The Darkest Minds: Red

Nine

Ruby woke up when she felt the bed move a bit. She tiredly rubbed her eyes, before looking around the room. She was the only one who was still in bed, and Zu was standing in front of her, holding a red dress with a smile on her face.

"Oh, no. I'm... really not a fancy dress kind of girl,"

Zu subtly rolled her eyes, before shoving the dress towards her.

"I would do what she ... wants?" I announced, walking out of the bathroom wearing a lace blouse, "This is so different from the hoodie I usually wear,"

Ruby looked at me as I gave her a blank expression. She turned back to Zu.

"I think I'll wear the dress," She decided.

"Honest opinion, red seems like a good color on you," I said to her, before grabbing my bag and walking out of the room. Zu handed Ruby the dress, then followed behind.

Ruby entered the bathroom. She did whatever she could as a morning routine, then put on the dress.

She walked out of the bathroom, then out the motel room. Zu and I turned our heads, and I let out a whistle. 

"Look at you," I smiled, then turned to Zu, "What do you think, Zu?"

Zu held up a gloved hand and gave her a thumbs-up. The three of us then walked towards the van, seeing Liam.

"Hey," Ruby announced, seeing Liam scrapping some paint off the van.

"Hey," He responded, looking at her briefly before focusing his attention back on the van. He then did a double-take. "Where did you get that?"

"It's stupid," She said, getting a bit shy.

"No, no. It's just... It's been a while since I've seen a girl in a dress. Or anyone in a dress. I feel like I should ask you to prom or something," He chuckled.

Ruby then turned to me, "Well, I don't want to steal your man,"

I shook my head, "No, no, it's fine. But no funny business, okay?"

"Yes, m'lady," Liam said with a grin, and I smiled at him. He then turned so he was facing both myself and Ruby.

"Do you think if we weren't taken that would happen to our prom?" Liam asked.

"Well, unfortunately, I'm already going with the captain of the football team, so..." She trailed off, walking towards the van.

"Conner Jenkins?" Liam asked, and I burst into laughter. Ruby looked at us, amused.

"Did you just make that name up?" She asked.

"No, Conner Jenkins was at Caledonia with us," I said, trying to stop laughing. I finally did, then I deeply sighed.

"Well, in that case, gotta dump him," Ruby shook her head.

"Let's just start scraping these letters off this van and we'll see how everything goes," I suggested.

Liam went back to work. Suddenly, the door opened, causing the three of us to stand up and look where it came from. Liam widened his eyes.

"Tracers," He told us, stopping what he was doing. I pulled Liam near me, looking at the two adults. Ruby looked at them, her eyes turning orange for a moment before returning to their usual browns.

"Come on, let's just go," The woman said, grabbing the man's arm, dragging them to the car, and then leaving.

"What just happened?" Liam asked, and I whipped my head around, looking at Ruby. 

"I don't know," Ruby said, ignoring me.

        ********

We were back on the road. Liam drove while I was in the passenger seat. Ruby, Chubs, and Zu sat in the back.

The radio was on and the speaker spoke, "And now the president's son Clancy Gray, with his message of hope."

Clancy's voice was then heard, "If I can be cured, you can be cured."

I scoffed at the message. Liam opened his mouth to speak, but Chubs cut him off. "Wonder king, Clancy Gray. 'If I can be cured, you can be cured.'"

"You had those stupid posters, too?" Ruby asked, turning to him.

"Seven shades of bullshit," I told her, and Liam chuckled at my comment.

Chubs looked over at Zu's notebook. On it contained numbers, but it seemed less like numbers and more like actual drawings. 

"You gotta stop drawing the cats over the nines and sixes," He told her, causing us to hold in our laughter. However, I couldn't hold it in, and I burst out laughing.

"She needs her numbers. You have to learn," Chubs chastised Zu, but he was smiling as well.