Chapter 189: 189-Trouble At Hand
Clementine:
Now, Jack was under scrutinizing eyes. Even Suki stepped away from him, giving him a look with her arms folded across her chest. At this point, it was clear that Suki was only using him. She never stood up for him, but he was too blindly in love with her to notice. That was the scariest part.
"What made you think it was the right thing to lie about it?" Haiden stepped forward, questioning Jack, who looked like he needed some support. He turned to his right, staring at Yash and Nate, who began cracking their knuckles and glaring at him.
I could tell Jack wanted to confront them, but he had to face my squadmates. The red squad didn’t really care. They were just sitting at the dining table, watching the whole drama unfold. Jessie was crying hysterically. Oriana tried to comfort her, but she slapped her hand away.
"If I had told her earlier, she would have started pointing fingers at everyone and causing trouble." Jack hissed, still not admitting that he was the reason for the division in the group in the first place.
"So you decided to lie just to send them on a wild chase for nothing?" Yorick questioned him, putting it in words that argued against Jack’s excuse.
"That was her decision. And look what’s happening now. If I had told her the truth, she would have started crying and pointing fingers at us for being too late to open the door. And then Matthias would have never gone to save the entire mainland." Jack grimaced as he yelled.
"I would have never asked Matthias not to go and save the mainland. I just needed the truth. You sent me out, giving me so much hope, you moron!" Jessie screamed at him, and I noticed Jack clenching his fist. As he took a few steps forward, Yorick, Troy, and Haiden stepped in front of Jessie, blocking her behind their backs.
"Dude, you cannot bully anyone here," Troy said, warning Jack with his eyes. Suki started to step back, putting herself away from the chaos.
"Fine, so I lied. Now what?" Jack grunted, his hands on his waist.
"I say we kick him out of the mansion."
However, in a very meek voice, Mira yelled from the back. I noticed everyone’s eyes widen. Even Jack turned to glare at her.
"There should be some consequences for actions so that in the future the others don’t repeat the same mistakes."
Being a beta, Mira wasn’t that scared of Jack. I mean, Jack was a gamma and she was a beta of her pack, so she was slightly higher in rank than him.
"And we should also kick Oriana out." Yash yelled from White Squad, making Oriana’s mouth drop open.
"Where did I come from?" Oriana pointed at herself, questioning Yash.
"Why, if you’re going to punish our squad, she should be the first to get punished. She was the one who left Valerie out in the first place."
Yash finally got up to stand beside Jack. I guessed he realized that after this whole thing was over, they were going to go back and share a room together. When he defended Jack in his twisted way, I noticed the satisfied look on Jack’s face. He was already happy that someone had spoken up.
"Yeah, that should be a good idea," Nate said, just to let Jack know that they still had his support.
Jessie began to look at Oriana.
"Come on, guys, you’re not serious?" I questioned. I was shocked that they knew there were such deadly monsters outside, yet they were sending their own crusaders out.
"Why is it a bad idea, Clementine? Valerie was left behind by this bitch." Now Jessie had shifted her entire focus from Jack to Oriana, who looked shocked. The hostility was building because the Red Squad had finally come out from behind the dining table.
"No, why would our squad get punished for it? She didn’t do it on purpose," Mira said.
As soon as Mira spoke, I turned to stare at Oriana in confusion. I remembered she had told me she was being bullied, but now they were siding with her instead of Jessie. Or had they changed their minds recently?
"Guys, I did not do it. Ask Clementine, she was there that day," Oriana spoke out. "Clementine, let them know."
Oriana dragged me into the situation, and my heart sank as all eyes shifted to me.
"Of course it is Clementine. She would never speak against her friend, so her testimony means nothing," Suki commented with a cheesy smirk, now that I was under scrutiny.
"Nobody will question Clementine. You can’t just trust her one minute and then accuse her of something the next when she’s taking a stand that doesn’t favor you." Troy growled, reminding them all that they couldn’t just use me whenever they wanted.
"Aren’t you the one who used to say she wasn’t trustworthy? So let’s not talk about how we change sides so quickly." Suki hinted at Troy and my past.
Troy turned to look at me. It was always reminders like that that made me upset.
In the next few minutes, everybody was just yelling and screaming at each other. The Red Squad argued that Jack should be pushed out of the mansion, while Jessie had started crying again, missing her sister. Jack was arguing with the Red Squad. Yash and Nate kept insisting that Oriana should be kicked out.
My squad was all over the place too. They taunted Suki and kept taunting Jack as well.
That’s when Suki turned her back to us and moved toward the window. She began to chuckle.
"While you guys are arguing, her dead sister is getting eaten by Carapamingus rex."
I didn’t know why she said that. We already knew Valerie was dead and that the monsters would get to her again. She was already in a terrible state. But her words triggered something terrifying in Jessie. She lifted her face from her hands and rushed toward the door.
"Fucking Suki!" I yelled at her.
Suki shrugged, arms folded across her chest. I guessed that was her way of redirecting attention back to Jessie. She knew Jessie was emotional and would react like that. She did it on purpose.