CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

Finn awoke that morning and clambered onto the bus, his stomach growling even though he had had breakfast, and all he wanted to do was curl up and sleep again. But his exhaustion disappeared the moment he realised that three people were missing; Blossom, Ben and Ivy. His first thought was that they had abandoned him and decided to do something but it was obvious that it wasn't that simple.
"Where is my sister?" Dana demanded the second that Finn took his seat.

"I don't know!" Finn shrugged. "Last time I saw her, she just dropped me off outside my house. Didn't she get back home?"
"She got home," Dana explained. "But she disappeared after we had an argument. And she didn't come home this morning."
Oh no. Finn mused. There's a loose Ivy in the world! We should get a bunker and stock up on supplies-
Dana was glowering at him. "If you're holding my sister hostage-"
"Why would I do that?" Finn blinked.
The blonde-haired girl narrowed her eyes. "Exactly."

Finn got off the bus and walked beside Hazel, wondering where in the world Ivy had gotten to.
"So, Ivy's missing?" Finn attempted a conversation with Hazel, briefly aware that she hated him. "Any ideas?"
Hazel looked him up and down, pressing her lips together. "Well, I don't blame her from running away and not going to you for help."
"Hey!" Finn ran a hand through his red hair. "Why are you so upset with me?"
"The fact that you took this long to ask just about says it all." Hazel snapped and hurried away.

That's great. Finn rolled his eyes. Maybe I should ask Tyler for advice- wait, no. Ben would disown me.
Cinder appeared at his side and poked his shoulder. "I heard that Ivy is A.W.O.L. Ben and Blossom are as well. They'll turn up eventually."
"Yeah, I hope so." Finn flashed a grin. "It'd be a catastrophe if they're left alone for too long."
"Aren't you supposed to have Geography with them?" Cinder asked.
Finn's face fell. "Oh, yeah. They've gone and abandoned me! The traitors."

Cinder laughed and patted him on the back. "Well, good luck and let me know if they arrive."
"Will do." Finn waved a goodbye and proceeded to head to Geography.

Geography was typically boring and today further proved that. Finn was seconds away from falling asleep and without his friends, he would have no one to wake him up before the teacher caught him sleeping. He grumbled to himself throughout the beginning of the lesson and resorted to drawing all over his hands and arms, to keep himself busy so that he didn't end up sleeping.
This would be ten times better if Ben, Blossom and Ivy were here. He reflected.

A few minutes later and the door flew open. The familiar faces of his friends hovered in the doorway as Ben hurriedly explained why they were late.
Ivy scrambled for the seat next to Finn and threw herself down. She certainly looked washed-up.
Finn inspected his friend critically. She had eye-bags which showed a lack of sleep, hair that was brushed once and perhaps not even that, and she still wore last night's clothes. So, Ivy definitely did sleep elsewhere last night. With the Stellars, most likely.

"Where were you?" Finn hissed.
"With Ben and Blossom." Ivy explained. "I'm fine. Just tired... you don't look much better."
Finn shrugged. "Eventful night with the family and it's school. I think everyone is close to collapsing because of exhaustion."

Ivy laughed and glanced at the teacher, before looking back to Finn. "Did anyone notice we were missing?"
"Everyone," Finn told her. "Including your sister."
"Dana?" Ivy blinked. "Are you sure it was her?"
Finn nodded. "Uh, yeah, positive."

Aunt Leah had made an obvious effort to try and get Jace to 'bond' with Briar. She had ran away multiple times and left them to their own devices. The conversations usually ended up on the topic of the students being idiots and or their own family problems.
"My dad is always working," Jace fiddled with the bandages that he was meant to be wrapping and handing to Briar to store away.
Briar hummed. "Mine too. My Mom is too protective. I'm sure you've heard all about her."

"A bit." Jace shrugged. "Not much. I spend limited time with Ben and Blossom."
"Oh, speaking of which - did you hear about Ivy?" Briar inquired. "She apparently ran away and she turned up on our doorstep."
Jace tipped his head. "Really? Where did she come from? She can't have been wandering around all night."
Briar threw a bandage up in the air and caught it. "No idea."

Aunt Leah arrived back and started to shift through the cupboards, humming a melody to herself. She abruptly stopped and made an unamused noise.
"Briar, Jace, would you two be able to go down to the library for me?" She asked.
Jace placed a bandage down on the table. "Why?"
"I need you to find this medical book," Leah passed the note to Briar. "And I'm a bit busy at the moment, so it would be great if you two could do this little task for me. You're lifesavers, thank you."

The Night Before

The warehouse was abandoned and old. The moon shone from behind the building and Ivy hugged her arms close, reflecting on the fact that she should have brought a coat. But she had gotten this far and going back seemed crazy now. Then again, this was insane as well.
"Too late now." Ivy chewed her lip and slipped into the building.
The floorboards creaked and she jumped at the sounds of rats crawling somewhere.
It's all alright. She told herself. Just a normal building. Find Hayden, and you'll be fine.

The sounds of voices reached her ears and she carried on forward, until she entered a wide space, where people practised self-defence. Ivy blinked rapidly, taking in the scene. They all looked so professional, taking measured hits and kicks.
"Ivy, right?" A familiar voice came to her right.
She turned to find Hayden striding towards her, a friendly grin on his face.
Ivy nodded. "Uh, yeah, that's me."
"Good to see you again." Hayden crossed his arms. "Welcome, welcome."

"So, what do you do here?" Ivy asked.
"Self defence." He explained. "We have a variety of people here, all with different stories and reasons why they need to learn it."
Ivy tilted her head. "Need or want?"
"Who says it can't be both?" Hayden winks.

He guided her to a set of mats in the room and squared up. "I'll start off easy, okay?"
"What, afraid I'll kick your butt?" Ivy smirked.

Thanks so much for reading! If you enjoyed, please leave a review.
Here are some cookies for all of you: (:;) (:;) (:;)