Revamped!

[I apologize for not updating recently but real life got in the way.]

A Thorne in His Side: Part Five

The bell echoes through the hallways of Lunar Academy and Scarlet marches through the growing crowd of students who all have the same idea of wanting to get out of here as quickly as possible. She searches the halls for Cress and spots the smallest girl, pulling her from the crowd by her backpack. Cress yelps a little until she sees that it's Scarlet.

"Wanna go spy on Kate Fallow?" Scarlet suggests.

Cress scoffs a little. "Right, we'll just dress up in all black and stalk her."

"Exactly."

Cress pauses. "Wait, I was kidding."

"I wasn't. First, I gotta get something from Wolf for this. I'll convince him to give it to me and by convince, I mean beg or force."

Cress isn't sure whether to object or not but since Scarlet's persistent, she goes with it. She takes the change of clothes that Scarlet provides and the two get changed in the bathroom. Cress comes out of the stall in Scarlet's plaid shirt and grey leggings which are big in certain areas like the chest, hips, and butt. (She folded up the leggings since Scarlet was a bit taller.) Scarlet comes out wearing her signature red sweatshirt and black ripped jeans. They exit the bathroom and Cress scurries to follow Scarlet.

Scarlet knows she won't have to do a lot of work to convince Wolf to do anything. She knows that the best relationships shouldn't involve a lot of work. It should come naturally. She spots Wolf at his locker and when he sees her with Cress trailing, he smirks until he reads the expression on her face which says that she has a plan.

"We need you," Scarlet tells him.

"You need my car," Wolf replies instantly.

Scarlet lights up as he tosses her the keys. She catches them and thanks him as he gives her a quick kiss. Cress can only think about how much of a hashtag-relationship-goal that was.

The two girls then run out to the parking lot. Scarlet spots Wolf's car and unlocks it. Scarlet and Cress throw their stuff in the backseats before going to the front. Once their seatbelts are buckled, Scarlet starts the engine and pulls out of the parking lot.

"Have you spoken to Thorne at all about Kate?" Scarlet asks.

"No." Cress looks down and plays with her fingers. "We never even brought her up. But her appearance got me thinking that I can't blame Thorne for falling in love with her. She's a flawless model."

To Cress's surprise, Scarlet snorts a laugh and in a failed attempt to cover it up, she bursts out laughing.

"Cress," Scarlet says, "Kate wasn't always lip gloss and short skirts.

"What?" Cress asks.

"Kate was one of those girls who you thought would marry her textbook. I swear, that girl was a human calculator. Kate was being tormented by other classmates and Thorne saved her, also asking her for 'help' with his math homework because he was literally failing. They had study dates that turned into actual dates. Thorne fell for Kate Fallow and they became the school's sweethearts. Then came the whole popularity status with Kate's glow-up and Thorne being shipped away and you know what happens afterwards with Thorne's return to Commonwealth and his broken heart."

Cress's throat dries up. "...wow."

"You okay?"

"I'm okay."

"Good. And if you're not, you will be. You're strong like that. Just because you'll always love Thorne doesn't mean you'll like him all the time. From what I've heard, Thorne hasn't seen her since she got here and is avoiding her at all costs. Wolf told me he's avoiding her like the plague."

Scarlet smirks. If there's anything she knew about relationships, she knows that it's never possible to know her type - not to know if she even has a type - until suddenly she does. Scarlet doesn't think she has a type because all she ever had is Wolf. Unlike Thorne, to her belief, who has a type. To Scarlet's knowledge, Thorne likes smart girls who like him first.

-o-

Later that day, Kai went straight to his home after school. He only went there to drop off his school bag and change out of his uniform. Then, he was right back out the door. With the house empty of people, it almost felt as if his dad was just at work. Almost. But he's not and that makes Kai feel lonely. Too much had changed. His house didn't feel like his at all. No wonder he moved in with Torin, aside from guardianship.

He'll be back for his things.

Now, he's knocking on Cinder's door since she invited him over. As he waits for an answer, he thinks back to the last time he was here and his heart stops. When Cinder opens the door, he's brought back to the moment when she confessed to being Selene Blackburn. Sometimes, that thought kept him up at night more than his father.

"Kai?" Selene - no, Cinder questions.

Kai realizes he's been silent this whole time. He looks right into Selene - Cinder's eyes as she waits for him to say or do something. In response, Kai holds her by the waist and pulls her in for a kiss. Cinder's taken by surprise before holding his shoulders.

Cinder breaks from him with a smirk on her face. "You know, traditionally the kiss is supposed to come at the end of the night."

"Are you complaining?" Kai asks.

"Not at all."

Kai gives her another peck. "Hey, baby."

Cinder raises an eyebrow. "Is that what we're calling each other now?"

"That's what couples do."

Cinder nods. She could go with it.

"Speaking of what couples do…" Kai mutters.

He bends down and picks up a bouquet of flowers of daffodils that he temporarily put down at the doorstep. Cinder looks at him and the bouquet wrapped in newspaper hesitantly. She wasn't the lady who would be getting flowers and Kai knew that. Stars, everyone knew that. Maybe Winter would like them.

"Please take these," Kai begs. "My house has so many flowers in it that it has florists shaking."

Of course there's an alternative motive behind the flowers. Cinder laughs a little before accepting the flowers. She takes him inside and into the kitchen so that she could find a vase to put them in. Kai takes a seat at the kitchen's island as Cinder pulls a vase from the cabinet and fills it with water.

"King of romance," Cinder calls him as she puts the daffodils in the vase.

"No," Kai responds with a small cringe.

"Mayor?"

"Too soon."

"Emperor Kai Rikan of the Commonwealth."

Kai is speechless at that one while Cinder is most proud of it. She waits for him to adjust to it but his face doesn't budge.

"It has a ring to it," Cinder says. "I'm making it your contact name."

Kai nods and his mood goes down. Cinder shuffles awkwardly as she stands next to him, leaning on him to show her support for him. She takes his hands in hers and intertwines their fingers.

"Hey, you know what makes me less sad?" Cinder asks.

"What?"

"Seeing you happy."

She straightens and they look at each other. He doesn't seem amused to be happy now which bothers Cinder a little because she doesn't like seeing anyone upset.

"Come on, we're going back to your place and we'll be as happy as the stars in there," Cinder proposes.

"Cinder…" Kai mutters unwillingly.

"Don't make me suffocate you with those flowers, Emperor Kai Rikan of the Commonwealth," Cinder says, pointing at the daffodils. "Don't beat yourself up over this or I will. Grieve your dad all you want. Miss him and allow yourself to miss him. Go insane, for the stars above, but don't stop living because he died."

-o-

Scarlet returns home and throws Wolf's keys on the drop table. She'll drop of his car in a bit. She and Cress never found Kate but it was fun for them to drive around. When she gets on the couch, she pulls her phone out from her pocket. First, she texts Wolf to tell him that his car is fine. Then, she sees an email from Émilie in her inbox and Scarlet freezes.

Émilie Monfort was a friend she once had in France. They haven't spoken much - or at all ever since she ran away to Commonwealth. It was almost as if they drifted apart because she ran away when she was seven years old without telling anyone. That's what makes this email so scary for Scarlet - just its existence. Its subject line was "urgence" which scares Scarlet even more since that translates to English as "emergency". What could possibly be an emergency from Émilie?

Scarlet hesitated before opening the email. There is no message, just a link. She clicks on it with her finger and reads the article it leads too.

The more words she reads, the wider Scarlet's smile becomes and eventually, she's cackling. It was a crime article about her father getting - her smile fades and she's now on the floor. Scarlet suddenly can't breathe and she's shaking.

She stands and heads to the kitchen where she opens the fridge and pulls out a beer that she shouldn't be drinking. Scarlet pops off the cap and chugs the entire bottle down in one go. Her nerves settle until she looks at the bottle and sees what she just did. Like Father, like Daughter, right?

Then, she smirks again as she grips the chilly glass bottle in her hand. Her drunk father once told her before she left that kids who run away from home always get locked up and now, the irony is too much for her to handle with a neutral face.

[Did I just foreshadow the next arc? Yes, I did.]