Freaks

38 • trust

"Logan's going to be on this plane, isn't he?" Cole says as we board the jet. "What do you say? Do we trust him?"

Is this the game we'll have to play from now on? As Cole and Cass discuss pros and cons of letting him in, I walk ahead, past the flight attendants and to the seat in front of the half-asleep Logan Wade.

"Hey, Logan," I greet him with a warm smile before turning to Cole and Cass who still stand by the entrance. My look says it all. We trust him. They respond with nonchalant half-shrugs "okay".

"Hey Emma," Logan says, rapidly blinking to keep himself awake, "how was your—" His eyes drift to Cole and Cass widening to the size of saucers. "Wow, you guys weren't kidding about that. You really spent all Easter break together?"

"Well, just some of it," Cass admits, sitting in the aisle seat beside Logan. "We arrived in the second week I think."

"Yeah," Cole agrees. "Hey." He and Logan do that weird up-nod thing guys sometimes do that I suppose constitutes as a 'hello' for them. Then he hovers by the seat beside mine until I take him by the hand and pull him to sit beside me.

"I don't like aisle seats," he complains halfheartedly, intertwining our fingers.

I lean in to whisper, "But you like me so it's okay."

A smile tugs at his lips.

From behind us, I hear Cass fake-gag, muttering to Logan, "That's the kind of sickening sweet-talk I've had to listen to for weeks."

❧

   Our return to the DA is more unceremonious than usual.

Thanks to a detour taken by the flight team, we arrive at Beta in the dead of night. We receive our room keys from the receptionist on the night shift and trudge to our dorms, where our bags had already been delivered.

After sending a quick text to my aunt and uncle confirming our safe arrival, I shut my eyes and fall asleep.

The next morning is oddly quiet despite the bustling of students to and fro the floor. Cass, who is already awake, waits for me to shower and dress up before we head downstairs to breakfast together.

A sleepy atmosphere that I thought I'd left behind in Haven hangs in the air. The only person I meet who acts somewhat lively is Markus.

"I'm glad you guys all had such a swell time. Must have been a great bonding experience," he comments, holding me, Cole and Cass under his scrutinising gaze. "Look at them, Wil. They're like their own golden trio. Why am I not part of a golden trio? Logan, we're forming our own trio."

"Bro, stop. No." Logan shakes his head tiredly.

"No one has the energy to deal with you this morning, Markus," Willow says, churning her cereal with her spoon as if it was a bowl of unappetising sludge.

I guess everyone is feeling jet-lagged too. Did all the planes take detours?

After another ten minutes of eating with snippets of conversations thrown in when someone gathers the strength to ask a question, the lights around the room begin to dim.