Everyone in the friend group was working on their class work and working on their powers. Mephisto walked into the room.
"Um...Jackie? Can you come to my office real quick?" He asked her as casually as he could.
Jackie turned to her friends and raised an eyebrow at his behavior bit put on a poker face when she turned towards him.
"Ok." She got up and was walking towards him but Rex held her hand. He looked at her with a worried expression.
"I'll be fine." She whispered.
Rex smiled. He knew if Mephisto tried anything she could just use her powers on him.
Jackie followed Mephisto up the stairs, down several corridors and to his office.
She sat in the chair opposite his.
"Why did you call me in here?" She got right to the point. She pushed up her black framed glasses and tried to keep calm. (I keep forgetting to write character descriptions like this and it always come back to haunt me.)
"I.." Mephisto blushed because this was the first time he was doing this sort of thing. Being a royal didn't exactly let you meet a lot of people. He supposed he could have just been married by now but no one really caught his eye.
"I wanted to...to..." He blanked out for a moment before clearing his throat to regain his composure.
"To...what?" She asked him in a slight playful manner. She knew he was up to something.
"To thank you for being friends with my sister." He finished. He was going to ask her out and or give her flowers but he knew she wasn't stupid and would just tell her boyfriend.
"Um...you're welcome?" She told him in confusion. She wanted to ask why he would tell her this and not Violet who had been friends with Becky longer but chose to let it slide. She didn't want to come off as suspicious of him just yet.
She then thought of something from Chapter 14 that could come in handy.
"Hey, why don't we talk to T.J.? I know this is going out on a tangent but maybe he could tell you what Becky was like growing up with. It make you feel closer to her. Or you could spend time with her? Play 20 questions or something and try to get to know each other."
"I guess I could spend time with Becky and T.J. at the same time." Mephisto thought it over and decided that perhaps he would get to know both of them more over ice cream.
Not long after, Mephisto took the group of friends to the royal gardens surrounding the palace. He decided to use this time to speak only to Becky and T.J. while letting everyone else explore the gardens. They would be having ice cream when they got back inside so as not to attract any Lexiconian bees.
The garden was in full bloom this time of year. Most flowers did look like Earth flowers but they had very different names and were far more fragrant. Becky was surprised that for a planet so interested in learning things that they could make such lovely flowers. Violet was allowed to roam the gardens and sniff the flowers as long as everyone else in the group went with her. Mephisto mostly wanted to keep her from wandering off into the dangerous wooded area. The woods weren't exactly forbidden but they did have bears.
Violet was able to talk to some of the local animals and smell the lovely flowers. Tobey didn't really enjoy the garden as much because the flowers triggered his allergies. But he was glad that his friends were happy. He was happy to be holding hands with Becky in public. The gardeners waved to the group as they walked on by and went back to doing their jobs.
"How many gardeners does it take to keep these gardens looking so lovely?" Asked Violet as she walked a bit closer to Mephisto. She was holding hands with Scoops. Jackie was holding hands with Rex. Mephisto couldn't help but envy their relationships. He and T.J. were the only ones not in a relationship.
"It takes more than 1 that's for sure." Mephisto answered her in a way that did not give off any real answers.
"Since they are this lovely, I was wondering if it would be possible for us to have class outside at some point in time?" Asked Becky with a smile on her face. She was a bit sad that being outdoors like this was bad for Tobey. She wondered if he could get sunburned easily as well.
"Hmmm...I would have to ask your instructor if it would be alright. As long as you aren't distracted from learning." Said Mephisto. "Hey, Becky. Would you like to play a game of 20 questions? To get to know each other better? I don't know that much about your general likes and dislikes. The same goes for everyone else in the group. I will also ask them the same questions."
"20 questions as a group?" Becky thought this over. "Sounds like it could be fun. Let's play. Anyone else want to join?"
"I'll play. It might be nice to know a bit more about each other. After all, we are both brothers to Becky." Said T.J.
Mephisto had almost forgotten about Becky's adoptive brother. Now that he looked closer he supposed T.J. could be their brother. Aside from his freckles T.J. did look a lot like them. Mephisto wondered if they shared a distant ancestor or something.
"I'm down." Said Rex.
"Me too." Said Jackie.
"Me three." Said Violet. "I wonder why we didn't do an ice breaker like this sooner."
To be continued...
Huge thanks to SarahDaniela2004 and Universebumps 24 . Guys...I didn't have writer's block this time. I am addicted to playing Friday the 13th the game on Nintendo Switch. Yeah. I need to stop playing and write more often. I should be glad this gets readd at all.