I'm currently in the middle of rereading Scarlet and am getting so many ideas from it.

Super-Jacin-t: Part Two

Group Chat: Captain Thorne's Crew.
Members: Cinder, Cress, Wolf, Scarlet, Winter, Jacin, Thorne

Thorne: I love you.

Cress: I love you too.

Thorne: I love you more.

Cress: I love you more than you love me.

Jacin: I'd love it if you didn't do this in the GROUP CHAT.

Thorne: You're just jealous that our relationship is superior.

Scarlet: You watch yourself, Carswell.

Wolf: You tell him, babe.

Cinder: I'm trying to cram for a pop quiz we might have. All of you shut your spades!

Thorne: We're not going to have one.

Jacin: Silencing your phone would be easier than texting us.

Kai: We just wrote one yesterday.

Cinder: I don't trust anyone.

Jacin: You'll have one.

Cinder: I don't like agreeing with you, but exactly.

Jacin: I see, hear, and know everything.

Cinder: I agree with the creep.

Winter: That's why Levana likes you so much.

-o-

Kai dropped by his dad's house/technically his house now before school to grab a windbreaker he left here. When he was packing things to move into Torin's place, he mostly brought things he needed at the moment like some clothes, his school uniform, books, and other things. Seasonal items like winter gear could be picked up and dropped off at the end of the season. Torin didn't live that far away so it wasn't a hassle for Kai to drive over and walk into a house that has so many memories for him.

His whole childhood took place in this home, running down these hallways. His parents hosted parties in the living room and dining room. His mother would cook in the kitchen and he'd sit at the table watching her work the stove. The scent of spices and warm rice fills his nose and his mouth waters. Instinctively, he reaches to wipe his eyes even if there are no tears.

So maybe he didn't only stop by for a jacket but the nostalgia.

Kai closes his closet and puts on his windbreaker. He steps out of his room but stops when he hears a noise coming from downstairs. Kai freezes. Did he lock the door?

Kai slowly walks to the stairs and peeks over the railing. Someone's in the kitchen, raiding his fridge. Did he even have anything in there? Probably if some intruder is ransacking it. But Kai relaxes and walks down the rest of the way when the fridge closes and he sees Thorne's signature bomber jacket with his school uniform underneath. He smiles when Thorne sees him, waving while eating a slice of pizza he probably snagged from the fridge.

"I don't know how long that's been in the fridge," Kai says. He can't recall the last time he was here let alone the last time he ordered pizza.

Thorne takes another bite, chews it for a bit, and swallows. "Seems fine to me."

Kai shrugs. Seems legit. If the pizza didn't have some funky scent and still tastes cheesy, Thorne shouldn't get food poisoning. Kai can't deny that the pizza doesn't look good but he still won't take a piece (if there's still any left in there) and find out if he'll be vomiting later.

But he knows that Thorne probably used his key to get in here. The emergency key that Kai gave him for, well, emergencies. It's not like the keys had to be used before, but this wasn't an emergency. Kai won't bring that up since he knows that Thorne would argue that eating pizza is urgent.

"What are you doing here?" Kai asks.

"I saw you driving by and assumed you were stopping by here, so I sprinted to snag a ride to school," Thorne responds, "and pizza."

"Did you even bring your bag?"

Thorne pauses. He turns around not seeing his backpack slung on his shoulder. Thorne walks out to the living room and it isn't on the couch or by the door.

" … so we'll have to stop by my place on the way back," Thorne mutters.

Kai laughs. "Fine. Let's go."

"Can I finish my questionable pizza first?"

"That's my questionable pizza and just eat it in the car."

"Communism."

Kai's brows wrinkle. "That's not how that works?"

"Spades, I should study in the car if we're gonna have that pop quiz."

"We're not."

"Cinder and Jacin are on something."

"Don't you mean onto something?"

Thorne pauses. "Both."

-o-

The group and their classmates stand outside their locked classroom door since their teacher hasn't arrived yet. They lean against the nearby walls and lockers, chatting and scrolling on their phones. Some people even debate skipping and bring up the myth of being allowed to leave after fifteen minutes if no teacher shows up. Whenever anyone decides to test that theory, the teacher almost always shows up at the fifteen-minute mark.

Cinder shifts her position, sitting in front of the classroom door with a binder of scattered notes open in her lap. Scarlet and Winter stand beside her, leaning against the wall and scrolling through their phones. Occasionally, they'd nudge the other and show them something, get a smile, and return to scrolling. Wolf looks up from peering over Cinder's notes and nods a greeting to Cress who scurries over. Oddly, she's not as early to class as she normally is, which is already sitting in class before anyone shows up, and the collar of her half-zip uniform sweater is popped up with her short hair billowing over the edges.

"What's up with you?" Wolf asks.

"I think my dad's onto me," Cress whispers so fast it almost sounded like one rushed word. She looks over her shoulder as if her father was listening. As she turns back, she fixes her hair and holds it against her neck.

"What?"

Cress steps closer and stands on her tiptoes. She lifts a strand of her hair on the side of her neck. Wolf peers closer and sees a failed attempt at a classic hickey cover-up. He grins, glancing down at Cinder who's hiding her laugh behind her study notes and Winter and Scarlet have lowered their phones with dropped jaws.

"Crescent Moon!" Scarlet exclaims with a small screech.

Cress's face reddens. "Stop. I'd use a scarf but it's not uniform." She zips up her sweater despite it already being zipped all the way.

"When you reapply, keep on blending it and add some setting powder with some setting spray," Winter advises. "You being paranoid and popping the collar and your hair draw more attention."

"I've seen a whisk method online," Scarlet says. "You kind of go like this," she twists her hand around the side of her neck, "and then it's something with blood vessels dispersing back. I don't know."

Wolf winks at her. "We can try that."

"It's not like that!" Cress exclaims. "I … fell on my neck."

Cress takes a breath to calm herself while her friends stare at her in disbelief that she tried to cover up the hickey with that lie (that was even worse than the makeup attempt).

"Next time, say you burned yourself with a curling wand," Scarlet advises.

"Or just say I punched you," Cinder says. "It's more believable."

Thorne swoops in and wraps his arm around Cress who jumps at his sudden embrace. He grins proudly, looking at Wolf who can't help but high-five him (knowing well in the stars that Thorne will never get that praise again). Kai follows, also smiling at Thorne who probably told him all about it on their way to school.

"She fell and landed on me," Thorne mutters.

"Ew," Cinder states as Winter raises her brows.

Before Thorne could refute, their teacher arrives and Cinder immediately closes her notes and stands up. She doesn't bother to realign the papers sticking out.

"Sorry, I was late," their teacher apologizes as they unlock the door and turn on the classroom lights, "I was printing your pop quizzes."

The class groans as they walk inside and to their desks.

"I told you all so!" Cinder exclaims.

"I don't know enough to fake an answer," Scarlet mutters.

"Pizza is communism," Kai states.

Cinder looks at him. "What are you on?"