Crimson

Chapter 8: Answers

"I didn't get my uniform until after I got all patched up." She said, pointing to her neck. "There are tons of students here. It wasn't me."

You tried to make sense of it all, as Eleanor appeared at your side. You introduced him to your roommate Simone. Eleanor whistled at someone who came strolling into the discussion. He introduced you to Theodore, whom you'd already met, as his roommate.

You thought it was funny how both you and Eleanor just happened to have the second year prefects as your roommates.

"It's probably because they know Maurice." He said with an embarrassed smile. "Gotta have someone to watch over his brother."

The four of you walked out the hall and into one of the beautiful, echoey halls of the castle, on your way to your next class.

It didn't take long for the discussion to turn to Simone's neck. Eleanor seemed particularly interested.

"I'm going to be a doctor after I graduate." He said proudly. "You should let me take a look."

"I can't-" Simone said quickly. "It'll hurt. I just need to keep it on."

Eleanor raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything else about it.

While you were walking, you finally had the chance to tell Simone about what happened last night. Theodore was there too and you didn't know him that well either, but it was fine.

Although maybe you shouldn't have told your rule breaking adventures to the two prefects of second year.

"Well, the responsible thing to do would probably be to tell Cadere..." Theodore said, thinking. "But if I did that, I'm sure Eleanor over here would tell him about me partying in the underground lair."

"You still go to that?" Simone asked.

Eleanor told you about his discussions with Theodore last night about Maurice, who he also knew. Apparently, for a prefect, Theodore was quite the rule breaker himself.

You couldn't help but wonder why Cadere seemed to run the whole school but before you thought to ask, Eleanor asked Simone where she was last night. If she wasn't giving you a straight answer, maybe she'd give one to Eleanor.

"Well, I was telling y/n," she began, "I met someone."

"Who?" Everyone wanted to know.

"His name's Roman." She said with dreamy eyes. "He's even cuter than that blonde boy we ran into, Belmont."

"No way." You said, blushing at the memory of Bel that night.

"Yeah, he's got orange eyes that match his hair and he's so tall and get this-" she said with a smirk, "He's from the night class, too."

Your eyes widened. You could never have imagined stumbling upon this many night students in the first two days.

"They always forget the system during the start of the school year," Said Theodore as he rolled his eyes. "We should probably tell Cadere about his two students out of their dorm-"

"But then we'd have to tell him about the two students out of our dorm." Simone countered.

Theodore's smile lit up his mischievous eyes, as everyone arrived at their next class. You sat together this time, next to Simone. You weren't going to let her disappear again.

"You wouldn't believe how charming he was," Simone said absently. "And I know he's one of the more well known boys. I bet you'd know him, Theodore."

"What did you say his name was?" He asked, twiddling a pencil in his hands.

"Roman," she replied, stating off into the distance.

Theodore's eyes lit up with recognition.

"He's always at the underground lair." Said Theodore.

"The underground lair?" You questioned.

"It's like a nightclub underground," Eleanor said, pushing up his glasses. "Maurice told me about it."

"Do you think he'll be there again?" Asked Simone quickly.

"Probably," answered Theodore. "But it's kind of hush hush and against the rules to be down there late at night."

"Weren't you there last night?" You asked, and Eleanor laughed.

"Well- yeah." Admitted Theodore. Red tinted his cheeks.

"Then it's settled- tonight we can go to the Lair and maybe we'll see Roman." Simone suggested excitedly. "Bel might even be there."

You thought about it. You were a bit tired of all the action the past few days. But you were curious. And meeting new people, maybe having some fun, didn't seem like the worst idea. Besides- Simone needed someone to make sure she actually made it back for once.

"Okay, if everyone else is going." You said with a shrug.

"Whoa, who said I was going?" Said Eleanor.

"I did!" Grinned Theodore. "You are Maurice's brother, aren't you? What's the worst that could happen?"

And you don't know what you thought the worst could be, but the chain of events that soon followed meant that whatever you thought, you thought wrong.