"Did you find him?" His friends were all smiles when Jim rejoined them for the evening. He could feel his body physically relax as he slid into his seat next to the empty spot where Sy should be. Hopefully it wouldn't be empty for much longer. He just had to wait for Sy to reach out, like Mrs. Parr said.
"I did," Jim tried to remain as upbeat as them, but he knew his voice was giving away how much he actually hurt. "Sy won't be back for a while. His family is being really hard on him, and they're pretty much not letting him alone. He needs some space to work things out personally, then hopefully it won't be long before he can come hang out again."
Matt reached across the table and squeezed Jim's hand. "We're always here if you need to talk."
"Or fight." Braxton offered eagerly. At Matt's look, he clarified, "Legal sparring to release steam, not picking a brawl with Zephyr. No matter how much fun that other option would be."
Varian and Hogarth spoke up at the same time. "If you need help with-"
"We're totally available to-"
"Classwork, just ask us!"
"Help out with any homework."
The two exchanged a look before starting to laugh. "No, but really," Hogarth finished for them both. "We're here if you need some help."
"Thank you." Jim winked at Matt, who was already frowning at him in anticipation of what he was going to say. "I'll be sure to offload anything I don't want to do onto you two."
Mellow was stridulating again. The noise still put Jim on edge, though significantly less so than before. He bit the tip of his tongue to keep from saying anything about it, then turned to face Mellow. "What's got you worried?"
Mellow gave him a sheepish look. "I don't know how joining your group will affect my friendship with Sy. If he's not allowed to be with you any more…."
Jim shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You be friends with anyone you want, okay? If you want to start sitting with Sy, wherever he sits now, we won't be offended. If you want to hang out with us, you've got a spot at the table. Okay? You can even switch back and forth for a while. We aren't going to reject you for taking care of Sy. We all still love him."
Braxton snorted.
"What?" Jim felt his temper flare. "You got a problem with Sy now?"
"Yeah, actually, I do." Braxton answered warily. "I don't much like liars, and I don't like that he didn't tell us about the silver spoon he grew up suckling on."
Braxton's head snapped forward, his chin slamming into his chest.
"Ow!" He turned in shock to look at his best friend. "You slapped me!?"
Matt glared at him. "You deserved it." He returned his attention to his nearly finished dessert. "Sy is our friend. You can work out your issues with him when he returns, but right now smack talking him in front of Jim is going to help nothing."
As angry as Jim was with Braxton, he was more amazed that Matt had reacted before he could. A ding from his tablet drew his attention. He could check the notification while Matt defended Sy. It would be more productive to let the level headed one handle this, anyway. Besides, maybe it was Sy reaching out?
Braxton huffed and reached over to stroke 628's ears, soothing him automatically and reassuring him that Matt hadn't truly hurt him. They didn't need a real fight at the table. "I'm allowed to be upset at what he did. I told you from the start we couldn't trust him."
"He's going through a lot, Brax. He had his reasons. And I think they were good ones. We don't know what's happening to him."
"Please. He's protected just as much as perfectly padded polished princely Zephyr is. He'll get a slap on the wrist, be told to hide his connection to the undesirables better, make a few pretty speeches about how he's learned from his mistakes, and then he'll be right back here within a week. Two, tops."
"This isn't your planet! You have got to stop assuming that everyone is like that."
The argument faded away into the background. His friends' voices hummed and swelled around him, but Jim had stopped taking in what they were saying several sentences back. 628 had joined in, maybe Varain too. Who knew. Who cared.
Why was everything getting worse?
Someone was laughing. Hogarth was grabbing empty trays. Glasses and silverware clinked against each other. Jim felt sick.
It was Mellow that noticed his distress first.
"Jim?"
Jim blinked and looked up at the strange arachnid-like alien. "Huh?"
"What happened?"
The table had fallen silent. Everyone was staring at Jim now. Somehow, though, it was Mellow that Jim wanted to talk to. That Jim wanted to share with. Wordlessly, Jim turned his tablet towards Mellow so he could read the newest announcement.
Schedule Update
Changed by Admiral de Châteaupers
Recruit Jim Hawkins has been assigned to an off world mission. Mission begins in two days.
View details?