A week after the... incident, Mary dragged me out of bed again, and put me down somewhere in the cafeteria.
I winced and looked around, my eyes immediately searching for an empty table. But something was different. Instead of pretty, laughing girls, there were dozens of boys, running around and talking loudly.
My head snapped to Mary fast. She grinned slightly, eyes proud. "This is the boys' cafeteria." I told her.
"You saw that right." She bent down so we were face to face. "Your way of working helped. They got so desperate with you that they send you back here. You're lucky. Now go do something. It's a bit shameful to see you talking to an old woman here, isn't it?"
I nodded quick, my face lighting up completely. Happily I ran off to find my friends.
It didn't take long for me to find them, sitting at our usual table in the corner of the cafeteria. It was a year ago I had been in the cafeteria, so they aged too. Newt had grown much taller, Frypan was still cute, but his cheeks less chubby, and Alby only looked sterner. Minho... I had no idea. He didn't sit with them and he was nowhere else to be seen, although I didn't waste time looking for him and just jumped to Newt and the others.
"Hey guys." I peeped, forgetting how they had been acting the past year. Newt was the first to look up, his eyebrows furrowing. Alby followed with a blank face and Fry was full with pity.
"You're back." Fry realized, his mouth falling half open. I nodded, very cheerful. Newt gave the soon smiling Frypan a smack on the shoulder and shook his head.
Confused I watched that happen. "You okay, Newt?"
"Don't talk to me." He snapped, looking away from me.
My heart sunk in my chest. "Uh... is Minho here?"
Alby looked up, eyes full of fire. "He's somewhere over there." He motioned at another corner in the cafeteria. "But why do you care?"
"Because... because he's my friend. You're my friend. Right?" I started stammering, afraid I really lost them.
"I don't know what friend means in your context, but in mine, we're not friends. Not anymore." Alby responded. "Bye, Lenora."
My face broke into sadness. The happiness of a minute ago ebbed away. I froze in my place.
"Bye." Newt added in, hinting it was time for me to leave.
Frypan just looked down, not saying a word. His face averted from mine so I couldn't see what he was thinking or feeling.
"Oh." Was all that came out of my mouth. "Bye then.."
I wandered away slowly, with my head pointed at the floor. I got some food and decided to not bother Alby, Newt, and Fry anymore. Minho was my last chance, so I looked at the corner Alby had motioned at.
Minho indeed sat there. On his own, strangely enough. If any of the boys knew everyone in the cafeteria and had friends everywhere, it was Minho.
I stopped in front of his table, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. "You look like a homeless kid with a teddy bear."
Minho never looked up. "Thanks for finding me cute." He grumbled.
I decided not to ask permission to sit. If he refused all my chances were completely gone.
I sat across from him, not making eye contact since he clearly didn't want that either.
"Are you angry?" We asked in unison, leaving both of us surprised and speechless. Then we talked at the same time again, "Are you? At who?"
"I'm angry at the doctors and Janson."
"What?" Minho frowned. "You're not angry at us?"
"Who are you angry at?" I ignored his question, wanting my own answer first.
"Alby and Newt. And in the first weeks you, but not anymore." He finally looked up at me, our eyes meeting.
He hadn't changed much. His hair grew longer and he put more gel in it, his face was slimmer, but that was it.
"Why are they angry at me?" I almost whispered it.
"They feel betrayed. Because the doctors told us you asked them if you could leave since you apparently didn't trust us and never wanted to be friends. Said we couldn't talk to you anymore because you did horrible things in the past and it was dangerous for us too. They showed us a chair where we could get tortured if we didn't listen. But I didn't listen... protested when Alby closed the door in front of you, and screamed at the boys they lied about you. Newt and Alby wouldn't believe it. Fry doesn't want to pick sides, but believes it's better to stay on the side with the most people, so that's why he's with them."
I was stunned by what Minho said. Did Alby and Newt believe what the doctors said so easily?
"But I did do horrible things." I whispered to more myself. It was all I could say.
"Hm." Minho rubbed his chin. "I once took a sip of my dad's beer in secret. That's bad."
I let out a slight chuckle, even though it wasn't worse than what I did at all. "That's not too bad."
"Out of anger I once pushed a kid. He landed on the sidewalk with his head. Misses half of his tooth now." He added.
My chuckle was louder this time. "That's bad though. You gonna keep saying things you did as a kid?"
"I still am a kid. Why not add more things to my list of 'horrible' things?" A grin appeared on Minho's face. "You see that kid over there? The blonde one?"
I turned my head, where indeed walked a blonde kid. "Yeah."
"That's Zart. I like to call him Zart the Fart. Feel free to call him that too. He loves it." Minho got up from the table. "Watch this."
I followed Minho with my eyes. He sassily walked after Zart as my heart started to pound. I was excited to see what the hell Minho was planning.
"Zart!" He made a cup out of his hands to make his shouts louder. "Zart the Fart!"
The blonde turned around and looked at Minho up and down. His face said enough; not him again. Minho didn't say anything else and waited for Zart to turn his back, continuing his walk.
Then Minho jumped forward, grabbing the top of Zart's pants and pulling it down to his knees. Luckily his underwear didn't get caught within Minho's hands.
I had to cover a giggle with my hand as others gasped. Minho ran back to me as fast as he could, once doctors appeared.
"That was fun." Minho's eyes were twinkling more than ever. I enjoyed it just as much. "But we better run now. There's doctors."
"Crap!" I jumped off my seat and ran after Minho. He slid out of doctor's grip and ran at a fast pace, me on his heels.
"Shuck you, Alby and Newt!" Minho screamed before grabbing my arm. He pulled me out of the cafeteria, through the hallways. "Oh, shit!"
We came to a sudden stop when Mary appeared in front of us. My mouth opened to say something, but nothing came out, so Minho stepped toward her.
Mary shook her head. "Minho, no. We're not going to start this discussion again."
He didn't seem to listen, since her face darkened. I had no idea what they were talking about.
"But please! It's all I'm asking! I promise I'll be nice to other kids if you let me have a dog!"
I soon realized he wasn't even joking and actually wanted a dog, since he went down on his knees and made a beg sign with his hands.
"Mary, I'm begging... dogs are my favorites! I promise I'll give him food and water everyday! And I won't resist anymore!"
I hid a laugh with a cough. Then I noticed guards moving closer. "Minho, they're coming."
He got off his knees and crawled through Mary's legs as I slid beside her. We started running away from them all, our hands connecting so we could pull each other anywhere.
"Where to?" Minho screamed.
"Here!" I pushed us into the elevator and pressed the buttons to go down. Right before a guard got us, the doors closed.
"Pfft..." Minho leaned against the wall. We barely came to half of it with our height... so either the elevator walls were very tall, or we were just small.
"Come on."
Our hands were still intertwined, making it able for me to get Minho in the basement. It might've not been the best idea to bring him there, but it was our only escape.
"The hell is this?" Minho twitched around, staring at all the doors.
"The basement where I spent a lot of time this year, and last year." I muttered.
"It stinks here."
"Probably because Janson comes here just as often as me."
"Rat."
"Indeed."
We both laughed quietly, though soon Minho's curiosity took over and he reached for a door handle. The Weapon Room.
A gasp left his mouth. With wide eyes the boy stared at the weapons, the corners of mouth moving up. "This is amazing!"
I shrugged. "Or extremely dangerous."
"Well, I ain't Newt." Minho put his hands on his small hips. "So I ain't scared and this ain't dangerous." Before I could reply he continued. "You said you were good with bows. Show me."
"I never said I was g-."
"Show me." Minho repeated. "Hit him in the head." He pointed at a fake human target.
I nodded and took my favorite bow, a quite big one. One arrow was enough. At my first try the arrow already split the target's forehead in two.
"Wow." Minho breathed. "Can I try?"
"If you be caref-."
"Yay!" He snatched the bow out of my hands, followed by an arrow. I didn't have the chance to say anything, Minho already shot.
The arrow flew a feet past the target and hit a bottle, causing glass to fly everywhere.
"I- uhm... I meant to do that! I aimed for the glass." Minho denied, though he quickly put the bow back. "I'd rather use my fists."
"You can use your fists good?" I raised my eyebrows. He was so small! (I was too, but a bow was different.) "There's a punching bag right there." I pointed at it.
Minho didn't say anything, just ran over to the box and grabbed the gloves that lay next to it. His eyes widened with excitement again.
I watched him stretch his back and relaxing his shoulder muscles. Then the punches started.
Minho's pace on punishing was fast, the sound of the gloves hitting the bag repeating over and over again. He moved his feet up and down, making small jumps backwards and forwards.
And it looked very impressive, which it was. Especially when Minho used his knee and feet to kick, his body twirling in between jumps.
Small grunts escaped his mouth each time he hit the bag. Not in pain... more anger or frustration.
"I imagine this as Rat." He told me before attacking again. That caused me to giggle.
A few minutes later, Minho stopped and put everything down, wiping some sweat off his forehead.
"That was amazing." We said in unison, leaving more laughs.