Tealsville Seas

meeting

Naomi Jones

The first few minutes of everyone being in one room were so quiet that you could hear a pen drop.

Of course, that was before everything went haywire.

It started off with Xalia and Asher arguing about who got to sit closer to Shiloh.

Then Alex and Strawberry shortcake started bickering about something that shortcake said about Alex's fur boots.

I'm pretty sure Alex started cursing the girl out in Spanish at one point.

The man that sat next to Alex was reading a book, uninterested in anything going on around him.

Where he got that book from? I wasn't sure. I know for a fact that he didn't walk in with one.

"Damn it! Why're you being so difficult?" Xalia stood up, walking around my timid best friend in order to tower over Ashers sitting frame.

"The fuck are you talking about? You're the one being difficult, all I did was pull him closer to me and you started PMS'ing." He yelled, standing up.

I looked towards Shiloh worriedly, knowing that this was without a doubt making him uncomfortable.

And I was right.

He was staring down at the table with a tired expression on his face, looking as if he wanted to be anywhere but here.

My eyes shifted to my left at Shilah who was focusing on her brother, growing angrier by the second. I looked down at her lap and saw her hands balled up into two fists and I noticed that her breathing was getting slightly wavered.

That's when I turned to Valen.

He sat back in his chair, looking extremely stoic and stone faced.

Seeing him like that kind of threw me off since he's always animated and talkative when it's just us two.

With me, he was always rubbing the back of his neck, smiling, wide eyed.

Blushing.

Now he just sat at the table looking stone faced with his hands crossed on the table.

"Hey." I learn closer to him.

He snaps out of whatever trance he was in and looks down at me, scooting his chair closer to mine and leaning down so that he could hear me.

"Can we get started with the answers. Their yelling is making my friends uncomfortable." I nod my head over to the twins and look back at Valen with a pleading look on my face.

His gaze softened when we made eye contact and he nodded, leaning back into his seat and trying to call the room to attention.

"Can I have everyone's attention please." He said to the room.

No one heard him.

He cleared his throat and tried again.

"I said, can I have everyone's attention please." He rose his voice a little, and this time the man, the twins, Alex, and Shortcake looked his way.

Across the table however- Asher and Xalia were still standing above Shiloh going head to head. There was only a little bit of space between the two of them and it didn't look like either of them was backing down anytime soon.

Shiloh put his sleeve covered hands over his ears which made Shilah stand up.

All noise in the room came to a halt when a knife suddenly pierced through the air and sliced through the space between Xalia and Asher's faces-nearly slicing their noses.