...
THE FOOD FAILED MISERABLY. Though the rice and salad were both fine, mostly thanks to her and Levi's intervention, the spices had been unfamiliar to both of them and all the cauliflower had gotten was Alex' salty remarks. So when they walked towards the clearing again, none of them were excited for the game night, all of them hungry.
"God," Alex said, his eyes raised to the sky," please let some good food fall out of the sky."
His prayers were only answered with a scoff from Levi and an amicable pat on the back by Will, neither of which did much to quell the dissatisfaction. Even when they reached the others, Alex didn't move to annoy Clarkson, something which surprised them all, the man narrowing his eyes in suspicion.
After deciding Alex wasn't up to no good, he squared his shoulders and placed his hands behind his back, his booming voice resounding throughout the clearing again.
"Gather, my criminals, it's time for a night of fun."
"Let us sleep, you tyrant!"
"What if we don't want fun?"
Ignoring the shouts of the students around him, he merely divided them in four. Ella looked around at the nineteen other people in her group, including the boys, and spotted Trevor and Ava quickly. Whatever fun Clarkson had been talking about, she was sure she wouldn't experience it tonight. With the way Alex was already fuming and Ava's gaze had grown cold, she only expected there to be drama and soon too.
"The first game we're going to play is Werewolves," Clarkson said," for those who don't know it, you'll get cards with a role on them. If your role is a werewolf, you're supposed to tap someone's shoulder to kill in the night, when everyone's eyes are closed. If you're a citizen, you're supposed to speak up at day and find out who te werewolves are, only to sentence them to death."
"I take every complaint back," Alex said, eyes gleaming," I think tonight is going to be very fun."
"That's the right spirit, Alex!" Will beamed.
Ella didn't think their mindset was alike at all, Alex' eyes trained on Trevor and Will chatting away with her and Levi, his expression warm. She had resigned herself to the drama, so for now she only hoped she wouldn't be involved in it, though at this point she doubted it. Somehow she attracted trouble wherever she went anyway.
"In case you all need another reminder," Clarkson boomed then," violence is absolutely not permitted. If I see you touch anything but each other's shoulders in a friendly tap, punishment will follow."
"First he lets us murder each other," Ava said amusedly from behind her," then he tells us to do it in an amicable way. You'd think he was making a joke."
Ella turned to her, happy to see the girl again. They hadn't spoken a lot before, but the prospect of becoming better friends with her sounded alluring. Clarkson told them all to make a circle then and she took a place between Ava and Levi, not missing how Trevor sat opposite them, his gaze still following Ava.
"Why is he so infatuated with you?" Ella said.
Ava threw Trevor a sideway glance, before shaking her head in mild distaste. "He is not, he just isn't happy I rejected him. This isn't about love, this is about pride."
"He can choke on his pride."
The source of the voice was the same girl Ava had been talking with before. Kübra, Ella recalled, though she pretended they hadn't been talking about her as she introduced herself. The girl was pretty in a very sharp way, like you would cut yourself on that beauty if you looked at her too long. She wore her flaws with elegance; her crooked nose, her clumsy, bandaged hands, the faded scar on her cheek.
"I told you I'd talk with him if need be, canim," she insisted.
"No need," Ava said," I don't need anyone else to do the talking for me."
That quietened her, though she still glared daggers at the red-headed boy across them, who looked like the fire in him was hidden between those fuchsia lips.
The supervisors were divided between the groups and Clarkson walked towards theirs, assuring all of them luck wasn't on their side tonight. He scolded a few of them, who were smoking, and only when they threw the cigarettes in the trash can did he start to hand everyone their cards. Ella kept hers face down, as instructed, the cute face of a cartoon wolf growling up at her.
She saw Alex try to sneak a peek, but Will gave him a chastising slap on the shoulder before he could. Levi however looked like the whole game didn't interest him at all and she was sure it actually didn't. His bruised knuckles stood out sharply against the cartoon picture and for a moment, her mind wandered to how his childhood had been.
"You can look now," Clarkson shouted," don't show the others your cards though or you'll be out of the game immediately." As if feeling the questions coming up already, he held out a hand. "Unless I get the feeling you were doing it to laze around, in which case you get to suffer my wrath."
Looking at him, at his neon orange tracksuit and the whistle around his neck, an amused smile started playing on her lips. Ava leaned towards her then, eyes glittering with secrets.
"I hear he was a rich man, once," she confided," clad in suits and the like. What do you think happened?"
"I heard he was an unruly delinquent attending St Joseph," Kübra said," they say he has been forced in his position as compensation for the damages he caused all those years."
"I hear he was born in a tracksuit," Alex whispered, like he was revealing something grand instead of stupid.
Levi frowned at him, but that only made Alex' amusement grow, his chuckles earning a reprimanding shout from the notorious man himself. They all focused back on their cards then and Ella turned hers around. There, on the white background, stood a wolf, mouth opened in the same snarl as on the back, the letters underneath red slashes. WEREWOLF.
She placed it down again, looking around at the others. From Ava's and Levi's pokerface she couldn't read a thing, though Alex' disappointed expression made it quite clear he was a citizen. Trying to read Will was another impossible mission, his warm excitement still the same as before. There was no doubt in her mind he'd look the same no matter what role he got assigned.
"Okay, let the first day begin!" Clarkson said," discuss suspects, defend yourselves. Go on then."
"I think Trevor is a werewolf," Alex said, before anyone could even say anything.
"Oh, fuck off," Trevor snarled," based on what?"
"Based on the fact that you're a twat," Alex said.
Clarkson looked like he was absolutely done with all of them, though Ella wasn't sure what he had expected. Before Trevor could jump at Alex though, he stepped in between, scowling.
"Okay, never mind then," he said," it's night now. The werewolves can come out and discuss their victim in silence now. The rest of you, close your eyes. I'll be checking."
Ella shut her eyes with the rest of them, before peeking after five seconds had passed and quietly looking around. No one met her gaze and she wondered if she was the only werewolf. He wouldn't have said she'd be discussing things then though, right? Or -
It was then she locked eyes with someone she knew all too well.
Levi.
"So," she mouthed silently at him," you were a big, bad wolf after all."
A hint of a smile tugged at his lips again and despite the drama that was sure to follow tonight, all she could focus on was that amusement glittering in his eyes. The sun had gone down already, leaving them with a sky washed of light, the stars hidden away behind the clouds. The moon shone on them though, silver light coloring his eyes bronze and her making her heart beat faster, just a little.
When she wanted to mouth something at him again, he pulled her closer, his breath fanning her ear softly. His voice was so soft she almost couldn't catch it, a mere whisper of the wind.
"Well then, Ella, let's hunt."