Briar wakes up, "why are you here?"
Ellie sits up on the ground. She's maybe slept an hour. The bags and mascara that drag under her eyes prove it.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Ellie offers, her lips pressed tightly together.
"Well, I am," Briar snaps. She's bitter. She's never drunk so much that's she blacked out before. She only wonders what humiliating things she got up to last night. At least, she had Ellie on her side. Someone was watching out for her.
"Do you know what happened last night?" Ellie asks.
When Briar shakes her head, Ellie begins to explain. The dancing, the boy who tried to take her upstairs. Luis stopping them. The trip to the doctor's office.
All of it isn't there for Briar. It wasn't like a light went off. Things got fuzzier and fuzzier until everything was a blur. She doesn't remember any boy in particular. A few she danced with refilled her cup. How could she have been so stupid?
"Do you want to call the police?"
"No," Briar jumps in quickly.
It would be humiliating if they began an investigation. They would dissect every part of her life, and she'd be That Girl on campus. Everyone would know. Hawkwood isn't big. Briar would rather no one knew. She'd rather no one talked about it. Despite what people may say, there is such a thing as bad publicity.
It would be humiliating if they didn't investigate. Campus police didn't do anything last time. She doesn't know if the police would take her seriously. She isn't sure if being roofied is any more serious than nearly being murdered, and she doesn't want to compare, but if reporting one is viewed as attention-seeking behaviour, than surely the other is.
"Okay," it doesn't satisfy Ellie, but she doesn't want to tell Briar what to do.
Ellie gets up off the floor, folding up the blankets she brought from her room to sleep with, when she spots a note on the floor.
She recognizes the paper immediately. It's thick, a crisp white, and is folded perfectly in half. Briar gets up, dizzy on her feet, and walks around to the letter.
"Who's it from?" Briar asks.
Ellie opens it. The two read along. It's from The Divide, and one note is tucked inside another. One is addressed to Briar, the other to Ellie.
Ellie doesn't read hers out loud. The letter calls for an immediate meeting in the backroom of the campus' pub at ten o'clock this evening. She will have to endure everyone for two hours, and though the pub normally closes at 11, the staff will turn a blind eye.
Briar's letter is practically the same, except for hers warns of a strike against her, for reporting to campus police.
All across campus, the others open similar letters. Only Felix faces a strike as well, for his role in accompanying Briar to the police station.
There is no time to meet up and discuss the events of last night. By the time the others awaken, it is already noon. Study spaces during the day fill up like the bellies of the hungry at a feast. Quickly.
Instead, they go to the cafeteria on campus and eat, separately. Not necessarily avoiding each other, but not waving when they see one another. They do what little work they can to prep for Monday classes. The first game of the season is on Thursday, and the play premiers Friday. Midterms. Everything is piling up, like cars on the freeway.
They get ready for the meeting, not looking to dress up as fancy as they did for the first nor as casually as they did for the party. They each want to look like themselves for a change. Maybe the initiation process is over, but they doubt it.
When they arrive, they are ushered into the backroom. It looks medieval, made mostly of wood with a long table and singular black candles along the middle. Stained glass windows lead to the outside, though none of them can peer through the glass to the outside world. They find their seats around the table, the dozen of them, taking their spots. Each spot along the table has two cards on it, as well as a luxurious pen. One is blank and the other says their names.
"There's a message on the back," Roman points out. They pull their card up to read the back. "List three likes and three dislikes on the blank card. Shuffle them, then guess to whom each card belongs."
"Leaving us with a simple activity tonight, I see," Jetta rolls her eyes.
"Nothing is simple when it comes to them," Ez shakes his head and looks under the table to check for a trap. There is none to be found.
"Just fill it out and I'll shuffle them out," Kai offers. He keeps looking at Briar. He wants to say something to her, to make sure it's not his neck on the line next to Poppy's. The crowd is too big though.
Felix laughs, "who died and made you king? I want them."
"Give them to Vieira," Tom suggests.
Everyone looks at her, and she can feel herself sinking into her chair. Why would Tom even suggest such a horrific thing? She's done her fair of public speaking, but on such little sleep, she wanted to relax and be herself for a night.
"Okay," she says anyway.
They each write down their list of likes and dislikes, waiting for the food to arrive. The room is silent, the tension palpable. Evelyn tries to chat to her seat partner, Ez, about the weather, but he is intent on writing down his answers.
Once all is settled, and the appetizers begin to arrive, Vieira collects the cards. She clears her throat.
"Likes are lavender tea, loud music and painting," Vieira musters. "Dislikes are dogs, baths, and the opera."
Everyone looks around. The game is harder than they anticipated.
"Is it you?" Evelyn asks.
Vieira shakes her head.
"It's got to be Luis then," Kai jumps in. "Painting is a dead giveaway."
Luis smiles. Kai knows something about him. Sure, it's something that he mentioned in their first conversation, but it shows nonetheless. Luis had debated putting rich people on his list, but he figured it would turn too many heads.
"Do the next one," Roman says. They quite like puzzles.
Vieira nods, picking up the next sheet, "this person likes boating, satin, and expensive wine. They dislike horses, winter, and bright lights."
"Poppy," Kai says quickly, remembering their conversation immediately.
Poppy bows her head, a slight smile on her face. She hates giving things away about herself. She fears it ruins all the fun. Still, she is happy to have made a mark on someone.
"This person likes potato latkes, books-"
"Ez," half the room erupts in chorus, all laughing.
Ez smirks. It seems he has made a good impression on them all. They know exactly what he stands for. "That would be me."
Vieira tries to calm herself, as a pink tinge rises to her cheeks. "This person likes starry nights, green tea, and colourful eyeliner, and they dislike crowds, rain, and dirty paintbrushes."
"It's you, isn't it," Tom says, his eyes wide and a smile etched on his face.
Vieira nods and flips over the next card. She reads it over and flips to the next.
"Don't skip," Kai says. "Read it out loud!"
Vieira goes back to the card, afraid of confrontation. It isn't very nice, and so her voice becomes small. "This person likes long coats, the colour brown, and being better than everyone. They dislike sweet foods, cigarettes, and Poppy."
The scrapping of food on plates stops. Vieira stands still but feels herself getting antsy. The restaurant staff come in with the food, dropping the plates off in front of everyone. No one makes a move to eat their identical meals, paid for by The Divide. No one does anything.
"Who wants to own up to that?" Poppy asks once the staff has cleared out.
Felix raises his hand, "I did it."
Jetta winces. Did nothing change from their conversation in the bathroom last night?
"Well, let's continue," Poppy says, gesturing for Vieira to go on.
The rest of the game is agonizingly long. Evelyn likes fashion, so she is busted immediately, as does Kai's interest in sports. Briar and Ellie are easy to distinguish from one another. While Briar likes parties, dresses and wine, and dislikes rules, politics, and the quiet, Ellie likes running, learning, and music and dislikes failure, bigotry, and noisy people. Anyone who knows Jetta can tell by the time her list reaches leather jackets that it's her. Roman, who likes astronomy, chess, and cloudy days, and dislikes cocky people, their mother, and burnt toast, would be harder to guess if they weren't second last. Tom doesn't even get a word listed before everyone guesses that the card is his.
Vieira finally sits down, but things have not returned to normal. Poppy and Felix exchange tense glances. The only sounds that can be heard are the scraping of cutlery and the chewing of food.
"What's the game about?" Felix asks. "Why do you know so much more than the rest of us?"
Poppy puts down her cutlery and folds her hands in her lap, "as previously mentioned, my mother-"
"What about the roofies then? And the drug you gave Evelyn?" Felix presses on.
Poppy's face twitches. She picks up a serviette and wipes the corners of her mouth, "Felix, I suggest you reconsider this line of questioning."
"Now you're threatening me?" he laughs.
Poppy stands up at the table. "Do you want to hear a threat? I can threaten you if you'd like. I'm a legacy kid, which means my spot is guaranteed. Initiates who don't make it lose more than The Divide. They somehow fail all of their classes and are consequently expelled from Hawkwood. I'm getting in. If you cross me, you might not be so lucky."
Poppy plays her hands on her hips, staring down Felix.
None of them knew that initiates who aren't accepted are expelled. Those with strikes, including Evelyn, Tom, Briar and Felix, feel the weight of their past slights against The Divide on their heads. Scholarship students and the wealthy alike feel nervous. They've already set roots in Hawkwood. The shame that it would bring to lose everything is unmeasurable.
"You're bluffing," Ez says, hoping to catch her off-guard. He blinks, though he tries not to let his eyes betray him.
"You wish I was bluffing," Poppy's voice is firm and low.
Jetta believes her. She can't explain it, but she believes her. Maybe Poppy is overestimating the weight of her opinions since she was the one who was shot by what could have potentially been The Divide.
Evelyn stands up. She plays with the hem of her shirt, thinking about the drugs she took last night. If anyone found out she had a lapse in judgement, she doesn't even know what would happen. Her parents have given her such an amazing life. How could she disappoint them?
"I'm going to use the bathroom," she says.
"No one goes anywhere," Poppy raises her voice. "Not while I'm talking. I know your secrets. The things you think are hidden from other people, I've picked up on them. I know your fears, your beliefs. I know everything about you."
The heat in the room is rising.
Ellie is feeling unsettled. Not a soul knows about her method of success. Could Poppy know? She seems to know everything. Like The Divide, she is everywhere.
"You couldn't possibly..." Felix begins. He trails off as Poppy sucks in her cheeks, making her cheekbones pop. Could she know about his disordered eating? How?
Briar is too overwhelmed to say anything. The events of last night are already too much to process, let alone the idea of being removed from Hawkwood. She's already set down her roots here. She knows the campus. She knows the people. She knows the disgrace that would accompany her at her removal.
Kai is growing angry. He doesn't like when other people throw their weight around. Furthermore, he certainly doesn't like being shown up. He is the one who must be in control. Always. "You don't know who you're threatening?"
"Don't I? Kaikara?" Poppy asks. "Son of Archibald Findlay, Earl of Loxhurst? Your father may own a film studio, but I can get you blacklisted from the industry without lifting a finger."
Kai flinches. He doesn't like to think of the consequences of that decision. He could go on to play sports, but he would forever be a disappointment to his family. They would cut him off financially. What then?
"Why are you doing this?" Tom asks, his voice quiet and soft. He knows he stands no chance outside of Hawkwood. If he's expelled, he'll never get as good a scholarship, as good of connections.
Roman knows why, but it's too Machiavellian to speak a name. Roman needs Hawkwood to make their father's memory proud. They carry an intersection of burdens. Being queer and black makes everything twice as hard. Starting over isn't possible.
"It is better to be feared than loved," they say.
Luis is beginning to see the secrets that have been kept. An expulsion might be nice, to stick it to Mama. However, seeing the look of panic on the faces of the others brings him to a sense of community. Poppy's behaviour cannot go on.
Vieira is afraid. She has nothing to hide, but can't help but think there must be something. Her lungs begin to close in.
"I can't breathe," she says. "I can't... I..."
Tom normally would leap out of his chair to help her, but he's caught up staring at Poppy.
"It smells like smoke," Evelyn points out. Her nose has always been hypersensitive, as well as the majority of her senses.
"They smoke meat at night," Poppy points out.
"Not like that," Ellie shakes her head. The smell is seeping into the room.
Kai moves over and touches the door handle. The metal burns his skin, and he yelps as he lets go.
The others begin to panic. Vieira is panicking, full-blown hyperventilating. She can't move.
"What do we do?" Felix asks. He goes around the table to grab Poppy, who is debating if she should grab all of the utensils and shove them in her purse. His hands wrap around the collar of her shirt, yanking her in close to his face. "You did this!"
"I've been in here the whole time, and I'm just as screwed as you," Poppy points out. She looks around.
Briar is trying to hold in her tears. She is going to die. Tom tries the door handle again, only to get burned. Ez's fists smash against the table as anger fills him. Luis is frozen, unable to move. Evelyn is sobbing, rubbing her eyes. Roman has their eyes closed and is muttering something to their dead father. Jetta knows better than to panic and has already used a serviette to cover her mouth.
Smoke begins to gather in the room.
"Get down," Ellie instructs. "The smoke will get us before the fire."
She knows this to be true. Unless, of course, there is a ruptured gas line in the building.
All of them but Vieira obey. Tom has to grab her and pull her down.
"Kai," Poppy says. "Listen to me."
"Why the fuck should any of us listen to you?" Ez snarls.
"Grab a chair and smash the glass," she instructs. "Now!"
Kai grabs a chair and throws it at the stained glass windows, cracking it. He picks another up and charges at the glass, smashing it. He tumbles through the hole and feels something slice his leg.
"Shit," Poppy says. She won't be able to clean up that huge sample of DNA.
Everyone begins to make their way over to the window, even Vieira whose vision is turning black. After kicking in the pieces of broken glass, they move through the shattered windowpane.
Outside, they all gasp for air. It is cold but cleaner.
"Leave," Poppy coughs, standing up and shooing people off. "We have to go before the fire department gets here and starts asking questions."
"The Divide's behind this?" Evelyn asks.
"Who else could it be?" Ez counters. He shoves his hands in his pockets and runs.
Ellie helps Briar get up, and they tear off towards their hall. Felix can't bear the sight of Poppy, so he leaves. Luis, panicked, runs as far away from the building as he can. Roman wants to stay behind, but thinks of expulsion and decides to run. Tom tries to pull Vieira away, who is still hyperventilating. Kai ends up picking her up and the three jog away together. Evelyn pulls off her heels and darts through the grass.
Jetta stares at Poppy. She wants to better understand her. She had believed her, the night on the peer, and she believes her now. She feels sorry for Poppy, but more importantly, she is scared of Poppy.
So, she runs, leaving Poppy as the only one standing.
~~~~~
Let me know if you guys want more space between updates. I asked on my message board and consequently posted this, but since I write a lot, if you need more time I can oblige. Anywho, I'm feeling excited. I keep loving your predictions. For now, I'll ask:
who is your favourite character and why? Personally, Poppy is both my favourite and least favourite. She's just so fun and awful, you know?