Project: Sunshine

13- Call of the Gods

    "Why are you always acting like such a bitch?" Stella blurted, Phoenix sat up straight, she took clear offense.

    "Excuse me?"

    "Hey, who do you think you are?" The girl beside Phoenix asked, Stella stared at her void-like eyes. She raised to her feet, Stella was taller than the girl, by a lot. "Do you have a problem?" Stella didn't feel intimidated, her eyes narrowed down at the girl.

    "Back off, Iris," Phoenix said, the girl glanced back at her before shooting Stella one last glare before walking back to her original seat. "Stella, he's a sensitive topic."

   Stella wanted to apologize and tell her she should have asked differently. But she didn't, "Okay." She turned around and went to walk away but was stopped. 

     "Hey, Stella?"

    "Huh, what?" Stella looked back at her, Phoenix thought about her next words before she huffed and said them anyway.

    "Me and Iris have a plan to escape, at tomorrow's lunch, get everyone at your table or anyone you want out of here and bring them here, and then we'll talk," Phoenix said, Iris glanced at Phoenix like she was asking if she was sure. Phoenix nodded at her before meeting Stella's gaze.

    "Got it, okay." Stella then walked away, she knew who she'd tell. Stella glanced up at the boy whom she originally wasn't able to look away from, he wasn't looking up so Stella was drawn in.

    Should I talk to him?

    Stella returned to her seat, she didn't sit down though. She tapped on the table to get Ash's attention. "Hey, how'd you feel about talking to Mystery Boy over there?" Stella nodded her head towards Ginger's supposed brother.

    "Uh, sure." Ash slowly closed his sketchbook, tapped on Pierce's shoulder, and scooted the sketchbook toward him. "I'm gonna go talk to someone over there."

    "Cool," The purple-eyed boy didn't look up, he just grabbed the sketchbook and welcomed himself to the drawings. "Have fun."

    Ash smiled slightly before he stood up, Stella watched his smile fade but rise back up when he looked up.

    "Ready?" Stella asked, Ash breathed out and then nodded. "As long as we don't look at him we'll be fine. He can't be that bad."

    "Okay," Ash glanced over in Mystery Boy's direction, "Okay. Let's go."

    Stella barely brushed her arm against Ash as she started walking, "I have something I want to talk to you about, with him I guess." Ash hummed, Stella stared at the top of his head. She found that she liked being taller than people, she never really was taller than anyone. "Essentially, Phoenix and Iris, I'm pretty sure, have a plan to get out of here. You in?"

    "Oh, um... I don't know." Ash mumbled, Stella's expression changed to shock, genuinely shocked that he didn't want to escape. "I'm quite comfortable here... Me and Pierce didn't have a good life out there."

    "Ah, I get it." Stella sighed, she didn't get it. Maybe Ash and Pierce didn't get treated as badly as Stella or anyone else did, she assumed Ash was well-behaved, so why would he be mistreated? But Pierce had a vibe about him that just made it seem like he would be hurt. Also, he had bruises all over him. "Could you help? But surely if Pierce leaves, you'd go too?"

    "I don't think he'd go if I didn't." Stella nodded, from the small details she'd picked up, Ash and Pierce's relationship was odd. Pierce didn't seem interested in his brother, but Ash hadn't said one bad thing about him. They were also opposites, they reminded her a lot of her and her sister.