"Ah shit- this feels so weird-" Dex said.
"Probably because you're not supposed to manifest. Or exist." Stina said, snickering.
"That was fucking below the belt!" Tam yelled.
"Honestly who gives a shit?" Sophie said.
"You wanna go? Cause we could take you down. Easily." Marella said, fire licking her palms.
"Yeah sure." Fitz said.
"Oh fuck this, and fuck you idiots. We survived by ourselves for years, we can do it for one night." Jocelyn said, with a face of pure disgust.
They walked out.
"Erm Stina? You probably shouldn't have said that." Maruca said quietly.
"It's fine, they deserved it." Fitz said airily.
"Um can we finish the movie- I was actually enjoying it." Keefe said, trying to change the topic.
"Yeah okay." Biana said.
They finished the movie and fell asleep.
Jocelyn POV:
Once they were in the forest, Jocelyn turned to Dex.
"You okay? You should get some sleep." she said.
Dex nodded, already drained of energy.
They found a small cave, where they conjured up some blankets where they then fell asleep telling each other jokes and laughing at their pathetic lives.
Soon only Tam and Jocelyn were awake.
"You still awake?" Tam shadow whispered.
"Yeah." she whispered back.
"Come outside." he said.
She got up and followed him outside.
He was sitting by a tree, skipping rocks.
She joined him, and he wrapped an arm around her.
"You're not okay, and don't try to deny it. You've been picking at the skin around your fingers for hours." Tam said.
Indeed, the skin around her nails was raw and bleeding.
"Oh yeah- forgot about that." Jocelyn said, laughing nervously.
"I don't like your brother. Imma call him Mophead." Tam said, lightening the mood.
Jocelyn laughed at that.
"No but seriously, he's a jerk for forgetting about his own twin. You shouldn't forgive him, you're doing the right thing. You shouldn't be feeling any guilt." Tam said softly.
"Thanks Tam, I really needed to hear that." Jocelyn said, pulling Tam closer.
"So should we go straight to school tomorrow or stop by the Collective." Tam said.
"We can go straight to school, Dex can hold out, the Collective would not appreciate being woken up at 6 am." Jocelyn said.
"Ok, get some sleep." Tam said, giving her a quick kiss on the lips.
"You too." Jocelyn said, kissing him on the cheek before going back inside.
- time skip to next morning -
Sophie POV:
"You think they're okay? How are they gonna get to school?" Sophie said.
"Dude chill. My sister has her ways." he said bitterly.
"About that, why did you never tell us?" Fitz said, a little hurt.
"I didn't want to talk about it, I guess I don't have a choice now." Keefe said quietly.
"It's okay, we're not mad, just a little surprised." Sophie said, giving Keefe a quick hug.
"Can't keep away from me I see." Keefe said playfully.
"Keefeeeeee" Sophie whined.
"Sophieeeeeeeee" Keefe said, mimicking her perfectly.
"Ok you have to show me how you do that, I need help with my mimicking." Sophie reluctantly admitted.
"Yeah I'll show you later, right now we have to go to school, and I need to ditch cause the butterblasts in the mentor's cafeteria are calling my name." Keefe said.
Everyone rolled their eyes.
The headed upstairs to see the crystals already set to Foxfire.
"Uh- it shouldn't be like that- unless someone just used it." Fitz said suspiciously.
"Those stupid outcasts probably used it to get to Foxfire." Stina grumbled.
"Well they do kinda have to get to school somehow." Sophie said.
"Whatever." Biana grumbled.
Together then leaped to Foxfire.
Jocelyn POV:
They quietly entered Everglen and leapt to Foxfire.
"Dex?" Linh said.
"Yeah?" he replied.
"You should go tell Dame Alina that you manifested, that way you can get a mentor." Linh pointed out.
"Oh right- forgot about that." Dex grumbled.
"C'mon, I need to talk to Alina about our stupid project anyway." Jensi said.
"Okay." Dex said.
They both walked off.
"Hey idiots!" a voice called from behind them.
"Hey bitches!" Tam yelled back.
Keefe approached them and prodded Tam in the chest.
"Did you sneak into Everglen, Bangs Boy?" Keefe said.
"Actually, we all did, Mophead." Tam retorted back.
"You. Did. Not. Just. Insult. The. Hair." Keefe said, shocked.
Tam raised an eyebrow.
"Didn't know you were naming your body parts level conceited." he said, snickering.
"Well what did you do, melt your nexus and stick your hair in it?" Keefe said.
"Actually my registry pendant, after I threw the crystal in my father's face." Tam retorted smugly.
"Like that's any better." Keefe said.
"It is, actually. You probably have more hair products than all the girls here combined. And that's not a compliment." Tam retorted angrily.
"Chillax Tam, he's not worth your time." Jocelyn said, pulling him away.
"Oh also, I don't approve of him Jo!" Keefe yelled to the retreating figures
"I don't give a fuck! And you don't get to call me that anymore!" Jocelyn said, flipping him off as she walked away.
"It's fine Keefe, c'mon, assembly is about to start." Fitz said, dragging Keefe into the auditorium.
The got settled in their seats just as Dame Alina's ugly face appeared on the screen.
"Hello prodigies! Firstly, I would like to apologize for yesterday's incident, it shall most likely never happen again.
"You wish." Tam muttered under his breath.
"Secondly, a prodigy manifested! Please join me in congratulating Dex Dizznee, our new technopath!" Dame Alina said brightly.
The outcasts clapped and cheered loudly when the spotlight hit.
Nobody else clapped.
Dex looked... Nervous? Ashamed? Scared?
Finally the spotlight turned off and announcements were over.
Everyone was gossiping about the son of a bad match manifesting. Eh whatever. Dex was great either way.
"C'mon! Ultimate Splotching Championship today, remember!" Jensi said with excitement.
Marella frowned.
"Don't we always skip that?" she said.
"Well wouldn't it be fun to beat those bratty kids?" Jensi pointed out.
"Huh. He's right. It would be fun." Dex said.
"Ok... guess we're doing this." Tam said.
They walked into the gymnasium to see people warming up.
They were getting partners when Fitz came up to them.
"Look who actually showed up. Scared you'll get beat?" Fitz said, snickering.
"Are you?" Jocelyn said in a deadly serious voice.
Fitz gulped and walked away.
The championship started. The outcasts defeated everyone from their level easily, and were moved up, along with Sophie.
Everyone was cheering wildly.
Dex took out Jensi, Jocelyn took out Fitz, Fitz took out Marella, until only Sophie and Jocelyn were left.