Revamped!

[When I first planned this arc and wrote my handwritten notes, I thought Kate's name was Sarah. So now my notes are filled with Sarah which might confuse me when typing this in the future.] [2020: I'm pretty sure I first published this arc with that mistake and went back to fix it when someone pointed it out to me way after it was first published.]

A Thorne in His Side: Part Two

The whole way up, Winter always thinks about what she would say to Dr. Darnel. She can never think and listen to the radio at the same time, so it's always quiet in the car. Usually, she would go with the flow of his questions and say whatever was on her mind, but all she could think about at the moment was Cress's panic attack at the mall yesterday.

Winter and Cinder finally cornered Cress after she collided with a store mannequin. After cleaning up their mess and parting from the crowds, Winter and Cinder finally calmed Cress with some gelato and she confessed that the, to quote Cinder, "girl dressed for a nude beach" was Thorne's ex-sweetheart who is now more fabulous than ever.

Winter walks in and waves to the secretary before heading inside. Usually, there's nobody in there by the time she arrives and if there is, she'd get stopped. She sees Dr. Darnel in his office and goes catatonic like a shark turned on its stomach. What is she supposed to say to Dr. Darnel that wasn't like "your daughter lost her spades yesterday please go talk to her". Winter blinks and sees Dr. Darnel looking at her expectantly as if he was waiting for her to answer a question she didn't hear.

"I'm still crazy if that's what you asked," Winter says quickly.

Dr. Darnel looks at her a bit puzzled. "I asked how school was but alright."

Embarrassing, but Winter's been through worse. She takes her seat on the couch, putting her backpack on the ground beside her.

The questions ranged from how she was handling the morbid curiosity of the other students about her scars. He spoke about her father's death and the fire at Orion's Beach which is where they left off last time. Nothing that was highlighted in her file but about how hard it was to allow herself to let go of her survivor's guilt and how it was important to move on. The remarkable quality about Winter is that she can always have a little breakdown, but then she's back on her feet, fighting against her mind again.

"Do you miss Artemisia?" Dr. Darnel asks her.

"Always," Winter replies, "but I'm elated here."

"Now, about what you said earlier, has anyone ever told you that you're crazy?"

Winter smirks. "Crazy fun!"

-o-

Still wearing his school uniform, Kai enters The Rampion, taking in the sound of the bell on the door ringing as well as the smell of freshly fried and salted fries. He heads to the bar and takes a seat on a stool, dropping his bag on the ground beside him and lying down on crossed arms. Scarlet walks out from the kitchen in her work uniform and stops in front of Kai. She pouts her lip out a bit as she pats his head which causes him to look up.

"It's on the house," Scarlet says.

"What?" Kai asks.

"This."

Scarlet goes to the back and comes back out seconds later with two chilled strawberry milkshakes in tall glasses with a dollop of whipped cream and a syrup-glazed cherry on top. Kai sits up to make room for it on the countertop. Scarlet puts in straws for the two of them and starts sipping her.

"How did you know I wanted one?" Kai asks with a smirk as he sips his.

"My milkshakes bring all the boys to The Rampion," Scarlet mockingly sings to him.

Kai stares at Scarlet oddly, taking the milkshake out of his mouth. Scarlet grins wildly before they're both laughing. Their laughs dim at the sound of the restaurant's bell ringing. They turn freeze at the sight of Kate Fallow. Thorne's ex-sweetheart. Kai quickly turns around to look at Scarlet who has already scurried back to the kitchen at top speed. It was like she was never here. It must be serious since she left her milkshake on the bar.

"Kai," Kate calls as she walks over to him. "Hey, how have you been lately? I heard about your father and my family and I are sorry."

"Oh, thank you," Kai replies, trying his best not to act awkward. "I'm doing fine, actually. It's good to see you again."

"You too." Kate glances around. "Did I see Scarlet Benoit in here?"

"Yeah. She just went to take in orders." Kai sips his milkshake to hide his lies. In reality, from what he saw, Scarlet didn't want to see her at all and is probably hiding in the produce fridge.

"How has she been?"

"Scarlet's great," Kai replies casually. "She's dating Wolf now."

Kate's eyes widen in surprise. "Seriously? Wolf Kesley? Who would've thought Scarlet Benoit would be the one to tame the Big Bad Wolf?"

"I'm still baffled by it," Kai mutters.

"Anyways, I have to make use of my time in Commonwealth." Kate gives Kai a full smile. "Have you seen Thorne around? I can't seem to reach him."

Kai shrugs. "I'm sure he's running around somewhere."

Kate gives Kai a bit of a hug before turning on her heel and walking out. At the sound of the bell, Scarlet comes out with a small bowl of water and starts spraying water around with her fingers as if she were mimicking the use of holy water to rid The Rampion of Kate Fallow vibes. Kai gives Scarlet a condescending look and she doesn't regret looking ridiculous.

"Why were you conspiring with the enemy?" Scarlet asks Kai when she puts down the bowl of not-holy water.

"She was giving her condolences," Kai replies.

Scarlet's face doesn't budge. "...well, still, she was talking about Wolf as if he was some beast. Please, Wolf is a constant mix of a precious puppy with stupidity and a brooding bad boy who acts like he doesn't give a spade."

"In our defence, we only saw Wolf as the brooding bad boy and believed he didn't give a spade."

Scarlet narrows her brows a little and she takes the cherry from Kai's milkshake for herself. "If Cress's hair was still long, I would strangle you with it."

-o-

Wolf enters his house and throws his keys on the table. He approaches the kitchen and puts his hands on both ends of the entryway and mocks a fall inside, holding himself up with his strength. His mom, Maha Kesley, stands in front of a frying pan with a meal cooking in it. She puts a lid on the pan and wipes her hands on her dishrag before turning towards her son.

"Good thing you're home," Maha tells him. She opens the cupboard above the stove and pulls out a jar. "Open this."

Wolf opens the jar before his mom has time to blink. She looks at him with amazement before pinching his cheek. Wolf hides his smirk with a frown before nudging his mom off. Maha pinches his side as he hops onto an empty spot on the counter. Wolf takes a wooden spoon and samples whatever his mom was cooking before she smacks his hand.

"Can't you be a normal teenage boy and go drive your car while kissing your girlfriend?" Maha asks, mockingly annoyed with him.

"My car is low on gas and my girlfriend is working," Wolf replies.

"Get a job."

"I was about to tell you that I got a new job. I work at a gym."

To Wolf's surprise, his mother shrieks out of joy so loud that he didn't think her larynx could handle. Wolf's head hits the cupboards and he curses loudly to himself as he rubs the spot that he heard the stored plates clanking against. His mom grabs his face and kisses his cheeks only to be nudged off. Then, she's applauding for him. Wolf didn't think that his announcement was that big a deal. He just got a new job, not a winning lottery ticket.

"Finally," Maha praises, "you won't end up in jail." She goes back to stirring around the contents of the frying pan. "Why are you always coming home alone? Bring your girlfriend in for a while so I can meet the girl who got you out of that gang-bang life. I don't bite."

"Aces, Ma! You're so weird."

Maha laughs as Wolf hops off the counter. He opens the fridge and takes out a cold water bottle.

"And for some reason, you're the one who keeps on coming back alone!" She replies. "I think that classifies you as the weird one."

Wolf rolls his eyes as hits his behind with a dish towel.

-o-

Meanwhile, at Cress's place, she and Thorne sit next to each other on the floor of the living room. Their backs are pressed against the couch and eyes glued to the television screen as their hands work magic on the gaming consoles in their hands. They're still wearing their school uniforms having come straight to her house right after the bell rang and they've been sitting there for hours, unaware of how much time has passed. The screen explodes and and they scream before attacking the game with their total knockouts. They're too occupied with the game to notice Cress's dad walk in the room. It must be well into the evening if he's home from work.

"You two are awfully noisy," he tells them.

"Sorry…" Cress mutters without even looking at him.

She lowers the volume and Cress's dad leave them to be. Thorne looks over his shoulder for a quick second to confirm that he's gone before wrapping his arm around Cress's small waist to continue playing his controller. Cress laughs as she feels her cheeks heat the longer Thorne is almost lying across her legs.

"You two are awfully quiet."

Thorne jumps a little and Cress's face reddens for a different reason as she pauses the game. Sage laughs to himself before leaving the room again.

"I think he hates me," Thorne says as he resumes the game.

Cress looks at him as he focuses back on the video game. She never thought she would meet someone who takes her breath away but at the same time, makes her chest feel like it'll burst. When most guys are really into a girl, they don't care who knows. They're not ashamed of it.

On a normal day, this moment would make her happy but she doesn't feel a hundred percent there. It's the fact that she saw Kate Fallow back in town. She wasn't hallucinating, she was there. She didn't know how to feel about Thorne's ex-sweetheart back in town, especially since Thorne hasn't mentioned it at all. He had to have known. He acted as if she wasn't here at all and if other classmates asked, he would court the conversation away from her. Cress didn't want to talk about it but she wanted at least some mention of it to see if she was on the same page as him.

"Everything alright, Cress?" Thorne asks her.

Cress looks up and sees that her avatar, LittleCress, just lost to CaptainThorne and many CPUs. She didn't want to admit that she wasn't okay. She has been in love with Thorne for as long as she could remember and she's had much more experience with him being her fantasy boyfriend before he became her occasional adventurer and video game opponent. They even kissed! She thought he liked her the same way! She has all these feelings that she can't control and now, she was scared that whatever they had would be ruined because Kate Fallow was back in town.

"I'm great," Cress says playing the replay button.

She gets back in the game because she has to acknowledge the fact that Thorne is beside her instead of shoving his tongue down Kate's throat. That one kiss Cress had with Thorne that night in the forest sent shivers down her spine like never before.

Thorne pauses the game when he gets a text. He pulls his phone out from his back pocket and sees who it's from. Cress turns her head over and sees the stunned expression on his face before shoving his phone back in his pocket. A part of Thorne looks angry but also confused.

"Everything okay?" Cress asks him.

"I have to surrender…" Thorne says, referring to the game. "I gotta go."

Thorne doesn't meet her eyes before running out the door. Cress takes a second to comprehend what happened and thinks that maybe her mind jinxed their moment.