Shinigami Haken High School (Black Butler)

Chapter Thirty: Pack Your Bags

Quick A/N: While Nat and I were deciding what to name this, my autocorrect decided that it needed to change 'Bags'  to 'Bagel', so we were very tempted to name this chapter 'Pack Your Bagel'. Enjoy~

It was the following Thursday. I entered the lunchroom, carrying my tray piled with food with me. I walked over to the table that my friends and I had claimed as our own, following the daily routine that I always had. I sat down, nestling in between Ronald and Grell. I dove into my food, eating in silence. The silence struck me as surprising, our table was never silent. Peeking up and observing my group of friends, it was more than obvious that everyone was moody. 

Immeadiately, I began to infer why everyone was so emotional. I glanced around, eyeing everybody carefully. Grell was obviously still down about Sebastian breaking up with her, although the four of us had done everything within our power to try and cheer her up. 

I moved over to Eric, who was a bit more angry than upset. Surprisingly, he was even more enraged about Sebastian's break-up with Grell than she and I were combined. Alan was up next, and by the way he kept glancing over at Eric and how sweat kept beading up on his forehead, he was nervous because of Eric. I didn't blame him, I think he would have exploded if anyone talked to him. 

Ronald was the last of my group that I had came to. But by the time I had reached him, he had already broken the silence. He shot up from his seat, slamming his hands down on the table to grab our attention. Along with ours, nearly half of the cafeteria turned around to face him. His body trembled slightly and he tilited his head down, shaking it dramatically. After a moment of us waiting, Ronald finally spoke up. "You guys," he stated, seething as he glanced at each of us just as I had a moment ago, "we need to do something. About this," he said, gesturing to our group.

Grell shook her head and sighed, a few of her bangs falling into her face. She tucked them back behind her ear, but her efforts proved to fail when they fell back down. She glanced up at us, biting her lip. "Ronald, is that absolutely necessary?" she asked, her lip starting to tremble. I knew that if she started to talk, she'd end up a sobbing mess like she was on my couch the previous week.

Ronald grit his teeth, staring down at Grell with wide eyes. "Necessary? Necessary?!" he replied, exclaiming the word as he gaped at our group. He threw out his arms, waving them in our direction. He groaned and sat back down, hitting his head against the table repeatedly and causing it to shake. When he finally stopped, he looked back up to us, his green eyes on fire with rage. "Of course it's absolutely necessary! I mean, come on, you guys! Just look at yourselves! We're all just a group of gloomy teenagers! It's absolutely necessary to change that!"

The last sentence didn't seem to resonate with Eric. He stood from his seat, his fists clenched at his sides. His body shook with tension as he glared down at Ronald. The wrong thing was said at the wrong time, and he wasn't afraid to take his anger out on someone. "Knox," he growled under his breath, "what did you just call us?" he asked bitterly as he put his hands down on the table.

"Eric," Alan whispered, standing up next to Eric. He had grown since he had first started attending our school, but he was still a lot smaller in stature when compared to Eric. He grabbed each of Eric's arms with his hands, holding him back. Alan was obviously scared that Eric would loose his temper on him, but he did it anyway. I smiled over at him with a little pity, it took a lot of guts to do that, and I was thankful that he was. "Eric," he repeated with a sigh, "why don't we let Ronald finish what he was going to say?"

Eric shook his head, sitting down without another word. Ronald took a deep breath, clearing his throat before continuing. He sat his arms on the table, folding his hands. "I propose a weekend getaway," he paused, and we all stared at him questioningly. I had no idea what he was getting at with his 'weekend getaway' idea, and nobody else in our group did, either. "See, I think that if we leave town, just for a couple of days, it'll help us clear our minds. That's why I'm presenting that we get out of town and go to, drum roll, please."