Culling

Part I • Chapter VII

"Why Peanut?" I wondered out loud, finger to my lip again.

"Mostly because you are little, like a tiny peanut." Nathan said as he pointed his finger up as if he was stating the obvious.

Silas nodded in agreement.

I frowned. "I'm not that little. I'm sixteen!"

Silas and Nathan burst into laugher and if I wasn't so confused, and a little bit offended, I would have taken the time to appreciate the sound.

"They are saying that you are small. Short. Tiny." Dr Green clarified as he remained behind me. "Don't worry, we don't think you look like a child. It is clear that you are a woman."

What did that mean?

Mr Blackbourne cleared his throat bringing everyone's attention to him. "As entertaining as this conversation may be, did any of you even ask Miss..." He trailed off, giving me an expectant look.

"Sorenson." I replied.

"Did any of you think to ask Miss Sorenson if she would even want to be our roommate? Perhaps she had prior arrangements."

I noticed Kota blushing again, and could see that Silas and Nathan mirrored his expression.

"It's alright. Until Gabriel suggested it I didn't know that you all would be interested. Like Kota said, we are friends now..."

Mr Blackbourne gave me a look I couldn't decipher.

"No one should ever take anything for granted when it comes to you. If you wanted to join another group, then you are free to do so despite our wants." Mr Blackbourne held my gaze and asked me directly. "So, do you want to stay with us?"

Why did I get the feeling that this was a pivotal moment?

Did I know these men, not really? After all, I literally just met them this evening.

However, my instincts screamed at me that I could trust them, and from what I have learned so far, I really liked them. I felt like these were the kind of people I had been waiting my whole life to meet.

There was only one possible answer to Mr Blackbourne's question. "Yes. I'll stay."

With that statement I felt the atmosphere shift with something different, but I didn't know what.

Mr Blackbourne nodded at me. I could have sworn I saw a millimeter smile on his face but the lighting wasn't good enough to know for sure.

"Good!" Gabriel clapped his hands once from behind me, signaling that he had finished. The focus went back to what he had been doing. "It'll do for now."

I moved my hand to touch the back of my head, where my hair was now pulled back, but he lightly slapped it away. "Don't touch it, you'll ruin it!"

Silas and Nathan walked to stand behind me in order to admire Gabriel's work. I could hear that Gabriel was explaining how normally he would have my hair down, but Adam had used so much hairspray that he had no choice but to temporarily put it into a relaxed fishtail.

Nathan asked Gabriel if he should put some flowers in it because "girls like flowers". Gabriel informed Nathan that he must want to make me a walking target for insects.

Apparently though, Dr Green agreed with Nathan and, from the sounds of it, Silas had even brought over a collection of different plants. Gabriel snapped at them to do each other's hair if it was that important to them.

They all seemed pretty passionate about this topic and I wasn't sure if they were being serious or not.

I kind of wanted to see what was going on in case I happened to end up with half the garden on my head. I couldn't move though, Kota had a firm grip on me and I didn't want to tell him to let me go.