The Hijinks War

27. Prisoners

The pressure of him waiting for me to elaborate built too much and I dropped back down onto the bed, pulling the covers over my head once again.

"Cole?"

"I kind of went on a rant and I guess maybe she took it as me saying I hated her."

"And me," he deadpanned. Even under the sheets, I felt a little like he was evaluating why he'd bothered getting me out of there. Suddenly the bed shook, Kellen's limbs causing the mattress to tilt as he moved, and his body dropped down beside me. He yanked the corner of the covers down so I couldn't hide anymore and held my gaze, a hint of teasing on his face. "Explain."

I didn't reply right away―I couldn't―too startled by his sudden appearance in my personal space bubble, and the unexpected goosebumps that rose on my arms, to formulate an answer.

"That's an order, Private." His voice was serious and hard edged, like he usually sounded outside of his dorm room, but his pretty, hazel eyes danced with a laugh. No. Nope. Look away, Nicole.

"Fine, but could you move back?"

"Why? Does this make you uncomfortable?"

"No, but from this close, I can see how awful your skin is, and it's a real turn off!" I quipped. 

He rolled his eyes and shifted back as much as he could on the twin sized bed. 

"I was trying to be nice, really I was," I said with a sigh. "But, honestly, I can't even promise I'll be nice now, so there's that."

"Quit stalling."

"I guess it comes down to that fact that I'm over this whole war thing of yours. Or I'm over the hierarchy. I kind of dumped it all on her—it wasn't fair really." Fiddling with the sheets, I waited for him to say something, anything.

The silence stretched for what felt like 20 minutes to me, driving me near insane and I fidgeted incessantly, eventually freeing myself from the covers and laying on top of them like he did. His hand came crashing down on my arm suddenly, making me jump and, I'm sad to admit, squeak.

"Stop that! I'm trying to sleep, and that's really annoying. And, that wasn't much of an explanation, Hero."

I growled at him, and watched his grin grow, as his eyes drifted closed again. "I dunno," my voice was low and as quiet as I could talk, and I let my hair fall over my face so I could hide under it. "Sometimes I feel like you guys in charge of everything don't even notice us. It kind of bothers me."

I paused, frowning. "No, that's a lie. It really bothers me. Those awesome pranks that you guys come up with and we pull off? They take time; that means cancelled dates, missing T.V. shows we want to watch, not being able to study for tests. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but a lot of us feel like we don't have a choice in participating."

I didn't look to see what his reaction was, or if he was even listening. It felt good to be getting it off my chest, out loud, and in a decent, less ranting way than I'd done with Katia; he could have been sleeping for all I cared.

"So that's why she's mad. I called her out on not giving a shit about anyone but herself and her stupid vendetta against you. I told her I think you guys treat the rest of us like we're just a bunch of skills at your disposal. You guys tell us what to do and you don't even know our names sometimes."

Finished with what I had to say, what he'd asked me to explain, I brushed my hair aside and looked at him. He hadn't moved at all, not even a twitch, and his hand was still on my arm from when he grabbed me to stop my fidgeting. Sleeping? The idiot was sleeping?