Chapter One Hundred and Twelve

...

"How are you feeling after last week's session, Fantasia?"

Fantasia shrugged. Her last session hadn't involved much talking, considering the counsellor tried to make her talk about her mother and the woman's sudden departure. She only regretted that her father was so upset by her mother leaving, wishing she could use her power to make him happy or stop crying at the very least.

"She left; I've been expecting it for a long time, I'm only surprised she didn't leave sooner. Can we move on?"

"Why were you expecting it?" the counsellor asked curiously.

Fantasia sighed. "She hasn't been happy for a long time, but she stayed around because of me."

"You believe it was your fault?"

"It was my power, of course it was my fault," she snapped.

Again, Fantasia wished she had her power back. She'd get the hell out of this stupid counselling session and go home. Hell, she'd even take Mad Science over this shit.

"Have you used your power since she left?"

"No," Fantasia said; though not for lack of trying, she added mentally. "Can we please talk about something else?"

The counsellor looked at her for a moment. "All right, Fantasia. What would you like to talk about?"

Fantasia hadn't actually expected the counsellor to agree and had no idea how to respond. "I don't know."

"Okay, why don't I ask you a few questions and you answer whatever catches your interest?" the counsellor suggested, receiving a nod from Fantasia in response. "What was the last dream you had? What are you passionate about? What do you want to do when you graduate from Sky High? Do you have trouble sleeping or eating? What sort of music do you listen to? Have you made any friends?"

"I have two friends," Fantasia said quickly. She tried not to focus on the fact that she didn't really know the answers to a lot of the other questions asked, and focused on her friends. "Cassie and Atlantis; Cassie's a Hero sophomore and Atlantis is in my class."

"Excellent, let's start there," the counsellor said, writing something in their notepad.

Fantasia wished, yet again, for her power to be returned to her.

...

"I told you that you'd fit, you old bag."

"Bertie, that's no way to talk to - "

"Oh, shut up, Ratchet; she's my best friend and allowed to call me whatever she wants. Especially when she's right."

Bertie grinned over at Winnie and gave Rachel a smug look. "I told you, too, Ratchet."

Rachel just sighed and pushed Winnie's wheelchair through the Hive.

"You really shouldn't tease her like that, dearest. She gives you your pain medication," Bobby added warily as he pushed Bertie after Winnie.

Bertie laughed. "She loves us, dearest. It's Angie you've gotta watch out for. One flew over the cuckoo's nest is Ratchet's favourite film, anyway."

"How are you finding everything?" Layla asked, smiling brightly from her seat as they approached the low counter.

"It's all within reach, so that's already ten times better than most boutique stores," Winnie said, grinning. "Do you have any more of these shoes in stock? I'm a size eight and they're a seven," she added.

"I'll have a look for you. We only have a few since the shoes are new," Layla added, taking the offered shoe to check the boxes Honey had brought with her.

"The clothes are new, too; did you see that darling jacket, Win?"

"Which one?"

"Oh, the red and black one. Get it for me, Bobby? I can't reverse in this thing."

"I'll be right back, dearest," Bobby promised.

"I'm not going anywhere," Bertie replied with a grin, Winnie cackling ahead of her.

"You need to calm down, Winnie; you'll need your oxygen mask sooner rather than later," Rachel warned her.

"Dying laughing ain't the worst way to go," Winnie countered, her chest heaving.

"I'd prefer you didn't die in the shop, if possible, but I suppose you're right about dying laughing," Layla added, grinning. "I found an eight for you."

"Lovely. Bertie, you want the seven?" Winnie asked, passing the shoes to her nurse.

"Might as well; this pair's getting old after six years."

"Six?" Layla asked in surprise. "They look brand new!"

"That's how shoes look when you can't actually walk in them, dearie. Oh, don't be embarrassed; Ratchet said the same thing when she first started," Bertie said with a smile, taking the offered shoe from the nurse.

"There were two jackets, dearest. Which one did you mean?" Bobby asked, returning with two jackets on wooden hangers.

"The left, but I like the right, too. Where did you get these, dearie? I don't know the label," Bertie said, looking at them closely.

"My friend is a designer. He's looking to expand into everyday wear; these are some of the prototypes."

"You mean we get fancy clothes no one else will have? Not even my wedding dress was exclusive," Winnie said in surprise, waving at Bobby to hand her a jacket.

"That's because Melanie was a jealous cow and copied your design," Bertie said, taking one of the jackets and letting Bobby pass the other to Winnie. "Ooh, it fits! What do you think?"

"You look lovely, dearest."

"You always say that; I was asking Winnie and Ratchet."

"He's right, you do look lovely," Rachel said, smiling warmly.

"You should never admit a man's right, Ratchet dear. He'll never let us forget it. Turn me 'round so I can see her, there's a dear."

Winnie's wheelchair was turned in the aisle and she frowned at Bertie in the red and black jacket.

"What's wrong?"

"Damn it, he's right. You look lovely."

Bertie laughed as her best friend scowled at Bobby. "Oh, don't give the man a heart attack, Win; it's hard to find ones with their original teeth at our age."

Winnie snorted, wheezing for breath a moment later and taking the oxygen mask from Rachel, breathing deeply.

"Don't worry, I'll wheel her outside if she dies," Rachel said at Layla's worried expression, setting Bertie off in a fit of giggles.

"You'll have to bury the both of them in their nice new jackets," Bobby said when Bertie gasped through her laughter, taking Winnie's offered oxygen mask.

Layla honestly had no idea how to respond to that, but could only think she wanted to be like these wonderful women when she was their age.

...

"Super fucking Jesus, it's finally done."

Terrence looked over to Adam in concern at his low pained groan. "You sure?"

"Yep. Every single document is on there and cross-referenced or translated."

"Agent G's font sizeis fixed?"

Adam groaned again. "Fuck me."

Terrence bit his tongue so he wouldn't reply.

"I was so focused on translating Agent C and H's documents that I forgot G's. Shit."

"We can zoom in on the document instead, right?" Terrence asked, hoping the alternative would be suitable.

"Agent G wrote over two hundred documents; zooming's awkward as fuck anyway. I'll fix it when I fix the search feature. It's having difficulties with the symbols from Agent H."

"Sorry, man."

"Nah, don't be. You helped," Adam said, waving off his worry and sitting up straight, cracking his neck from side to side.

Terrence felt his stupid heart ease at Adam's words and hoped he wasn't too obvious in his crush. He clenched his hands so he wouldn't touch Adam, even if it was just to relieve his pain. "Do you want a neck massage?" he offered hopefully anyway.

Adam shook his head. "I'll be right. Thanks though, dude."

Terrence nodded quickly, squashing the feeling of disappointment.

"Can you do that sorta thing over clothes?" Adam asked curiously, squinting at his computer screen and moving his head back to see the document text at a better distance.

"Uh, yeah. I can do that. I can use a towel, too, if you want."

"Cool. Maybe later, then," Adam said, already distracted with his attention caught on his computer screens.

Terrence stayed seated, barely daring to breathe in case it distracted Adam, hoping his heart wasn't beating as loudly as it felt. He'd get over this heartbreaking crush so long as it didn't kill him first.

...

Connor meditated, slowly letting his thoughts fade away. He inhaled deeply and exhaled for a fraction longer, ignoring the tension in his body and limbs. Connor felt his mind wandering and a stray thought made its way to the forefront of his mind.

If Layla could find her seeds and power, why couldn't he find his?

He reasoned that he had never tried before, had never thought to do so, and Connor let the thought drift away as he tried to relax again.

What if he could do it?
What if he couldn't?
What would it achieve if he could?
At least he'd know then and could relax.

Reasoning complete, Connor let his thoughts fade once more and this time tried to focus on his power instead. There was a flicker in his mind, and he tried to grasp it, only for it to slip away. Trying again, Connor tried not to feel frustrated at his inability to recognise his own power. He had never done this before and the kids made it sound so easy. Of course he wouldn't get it right on the first try, or the second or even tenth. He needed to be patient and try again.

The front door opened with a slam, Ryuu wincing and calling out an apology, though Connor wasn't sure if he was apologising to him or the door. Figuring he would meditate later during the yoga session, Connor slowly brought the world back into focus and stood up, leaving his room to find Ry in the kitchen, gnawing his way through a carrot.

"Hi, son. How was school?"

"Good. Mr. Medulla is letting me join the Advanced Science class," Ry said with a bright smile. "He's also started attending our extra-curricular training, which annoyed Layla so much she almost barricaded the doors with her vines."

"Why is it annoying?" Connor asked, already knowing the answer before he finished asking.

"We can't train as hard as we want to when he's there. Mr. Medulla is too smart and would notice that we're not exactly the stupid high schoolers he thinks we are. Well, I'm pretty sure he thinks Ethan and I are smart, not sure about the rest," Ry said, snickering.

"What about Nurse Spex?"

"She sleeps while we train," Ry said with a shrug.

"So what sort of training do you do, then?" Connor asked curiously.

"Yoga, tai chi, basic sorta things. Not going to unleash Krav Maga on them," he said around a mouthful of carrot. "Being underestimated isn't a bad thing, especially at a super high school."

"Do you do that thing where you find your powers?" Connor asked curiously.

Ry swallowed his mouthful and frowned. "How'd you know about that?"

"Craig mentioned it, with the seed and agents at the Hive."

"Ah, right. Yeah, I've done it. Do you want me to show you?"

Connor nodded.

"After dinner, good?"

"Yeah, good. Thanks, son."

"No problem, Papa. What're we having for dinner?"

"That depends on what you're cooking."

Ryuu groaned loudly and dramatically at Connor's response. "Fiiiine."

...

Cara drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, waiting impatiently for Greta to return. The old woman had finally run out of coffee shops to go to, and since Cara had been to all of them and could be recognised, Greta had had no choice but to get the coffee herself.

Looking at the time on the dashboard, Cara wondered if she had enough time to run to the phone store she could see down the road. They would have a charger for her phone, even though she didn't exactly have the money for it. Well, she had money, it just wasn't accessible thanks to most of the accounts being joint with Victor, and the one he didn't know about was the one Cara was most reluctant to withdraw money from. She was getting great interest and any deduction would reduce the money she earned, too.

The car door opened and Greta sat in the passenger seat, frustrated and muttering under her breath. "One bloody drink took five minutes! And that was just to order the damn thing."

"No coffee, then?" Cara asked with a sigh.

"Of course not; I'm not waiting in line for that bullshit. Head home; we'll use the coffee machine."

"You're out of coffee pods," Cara reminded her; it was the reason they'd gone to the coffee shop, after all.

"Damn it. Stop at the mall; I'll buy coffee pods there myself. Actually, you can go in and do it. I've already been outside once today, and that's more than enough," Greta muttered, taking her credit card out of her wallet as Cara pulled into the mall's parking lot.

"All right. What kind of pod does the machine take?"

Greta frowned and waved it off. "Buy a few of each; I'll throw out the ones that don't fit."

"Okay. Be back soon," Cara said, taking the offered card and getting out of the car.

Closing the door behind her, Cara gripped the card tightly and headed into the grocery store, bypassing the coffee pods and heading straight to the electrical items.

Twenty minutes later, Greta's eyes almost fell out of her head at the sight of Cara pushing a trolley's worth of coffee pods. "What the hell did you do?"

"There was a sale."

"How much did you spend on all that? Give me the receipt; I'm returning at least half of that," Greta snapped.

"It only cost thirty dollars. I didn't get a receipt," Cara said, wincing.

Greta realised they were making a scene and forced herself to breathe deeply and count to ten. "Get all of that in the car. I'll drive back, since you can't be trusted to do a simple bloody task."

Cara nodded demurely and loaded the boxes of coffee pods into the car, the phone charger already tied around her arm and hidden by her baggy sleeve.

Greta let Cara unload the groceries while she organised things for her luncheon. While the women weren't friends, they agreed with Greta on certain topics, and she heard the gossip through them, so it was close enough.

Cara was long gone by the time Greta's company arrived, the redheaded woman hiding in her room so no one would know she was there - another of Greta's paranoid delusions. It gave her time to charge her phone, so this time, Cara didn't really care that she was forced to hide in the attic.

Greta sipped her coffee as the other women talked about a recent function they had attended. She was almost ready to tell them to change the topic already because it sounded like the usual boring events, when Mrs. Quinton interjected.

"Henry was there, too. Frieda made out with her girlfriend right there in front of him and the rest of the people at the event."

Greta choked on her coffee; she didn't know if she was more shocked at Henry attending one of those boring functions that wild horses couldn't drag him to, or if she was shocked about Frieda making out with a woman.

Mrs. Quinton smiled sharply, as though enjoying the sight and sound of Greta choking on her drink. "Oh, yes. He left quick smart after that. Frieda's girlfriend is a bit odd, though. Always on her phone, from what I could see, and neither of them even tried to keep their story straight. Half the people believe they met at a wrestling match - "

"I thought she wrestled an alligator to save Frieda?"

"I heard they were on a cruise."

"There you go. Nothing straight about it. Or them, for that matter," Mrs. Quinton added with a grimace of distaste.

Greta had no idea what to say and so she said nothing, sipping at her coffee again.

...

Layla answered her work phone distractedly, her eyes scanning the document the Mayor needed to sign to approve for extra safety measures to be taken at the new freeway ramp being built. Building on the edge of a cliff was already bad enough without the added factors of erosion and drilling giant holes to put concrete pillars in the earth to hold the ramp up in the first place. It meant more money going into the project than originally budgeted for, and the Mayor had to sign off on the extra expenses.

"The Mayor's office, this is Layla. Oh, hi Dave. Is everything okay?"

"Fine. Well, sort of. That police officer is back. She wanted to talk to you again. She's already gone up in the elevator," Dave said.

Layla looked over to the elevators, seeing the panel numbers change as the elevator rose towards her level. "Thank you for letting me know, Dave. I'll be fine."

"You're sure? Press the duress button if you need; I'll be up there in a jiffy."

"How fast is a jiffy?" Layla mused, mostly to herself.

"Uh... I'll find out."

"It's all right; I was thinking out loud. She's here now. I'll see you later, Dave."

"Okay. Good luck!"

Layla put the phone on the cradle as the elevator doors opened and looked over to see Detective Mia Jordan walking her way.

"Good evening, Detective. What can I do for you?" Layla asked politely, trying to control the conversation the best she could.

Mia smiled, trying not to show her surprise at Layla's greeting. "I came to talk to you about Warren."

"Again?"

"We didn't finish our conversation last time," Mia pointed out.

"All right. What else do you want to know?"

"Is Warren Peace a super?"

Layla had had forewarning from Honey, yet she still couldn't believe that the woman would ask so bluntly, and gaped for a few seconds. "Excuse me?"

"Is Warren Peace a super? Baron Battle and Peacenik are his parents, and there's only one recorded offspring who didn't get their parents' powers. Warren Peace isn't that person," Mia added.

"Warren hasn't shown his power to me, if he does have one."

"You go to the same school, don't you? Which school?"

"Maxville High," Layla replied.

Mia nodded and wrote something down on her notebook. "And which bus do you catch to get there?"

"I get dropped off and picked up every day," Layla replied easily.

"Do you have a favourite teacher?"

"Ms. Blake, she teaches English. I thought you were going to talk to me about Warren?"

"Does Warren have a favourite teacher and subject?"

"Mr. Hardison, Chemistry. Though Mr. Hardison isn't the chemistry teacher; he teaches Physics."

"Has Warren ever hurt you?"

"What? Of course not! I wouldn't be with him if he had," Layla said firmly.

Mia smiled briefly at that; others she'd met through her line of work had probably thought the same thing when they were Layla's age. "Has he ever gotten angry or upset?"

"Of course he has; he's human, and not letting men feel and express their emotions is toxic and plain stupid," Layla said, rolling her eyes.

"What did you feel when he was angry?"

Layla frowned at the question. "I don't really remember. I think I was worried; I'd never seen him like that before."

"Worried that he'd hurt you?"

Layla shook her head adamantly. "No, I know he would never hurt me. I was worried because he was always quiet and hid his emotions. I think I was relieved, too."

"Relieved?"

"He felt comfortable enough with me to show his emotions, and I thought I could really trust him, y'know? He trusted me with his emotions and feelings."

"Hello, Layla! Oh, you have company. You keep talking, I'll clean and talk with you later," Maria said, waving her off as she pushed her cleaning cart to the other side of the office.

"Hi, Maria," Layla called, then turned her attention back to the detective, who seemed amused at their interaction.

"So, you trust him and he trusts you. Would you do anything for him?"

"Anything is a lot. I don't know that I'd agree to that without knowing specifics."

"Oh, I don't know. Download a movie?"

"I wouldn't know how," Layla said with a laugh.

"But if you did?"

Layla shrugged. "I wouldn't see why he couldn't buy it himself if he really wanted it."

"All right, what about pretending to be his mother to call in sick for him?"

"Mrs. Woo knows my voice, so there doesn't seem much point. Besides, I have to work all day, so I doubt he'd enjoy the time off alone."

"That's a little codependent, don't you think?"

"We're teenagers, Detective. Warren wouldn't take a day off and reduce his pay unless he had a damn good reason."

"You're that reason?"

Layla shrugged. "I like to think he enjoys my company more than my body, or at least in equal amounts."

Mia tried not to smile at that; they were teenagers, after all. Looking to her notebook, she wondered if she should stop questioning the redhead. She seemed to have an answer for everything, though Mia realised she wasn't exactly answering the questions themselves. One more, she decided, then she'd go home and eat dinner.

"Mei Ling said Warren would do anything for you; do you think that's true?"

Layla laughed and shook her head. "He won't share coffee or respond to questions before 9am most days. Mei Ling just sees him when he's at work so he has to be nice, even to me."

"So he's not nice to you?"

"Again, he's human. If he was nice to me 24/7, I'd be worried. He can be mean and grumpy and tired, but so can I. We're only human," Layla added with a shrug.

Mia doubted that's all either of them were, but since the element of surprise hadn't worked before, she doubted it would work now.

"Do you have any other questions? I actually have work to finish tonight," Layla said, smiling briefly.

Mia wanted to sigh and groan in utter frustration. She knew the girl was lying, but she couldn't think of anything to ask that might trip her up. "Where were you on the night of the murder?"

"Which night and which murder? You were asking about two separate ones last time, weren't you?" Layla asked.

"Mr. Hamm. Friday, June 2nd, 6pm."

"I'll check my calendar," Layla said, unlocking her computer to access her work calendar. "I was working that night. I actually had a meeting with the Mayor at that time, if you want to confirm with him?" she offered, knowing that despite the Mayor kicking her out of the meeting due to his phone call from his mistress, he wouldn't reveal that to the police. Besides, she hadn't done anything to Mr. Hamm, so she was completely innocent.

"How do I contact him?" Mia asked, even though she knew she wouldn't bother with the man. He had nothing to do with the investigation on Warren; she doubted he'd even met Warren.

"I can organise an appointment for you now, otherwise you can email or phone the Council building and ask for him directly."

"I'll do that, then. Thank you for your time. Have a nice evening, Miss Bettendorf," Mia said, leaving before she tried to shake the truth out of the girl.

"Police are talking to you a lot, aren't they?" Maria asked as she came over, glancing to the elevators as the doors shut on the annoyed Detective.

Layla smiled and nodded. "It's nothing to worry about, I think they'll stop soon."

"Pah, they don't know what they doing. They talk to my son, make him think he can do things he can't do. He is too lazy, pah."

"What do they think he can do?" Layla asked curiously.

Maria sighed and emptied another bin into her cart. "They think he's a super, pah. He just brags to get girls, but it gets him nothing but trouble. The smart girls see right through him, pah! They all too smart for him, lazy boy," she muttered. "He needs smart girl, get him on a straight line. He doesn't listen to his mother, pah."

"He should listen to you, Maria."

"Tell him that, pah. He thinks I'm stupid old woman who can only clean after him, and others," Maria added, spraying a cloth and wiping down the phones in quick succession.

"You're certainly more than that. I haven't seen anyone who knits as fast as you. Frieda's jealous. Those socks took her two weeks, you did them in a day."

"I can cook, clean, sew, and knit. I can raise a lazy, ungrateful son. I can pay his college and food and he can't say thank you. Pah," Maria muttered with a heavy sigh, wiping her eyes discreetly.

Layla stood and offered her a tissue. "I'm sorry, Maria. Can I do anything to help?"

Maria took the tissue and shook her head as she cleaned herself up properly. Mortified at herself, Maria smiled bright and broad and brittle. "I have two more floors and then I go home. It's a long day, I need sleep."

"You're sure?"

"Good night, Layla. Be good," Maria called over her shoulder, pushing her cleaning cart back to the elevators.

Returning to her work, Layla wondered if Donny could do his thing on Maria's son; the poor woman deserved better.

...

"What are we gonna do about Mr. Medulla?" Craig asked Layla, draping himself over her shoulders.

"I haven't decided yet. He hasn't actually said anything about our training, even when Warren started that fire across the gym," Layla replied, absentmindedly carding a hand through his curls.

Craig made a happy sound at the touch and sighed. "Donny can't wipe him every time; something's gonna break and it'll probably be Mr. M's mind. Your vine's in him, yeah?"

"Of course. What did you have in mind?"

"Making him turn to our side."

Layla considered it for a moment, her hand stilling against Craig's scalp.

"Hey, don't stop the hair scratching thing. I like that."

"Oh, okay," Layla said, scratching gently and thinking again. "It could be beneficial to have him permanent. He's super smart, and one of his girlfriends is evil, isn't she? That means he doesn't have a moral objection to our plans."

"What do you mean by permanent?" Craig asked curiously.

"Hmm? Oh, it's how I refer to us. It was initially a guise about buying permanent markers to deface property so Warren and I could discuss it without others realising."

"Super fucking Jesus, you're lucky I'm already on board, or I'd definitely be leaving with that crap," Adam said, rolling his eyes. "And can you two actually start training? Nurse Spex's alarm is about to go off and you've done shit all this afternoon."

Craig snorted, Layla wincing at the noise so close to her ear. "You ain't been paying attention, dude. Lay's been changing the floorboards."

Adam frowned and looked down from his perch on the monster truck. Not seeing anything different, he touched his hand to his branded shoulder and looked again. "Shit. My bad, Lay. Still stands for you, Cee."

"I've been trying inanimate objects," Craig said, nodding across the gym to where the others were fighting dummies. As he concentrated, the dummies moved, scaring the shit out of Wendy and Zach.

"What the fuck?!" Warren called out, eyes wide at the moving dummy he'd just set on fire.

Craig grinned. "You didn't think it was weird that I offered to get the dummies out of storage?"

"The whole thing's weird, dude. But I could've been fighting a moving target this whole time; you could've told me sooner," Ry muttered as the dummy blocked his incoming attack.

Craig shrugged. "Element of surprise works better when you're actually surprised."

"It's a sound logic, but it also puts us at a disadvantage as your allies," Ethan replied, reforming from his melted puddle.

"All right, I'll warn you next time. I'll add a couple of dummies to the training arena, yeah?" Craig offered. "Don't tell Grant and Jewel, okay? I wanna surprise them."

"If you mean scare the shit out of them, then sure thing," Terrence said, snickering.

"Can you change the dummies so it shows internal impact?" Robin asked curiously.

"Okay, I gotta ask: why and what the fuck?"

"I can affect minerals in people's bodies so I want to see what happens when I do that. I don't want to kill someone if I'm just trying to incapacitate them," Robin replied.

"Uh, yeah, okay. I guess I can do that. I've gotta see what they look like first. I've only seen these dummies and the medical ones Ida uses; I don't think I've seen mineral ones before."

"They might not exist," Robin said sheepishly.

"Why not make one out of earth?" Ethan suggested.

Robin frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. But wouldn't it already show my manipulation since I made it?"

"I'll make it for you," Craig said, shifting to Robin's form and grinning. "Shit, too many," he groaned, the dummies collapsing around them.

"You're at full power, you shouldn't be affected like that. Right, Eth?" Zach asked.

"We've never had the power before so it's probably our own mental limitations. That being said, just because we are at full power, it doesn't mean we can control our powers properly yet. We need somewhere to let loose without potentially destroying things around us. Or ourselves," Ethan added, almost as an afterthought.

"You guys are at full power?" Terrence asked in surprise.

Craig shifted back to his own form and nodded. "Yeah. It was before you and Robin joined. Or was it after? Ah, shit, I don't remember."

Before anyone could respond, Nurse Spex's alarm blared loudly. She jolted awake and looked over to them. Determining that they were unharmed, she yawned widely and stood up, gathering her things. She waited patiently as they changed from their gym clothes into their regular outfits, then ushered them out of the school and to the last bus.

"Thank you for monitoring us again this year, Nurse Spex. Have a good night," Layla said with a bright smile.

Nurse Spex nodded, blinking owlishly behind her thick glasses. "Thank you, dearie. Mr. Medulla will probably be more interested in your idea if you get Ryuu to ask. He respects the boy, which is rare for Maxwell."

Layla gaped at her words. "You were asleep."

"That doesn't mean I didn't hear you. Now, I won't go telling anyone, but I won't be involved, understood? I firmly believe that children need to learn from their own mistakes. Have a good night, dearie," Nurse Spex said, smiling and heading over to the staff parking lot.

Layla had no idea how to respond or what to think and simply boarded the bus quietly. Donny was surprised by the conversation replaying in her mind and wondered if Nurse Spex truly would be neutral if she had told them how to gain Mr. Medulla's loyalty.

...

End of the hundred and twelfth chapter.

Thanks for reading; I hope you liked it!

P.S. Thank you to everyone for your reviews and likes; I appreciate every single one!