Chiron Academy

Chapter 20.3: Movie Night, Afterwards

It was a little after 10 by the time the movie finished. The group seemed like they would probably be down to start a second one. Even Lindsey, which was surprising since she had slept through almost all of the first one. Wyatt certainly had no problem with staying up. As far he was concerned, the evening had barely begun. He wasn't going to sleep for hours. 

However, Amy had been quick to put the kibosh on that idea, packing up her DVDs and ordering everyone out. Since she was the owner of the DVD player and all of the movies, her opinion seemed to carry more weight. The Squad One crowd teetered on remaining and just talking together till Todd admitted he probably ought to go to bed. He had a meeting with Mr. Buckingham before breakfast.

Todd's departure seemed to dampen everyone's desire and pretty soon they decided it was best to adjourn. Gary gathered up the remains of the popcorn bags and Ryan quickly put the couches back as they had found them. 

"Thanks for inviting me," Wyatt said to Amy, as she rolled up the charging cord.

"Well, thanks for coming," she replied absently. "I'm just sorry it wound up like it did."

"No, it was good," he responded. "We should do it again sometime."

"It's not a hard event to pull off. I already watch a lot of movies. Believe me. Plus, apparently, when you join, it loosened up Mariah. She said more words in a row tonight than I've heard her say in a while. Roommates, right?"

She finished rolling up the chord and grabbed the DVD case off of the coffee table.

"So what are your plans for the rest of the night? Don't you normally scour the streets for scum and villainy in the evenings?"

"Normally, yeah," he said, "it's been pretty slow recently though. I think I might skip it for tonight. I think I might just wander around for a bit. I might have gone out anyway but, I "already put my costume in the wash. So that sort of scratches out that possibility."

"Oh yeah, this isn't really the time of year for wearing a soggy costume on patrol. You'll get icicles on your cape.

"Anyway," she said, pulling her hand up into a salute. The fact that she still had the power cord in her hand didn't make it look any more serious. "I bid you goodnight. See you at breakfast."

Which left Wyatt where he was now, wandering the quiet halls of the school by himself. Maybe he should have followed everyone else back to the dormitories, but William might still be awake and he didn't really want to talk to him right now. He could imagine William asking for a blow-by-blow about the evening. On the other hand, he might only get a lecture about how Wyatt was finally being responsible and going to sleep at a reasonable hour for a change. Wyatt wasn't sure which one would be worse.

Wyatt had been roaming the maze of faculty offices for a while when he heard voices coming around a corner. 

He turned a corner and saw light pouring out of what might have been a teachers' lounge with two people standing in the doorway. One was taller than the other. Wyatt couldn't quite make out the words, but the taller person seemed to be questioning the other in an intense whisper. Was it perhaps two teachers? He hadn't seen anyone at all since the movie group had disbanded and students had no real reason to be in this part of the building.

As he got closer, he realized that the taller one was actually Mr. Buckingham. 

"...So you just happened to be walking by then?" he was saying, his southern accent in full force. "It's a total coincidence that you're here at the same time?"

The person in the hallway was stammering.

"I... Yes... But..." a girl's voice replied. She grasped a handful of her long black hair in her hand as she strained for the words to say. Her other hand was holding a thick paperback.