Madison v.s The Travelling Exchange Students

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Oh, Sienna, What Have You Done?

The hood of his jumper is pulled down over his face, concealing his black hair and when we make eye contact for a moment, I notice the bags under his eyes. I look away very quickly.

Will closes the office door and he and Alex walk up and stand to my left, Alex keeping at least a meter of distance between us. The air suddenly feels hot and thick with a hint of deception.

This is going to go swimmingly.

I watch Justin open his mouth to start talking first.

"Does anyone know why we are all in here?" he asks, not a hint of lightness in his voice.

Everyone in the room starts to shift, no one talking. A few sideways glances and shrugs are thrown around but I can tell they are fake; everyone knows why we are here. I notice the smiles shared between Mia, Lily and Georgia and apparently Antonio does too.

"Finding this fun girls?" he snaps, folding his arms. "You seem very smiley."

The three of them drop their eyes and shake their heads. 

"No, Antonio," Georgia squeaks.

"Good," says Justin. "Because we aren't in here for a good reason."

"It turns out that some people among us staged a little coup right under Justin and I's noses," Antonio says. "While we were thinking that all this commotion that has been happening to us while we have been staying at Darwin was the result of a mad man, it turns out that our own riders have been sabotaging us."

Eyes all fall on me causing heat to rise up my cheeks. I try and bite my tongue when I spy Sienna and Elias eyeing each other with sly smiles.

Gosh, I wish I could smack both of them right now.

The room remains silent as Justin continues.

"Now this is serious everyone. Not only could have these events endangered Antonio and I's professional reputations but also the horses could have been hurt and above all, you all could have been hurt," he booms.

No one, not even I, can look at Justin. 

"There have been certain names dropped on who exactly was involved," he continues. "But apparently each and every one of you knew about this so you are all in trouble for not coming forward."

The glares my way increase.

"We just want to know what really has been going on," Antonio speaks.

There is more uncomfortable shuffling.

"No one?" Antonio scoffs. "Fine. Sienna, what have you been told has happened?"

Antonio's niece looks up, a startled look on her face. Her usual chilled look has evaporated from her face and I almost fall off my chair laughing. She runs a hand through her red hair and then starts to gather herself into her usual calm and cool demeanour. 

"Well, Zio," Sienna starts. "Elias approached me a few weeks ago asking for help as Maddie had come to him wanting something."

"Wanting what?" Antonio questions.

Sienna opens her mouth but doesn't speak, looking to Elias for assistance. Elias's face is emotionless.

"Maddie wanted to break up with Alex and be with Elias. Elias, being the good friend he is though, decided he wouldn't do that to Alex and declined," Sienna explains, just causing me to roll my eyes. "When she didn't get what she wanted she threatened Elias into helping her do all these terrible tasks, Zio. So then Elias came to me asking for help and I knew I couldn't let that happen to my baby cousin-Alex means the world to me. Then we decided to catch her and stop Maddie's plan before it impacted SEC even more so we took those photos of Maddie kissing Elias."