Revamped!

[My initial plan was to have the second arc done by the time my school starts and that's in about two weeks and I still have nine more chapters]. [2020: I plan to finish revamping by the time school starts and I have about a month and less than 100 chapters].

The Big Bad Wolf: Part Two

The night with Thorne was wonderful, just wonderful. They sat in Cress's room and played endless rounds of video games with one another while eating the food Cress could find in her house and a pizza that Thorne ordered, until it was past midnight and they remembered that there was school the next day. Then, Thorne retired to the guest room as Cress stayed in her bedroom.

It was all a dream come true for Cress. It felt like her and Thorne were longtime friends. She pinched herself so many times to make sure it was real and it was. It really, really was! Carswell Thorne spent the night at her house. Carswell Thorne slept in her guest room. Carswell Thorne is still in her house.

Carswell. Thorne.

Cress wakes up the next morning with a smile as she hears soft knocking on her door. She didn't sleep right away because even after Thorne went into the guest room, she was just too excited. If she had to guess, she would say that she slept about two hours ago and her and Thorne shared their goodnights about five hours ago.

"Come in," Cress says to whoever's knocking. She assumes that it's Thorne so she immediately sits up and tries to make herself look presentable in her semi-decent pjs by brushing down her long bedhead hairdo. She had to play it off as natural.

To her surprise, Cress sees her dad open the door. Last she checked, her dad was away on business and was supposed to come back in a few more days. Her heart races for two reasons: her dad might have caught Thorne sleeping in the guest room or worse, Thorne being here to begin with was actually a dream.

"Good morning, Crescent," her dad says to her.

"Hi, Dad," Cress replies, trying her best not to sound nervous. She starts playing with her hair in hopes that her dad (being a psychiatrist) doesn't notice anything strange. "You're home early."

"Convention ended early," he replies. Cress nods. "I'll have breakfast ready in a few."

Cress nods as her dad closes the door again. She holds her breath and makes her hands into fists as she listens to her dad's footsteps trek across the hallways. Her hands are in fists so tight that her knuckles turn white and her nails make crescent moon shaped indents in her palm. The moment she hears her dad going downstairs, Cress knows he didn't look in the guest room located the other way. Besides, on a normal day, there's no reason to check that room.

Cress has to get Thorne out of her house which her heart dreads. She throws her bedsheets off and the moment her feet hit the floor, she hears a muffled groan of pain. Cress immediately jumps back on her bed and looks over to see Thorne sleeping on her bedroom floor, away from the door. Her cheeks heat up from the embarrassment of stepping right on Thorne's abs (which definitely exist in her mind based on what she's seen in photos) or from the fact that Thorne was asleep on her bedroom floor right next to her bed for who knows how long. How didn't she hear him come in?

"I should've seen that coming," Thorne mutters as he rubs the pain away from his chest while rolling on the floor.

"I'm so sorry," Cress whispers so her father won't hear. "I didn't think my dad would come home early."

"Don't stress about it." Thorne sits up against her bedroom wall. "I heard your dad come in about an hour ago so I ran in here to hide. Sorry for intruding on your privacy. Come to think of it, it would've been even worse if he were to find me here. I would've left but that'd seem rude to you."

Cress smiles. "Well, you're always welcome to hide here. Hopefully, it's often."

Cress's eyes widen in mortification at what she just said. She blames her lack of sleep and her uncontrollable feelings towards him for the sudden bluntness. A part of her wishes that Thorne didn't hear that last part, but that stupid yet irresistible grin on his faces says different.

"Knowing my luck, it will be," he replies. "Do you think he'd give me some breakfast?"

"I wouldn't push your luck that far."

Thorne gets up and approaches Cress's window. He opens the blinds and they both wince at the harsh sunlight. Thorne opens the window and hops on the ledge. He turns around to face Cress again.

"I owe you one," Thorne tells her before climbing out the window.

Cress gets up and runs up to her window. She rests her head on her elbow-prepped arm and sighs happily at watching Thorne - or should she say Captain Thorne (which was an ill-fitting name since he was purposely awful at commanding his space ship in the games) - run off into the sunrise.

How is she supposed to go to school after all that?

-o-

The same school morning at The Rampion, Scarlet wipes down a counter with a wet rag. She has ditched the astronaut suit for the diner's new uniform - a knee-high retro dress that comes in any and every neon colour with an apron on the front of the skirt, cap sleeves, a planet patch on the corner of her chest, and high-tops. If the skirt wasn't so short and bright, Scarlet would've not hated the new uniform as much since it only seems to attract more of the male demographic of Commonwealth.

Speaking of the male demographic, one enters the diner. Scarlet looks up from her clean counter and sees Wolf walk in, wearing his school uniform. He takes a seat on the bar stool that's specifically set in front of Scarlet. She's confused since this is her second encounter with Wolf in this diner in the span of 24 hours (and the change in uniform had nothing to do with it) but his warm and neutral expression gave the vibe that this is his habit.

"You're skipping school?" Wolf asks her.

"Yup," Scarlet replies. "I figured that a nice paycheck will do me more wonders than Lunar Academy and their self-proclaimed 'important' subjects."

"I couldn't agree more."

Scarlet smiles a little. "Do you want something to eat before you go to that prestigious hell-hole?"

Wolf shrugs. "Just get me anything."

Scarlet walks into the kitchen and scoots past all the cooking chefs to see what she could give Wolf. She sees the hearty options like pancakes and BELT sandwiches (with extra bacon since he seems like the boy who ask for more) but she shakes her head. She didn't want to give him anything that hefty. Instead, she opens the produce fridge and pulls out a plump tomato. When she returns to Wolf, his eyes alternate between the tomato and her eyes repeatedly.

"A tomato," he states, "for breakfast."

Scarlet nods. "That is a fine tomato from my grandmother's garden. They're ripe and juicy."

Wolf takes a bite from it as if it were an apple and Scarlet can't help but smile.

"Wow," Wolf says, wiping his mouth with the edge of his sleeve. "This is really sweet. Thanks."

Scarlet nods and Wolf takes out his wallet to pay for it.

"Oh no," Scarlet says, "It's not exactly an item on the menu and your contribution to my tip jar has made my day."

Wolf shrugs, putting his wallet back in his pocket. He gets up from the bar stool and continues to eat the tomato as he walks out. Scarlet watches him leave, until she realizes that she's watching Wolf leave so she goes back to doing her job. It was Wolf Kesley, of all people. She shouldn't have anything to do with him and hasn't had anything to do with him … at least until now as it seems.

-o-

Cinder throws all her books into her locker. The sound of heavy hardcover textbooks is blocked out by the sound of stomping and chattering students walking around the halls behind her. Cinder's grateful for that loud noise because if any professor heard her just throwing her expensive and "highly informative studying materials", she'll get detention.

"How does your locker have so many dents in it already?" Kai asks, looking at all the bumps and grooves decorating the locker's walls. "And it's so unorganized. You've only been here for two weeks."

"I have been decorating it," Cinder replies sarcastically as she tops off her locker by tossing her math textbook in it, sheets of graph paper fly out. "My locker is the living embodiment of a junkyard."

"Speaking of the junkyards…" Kai drifts off.

Cinder closes her locker and leans against it. Kai stays in front of her and she thinks back to when Kai took her to the junkyard while Levana was having a meeting. She instantly remembers how her and Kai were talking. She forgets what they were talking about but she does remember being extremely close to his face before running away on a whim.

"Oh my stars…" Cinder mutters. "I'm so sorry for just running off after yelling another boy's name. That must've been super weird for you."

"It was," Kai admits, "but after being given some context as to what was happening, I get it. After all that, I think we should do something to make up for it."

"Make up or make out?" Cinder asks, laughing as she gets Kai off-guard. "What did you expect? Did you expect angels from the stars above to start singing when our lips touched?"

"I do next time it will happen," Kai says, catching up to her level.

Cinder raises an eyebrow. "What will make the undecided next time different from the junkyard? Minus me not running away because of Jacin."

"Time passed."

"So?"

"Time has a way of changing people. It makes the heart grow fonder."

Cinder sighs as Kai snickers.

[Ahhh… Cresswell, Wolflet, Kaider all in one. Perfect.]