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Clover stumbled over her footing when they finally arrived, disoriented by the sudden change of scenery. She instantly raised her head to glare at her angel, who still help her wrist with a mighty grip.
Orion didn't bother to spare her a glance, tugging her along as she trudged to the office, ignoring all lingering eyes. She could hear the whispers surrounding her, and the coworkers stepping forward ready to stop her from her journey, but she was blinded. All she could see was red as she marched down the middle of the room, her hand that wasn't gripping Clover shaking with anger.
"Orion, wait–"
With a harsh glare, her coworker stepped away from the office door, allowing Orion to storm into the room with one purpose. She didn't even bother to address the other two people in the room as she yanked the younger girl forward, presenting her to her superior like a fine meal on a silver platter.
"She's the problem," Orion spat, slamming the door shut to the office without a single care for the loudness of the action. "You want someone to blame? It's her."
Baxter, who'd previously been in a meeting with Talia about their investigation, rose from his desk with his eyes narrowed. They alternated between Clover and Orion a few times, before ultimately settling on the seething angel. "Orion, we're in an important meeting right now. Can we deal with your personal affairs later?"
"My personal affairs?" Baxter raised an eyebrow at her bewildered tone. "This is who you've been needing to investigate. Kelsey isn't a troublemaker, Clover is."
This time, it was Talia who shot up from her seat, cold eyes narrowing in on Orion. "Orion, this is ridicu–"
"Stop." Talia's head snapped to Baxter, whose brows were knitted together. "I'd like to hear what she has to say."
Clearly annoyed, Talia rolled her eyes, though she followed orders and sunk back into her seat in silence.
Orion looked at Clover with narrowed eyes, noticing how the girl's face lacked color as she stood in silence. Not so tough now, huh?
Clearing her throat, the angel straightened up before gesturing a hand out to her client. "Clover and I were assigned to one another before she ever died, so I think it was fair for me to make the assumption that she was ultimately a good person and didn't need to be babysat by me. Apparently, I was wrong. By giving her that freedom, she abused it and ran off to take part in delinquent acts like doing drugs," Baxter's eyes widened, "and joining a rebellion group."
The older man's eyes shifted over to Clover to gauge her reaction, only to see the girl shrinking away, a look of obvious shame on her face. "Is this true Miss Campbell? You've joined a rebel group?" Baxter's eyes grew dark as Clover remained silent, her eyes remained locked with his as she refused to speak. "Speak now or I'll be forced to call in guards to detain you."
Clover's eyes darted over to Orion, her cheeks a bright red as she opened her mouth. "See you in hell, Orion."
If Orion wasn't mad before, she was after that. It took all her self control to not launch herself at the girl at that moment, an overwhelming urge for violence taking over her as she glared back at the teenage girl. "Detain her," Orion spat, hands curling into fists at her side.
Baxter wasted no time, not bothering to spare a glance to a bewildered Talia watching on as he rounded his desk and pressed the button to summon guards. In less than a minute, guards were stepping into the office and grabbing onto Clover. Shockingly enough, the girl remained silent as she was handcuffed and lead out of the office, the entire office falling silent to watch the scene unravel. Orion watched Clover walk away with guards at the door, suddenly noticing her friends presence beside her desk a few feet away.
Thought all three looked as if they were all feeling different towards the circumstances, the three could agree that of all things they expected Orion to do, it wasn't that.
"Orion." Tearing her eyes away from her friends, she was forced to look into the concerned eyes of Mr.Baxter, his hand resting on the small of her back. "We need to discuss Clover's trial immediately, then you can get back to your friends." Orion nodded, silently stepping back in the office, avoiding Talia's calculating gaze. "My first question is how did you discover all of this? All of Clover's wrongdoings and mischief, she went behind your back, I'm assuming."
Orion nodded. "She did." Swallowing the lump in her throat, Orion straightened up, ridding herself of any nerves. "I was accidentally summoned to Clover's home where I overheard her plans to attend the party that I wasn't aware of, which I later found out was a rebel group's. I didn't want to rush to conclusions, so I investigated with the help of two friends and found Clover there."
"Then why is Kelsey Garcia dressed in the same attire?" Orion's head snapped to Talia, who watched her with a single raised eyebrow. "Kelsey and Clover are romantically involved, or were per se, so did she attend this party as well?"
"She did." Talia smirked. "But I also overheard Clover manipulating Kelsey into attending, appealing to her as a lover, if you understand what I'm insinuating."
Talia rolled her eyes. "You expect me to believe–"
"Enough, Talia." The two girls turned to their superior, who watched on with a frown. "I appreciate your efforts on this investigation, Talia, but Orion has raised an interesting point. If Clover and Kelsey are romantically involved, and Clover just willingly turned herself in for wrongdoings, it's possible Kelsey was only present because of Clover."
"Sir, you can't be-"
"I said enough, Talia." Talia shut up, her body tensing at his demanding tone. "Kelsey Garcia isn't up for trial anymore, Clover Campbell is, so consider the investigation on Miss Garcia closed." Her face fell. "Now, please resume your regular assignments while Miss Lopez and I discuss the circumstances of Clover's trial."
Talia, seeing she's clearly lost this battle, nodded in response, shooting one last glare to Orion before stepping out of the office. Orion visibly relaxed once Talia left the room, a weight being lifted off her shoulders now that she no longer was under the girl's calculating gaze.
"Orion." Her head snapped over to the man, whose eyes were narrowed at her. "I can trust you, right?" Orion's brows furrowed, her head tilting slightly to the side as a way of silently asking for him to further explain what he meant. "I dismissed Talia because I wanted to discuss this privately." His eyes darkened significantly, causing a chill to run down the girl's spine. "You understand as an angel you must maintain your integrity, so please reassure me, I did make the right choice by believing you over Talia, right?"
Orion swallowed harshly, nodding. "Right."
He spent another moment staring at her, eyes still narrowed as he looked over the girl. Eventually, his eyes relaxed and he broke his stare to sift through papers. "Alright, well, I need to get started on paperwork for Miss Campbell. You know what comes with a trial, correct?"
"Arrive at the court promptly at eight, Clover will be summonded upon my arrival, and depending on my testimony, a decision is to be reached about her residency here," Orion recited automatically, distinctly remembering from all the reading she did while she was a child. Baxter's lips twisted up into the smallest smile as he listened to her, nothing but a sense of pride filling the man. "Am I free to go?"
He snapped out of his gaze, nodding in response, dismissing her with a wave of his hand before resuming the tedious paperwork needed for the trial.
Orion hurriedly slipped out of the room, ignoring the eyes of her coworkers as she rushed over to her friends. In an instant, she was pulled into a hug by Tom, who heaved out a sigh of relief as soon as she was being held by him.
"Thank goodness you're okay," he mumbled.
Gently pushing herself away from her boyfriend, she avoided the eyes of the onlookers, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to the act of affection. "I'm fine," Orion reassured, only causing Tom's worried expression to slightly relax. "Clover is being taken to trial."
All color left Kelsey's face. "You formally reported her?" Orion nodded. "Why did you do that?"
Orion stared blankly at the girl. "I'm sorry, were you not watching the same scene unfold as me? Allow me to recap, she manipulated you into attending that party when you were on probation, then proceeded to try to fight when I asked you both to leave."
Kelsey pursed her lips. "And that warrants a formal report?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"So you weren't just lashing out because she kissed your boyfriend?"
Orion's lips downturned into a frown. "Kelsey, I wouldn't try to send someone to hell for kissing... Tom. I sent her there because nothing but trouble since she's arrived, think about it. She said it herself, she was interested in trying things she couldn't do when she was alive. We can't allow ourselves to be surrounded by someone who brings nothing but chaos to our lives."
Kelsey was silent for a moment, as though she was considering Orion's words, but ultimately decided on saying nothing in response. Instead, she turned on her heel and left the office, hands balled into fists at her side.
Mateo heaved out a sigh as he watched her. "I should go with her before she decides to break a plate or something." He turned to Orion with a small smile. "I know Kels doesn't get it, but you did the right thing. Clover was bad for us, so thank you."
Orion nodded slowly, watching with her lip between her teeth as Mateo chased after his twin sister. When he disappeared from the building, she turned to face Tom again, her shoulders dropping as she released a sigh. Without a word, she reached out and gripped his shoulder, her other hand raising to snap her fingers. In an instant, the two were in Tom's home, away from the prying eyes of her coworkers.
She shuffled forward until she was able to wrap her arms around the boy's torso, head pressed to his chest to match her breathing with his heartbeat. Tom gently ran his fingers through her hair, his other hand tracing circled on the small of her back in a comforting way.
"You did the right thing," he whispered to her, causing another sigh to slip past her lips. "Kels will see that, and she'll thank you for it." Orion held on tighter. "And once this is all over, all will be back to normal again, no drama."
"We'll have time to go on a nice date."
His lips quirked up hearing her soft mumbling, and he placed a gentle kiss on the top of her head. "Yeah, we will. Any ideas?"
"Picnic on our hill?"
Our hill. The hill where they spilled their secrets and decided to bury the hatchet for good. The hill where they shared their first kiss. The hill where Orion and Tom became a duo.
"Picnic on our hill sounds amazing." Orion gently pressed her hands against his stomach, leaving them there as she separated herself from the boy, his hands dropping to rest on her hips. "Can I ask you something?" Orion nodded. "Did you really not mind Clover kissing me? Because there's this girl at my gym who–"
Tom was cut off by Orion, her index finger pressed against his lips as the boy wore a look of amusement. Moving closer to his face, Orion narrowed her eyes at her boyfriend. "Kiss another girl and the only thing we'll be doing on that hill is digging your grave."
He grinned. "I know it's a threat, but I'm weirdly turned on right now." Orion rolled her eyes, separating herself completely from the boy and walking away from him. "What? I'm just being honest!"
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rip clover yeet