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Chapter 8:

Shira saunters out of the lunch line, her tray clutched protectively in her hands, and smirks as she notices some people gawking at her. Those who were caught staring immediately turn away, faces bright red as whispers start anew at their respective tables. It's taking all of her willpower not to laugh at them, and she wonders how Diego can keep such a straight face while talking with his team. He rolls his eyes despite their jeers and taunts, easily dodging any physical nudging on their part.

He doesn't even look up at her, but she knows that he can tell her eyes are on him.

Glancing back at the canteen, then mournfully at the rainy weather outside, Shira lets out a huff. Sitting with Gutt and the crew is obviously out of the question - Squint had taken over her usual seat anyways. And even with teachers watching over them, Shira wasn't about to risk incurring Gutt's wrath at this point in time.

Instead, she manoeveurs out of the way of several students, twisting around with graceless abandon as she heads towards an empty table at the side of the hall. No one is sitting there, and she lets out a small sigh of relief as she gets there unscathed. Upon her sitting down, the stares cease and everyone else turn to pay attention to either the newer people coming in, or to start new conversations in their friend groups.

Finally, some peace and quiet.

Shira picks up the apple she picked - she makes eye contact with Diego, who smirks then turns his attention back to his table - and bites into it thoughtfully.

She hadn't had a lot of time to process…whatever it was that was going on between her and Diego. Rumours had been continuing to spread, gaining more traction, and Shira had abruptly found herself being talked to by a very concerned English teacher.

After reassuring her that yes, she was fine, no she was not being forced into anything, and no, she couldn't care less what the idiots - ahem, students - of this school thought about her, she had finally made a thankful escape to lunch.

Even so, her mind swirls at the possibility. She and Diego don't mind each other. They're sort of friends but not really, sort of more than friends but not really.

As she finishes the apple, she feels a presence behind her and turns reluctantly.

"Ellie." She isn't that surprised, to be honest - Ellie had always been one of the friendlier students, and she had seemed surprisingly close to Diego.

"Do you want to join us?" Ellie offers brightly.

Shira blinks, and stares down at her lunch and her blessedly quiet table. She is tempted to say no just to see what would happen, but she catches sight of the glares from Ellie's table and beams instead.

Manny looks far too annoyed to not mess around with.

So she smiles gracefully and stands up, then picks up her tray and heads to Ellie's table with a sickly sweet smile on her face.

She glances over at Diego's table to see him smirking as well. When he catches her eye, he flicks her a wink and then goes back to his conversation.

Ellie chatters mindlessly beside her, talking about something or the other about some sale happening at the mall. To be honest, Shira muses as she sits down, there is a glaring lack of female presence in this group. It could explain why Ellie seemed so keen on getting her over.

Well. She could do this one thing.

So she tunes back into the conversation, smiles innocently, and asks Ellie to repeat the last line again.


If Diego is being completely honest, there is something about Shira that he doesn't trust completely. Yes, they're sort of more than friends, but not in the traditional sense. There is something between them, but neither of them seem in a hurry to put a label on it, and it has been endlessly entertaining to see everyone scratch their heads and wonder just what was going on between them.

After they had finished the Spanish project, neither had made much attempts at interactions with one another in public, and it was clearly driving the gossipers mad.

So. Back to the topic at hand.

Yes, Diego trusts Shira. However, herein lies the problem. He trusts her in the school context, but he is afraid, no, concerned about how much he trusts her outside of school. It's part of why he's so hesitant to label their relationship, if it can even be called one.

Relationships are two-way things that take place outside the safety and security of school hierarchies, and it is something completely unexplored that Diego has never had the chance to discover.

Sighing to himself, he leans back a little, tuning out of the conversation. Soto spins it to himself, effortlessly doing so with only a quick glance at his second.

He couldn't make the same mistake that his family did. Diana separated herself from the family and all the friends she had, spending hour after hour slaving away in an office. Benito…well. Benito clearly learnt his lesson after trusting someone far too quickly.

Despite most of his family resenting him, there was some sort of expectation towards him. His grandmother had stroked his hair when he was younger, crooning old lullabies to him as she points out the flaws in his family and tells him to be better.

Tells him to watch his back but make acquaintances. Don't isolate yourself or fit in too much with the crowd, or you will be inevitably found out.

You will be found out. Found out like Benito was.

Like he was when-

Not here, not here, not here. Diego closes his eyes and tries to balance out his breathing. He couldn't have a breakdown here, not when he's in such a public space with hundreds of eyes watching his every move.

Not here, not here. Not here.

There are voices talking around him, but they are distorted and glide over him. Some key words stick with him, but they vanish quickly, easily forgotten without the proper context to guide him. He clutches his utensils tightly with his hands, feeling the sharp blade of his knife dig into his palm.

It calms him.

Not completely though.

Someone is shouting something from across the room, and there is a burst of laughter from another section of the room.

Are they laughing at him? Can they see him? Can they see how close he is from breaking?

Do they know?

Not here. Not here. Not HERE.

The mantra is punctuated with a sharp burst of memory.

"Di, come on! It'll be fun!"

"No, it won't!"

Not here. Not here. Not here.

"I don't trust him."

"It's just your imagination." A quick laugh, open and trusting, comforting him since he was a child and didn't understand why his parents were never there for him.

Not here, not here, not here. It's nearly a plea now as the memory reaches its crescendo, and Diego gasps for air.

"Benito, please don't go!"

"Di, it's just a trip down. Like always."

Not here not here not here!

"BENITO!" Fire and explosion and the sickening smell of burning flesh reaches his nose and he gags, recoiling from the stench as he shoves away his tray, his food as repulsive to him as the charred flesh that awaited him as he darted to the car, pulled back by someone as they tried to stop him.

Not here not here not HERE!

A scream sounds in the air, high-pitched and scared and terrified and it holds for a long second as Diego claws desperately at nothing, claws at his hair as his eyes see something beyond what everyone else can, and Diego feels numb as he stumbles up and over.

Not here NOT HERE NOT HERE!

"Diego? Diego!"

Hands are on his, tugging at where he's pulling at his hair. He shoves the other person away - the sharp pain is the only thing left grounding him to where he is now, and the hands have moved from his hair to his shoulders, as if trying to hold him back.

NOT HERE NOT HERE NOT HERE!


Shira has learnt how to trust the nagging feeling in her gut, the quiet voice at the back of her head that notices everything that most people miss. She looks around inconspicuously, attempting to make the transition subtle. She doesn't know how successful she is, considering Ellie stops and frowns as well.

Her eyes land on Diego, and they widen.

His food was scattered across the table, his palm bleeding sluggish drops of red onto his clothes as he tugs his hair, legs curling up beneath him. His eyes are wide open, glassy and unseeing as his uneven breathing becomes even more shallow.

Soto clearly notices something is wrong as well, and is urgently trying to get Diego's attention in a low voice.

There isn't a lot of attention on Diego right now, but it is clearly growing as more and more people at their table notice something is wrong. Oscar looks confused but far too smug, leaning back in his seat as he carefully flicks a fallen lettuce leaf off his plate.

Soto shoves his tray in front of him and walks around to Diego, kneeling before him as he mutters something even more urgently. Diego doesn't respond, only shoves his hand away as he flinches, back hitting the table.

Oscar snorts, drawing even more attention towards them.

Shira doesn't know what is happening, only that it is happening and Oscar is not helping things. She stands and makes her way towards the table, focused only on Diego. She can feel Ellie follow her, pace hurried.

"What's wrong with him?" Shira snaps at Soto.

The captain glares at her from where he's trying to hold Diego down. "How should I know?"

Ellie kneels next to Diego, trying to get his attention as she snaps her fingers in front of his face. "He's not responding," she notes far too calmly, then picks up Diego's wrist, measuring his heart rate. "Has this happened before?"

"Of course not," Soto snaps back at her.

"Get him to the nurse," Ellie says, steel in her tone. "His heart rate is too elevated. Whatever this is, we need to stop it now."

Soto glares at her but nods, meeting Lenny's eye and giving him a curt nod. Lenny carefully bumbles over and slides his arm underneath Diego, who stands with shaky legs despite his head flicking to the side every few seconds. Soto helps Diego out on his other side, and between the two of them they make it to the door.

When Ellie glances over at Shira, it's to see the young woman's face in shock, her eyes focused on something that's almost right above her. Her mouth remains open as Ellie taps her on the shoulder. It takes a firm shake before Shira snaps out of it, staring back at Ellie.

The coach turns up as the trio are leaving the cafeteria. A short conversation later, he gives a curt nod and watches them make their way to the nurse's office.

"What are you lot looking at?" The coach barks out at them, and everyone turns back to their food.

Ellie wraps an arm around Shira and quickly guides her back to their seat, feeling the girl shivering as she sends repeated glances back at the area Diego had collapsed in. As Ellie herself sits in her seat though, she is horrified to see, in the brief moment before Diego vanishes, glee in Manny's eyes.


Shira paces nervously outside of the nurse's office. It had been two hours since Diego had gone in, and he hadn't come out yet. Ellie's biology group had been missing three members; the teacher had hummed, checked her email, then went on with the class.

That hadn't sat well with Shira, but knowing how notoriously proud and private Diego was, this was what he would want.

Still, it irked her to no end, and the second the bell rang, she was up and out of the classroom, dodging the mass of students beginning to emerge from their classroom. Quick and sure on her feet, she had made it to the nurse's office with little problem; Ellie's group had been trailing after her.

Manny looked especially disgruntled to be waiting on the plastic chairs, but he and Ellie seemed to have had some sort of conversation because he waits patiently, scrolling through his phone.

Likewise, Oscar was scowling and muttering angrily to himself while Zeke bounces next to him. Soto and Lenny, already present since lunch, checks their phone sporadically as well. Soto glances at his three team members and curtly informs them practice has been cancelled today, then remains silent.

As the clock hands ticked to 3:45pm, the door finally opens. The nurse comes out, stopping short when she notices the group of students waiting impatiently for her. Shira whirls on her, instantly bombarding her with questions.

The nurse holds up a hand and Shira stops.

"What's wrong with him?" Shira demands.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you anything until his parents or a guardian arrives."

"What?" Soto demands. "His parents are away - no one knows where they are right now."

"Really?" Sid asks, interested despite himself.

Soto glares and the kid falls silent. The nurse clears her throat. "Actually, his guardian is coming over."

"His guardian?" Soto frowns.

"His older sister." The nurse clarifies. "She's on her way here, as a matter of fact. We called her when Diego first arrived here."

"His sister." Shira repeats flatly. She had no idea that Diego had any siblings - he didn't seem like that sort of person.

"Yes." The nurse nods.

Soto appears equally baffled. "What's her name?"

A cold voice speaks from behind them. "My name is Diana Bennett. And I would like to see my brother now."