The New World

Delphine

There is so much tension in the air as Sammy walks away from us. Sammy and Dane clearly hate each other. I don't know why, considering I have never seen any reason for the hatred. This just means that I won't be able to talk to Sammy as much as I usually do. Dane's hatred is going to hinder a lot of my friendships.

"Dane, what is going on? Why is he acting like this? Why are you acting like this? Dane, why is he so mad about the name? Why are you ignoring me? Talk to me!"

Finally, Dane turns to me after motioning to Victor and telling him to start things. "Delphine, watch their punishment. There is nothing to tell you."

Except I know that there's something to tell me. He's just keeping it to himself for some reason. As I go to tell him that, Anna runs up to us, tears in her eyes. "Delphine, please talk some sense into Dane. Don't let him do this to me."

I feel for Anna, I really do, but I warned her about this. This particular law was ingrained in us from the moment we hit middle school. It wasn't my fault that Anna and the others didn't listen. We knew the consequences well before hormones hit. I took heed, they did not.

"Delphine will do no such thing, Anna."

"I'm your best friend! How can you allow this?"

She can't actually believe that I have any say over anything that Dane does. He is the leader, what he says goes. It doesn't matter that I'm going to be his wife. My words carry no weight. "My hands are tied, Anna. I love you, but I can't do anything for you."

Her eyes leave mine and settle on Dane. "Rafe didn't punish women who had sex before marriage. He thought it was a stupid rule."

"Rafe obviously let a lot of people get away with a lot of things." Dane lets go of my hand, slowly rising from his chair before making his way to Anna. "If Rafe thought it was such a terrible rule, he could have done away with it. He didn't. Now you have to deal with the consequences. You won't be the last one to go through it, Anna. People around here are going to start taking me seriously."

"I can't let my parents see that!"

Dane shrugs. "Should have thought of that before acting like a slut."

"Dane!" I may not be able to stop him from going through with his punishments, but I will call him out for being an asshole. 

"I'm not going to apologize for calling her what she is."

"What about Delphine?"

At the same time, Dane and I turn toward Anna and ask, "What?"

"She slept with Sammy."

What the hell was Anna trying to do here? She knew that I never slept with anyone. We were even talking about it right before Dane claimed me. "Anna, you know that's not true."

"Of course it is." She sticks her chin out defiantly. "If I have to go through this, so do you!"

Dane storms off, leaving me with Anna. "Why would you do that? I thought you were my best friend! You more than anyone know that I haven't slept with anyone."

"As I said, if I have to go through this, you do too."

"This isn't some kind of initiation, Anna! This is my life. You know I follow the laws. My best friend wouldn't lie like that about me."

Suddenly there's a scuffle next to me, and I turn to find Dane dragging Sammy over to us. He throws Sammy down in front of me. Sand kicks up as Sammy tries to brace himself. "Sammy, I am giving you one chance to tell the fucking truth." Sammy looks between Dane and me, fear in his eyes. "Did you fuck Delphine?"