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DAY 7
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The next morning started without any warning. Everyone walked out of their rooms one after another and fetched their cereals or toast, and a cup of coffee for those who enjoyed it. One table had Frankie, Joseph, Carlos and Jacob. Another had Marco, Joy and Samuel who had brought the card game Uno from the rec room and were playing while eating with Marco still winning. Simon was at his own table, a chair missing from the table which Marcus had taken outside to eat alone. Abby was with Lexi and Adam, all three chatting about what they should do today.
And then everyone looked over to the fifth table, Benedict sitting with Stacey alone. Their eyes did not meet and they shared no connection, but the fact they were together at the same table without an argument was enough for confusion.
"Did something happen between you two?" Samuel said.
Benedict looked over as Stacy puffed her cheeks lightly, "what do you mean?"
Abby leaned over with a smile on her lips, "you were her worst enemy out of us earlier. Don't tell me, does she have feelings for you?"
A laugh escaped Abby which made Stacey stare at the girl with annoyance, her foot kicking Benedict who yelped in pain.
"What was that for?!"
Stacey ignored him.
Jacob rolled his eyes and decided to go get more coffee as Lexi leant over to Abby and Adam, "Care to go to the gymnasium?"
"For what, I hate sports" Abby said.
"Well I was thinking we could just find something to do, you know, throw a ball or something."
"Better than sitting here, I suppose" Adam said as he stood to his feet, "I'd rather be active than bored."
He made his way out of the dormitory as Lexi and soon Abby followed.
"Should we do anything?" Carlos said as he leant over to Marco.
Marco stared at the boy with a raised eyebrow, "Me?"
"Well yeah, is there a problem?" Carlos said with a smile growing on his face.
"Not really I suppose, is the rec room good then, it was fun in there."
Samuel and Joy immediately walked over, "Oi, we're joining too then. I'm not letting you continue your streak."
Marco cracked his knuckles with a smile on his face, "So be it," and so they left the dormitories.
Jacob walked out of the kitchen as he saw the four of them leave and his eyes noticed Joseph on a table by himself, his head down. Jacob hadn't forgotten what Joseph had said the day before about how he was scared. He set his coffee down at the table as Frankie seemed to walk over from the kitchen, a coffee in his hand as well.
"Say, would you two care to join the art room? We can have a art contest. It'll spice up the atmosphere."
Joseph's head rose out of curiosity as Frankie tilted his own head.
"I'm not the best drawer."
"You can at least attempt, come on Frankie."
Frankie hesitated but finally accepted, Jacob turning his head to Joseph.
"How about it, show me your drawing skills."
Joseph let a smile and nodded, so the three of them left the room while Simon stood up on his own.
"Guess I'll check out the library then."
Simon left the dormitory with the other three, leaving Stacey and Benedict drinking tea alone.
"So they left us alone then" Stacey said.
"It would seem so."
Stacey averted her eyes with a blush growing on her cheeks, "So then, what should we talk about?"
Benedict let out a smile towards her and looked over her body but was kicked in his crotch causing him to fall off his chair.
"Don't you dare, creep!"
Adam on one side of the gymnasium court, Abby on the other side, and Lexi watching from the wall. Adam threw the basketball at the floor and watched it bounce, the ball landing in Abby's hand who threw the ball back.
"I understand what has happened lately makes it seem impossible, "Adam said as he threw the ball back, "but I'm slowly starting to enjoy it here honestly."
Abby caught the ball as she smiled towards Abby with a blush on her cheeks, "Yeah, me too. Thank you."
She threw the ball across to Adam who caught it carefully in his hands, "Why me, did I do something?"
"W-well, you are here right now, aren't you. Lexi is too, but I just like that you care."
Adam let a smile out as he threw the ball again, "Well you are welcome. I do care honestly."
Abby's blush covered her face, her hands reaching for the ball but she missed and it bounced past her, Lexi letting out a laugh as she ran for the ball while Abby walked to the wall, switching places with the girl.
"You need to drink some water, Abby" Lexi said as she threw the ball for herself, "You're going really red."
Adam let out a slight laugh as Abby ran to the tap in the corner, spraying water over her face, "S-shut up!" she said with a crack in her voice.
Adam closed his mouth as he caught the ball and threw it back. Silence filled the room momentarily as Lexi spoke up.
"What should I cook for dinner tonight, any thoughts?"
"Lasagne!" Abby said in a yell, "I haven't had any in ages!"
"Or maybe some Pasta Bake, I love it with some cheese melted over" Adam said.
Lexi caught the ball with a little sigh, "Well I can't make both. That's a little hard."
She threw the ball back as Abby and Adam kept debating back and forth which should be made for a whole minute until Lexi caught the last throw and stomped her foot.
"I'm making Pasta Bake! Enough said!"
She kept her face low but Abby, with her slightly angry face, knew she was blushing.
"Oh well look at that, I'm not the only one then."
"Quiet..." Lexi growled and threw the ball right at Adam who was hit to the ground while Lexi walked out of the room, leaving Abby to help Adam up.
"You may wanna give up, bitch" Carlos said with a hint of laughter in his voice as he held the pool stick in his hands, his aim directed at the white pool ball in the centre of the table.
Marco let out a sigh as he simply watched Simon hit the white ball around the table as it collided with a several different balls til it ended up falling in one of the six holes all by itself.
"Badmouthing always leaves to losing, son" Marco said.
Joy took the white ball from the opening under the table and placed it back on the table as Samuel ran back and forth.
"Who's winning, who's winning!" he repeated.
"Can you be quiet, we literally only started three minutes ago" Carlo growled.
Samuel stopped next to Joy and sighed, laying his head on the pool table and accidentally caused the table to flip towards him under his weight, everything fall down as Marco only just caught it mid-fall.
"Are you kidding me!" Carlos growled, but instead of taking out his anger he simply sat down on one of the four seats as Samuel stood up.
"Um, sorry about that" he said, resisting the urge to laugh.
"That doesn't really make up for it" Marco said quietly as he joined Carlos in sitting, soon joined by Joy.
Carlos walked over to the bookcase of games, "Then how about we play something else, there's Uno-"
"NO!" Joy and Samuel said together.
Carlos, reaching for the deck of cards, froze in place as Marco walked over and grabbed the cards himself, bringing them over.
"Oh god, you've done it now" Joy said.
"We were hoping to avoid this" Samuel said.
Carlos returned to control and stared at Marco sorting out the cards, "Wait, is something wrong? It's just a game."
The game started, and within the next twenty minutes Joy and Samuel were puzzled.
"So, let me get this right" Samuel said.
He took a look at his notebook, "Joy and I are on zero points. Whereas Carlos and Marco are equal on 499 points. Are you kidding me?"
Joy tossed her cards down and leant back, "Cheats. I'm calling it right now, you both cheated somehow."
Carlos couldn't help but let out a laugh with Marco, "How could we have cheated exactly?"
"I don't know, but you somehow did! I don't see how we couldn't have won at least once!"
"Maybe you guys are just poorly experienced at this card game. You did teach me so the apprentice bet the teacher."
"But that makes no sense! This is a game about luck and strategy!"
"And your point is?" Marco said.
Samuel and Joy growled. They stood to their feet and left the room as Carlos kept laughing.
"Oh god that was fun" he said and faced Marco, "Care to have a game with just us?"
Marco started shuffling the deck together once again and the cards were drawn.
"So are you feeling any better?" Jacob said as he faced Joseph from the opposite side of the table.
Joseph gave a soft nod towards him as he draw away at a large piece of paper. Jacob couldn't tell properly, but it seemed to be a drawing of a whole room.
Frankie was going through three different pieces of paper. The drawings each of them had made earlier as part of their contest. First was Jacob's ball shaped object that was erupting with some kind of light everywhere. The second was Frankie's, a train riding alone a railroad into the sunset. Joseph's was third, it was a red scaled dragon with its mouth breathing cold air forward and its tail twisting around itself.
"Joseph, I think you won" Frankie said with his voice letting out a soft laugh.
Joseph didn't respond, he simply continued drawing.
"What is yours meant to be anyway, Jacob?" Frankie said.
Jacob peeked a look at his drawing, "Nothing special, I got the idea from the smoke balls in the control room. It's meant to be smoke erupting from the ball but I decided to make it light inside.
Frankie put the drawings aside, "Interesting enough."
It took a few minutes but Joseph finished his drawing and slid it over to Jacob. The drawing was a detailed look of the shed that had arose on the outside of the school. It had the three racks full of very little objects for gardening, but to the right, behind a rack, was an arrow pointing to a small button. On the bottom right of the piece of paper was a message.
'I saw this earlier, I don't know where it leads but it might be important.'
Frankie was next to Jacob now, looking over the drawing, and once he had analysed it Jacob ripped the paper up and threw it into a nearby bin.
"I prefer your dragon drawing, sorry mate."
Joseph gave off a shrug as he stood up and put his pencils away into a container, "honestly I do too. I love dragons."
"Really now, does that mean you watch dragon shows alot?"
Joseph gave off a smile, "Definitely, I was in the middle of watching a show with dragons where the majority of the cast keep dying."
Jacob gave off a sigh as he turned to the door, "That show was too real for my tastes. Anyway, shall we head back? I'm getting hungry."
The others agreed and they left the room.
Pasta Bake had been spread across the tables. While wanting her own Lasagne, Abby was satisfied enough so she ate down her amount while talking to Adam.
Jacob was making notes with Frankie and Joseph with his notepad which was handed back and forth.
'I will be going tomorrow. If there is a button it's important so I'll go alone in case it's dangerous.'
'Alone? Don't be serious, what if something does happen there and you are in danger?'
'I can handle it, don't stress so much.'
'You may be reliable but you might need someone just in case.'
'Fine, I'll ask Marco. He looks like he could protect me at least.'
Jacob took his notepad back and placed it into his pocket with a sigh while eating at his dinner, the taste making him smile.
"This is beautiful, Lexi. Thank you."
Lexi gave him a smile, "you're welcome. There's more left over if you get hungry afterwards."
Benedict, having finished already, stood up to get seconds at Lexi's mention of it and returned with a larger amount than before.
"Are you a pig, Benedict?" Lexi said with a sigh.
Benedict made an oink and sat down, eating away at the Pasta Bake while Stacey let out a laugh, "Relax or you might get a stomach ache" she said and used her finger to wipe off some food from his chin while everyone stared.
Stacey looked over at everyone, but they turned their heads back and ate away.
"Mind your business" she said and looked away once again as she slowly ate at her food.
"Weirdo's" Marcus said, and went to get seconds himself.
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DAY 8
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The normal morning arose again, Coffee for the coffee lovers and the same breakfasts for everyone. The difference, Stacey and Benedict were nowhere to be seen.
"It's our eighth day here" Joseph said with a sigh coming from his mouth.
Jacob patted the boys back and passed him his coffee, "Drink this, I'll make you your own if you want. It helps."
Joseph shook his head, "I'm not great with coffee. Too strong for me, sorry."
Jacob brought his coffee back and took a sip as he saw Adam stand to his feet.
"Going somewhere?" Jacob said.
"Yeah, I'm thinking of going for a run with Samuel, I need the exercise."
Adam let out a small giggle as Samuel finished his breakfast and stood up in agreement, "It'll be fun."
As they placed their dishes in the dishwasher and headed for the dormitory doors, Stacey's door opened and out come Stacey and Benedict. Everyone stared and froze as the two of them frozen in their place as well.
"I thought, everyone would be gone doing their own thing by now" Stacey said.
Benedict slowly took the door and stepped outside, closing it behind him and did his best to walk towards the kitchen without making a word.
"Did, that just happen?" Frankie said.
Everyone gave off a nod as Benedict disappeared into the kitchen.
"Alright then, just checking."
oppy25