Manipulate

Chapter Eight

Theo and I walk hand in hand back to the dorms. I don't like him; I don't like him. He is just a friend. That's all, I think to myself. Theo is a nice guy. Honestly, he really is and he's a nice friend to have.

"Are you good at archery?" Theo asks me.

"Yeah. I'm decent at it," I say with a shrug.

"Could you teach me sometime?"

"Sure," I say.

"Cool. Is it hard?"

"Not really. Archery is pretty easy after you get the concept down," I say. "But you do have a weapon in your hand though."

Theo's lips curl up at my last comment. We get back to the dorm and I drop Theo's hand at the door. Theo smiles, I just stare at the ground while blush creeps up my face. Theo opens the door with a bow.

"Ladies first," he says adding a smirk.

I laugh and roll my eyes at his gesture. "Thank you," I say quietly, so that Theo is the only one who can hear it.

"You're welcome, Abhaya," Theo says with a smile.

I go and find a spot along the wall. Trey notices me when I sit along the wall. He nods when Theo comes in.

"Yes! We got two more players now," Trey says. Everyone cheers at his announcement.

"Nick, truth or dare?" Trey asks.

"Dare," Nick states.

Trey taps his chin. "Hmm... I dare you to run down to the cafeteria and back yelling at the top of your lungs," Trey says.

"I'll do it!" Nick exclaims.

Everyone wants to see this.

We all follow Nick out of the dorms and stand at the end of the hall. Nick starts sprinting down the hall like his life depends on it. Some of us start laughing. "Idiot," I mutter under my breath. Within five minutes Nick comes back with sweat beading his forehead. He also has a red mark on his face. It looks like a handprint. He got slapped! I smile at the ground. He is such an idiot and stupid at the same time. I hate idiots and look at what just happened.

"What happened?" Trey asks.

"I got slapped by Max for running in the halls. He said that it's 'too childish of me to do that stuff,'" Nick says.

I look over my shoulder and see Theo talking to Peter. Peter rolls his eyes and laughs at what Theo just said. Peter whispers something into Theo's ear. Theo nods and smiles at what Peter just said.

"Hi, I'm Mia. You're Abhaya right?" A girl behind me says. I jump and turn my head. "Oh, sorry didn't mean to startle you," she adds quickly.

I realize that my mouth is hanging open. I close my mouth. "Yeah. Hi, Mia. It's nice to meet you. "

Mia is a few inches smaller than me, with blonde hair, shoulder length hair and brown eyes. She smiles at me.

"It's nice to meet you too, Abhaya," Mia chirps.

Mia walks off to join her other group of friends. I walk back into the dorm and climb up onto my bunk. I lay on the twin sized mattress and wonder how Aj is doing. Could Donatella be hurting him or using him to clean the house? My blood runs cold at the thought. I yank the pillow from under my head and press it onto my face and scream into it. My screams are muffled by the cotton and soft foam.

"What are you doing?" A voice asks me. I take the pillow off of my face to see Theo standing on Nick's bed with his arms keeping him balanced. He smirks at me.

"I was thinking," I say.

"Then why were you screaming?" Theo says shooting up an eyebrow. I laugh.