Fictober Prompt 25: "Do you know what time it is?"
The Blame Game
The door slammed open, and the lights flew on in the dorm living room. Raz jumped in his spot on the couch, his bowl of popcorn bouncing with him. The caramel treats fell onto the cushions, which Sam snatched for herself. He slowly looked over his shoulder, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the sudden influx of light and winced when he realized who had barged into their party.
Hollis scowled at the Junior Psychonauts. She leveled a look at Adam, and he quickly paused the movie. The image of a golden retriever froze on the screen. He tossed the remote on the coffee table, folding his hands by his stomach. The other Junior Psychonauts, sprawled out in various chairs and places on the couch, stared back at her with equal parts annoyance and bewilderment.
"What's the deal, Agent Forsythe? It's movie night," Morris piped up, and he took a long sip of his cola.
"Movie night," she deadpanned, marching into the room. She examined each of them with a critical eye, none of them appearing nervous. Only Raz squirmed when she glanced at him. "If that's the case, then don't you know you're supposed to be quiet when you watch a movie?"
Slouched in an armchair, Lizzie picked at the feathers on her vest. "I mean, compared to our last one, I thought we were quieter than usual," she said, straightening when Hollis glared at her.
Hollis folded her arms behind her back as she rounded behind the chairs. Norma fidgeted with the ends of her curly hair when Hollis stood behind her rocking chair and gripped the armrest. Raz noticed her knuckles burning white. "Well, how about this question? Do you know what time it is?" she asked, leering down at Norma.
Raz watched Norma swallow the lump in her throat. It would have made him laugh under any other circumstance. "I'm…afraid I don't know, Agent Forsythe, and there's no clock presently around me," she said, a nervous titter escaping her.
"It's past midnight," Gisu interjected, looking at her wristwatch. She ignored the irritated glances sent her way.
"Midnight," Hollis stated, and she stomped in front of the television. Levitating the remote into her hand, she turned off the movie, earning an outpouring of disappointed cries and booing from her students.
"Aw, man! Just when the dog was gonna make the shot, too," Sam huffed, crossing her arms.
"C'mon, teach, we had this movie night planned for a few days now," Morris said, resting his hand on his cheek. "Me and Adam put up that poster for this little shindig on the bulletin board in the main lobby. You know that."
"I do know that, Morris," Hollis remarked, glowering with enough intensity that Morris tugged at his collar, "but what I didn't approve of was your verbosity. I'm getting complaints from the late night staff that a certain group of Junior Psychonauts is making enough noise that it's interfering with the hard work of our senior agents a few offices down the hall."
Raz sucked in a breath. She had made a solid point. He supposed they had been rowdy, such as when Sam went on a tangent about how she sensed the acting dog's distress during a particular scene. Lizzie and Gisu had relentlessly mocked the cheap effects, Adam laughing the loudest at their jokes. And Norma and Morris bickered over snacks, the former accusing the latter of stealing half of her white chocolate pretzels when she left to use the restroom. While Raz had enjoyed the movie, he had been much more invested in encouraging the antics of the others.
"Sorry, Agent Forsythe," Raz said, rubbing the back of his neck. "We'll keep it down. We promise."
She clicked her tongue. "No. You won't."
"What do you mean?" He spat out the question in a rush of shock at her immediate dismissal.
Hollis chuckled as if amused by his surprise. "Well, kid, you've only been at the Motherlobe for a month. You wouldn't get that this isn't the first time I've had to shut down one of their movie nights. Knowing these teens, they'll be hooting and hollering in the next five minutes after I leave," she explained, casting a tired glance at the interns, all of whom smiled back at her. She pointed a manicured finger at Lizzie, a pleasant reminder from her vacation. "Why don't you tell him about that Halloween incident from last year? You know what I'm talking about, Miss Green Needle Witch."
"Oh, the one that almost got her expelled from the Psychonauts?" Norma piped up, sneering at Lizzie. "I told her not to do it-"
"And that's another fact that I'm well aware of. Thank you, Norma," Hollis interjected, raising her hand.
Lizzie chuckled and rubbed her nose. She cleared her throat as if she was about to present something important. "Well, y'see, Raz, it's just as Hollis insinuated. Me and Adam-"
"Adam? I didn't know Adam was involved. You never mentioned him when I was grilling you on what happened to those poor tourists," Hollis interjected, her eyebrows raising.
The boy in question immediately gasped. He clutched the brim of his hat, shouting her name. Lizzie clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes apologetically wide. Raz glanced between the two, understanding that some information had not been divulged to Hollis.
"You told me you were responsible for that incident and didn't have any assistance," Hollis snapped, folding her arms over her chest as Lizzie sucked in air through her teeth. She pivoted around to face Adam, who pursed his lips tightly. "Wanna fill me in, Adam, or am I going to have a reason to distrust you?"
Adam stuffed his hand in his pocket and retrieved his yo-yo. He started fiddling with it, purple PSI energy coating the string. To Raz, it was more a nervous fidget as he controlled it. "Um, well, after that monster movie, Lizzie was the only one to dress up as the witch," he began, not meeting Hollis' eyes.
"Which is true," she hastily added.
"And I, well, I kind of just followed her around while she scared people. You know, I'm good at filmography, and Morris-"
"Morris," Hollis spat, and the boy in question threw his arms out at Adam, who covered his face with one hand, realizing what he had said.
"Dude! Don't incriminate me like I actually did something bad!" Morris exclaimed, threading his fingers through his pompadour. "Hell, all me and Gisu did was set up the microphones in the campsite! We just wanted to pick up the screams of those tourists better while Lizzie terrorized people for our video! That's not bad at all!"
Gisu didn't bother looking shocked when he implicated her. Hollis stared at her, arching an eyebrow, and she shrugged. "Yep," was all she said.
Raz couldn't help but chuckle. He pointed at each troubled teenager, Norma and Sam giggling as well. The temptation to tease them rose, but he decided to let it all play out.
Hollis puffed out a laugh, and she quickly stopped when the accused teenagers tried snickering as well. "Norma, Sam, do you two want to tell me anything?" she asked as if they'd reveal something new.
Norma shook her head. "Nope. Nothing at all. As you know, and as the security camera footage shows, I went directly to bed that night."
"Because we didn't invite you. We knew you'd just rat us out to Hollis, narc," Morris said, and Norma scoffed at him. Raz made a note of how her cheeks reddened with an emotion he couldn't place.
Sam bobbed her head in agreement with herself. "Well, I have an alibi. I was back home trick-or-treating with my brother." She leaned over to Raz. "I was a cat, and Dogen was a mouse."
"Neat," Raz said with a tiny smile.
Hollis hummed. She gave a long slow of her nod, then smirked. She let her gaze settle on the accused Junior Psychonauts until Raz felt their uneasiness. Lizzie nibbled on her lip. Adam tossed his yo-yo between his hands. Morris bounced in place, his levitation ball flimsier than usual. Gisu tugged her hood over her hair as if that would hide her from Hollis.
"Well, with this new information, I have to update that incident report, which means you gotta come with me for questioning," Hollis explained, earning groans from teens. "Oh, hush. You brought this on yourselves for not being honest with me from the start."
"Way to snitch, Lizzie," Gisu grumbled, pushing off her chair.
"Dude, I didn't snitch! I just blurted it out by mistake," she snapped. She shot to her feet, glaring at her smiling sister before trudging after Hollis. "Come on, Agent Forsythe, I'm the main culprit. I already told you last year."
"Nope. New information has come to light, and it must be added to settle the investigation," Hollis replied, and she held open the door for the teens.
"You know, Lizzie, Snitching is snitching even when it's not," Morris mumbled, rolling his eyes when Lizzie glared at him.
"Alright, let's just get this over with," Adam amended, shaking his head and pocketing his yo-yo.
As the other teens stumbled out, Hollis turned to the remaining Junior Agents. Raz flashed her a pearly white grin. With a sigh, she said, "You three can finish your movie, but don't make a peep. I don't wanna deal with the other agents whining at me for a second time. Got it?"
They chirped in agreement. Hollis shut the door, leaving them to their film. Snatching the remote, Raz turned the movie back on. Norma swiped her bowl of white chocolate pretzels away from where Morris had sat. Sam sprawled out on Adam's spot, resting her legs on the armrest and picked up his leftover bag of sea salt chips.
"Well, that was interesting," Norma remarked, biting down on a pretzel.
"Yeah. I knew Lizzie would blab eventually. She really likes her gossip, so…" Sam made a dismissive noise and shrugged.
Raz snickered. "So, Lizzie dressed as the Green Needle Witch and tormented people?"
"And Gisu and Morris set up microphones to catch the screams of tourists in their cabins while Adam filmed it, yes. They had planned it for a while," Norma replied, sighing. "Completely juvenile. I'm surprised Adam went along with it."
"Well, he did haze Raz with us," Sam said.
Norma raised her head. "Oh, you're right. Good point."
Before Raz could comment on that, Sam gasped. "Hey, wait, we missed the dog's shot! It's the best part of the movie! Raz, go back!"
Raz chuckled and snatched a fistful of popcorn. Shoving it all in his mouth, he rewound the tape and pressed play. Sinking into his seat, he enjoyed the rest of the movie and the idle chatter from Sam and Norma before dozing off on the couch. (Unfortunately, when he woke up, it seemed the girls had enjoyed using his face as a drawing board.)
