"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SAY GOODBYE?" Xavier asked quietly, glancing at Clark who was standing on the sidelines. Xavier, Luke, and Jason went to say their goodbyes to Charlotte and the others. Jason was the only to hug her tightly, as he felt himself almost blurting out everything to her since he felt so guilty for lying to her.
"Stay safe," He muttered, holding her to his chest tightly, "and don't push yourself too hard."
Charlotte felt something in her chest squeeze. She knew Jason was already lying to her yet his love and worry for her was real. She shut her eyes and squeezed Jason back tightly, surprising him a bit.
He pulled back and held her shoulders, searching her face, "Are you okay?"
Charlotte nodded her head but Jason continued to pester her, his face serious. "No, for real, is there anything bothering you?"
The corners of Charlotte's lips went up, "Nope, I'm just hoping we find something on this expedition. You know, nervous,"
Jason gave Charlotte a look, "I know you, Char, you seem bothered."
Charlotte chuckled and patted Jason on the arm, "Funny you say that, 'cause there's a lot you don't know about me, Jason."
Jason paused for a second, a memory appearing at the back of his mind. Charlotte had said that to him on the day they disappeared, after the play. Except when she said it then, she was playful with him. Now, it sounded almost like a threat.
Charlotte shook her head and smiled, "I'm fine, you don't need to worry for me. Grizz will be with me." She glanced back at Xavier and Luke who were standing away on the side from them, watching them silently. "It's been a long journey in the new town, thank you for sticking by my side."
Jason furrowed his eyebrows, "Why does it sound like you're saying goodbye?"
Charlotte chuckled, "Because I am saying goodbye, I am leaving for this expedition after all."
"No, like—"
Charlotte cut him off by looking back at where Kyla was, "Uh, I gotta go say goodbye to Kyla before she beats my ass," She looked back at Jason and smiled at him, "See you soon, Jason."
Jason watched Charlotte with a frown as she tackled Kyla in a hug.
Clark kept quiet, making Xavier sigh. "I know you two aren't on good terms right now but she's going on an expedition. You should go talk to her, you shouldn't drag this out for too long."
Clark frowned, "What do I even say to her? Our friendship became practically over when I refused to converse with her."
Xavier raised his eyebrow, "That's not how it works, you guys are still friends, just not on talking terms." He looked at Clark, "Why did you tell her you weren't ready to talk?"
Clark shook his head, "I don't know.. I didn't know how to face her after I practically confessed. I just felt embarrassed."
Xavier cracked a small smile before patting Clark on the shoulder, glancing at Charlotte who was giving Helena a big hug. He lightly chuckled when Charlotte lifted up Helena, making the cousin let out a yelp and slap Charlotte on the back.
"Well they're literally going to leave any second now, you should at least bid her a farewell. We don't know how long they're going to be gone. Just a simple 'Bye' and 'Good luck' will do."
Clark stared at Charlotte intensely, debating on whether he should go or not. Xavier watched Clark as he seemed to be having an internal battle with himself.
The group began their way out to the forest as everyone else cheered loudly for them. Charlotte was at the front with Grizz, as she passed Allie who smiled widely at her.
Charlotte smiled back and gave her a small nod. She quickly glanced back and looked at Clark, making him freeze.
The two looked at each other, before Charlotte broke their eye contact and moved forward. Clark watched as Charlotte and the others disappeared into the forest.
Clark heard Xavier quietly sigh next to him, "Well.. There they go.."
➖
Kyla stared at Harry as Allie made her speech. Harry caught her gaze and held the eye contact with her.
Her and Harry had gotten into a dispute when she asked him about why he was running. They hadn't talked since, because Kyla made one thing clear to Harry.
"You're my friend, Harry, but I will never support you. You're mad for doing chores yet you've done jackshit, while the rest of us has been working our asses off for us to survive. You just want the easy way out but you've already been getting the easy way out. I'm surprised Allie still checks up on you even though you've done nothing yet complain like a child," Kyla muttered.
Harry had a smirk that was barely noticeable on his lips. "What happened to friends supporting friends?"
Kyla narrowed her eyes at him. "I'm all for supporting my friends but I will not support the idea of everyone getting their shit back because spoiled brats like you think it's unfair to share, in a time like this. Some people may think your idea is nice but that's because they have things, while others are unfortunate and don't have a lot. It's selfish and will kill us all. Once you're the leader, we'll all starve and die in this town. "
Harry shut his mouth and stared at the table, but then he opened his mouth again. "So that's it? Our friendship goes down the drain just because I want my stuff back?"
Kyla snorted, shaking her head, "See? That's all you care about. Your stuff. You don't care about the people." She stood up from her seat. "There's no point in trying to convince you since you won't listen."
Before Kyla could leave, Harry asked her something. "And when I win, what will you do?"
Kyla shrugged her shoulders, "Pull a you and rot in my room to die."
Kyla rolled her eyes and looked away, breaking the eye contact first. Harry clenched his jaw and looked down at the table.
Kyla was sitting next to Will, with Miles beside her, and Valerie beside him. Kyla glanced back and saw the Guard, but once she looked at Xavier, she turned back around.
"..and some day, we're going to find our way back home."
People broke into cheers and began to clap for Allie. Allie had a big smile on her face as she nodded her head and then took a seat.
Xavier looked over at the Guard and saw them sitting there silently, without clapping their heads. He didn't clap as well, and sat in silence with them.
"Thank you," Helena spoke, "I'm going to now put the first question randomly from—"
"I'd like to make my opening statement."
Miles snapped his head to the right to see Lexie walking up to the front of the church. He heard Valerie curse beside him as Kyla exchanged a glance with him.
"The debate's already started."
"Right, yeah, but it's not finished, and I'm here now."
"Great," Kyla muttered under her breath.
"What do we do?" Miles whispered.
"I don't know, we can sock her in the face," Valerie mumbled, making Kyla slightly smirk.
"You had to sign up by the end of the day." Allie told Lexie, who looked over with a raised eyebrow.
"No, five p.m. Sign says." She turned to Allie. "It's not five o'clock, so.. Is there some problem?"
Allie and Helena looked at each other. Allie gave Helena a slight nod, making Helena nod her head and look at Lexie.
"No. You can make your statement."
"Thanks." Lexie turned around to face the crowd. "I'll get to the point. First, you can't vote for Harry. He doesn't want to give back what's yours, he wants back what's his,"
Kyla's eyebrows raised. It's exactly what she said, and that was why she got into a disagreement with Harry.
"And that's true for him, and all the rich assholes who support him," she pointed around the crowd, "and you know who you are."
Kyla had to hold back a snort as Valerie smirked to herself at that.
"You guys want back to your big houses and your cars and your money in the bank," Lexie told, glancing around, "Like, as if that means anything, so.." she paused, "You know what? If that's you, vote for Harry."
"Everyone else, don't be fucking stupid."
People chuckled. Kyla raised her eyebrows in amusement as Miles blinked in awe. Xavier was glancing between Allie and Harry for their reactions while Valerie chuckled to herself.
"The guy who wouldn't give you the time of his day in high school, he's not gonna look out for you now."
Valerie pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows. She couldn't disagree with Lexie on that one.
"As for Allie," Xavier sat up to listen to what she had to say, "she's a bit more complicated."
Allie looked up at Lexie. "She gets things done," Lexie crossed her arms, "Like how a dictator gets things done."
Valerie let out a quiet whistle as Lexie turned to the crowd. "You know, here's a story you don't know."
Kyla leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms, "Here it comes.." She muttered quietly, knowing exactly what story Lexie was going to tell.
"After people got sick at Thanksgiving, Allie and her military police started interrogating people. They interrogated me, in the dark, for four hours. It made me wonder why the interrogation was so harsh, since Dewey over there was spared his life for murdering the leader's best friend, but then I remembered that Charlotte almost died so Allie must've been the ones to give the orders. I got my period in the middle of the interrogation, and they made me change in front of them."
Murmurs began to fill the church as Lexie stared down Allie while she told what happened. "I had to take off my clothes while they watched."
"Time."
"No, I'm not done yet." She moved toward the crowd, "I had to cover my menstrual blood so they couldn't see. I had to hide my breasts. And that's just me." She pointed to Allie, "Imagine what else she and her secret police do when no one is there, and now that the leader is no longer in town—"
"Your time is up, Lexie." Helena sternly said, looking at Lexie.
"Yeah, I heard you." Lexie snapped before looking at Allie. "You arrested Elle, didn't you?"
The Pentagon, excluding Charlotte, sat up in their seats, confused looks on their faces. Kyla quickly glanced at the other three but noticed that they had no clue about the arrest of Elle as well.
"You don't get to ask questions now."
"Oh why? Because those are your rules? No, fuck that Allie. Did you arrest Elle, yes or no?"
Lexie glanced around and noticed the Pentagon also awaiting for Allie's answer. "It seems like the Pentagon wants an answer as well, what? The Pentagon have been extremely loyal and serving under you yet you keep secrets from them as well? Well, they only serve under you because of Charlotte but.. That's harsh, Allie, they don't deserve to be kept in the dark as well."
Allie glanced over at the front row where Valerie, Miles, and Kyla looked at her silently, basically asking her 'why did you arrest Elle and why didn't you tell us?'
Allie kept quiet, as everyone waited for her answer.
"Come on, it's a simple question."
"Yes."
Valerie's eyes widen. She hadn't known Elle had been arrested.
"On what charges?"
"I can't say but there's—"
"She arrests people without charges, she tortures people in rooms where no one can see."
"You're distorting what happened."
"No, you decide where we sleep, what we eat, and what job we have, how late we can be on the street," Lexie glared at Allie, "You punish us, Allie. You punish us. And you decide the punishment and there is no appeal."
"Can we get back to the debate,"
"I need to be able to answer this!"
"All that power in five months," Lexie started, "Just imagine who she'll be in two years if we elect her now."
Kyla looked at Allie and cursed to Miles, "Great, she's gonna fucking cry.."
"What will you do differently, Lexie?"
Lexie looked Allie straight in the eyes. "I'm gonna stop you."
Kyla held back a sigh and closed her eyes when people began to cheer and clap for Lexie.
Lexie gave a nod to the crowd as people continued to give her an applause. The Pentagon didn't clap and glanced around at the amount of people cheering for Lexie.
Lexie looked at Valerie and noticed her hard stare on Allie. "How do you feel, knowing Allie hid the fact she arrested your friend?"
Valerie clenched her jaw and sat up, her eyes on Allie, "Did Char know?"
Lexie seemed interested with that question. She had a hatred for Allie and her 'police' but she knew Charlotte wasn't aware of her interrogation until after. She knew that the Pentagon were also unaware of what Jason and Clark did, and knew that Kyla was strongly against it. Jason wasn't exactly quiet when he ranted to Clark about his dispute with Kyla.
Lexie looked at Allie, as well as everyone who sat in the first two rows in front of Allie. Allie quickly glanced at Helena who was also wondering if her cousin knew.
"No. She was busy with the expedition."
"Wow, you guys see? Charlotte has been by Allie's side — mainly because of her sister — and wasn't even informed of the arrest. Charlotte's literally the head of the 'police' and she didn't know." Lexie realized something as she looked at the men of the Guard. Did that mean Allie was making certain members of the Guard do things for her? She also noticed Luke's disturbed expression when he looked at Jason and Clark when she was talking about her interrogation story.
Lexie smirked to herself.
author's note
sheesh there's so much factors i have to add in for 'season two' like becca's baby daddy, sam and grizz's relationship (also w miles), what happens when grizz sees allie getting arrested and the other jackasses are like :o, cassandra's killer (which literally cant be dewey), and then why dewey confessed if he didn't do it, and what the smell is and why the kids were sent to a different universe
i have been reading predictions on reddit so i kinda have an idea
BUT i just wanted to say that your guys' comments and support give me motivation and i just wanna thank you all so much and that i appreciate every single one of you! i literally read all your comments bc it gives me motivation :)