The heartstopper

Chapter 16

"So where were you two before we interrupted?" Darcy questioned with her eyebrows raised.

"We were - outside," Nick replied. They still sat on the floor of the hotel's restaurant, Nick with his hand placed over Charlie's.

"You abandoned us to sneak out?" Tara commented, grinning at her friend.

"We just went and ate somewhere quieter," He defended. "Anyways, what about you, were you guys still in the restaurant or?"

"We had gone back to our rooms by then,"

"Well you and Darcy had, you kicked Imogen and I out of our room," Elle added, sending a fake glare their way.

Tara and Darcy laughed in response, "Uh oops,"

"I was finishing my book in our room," Isaac piped in. He had given in and finished his book. Now, either he could reread one of the four books he had brought with him, or he could listen to an audio book that he purchased on his phone but avoided listening to because he didn't enjoy them nearly as much as reading physical copies of books.

"I was walking around the hotel, if I had known Elle wasn't doing anything I'd have found her, but instead I discovered that this hotel has an arcade where we could have been spending all our time instead of locked in our rooms," Tao explained, preceding to recount his long adventure to finding the arcade and then realizing that he required money which was in the hotel room. In addition to that, all the arcade machines were in French, but that wouldn't stop him from being able to have a dance dance revolution battle with Elle.

"Ooh, we've got to check it out later! I mean if we're going to be stuck here for possibly an extended amount of time," Darcy exclaimed.

"I'll be spending a lot of time on the dance dance revolution machines," Tao exaggerated.

"And I'll be spending a lot of time beating Tao on the dance machines," Elle sassed.

"I'll spend my time watching Nick fail at the claw machine - again," Charlie laughed a bit, remembering his fifteenth birthday celebration at the bowling alley.

Nick scoffed, "I'm quite good at the claw machine!" He defended.

"No, as your boyfriend, I've got to be the one to break it to you to say this, you are terrible at the claw machine," Charlie laughed at his boyfriend's expression. He remembered back to that night full of Nick wasting his money as he tried over and over to win a stuffed animal from the game.

"I am offended that you think so lowly of me, I will prove you wrong," Nick pointed his finger at the other boy for dramatics as he looked offended.

"Alright, alright, I'll be the judge on that later on as I may or may not have spent all of my money on Paris souvenirs which includes this extremely comfortable jumper," Darcy spoke as she motioned at her jumper which she had worn everyday since she got it, even with the hot summer temperatures.

"I tried to stop you," Tara jokingly rolled her eyes at her girlfriend.

They continued to laugh and chat in their small group before a police officer opened the double doors and walked up to a lady in a pantsuit, beginning to talk in a hushed voice. That lady was presumably the hotel manager.

"What do you think they're talking about," Tao asked, leaning in closer to the group.

"Hold on, I can read lips," Darcy claimed, turning her body around to look closely at their moving lips.
"The gates for three days or less, drunk or any other questions under the circ- '' She paused as she tried to read what looked to be a long word. "-Circumstances in dreams of Canada,"

"I don't think that's what they were saying," Elle laughed.

"Maybe they're speaking in code," Nick offered.

"Yes, code, that must be it," Darcy nodded, shooting Nick finger guns.

The lady who spoke with the officer turned and walked over to Mr. Ajayi and Mr. Farouq who still stood at the front of the room.

"Now what're they talking about?" Tao asked Darcy.

"Let me see… no peanuts at this point during our search engine optimi… optimization services," Darcy looked back at the group proudly.

"And what does that mean?" Asked Charlie.

"I'm not sure… Tara, can you translate?" Darcy looked hopeful.

"Unfortunately, I don't think I can," Tara apologized.

"Maybe we should wait till they announce it," Nick shrugged, watching as the officer walked back out of the room.

"But that's no fun, they're not going to tell us every detail anyway," Darcy complained, looking back to attempt to read their lips some more.

The teachers and the lady talked for another ten minutes before anything was announced. The lady walked back to some of her coworkers who were standing near the entrance to the restaurant kitchen and went to talk with them for some time. Afterwards, the lady stepped up to the front of the room.

"Pourrais-je avoir l'attention de tout le monde un instant ? / Could I have everyone's attention for a moment?" She translated in her French accent. It was lucky that the hotel was large enough of a stop for tourists that it was practically a necessity for her to have some understanding of English.

"Nous nous excusons pour la gêne occasionnée, mais l'équipe d'enquête demande à tout le monde de rester quelques jours supplémentaires. bien sûr, nous couvrirons tous les séjours prolongés et nous vous aiderons à résoudre les inconvénients que cela a causés."

She paused to regain herself before she translated, "We apologize for the inconvenience but the investigation crew is asking for everyone to stay for a few extra days. Of course, we'll be covering any extended stays and will help with any inconveniences that this has caused."

The lady carried on to explain how everyone will be receiving more details on a sheet of paper that will explain anything else that may be important to know. She also was sure to explain the events that led to this decision before allowing guests to head back to their rooms but asking for the students of Truman and Higgs to stay back with their teachers.

"Students, we'll send out an Email for extra information specific to us. At curfew which is still ten, we'll be walked to each room to do a headcount so please do not miss that," Mr. Ajayi explained after the others had left, hoping none of their students had snuck out the door in the process.

The teachers continued to talk for an excessive amount of time. Most people had lost interest once they started talking about being 'locked in the hotel for the next few days' but then went on to say that they shouldn't think about it like being trapped but as time to 'relax and unwind with friends.' They also said that the evening walk that they had previously planned was canceled because of obvious reasons, before they let everyone go.