. Why we bothered with purses I have no idea, seeing as our rooms are literally a two minute walk away. Natural instinct, I suppose.

Bumblestripe, Tigerheart, Honeyfern, Berrynose, Toadstep, Icecloud, Ivypool, and several other members of the soccer team took the neighboring table. Icecloud and Honeyfern waved manaically over at us, where Ivypool managed a terse smile and nodded in acknowledgement.

Ivypool's like that, and a bit of an interesting case. I consider her part of the group, even though she doesn't say much and is rather closed off. It makes it difficult to read her emotions and tell what she's thinking, even for me. And that's saying something. I'm known for being able to understand people's emotions rather well and therefore being able to gauge what is needed to help them feel better.

Ivypool...she's an exception.

It must be force of habit. It's well known in at Hexagon that Ivypool was heavily involved with the Dark Forest. There...any sign of emotion is a weakness, no exceptions.

I cleared my head of the unpleasant thoughts and focused back on the table and at my friends with a smile. Cinderheart was gazing around the room in wonderment, her hands brushing imaginary dust off of her silky teal blouse. "Holy shit, they really went all out", she remarked, breathless. "I mean, the tableware alone probably cost a fortune."

In that moment, Briarlight glanced over at Foxleap, who was balancing a stack of silver knives on his index finger. "Is it really safe to leave him unsupervised around breakable items?", she asked mildly from where she was sitting on Jayfeather's left side.

"He's fine, can't cut himself with a butter knife," Jayfeather shrugged and I stifled laughter as the blind boy appeared more relaxed than I had ever seen him.

Lionblaze leaned back in his chair, tugging at the collar of his button

while resting his arm across the back of Cinderheart's chair. "My guess is they feel bad for sweeping the Winter Holidays under the rug", he remarked. "So they pulled out all the stops on this."

In that moment, Sandstorm, garbed in a maroon wrap around dress strode up to the dance floor, positioning herself right in front of the orchestra. The playing stopped immediately. She rubbed her hands together, the golden bracelets on her wrists jangling playfully to match her mood.

"Alrighty, what a turnout!", she called. "I'm so glad all of you came! This is our first year doing a Valentine's Day event, and Bluestar and I thought it called for something different." She looked around the room evilly, and her eyes landed on a certain ginger haired Thunder teacher in the back of the room. "Firestar!", she called cheerfully. "Come on up!"

He groaned. "This again? Surely you can find another dance partner, Sandstorm?"

"Don't give it away!", she chirped. "But I'm sure everyone heard it. This year, everyone….ballroom dancing! Firestar and I will teach you the basic steps for the waltz, and then we'll see you try. Of course, if you know any other ballroom dances, such as the foxtrot, swing, rumba, or cha cha, feel free to do those, too."

She stayed true to her word. With Firestar weakly protesting despite the smile on his face, she showed us basic steps for the waltz, then sent us off to the dance floor. Several pairs hit their stride right away,

Fallen Leaves and Hollyleaf being one of them. Hollyleaf had admitted on multiple occasions to having been educated in ballroom dancing when she was younger, and those skills payed off now.

Her two brothers showed the results of that training too. I guessed their parents had decided to put them all through dancing lessons.

It didn't even take five minutes for Foxleap to bust out his own dance moves. He did almost everything in the books, from the moonwalk to actual twerking. Another five minutes later and the ballroom dancing was completely gone in favor for a room wide conga line, lead by Foxleap, of course. The teachers didn't care, surprisingly. At one point, Squirrelflight and several of the other younger teachers even joined in on the dance.

Lionblaze and Cinderheart were standing a little ways away from Foxleap and the conga line, whispering to each other and casting amused looks over at the rest of our group.

Briarlight's POV:

I hobbled off the dance floor, nursing my blistering heels. You would have thought I'd have learned my lesson about wearing ridiculous shoes at the last dance, but no. I sat down at the table and started removing my shoes. I had opted for a strappy pair of platform wedge sandals. I liked the shoes a great deal, especially the rose gold shade and cute white soles. What I didn't like was the welts the straps tended to leave on my feet.

I finally got them off and began plastering band-aids over the welts. It was in this moment that I was immensely grateful that I had thought to bring flats.

It wasn't long before the other girls began to join me. Half Moon took her seat next to me, and kicked off her own shoes, a pair of peep toed pumps in metallic red. The other girls did the same. The only one who seemed to be fine was Cinderheart, who had had the sense to wear flats.

In the rush to get seated, I hadn't noticed the servers. They had made their way back into the room, their pristine white blazers standing out among the students. It wasn't long before one of them had made their way to our table. She was a tall, broad shouldered woman with very pale skin and waist length black hair. She leaned over and slid a tablet across the table.

"Table 34?", she inquired in a soft, melodic voice. I took one look at the marker on our table and nodded. "This can be used to view the menu for tonight. Once you have chosen, please send your order. Thank you." She bowed, black hair swishing forward slightly, and moved to inform our neighboring table.

We didn't waste any time ordering. We crowded around the tablet, commenting on the different foods available and eventually making our choices. I took it upon myself to read the menu aloud to Jayfeather.

The ice cubes clinked loudly as the dark haired server set down a jug, the chilled water sloshing gently against the marbled blue glass. She removed our plates from the serving tray, and carefully placed each plate in front of us. "Please enjoy", she uttered serenely, and made her way back to the kitchens.

I slid a forkful of the food into my mouth, and hummed thoughtfully. "Wow, they really pulled out all the stops", I remarked. Hollyleaf looked up, then gestured to the food on her own plate. "Daisy only ever uses this recipe for special occasions. I don't even remember the last time I had this." At the mention of the cheerful, matchmaking chef, I turned to look to the kitchens. Sure enough, Daisy was standing at the door, still dressed in those ridiculous cupid wings. She met my eye, and waved, smiling.

The boys plus Hazeltail, unsurprisingly, steadily ate their way through several portions of food. Foxleap had put his head together with Bumblestripe and Tigerheart at the neighboring table and was (loudly) scheming to order every dessert on the menu. Lionblaze had finished up his third helping of roast beef and was reaching for the tablet to order dessert. Cinderheart was watching him, looking envious. "How are you not fat?", she asked flatly. The strawberry blond shrugged, grinned, then placed an order for a slice of chocolate torte.

Berrynose, who was sitting at the neighboring table, seemingly heard this exchange, because he pulled up a chair to our table. "Speaking of which, Blaze", he remarked. "I challenge you to a test. A test of strength." The word 'challenge' certainly got Lionblaze's attention. He set down the tablet, and slowly turned in his chair to face his chestnut haired teammate.

There was a teasing smirk playing across his face as he drawled, "Oh? Do go on." Berrynose was grinning right back. "I have a bet going with those two", he gestured to Foxleap and Bumblestripe, who were squabbling over cheesecake at the neighboring table, "if I beat you, they both owe me fifty. If I lose, I have to wear Honeyfern's cheerleading uniform and serenade Ashfur in it."

Lionblaze was busy clearing all the porcelain plates off the table. "So the stakes are pretty high then." Berrynose nodded, grinning. "A hundred Univs is a good bit of cash. I could always use the boost."

I watched as Lionblaze and Berrynose each put their elbows down on the rose colored tablecloth, obviously preparing to arm wrestle. I had no idea who would come out on top. They were both evenly matched. Cinderheart was resting her chin on her palm, and was watching the boys' antics with mild interest on her face. Honeyfern stood next to her, and was mouthing the words 'cheerleader' and 'serenade' at Berrynose.

I rose from my chair, and stood in between them, where their hands were clasped. "I'll ref", I announced. "Ready." Determined glares. "Set." Grips tightening, as if they were trying to crush each other's hands. "Go!"

Watching two evenly matched people arm wrestle is somewhat hilarious, since they're both trying so hard but seem to be going nowhere. This was that situation. Lionblaze was tilting his wrist and was applying pressure on Berrynose's hand from above. I winced when I saw Berrynose's wrist bend backwards, it looked like it hurt.

I watched the match idly for another few minutes, occasionally making comments such as "Lionblaze, if you keep lifting your elbows you lose" and "Berrynose, kicking him under the table doesn't count". The other spectators were starting to get kinda bored, too. Then, after five minutes or so had passed, Cinderheart strolled over, and planted a solid kiss on Lionblaze's left cheek.

The strawberry blond turned bright red, lost all focus, and immediately got his hand slammed into the table by Berrynose. Gesturing at Berrynose, I declared, "Winner!"

"WHAT? No way, I demand a rematch!" But Berrynose was already calling over to Foxleap and Bumblestripe, "I beat the team captain, you both owe me fifty!"

Lionblaze cursed, stood up, and started putting the plates back on the table. To Cinderheart he said, "That was mean. You owe me dessert." I leaned into Jayfeather's shoulder, watching the shenanigans from my spot.

"Should I mention the food is free of additional charge?", I whispered to Jayfeather. "Nah", he snickered. "It's more fun this way."

Half Moon's POV:

I'm not going to lie.

Watching Jayfeather and Briarlight acting so nauseatingly couple-y hurt. I didn't know what to think. What to feel. What to do. Should I pull a Heathertail, acting like the stereotypical mean girl and doing everything in my power to ruin their relationship? No. Of course not. There was no way in hell I could do something like that to Briarlight, who I had known ever since 2nd grade. She was the one to befriend me when I had arrived at school as the weird new kid from Pruick, the neighboring country.

I was an outsider back then. That was easy to see, just from my rather different name alone.

Not only are we best friends, but I owe her so much. I don't think I could ever forgive myself if I betrayed her over something as trivial as a guy. I had still been immersed in my thoughts as Briarlight rose and excused herself for the bathroom. I gazed after her, watching her burnt orange dress disappear among crowds of people.

"I'm sorry."

Jayfeather turned, the surprise written all over his features.

"What?"

"For earlier. For running out crying and causing a scene. For being pushy, not to mention rude to both you and Briarlight. For everything."

Jayfeather's hand came up to run through his hair, threading his fingers through the dyed blue streak. "If anyone should be apologizing, it's me. I've been leading you on, and that's not fair to you or Briarlight. I'm a real piece of shit sometimes."

I almost spat out my cake.

"It feels like all I've been doing is trying to get between you and Briarlight. I might as well have gotten a boob job and changed my name to Heathertail."

He laughed. "Please don't, one Heathertail in the world is more than enough." We sat there, laughing out loud, eating cake. I let my eyes roam around the room, and they landed on Minnowtail. The short, muscular girl was standing on the other side of the room, all dolled up in a ruffled pink dress. The corners of her painted lips were pulled up in a spiteful smile, and her calculating blue eyes were fixed right on us. What the hell…?

"That was hands-down the best food I've had in awhile."

"The food? The decorations, the music, the dancing! Oh my Stars, it was soooo romantic…"

"Briarlight, if you spout any more of that romance crap, I'm going to get fluff-induced cavities."

"You're just grumpy because you lost to Berrynose."

I walked alongside my friends with my arms crossed thoughtfully in front of me, tuning out the banter, my mind elsewhere.

Minnowtail.

Dovewing.

Poppyfrost.

Heathertail?

Something wasn't adding up. There was something foul at Hexagon, something festering under the surface, eating at the school from the inside. The Dark Forest was preparing for something, that I was sure of. And if I didn't figure it out soon, I had a feeling we would all become involved in the worst way possible.

End Chapter 53

What a way to end this otherwise lovely and cheerful chapter. It wasn't on the agenda, but the last few bits kind of wrote themselves. When the muse calls, who am I to deny her?

Thank you Tigercry, for all the help she gave me with this arc (I almost don't want to admit how much I struggled on my own)

Reviews? :3