The Hijinks War

25. Captured Flag

"Huh. I didn't think of that. I just didn't see you being into a womanizer." An annoyingly smug smile settled on her lips. "So, the obvious conclusion is Kellen." 

I laughed, really laughed. "You put a lot of thought into this."

"Yes, I did!" She stood straighter, showing off her self-pride. "And I may have gotten the wrong flag, but he'll be here."

"I wouldn't hold my breath"

I laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling as I waited for her to leave, but that didn't happen. Instead, she stared at me every so often, with perplexed calculation. Like she was trying to figure something out, or perhaps measure me up. She did think her brother was dating me, so I guessed it made sense. I felt a tiny bit hurt that she was trying to figure out why he would like me.

I cleared my throat, "Katia?"

"Yeah."

"You know, when all that shit went down in the dining hall, I was on your side."

"I know." She sounded almost bored despite the slight flush that colored her cheeks. "I heard what you said." 

I couldn't even hide my surprise. "You heard?"

"Yes." Looking at me as if that memory replaced her earlier confusion about me, she nodded and smiled softly at me. "I thought it was pretty cool of you, Nicole." 

In the awkward silence that followed her words, I could only gape at her; she knew my name, and she'd heard me. Did that mean Kellen had heard?

"Thanks, by the way. I wouldn't have expected one of Kellen's sublings to have the guts to call him out on being a jerk, especially..." She pondered my expression a moment and then ended her sentence with, "in front of everyone." 

-.-

No one had come yet and I was kind of pissed off. Not that I was uncomfortable; I was in what appeared to be an extra bedroom or dorm suite. It was adequate, I had a bed and clothes and music and books to read, but I was locked in. Katia brought me dinner later that night and breakfast the next morning and sat with me for a while each time; so I wouldn't go nuts, she'd said. But by lunch time I was livid.

Katia opened the door, tossed her book bag in and then picked up a bag from just outside the door. "I got us sushi!"

I heard the lock click from outside; they really weren't taking any chances that I would get away. "You know that's just a little psycho."

She looked at me blankly for a moment, "Sushi?" she asked. "I'm psycho for feeding you sushi?"

"No, the door," I clarified, turning an imaginary key in the air.

She nodded and then shrugged as she sat in front of me and ripped open the bag. "Hey, there's no fun in this otherwise." Passing me a miso soup, she laid everything out, setting both chopsticks and forks on the table between two plates. I rolled my eyes and grabbed a pair of chopsticks, and as I put a couple pieces of sushi on my plate, Katia looked thoughtful. "I got that from you guys, by the way. The," she mimicked my key turning and clicked her tongue.

"How does it feel?" I asked after ignoring her through our meal, and she lowered her book to raise an eyebrow at me. "Being noticed?"

"What?" she laughed, peering at me like she couldn't believe I was asking. 

I frowned. "You and your friends, even Kellen and the guys, everyone notices you. You guys say things, or do things and people listen, they hear you."

"I guess it's nice." She sounded as if she'd never given it a thought.

It irked me and I snapped at her, "Have you ever been in the background? Do you even know what it feels like to be swallowed into one of your two armies and told what to do day in and day out? Do you ever think about us? I mean, really think about us. Because honestly, who the hell wants to set up a prank in the middle of night for you while you get your beauty sleep?"

Her face became truly unreadable. "I'm not making anyone watch you, am I?"

I scoffed, "I bet that's only because you think you'll get some kind of information out of me that you can use against them."

A flush crept across her face and I knew I was right. "Fine, I don't think of you guys. I guess I just assumed that since everyone was so into it in the beginning, everyone was still enjoying themselves."

"You guys made yourselves the A-listers and put us all in our places to serve you without question. None of you consider the things we may have going on in our lives; games, tests, crushes, dates, our ambitions. You just tell us where to be and what to do, and half the time you don't even know the name of the person you're talking to! We're all just skills to you. How can you think we're all enjoying ourselves?"

"I, um." Her face crumpled. "I have to go." Forcefully keeping her back to me, she packed up her things. She turned her head only a fraction after knocking on the door twice. "Some of you are enjoying yourselves, you know. Bye Nicole."