Project Ashren

Chapter 9 - Keefe

Pay attention to the top! It's Keefe's time to SHINE! This chapter is a bit short, and it's ironic because of how long it's been since I updated this, but I hadn't started writing until a few days ago, and then I got ideas for further chapters and for some other stuff, so I got DISTTTRRRACCTTTEDDDD!

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"Oh, wow..." Vida said, her face pursed and she dropped the pink fruit back on her plate: Biana had made her eat a dunden fruit. "That's um... really sweet... wow," she scrunched her nose and Linh laughed softly. Tam turned and glared at her, and her small smile slowly died down.

I hadn't really spoken the entirety of lunch, I could see Sophie flashing me weird, confused looks, but I was thinking... something about her-Vida-seemed so familiar yet so distant at the same time. I feel like I've heard her voice before, but I just can't... place it. I didn't know if I was just being paranoid, or maybe the opposite, or maybe I'm just overthinking everything, hearing things that aren't there...

It's nice that her and Biana get along well though, and Linh seems to like her. Marella's also been kind of quiet... just glaring at her... silently... while spinning a fork in her hand... and I swear it got hotter at the table for a second- same thing with Tam, except he's a bit sneakier about it. Sophie seems... like she has a lot of questions on her mind, she has that little crease in between her eyebrows, and I saw her hand reach toward her eyelashes a couple times before she swatted it back down. And Fitz... I couldn't tell what he was thinking. He was kind of just staring at his food, but I could tell he was listening to every conversation.

Finally, I said something, "what'd you go to Exillium for?"

A silence broke over the table, except for the background noise of other prodigies happily chatting in lunch. Biana face palmed, "I asked her earlier, and it's private to her and her Mom, Keefe. It's none of your business."

"I actually kind of wanted to know also," Sophie pitched in. A flash of annoyance passed over Biana's face as she turned to glare at Sophie. Her gaze softened-they must've been speaking telepathically-but then it returned again with a tad bit more anger in her eyes.

"Guys," Linh spoke softly, "it's not our business to know."

"You had no problem telling me, Linh," Sophie looked over at her.

"After how you helped me with breath control," Linh replied, "no, I didn't, but some people do and we can't pressure them for it." She turned to Vida, "We all understand if you don't feel comfortable telling us, you just met us after all."

The last statement seemed geared more to the rest of us than Vida. She nodded, "Umm... I guess it's fine... but please don't speak about it in front of anyone else." She waited for a moment, "I'm not going to go into detail, but um... I was angry, my dad... he worked in the Nobility, and he was there for the attempt at the Peace Treaty in Lumenaria... before it crashed down."

My eyes widened, and I cursed at myself. Why'd you ask, Keefe?!?! Why'd you ask?!

"My mom and I heard about what happened," she continued, looking down at her nails, picking at them. "We had hope that he would come home, we really did... but he didn't come home that night," her eyes got pearly, "he didn't come home the day after, and he didn't come home the day after that either. Three days after he was proclaimed dead, but his body was never found in the wreckage."

"I was angry. I was angry at the Council, I was angry at the man who'd done it, I was just angry at the world, really... My mom was a mess, I was a mess... I was so angry; I didn't really think anyone should be happy or deserved to be after what happened. So, I um... I broke into the Matchmaking office with a friend of mine-she's a Technopath-and we... we hacked into the system and changed people's lists... destroyed them... and um... yeah."