DEFEATISM

06

~~~

Since Elodie has already chatted with her brother, she spends most of the afternoon giggling once her anger subsides. Everyone just needs to chill out, she thinks. She wishes she could make edibles in the oven and pass them out, just to see what people would be like while high. It would be too mean for her to trick Tempest into taking one, given her religious nature, but Elodie kind of wants to force them upon Benedict and Ro so that they mellow out.

~~~

On the fifth floor, Benedict is unpacking a suitcase while he talks to his father.

"You know, it'll clear up by the evening," his father's voice crackles on the line. "Don't even bother unpacking pajamas."

"Will do," Benedict says, shoving two pairs of jeans into his drawers.

"I mean it," his father says. "Your mother and I are personally going to find Jack Frost and give him a piece of our minds."

Benedict hates that his father seems to have forgotten that Benedict is no longer a student in his eighth-grade history class. Mr. Atwell is great with kids, but Benedict is an adult. Even with a driver's license and student loans, Benedict still listens to his father remind him to keep up with schoolwork and clean his room. Sometimes, Benedict worries that he will become a middle school teacher who treats adults like children just as his father is.

"I'm fine," Benedict says. "I can handle myself here for a few days. I've been doing it for months now."

"Yes, well... we worry," his father says. "Take the opportunity to make some friends. Get them to play a boardgame, or something!"

Benedict hates this. One year, his father bought him a book for his birthday called 10 Steps to Making Friends as a Teen Boy and Benedict knows now that his father was only trying to help, but Benedict definitely cried about it for a couple of hours. Benedict cried a lot back then.

However, no blizzard could ever make him as sad as he was in high school, so he should be fine.

~~~

Maverick thinks Galilee is the smartest he's ever met. Of course, other than Benedict, who is always willing to study with him even though Maverick struggles. Also, Darlington, who knows not just his classes but residence policies inside and out, is a genius. Ro is a computer engineer and when some students got trapped in the laundry room, Ro was clever enough to unscrew the door rather than wait for the facility unit to arrive. It's not computer engineering, but it's still clever.

Still, Maverick's mind cycles through his genius friends as he talks to his family on speaker phone, promising Twyla that he has a special day in store for her. He thanks Galilee in his head, and then feels bad for not thanking Benedict and Darlington and Ro, and also all of the others.

"You're going to have to help me, Twy," Maverick says. "No spoilers, but I'll need your advice on colours."

Maverick just wants sparkles in his nails. His colour blindness is rarer than other types. He is told that everything looks either red or turquoise, unsure what that means. Allegedly, the balloons that Moonie had purchased were gold, but they looked pretty similar to the streamers. Maverick liked the way they shimmered in the light. He takes wins where he can get them.