Revamped!

[For those of you who want to know my updating schedule, I'll update possibly every other day, maybe daily it depends on my schedule. I can tell you all that I have up to chapter 80 ready to go.] [2020: Now I update whenever I have a new arc and have only two chapters ready. How times have changed.]

A Thorne in His Side: Part Three

Commonwealth, The Earthen Union

Thorne shuffles home, grunting in frustration that he had to leave Cress's place. When he got the text, he thought it was Kate trying to contact him but he felt, surprisingly, relieved that it was from his parents. To think that there would come a day where he felt relaxed that his parents were one, at home and two, wanting him home with them. It struck him as strange but maybe one of them is dying. Why else would they try to communicate with him?

Thorne enters the front door and drops his backpack on the bench in the mudroom. He smells freshly cooked dinner and follows the scent through the hallways. Most of Thorne's house is too fancy to live in. Statues, oil paintings, chandeliers. A museum more than a home. Maybe that's why nobody's ever here.

He enters the dining room and sees his parents there. His father, Kingsley, sits at the head of the table and his mother, Amelia, sits next to him. They have their plates with food on it and glasses of red wine. Their meals are untouched, telling Thorne that they were waiting for him. He adds that to his list of why his parents are so weird today. He thought that if they wanted him home for dinner, they'd be on dessert already.

"Would you like a plate, Captain Thorne?" Jeanette asks.

"Jeanette," his father scolds.

"My apologies, Sir. Would you like a plate, Carswell?"

Jeanette looks at Thorne again and he nods. She takes a plate for him as Thorne takes a seat at the other end of the table. As Jeanette fills his plate with the main course and its side dishes, it hits him now that Jeanette got reprimanded for calling him Captain Thorne. His father never liked it when she did that but it was never something to get fired over. Thorne likes to think he's jealous that he's a Captain in her eyes and he's only a "Sir." Thorne mutters his thanks when Jeanette sets the plate down for him and she heads back into the kitchen.

Thorne takes his fork and starts to eat when he hears his mother clearing her throat. Thorne narrows his eyes as he looks up her from his steaming potatoes.

"Wash your hands first," Amelia orders.

Thorne would argue that he wasn't even going to use his hands to eat but he doesn't waste his time with a battle he won't win, especially since she has her husband as a backup. It's not cowardly, it's strategic. Thorne scoots his chair back from the table obnoxiously loud and trudges over to the kitchen. He sees Jeanette putting away pots and pans as he turns up the faucet to its highest current to wash his hands under, hoping to block out the sound of his parents' voices. When he dunks his hands under the running water, it splashes everywhere from the countertops, the window, and his school uniform.

"Aces, Carswell!" Kingsley exclaims.

Thorne snorts a small laugh at the mention of his stupid first name coming from his dad's angered voice as he turns off the water. He wipes his hands on his uniform polo since it's already wet. He walks back to his seat and looks his father directly in the eyes.

"Why can't you act like a responsible kid for once?" Kingsley asks him.

"Where's the fun in that?" Thorne questions lightheartedly.

"Where were you after school?"

"The Rampion," he lies. His parents would give him spades if he was Cress's house simply because it's a girl's house.

His father puts down his wine glass in disappointment and his mother her cutlery in disgust. Thorne stirs around his white asparagus pieces as he drowns the lectures of how unhealthy and improper a diner like The Rampion is. Thorne rolls his eyes since nobody goes to The Rampion for healthy food nor do they go there in a tuxedo. People go there to indulge and have a good time in their school uniforms or tattered jeans. Plus his parents' distaste towards it is why Thorne considers it one of his favourite places in Commonwealth.

Thorne clears his throat as he raises his hand as if he were in a classroom. His parents look at him with faces filled with annoyance and confusion (expressions he's used to).

"What?" Kingsley asks.

Thorne stands. "Can I leave?"

"Sit down."

Thorne obeys and starts cutting into his steak. When his parents start talking about Kate Fallow visiting town, his cutting speed increases until he feels himself slicing into the plate.

"Carswell!" Amelia exclaims.

"Whoops…" Thorne mutters with no regrets. It's not like he ruined the fancy china that never leaves its cabinet.

"Have you seen Kate yet?"

To get out of answering or even talking about Kate, Thorne shoves so mouth food into his mouth at once since his mother would never want him talking with his mouth full. And he puts a lot in there. His plate was nearly empty at this point.

Amelia sighs irritated, sipping her wine with one hand and putting a hand to her temple with the other. Kingsley throws his napkin on the table as he crosses his arms and throws his head back. (Thorne finds his parents to be too melodramatic. It's all he got from them.) Thorne coughs on his food and keeps it in his mouth. If he doesn't chew, that means he won't have to swallow and have an empty mouth that's perfect for conversation. He smiles at them and they're livid. Thorne doesn't know what he did to piss people off. Maybe he's that good-looking, he'd like to believe. And he got his good looks from the people he pissed off so point for him.

-o-

Winter lies on her bed. She holds her phone above her and dials Jacin's number, placing her phone on her ear as it rings. She hasn't called Jacin since he went back home to Luna until now. Winter figured that he needed time to unpack, settle, reconnect with his parents and friends, and readjust to jet lag. She truly misses Jacin, but he had to return.

Jacin Bae: Hey, Trouble.

Minus that odd call on a burner phone that happened when Jacin was missing, this is the first time Winter's hearing Jacin's voice over the phone since she moved here and it makes her heart flutter like a butterfly leaving its cocoon for the first time.

"You arrived okay?" Winter asks. "How is everyone?"

Jacin Bae: I slept the entire flight and everyone is happy. My parents suffocated me, Iko jumped me, and Kinney wants to kill me.

"So, they're fine." Winter laughs a bit. She takes a breath. "Calling is nice. We should've done this over writing letters."

Jacin Bae: I prefer postage over awkward silences.

"Or stamps over emojis."

Jacin Bae: See, you get me. We should just compromise and write emails instead.

Winter rolls her eyes and she hears Jacin laughing to himself since he knows what she just did. At that point, they might as well send each other Morse code or telegrams (and Jacin would do that and he would learn how to make emojis in Morse code just to mock and maybe impress Winter).

Winter's phone starts beeping and sees an incoming call from Cress. She puts it back on her ear for a second to tell Jacin.

"I'll have to put you on hold," Winter says to him. "Girlfriend calling."

Jacin Bae: Chicks before dicks, I get it.

Winter sends him a kiss over the phone before switching the call over.

"Hey, girl," Winter says to Cress.

Cress: Winter, I have a feeling that I have asked you this before but how do you manage long-distance relationships? Like, how do you know Jacin won't cheat on you?

Winter sighs. She knows that Cress is having problems with Thorne although he's right there.

"If Jacin were to cheat on me," Winter starts, "he knows that it would hurt me which would hurt him in return."

Cress: Why isn't Jacin online?

Winter scoffs. These days, it seems like every young person had social media, their lives on display for anyone who cared to put the pieces together. Then there's Jacin who was online as little as possible.

"Because he thinks the internet is the lowest common denominator of social discourse."

Winter hears Cress pause before snickering to herself. Even as a person online, she agrees.

Cress: Well, you may be the only person who gets more than 140 characters out of him.

"Barely." Winter then realizes that she has Jacin on hold. "Wait, I have him on the other line. Let me make this a three-way call."

Before Cress could respond, Winter is already tapping away on her screen. Once the three of them are on the same call, Winter puts the phone back to her ear in glee. She hasn't even bothered to tell Jacin that Cress is now here.

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder!" Winter exclaims.

Jacin Bae: That's not how it goes.

Cress: Yeah…

Winter shrugs. "Either way."

Jacin Bae: Wait, who's here?

Cress: It's Cress.

"You know…" Winter says to him. "The little Lunar with the short hair and Moon in her name."

Cress: Pretty much.

Jacin Bae: Oh, yeah… I remember her. She was the one Thorne was talking about.

Winter bites on her lip, hearing Cress choke on her breath at what Jacin said. She knew that making this three-way call was a great idea and Jacin is already doing a good job without any prior indication that this was happening. He's the best boyfriend.

"We're making Cress feel better," Winter tells Jacin. "Thorne's ex who apparently got a glow-up from the sun is back in town and now Thorne is acting sketchy."

Jacin Bae: … this isn't a relationship helpline.

Winter rolls her eyes. "Shut your stars."

Jacin laughs a little.

Jacin Bae: Alright, Cress, lay it on me.

Cress takes a deep breath before sighing.

Cress: Thorne makes me nervous but also happy. Really happy. But it's the kind of happy that also makes me nervous. And I have that feeling now more than ever because of Kate Fallow.

"You may be tiny but there is so much power in your small frame," Winter says. "Love is magic and it's so strong. You're already Thorne's perfect girl. You just have to get his heart wrapped around your finger."

Cress pauses and starts to cry. Winter didn't plan for that to happen, especially after she said something she believed to be inspirational. Jacin is silent and she hopes that he didn't hang up at the sound of tears.

Cress: I don't want Thorne to be a stranger to me again.

She can't hold it in any longer. Cress starts crying. If only Winter was with her because then she could hold her as she lets it all out. Jacin would get tissues and chocolates for her before running away.

"His ex-sweetheart is back in town so of course, he's acting all bizarre," Winter says, sitting up in her bed. "Aces, I would lose my stars too if I was in your place. Thorne likes you a lot. Anyone who tells you differently is a -"

Jacin Bae: - spade sucker.

"Jacin!"

Cress laughs a little. Leave it up to Jacin to say fewer than 140 characters and still make a situation better.

Jacin Bae: What? I artfully use my foul language and this is Thorne we're talking about.

-o-

Andromeda Academy, Luna

Jacin sits on a bench in the common grounds of Andromeda Academy during his break hour at school. Ever since he got back from Commonwealth, his classmates have been asking him endless questions. Even classmates he's never seen before were asking about the rumours behind his disappearance. To think that he was once the quiet kid who was also dating the girl who lost her stars and the son of the dean and a professor, and now he's the runaway and successful escapee of Andromeda Academy. In response to those claims, and in pure Jacin Clay fashion, he told them all to mind their own spades.

"You could tell us what happened in Commonwealth," Iko says. She sits in the middle of Jacin and Kinney, leaning on Jacin's arm and putting her legs on top of Kinney's.

"Of course I'll tell you," Jacin replies. He knows that good friends keep your secrets for him and they were his best friends who help you keep his secrets. They won't tell anyone.

"I had to hang around Levana a lot since Winter and Cinder had school," Jacin says.

"Dude, at that point, I would've gone home," Kinney says.

"Also, Winter almost hit me with her car and then I had to attend a funeral."

"Your own?" Kinney asks.

"Yes, my own!" Jacin replies sarcastically as Kinney laughs.

"Mayor of Commonwealth, right?" Iko questions. "Cinder's boyfriend's dad?"

Jacin nods and perks up a little remembering something important. "Guys, apparently Kai's mother was friends with Cinder's mother way back in the day and they made a little marriage arrangement between Selene Blackburn and Kai."

"No way!" Kinney and Iko exclaim at once. "Shut your spades!"

"Did Cinder confess?" Iko asks.

Jacin nods.

"Are they still together?" Kinney asks.

Jacin nods again.

Iko shrieks and explodes like an array of fireworks. Jacin and Kinney have to hush her down since she's drawing in more looks than usual from other cadets. Iko eventually simmers down although she's still vibrating.

"I'm calling my homegirl myself," Iko says as she dials Cinder's number. As it rings, she puts the phone on speaker and rests it on her chest.

Homegirl Cinder: What.

"Why didn't you tell me you and Kai were destined to be?!" Iko exclaims.

Homegirl Cinder: … it wasn't that big a deal.

"Not that big a deal?!" Iko questions. "This is a huge deal! It's fate! I'll start planning your wedding. Kinney will be the flower girl."

Kinney doesn't even object. "I'll only be the flower girl for dear Channary's wishes."

Homegirl Cinder: Calm down. It's not that big a fairytale.

"Of course it's not a fairytale," Jacin says with his voice a little angelic just to smite her. "It's better. It's your life!"

Homegirl Cinder: You shut up.

"Was it hard to tell the truth?" Kinney asks her. The sudden change in mood is only because they all know how intense of a secret Selene Blackburn was.

Homegirl Cinder: Finally, a reasonable question. Yeah, it was hard but it was time. I kinda had no choice anyways. I have a feeling that if this never happened, it would've been with me forever.