Stonebrook High School

Chapter 94

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~*Ω*~

Jess moved down the hallway to catch up with Petra and Olivia, the two of them around a corner with their heads held down. She stepped in front of them to see their faces and felt her chest ache upon seeing Olivia's teary and pained eyes lock onto her own. The rage Ivor had harbored against Soren obviously resonated with their afroed friend, considering she had to walk out mid-interview to compose herself. 

"You okay?" Jess whispered, putting her hand on Olivia's shoulder. "You don't have to answer that."

Olivia shook her head. "No, it's... I'm okay. I just needed a moment to breathe. After hearing all that stuff about Soren, I couldn't help but get angry. It's surprising that I can relate to Ivor in this way." A small exhale of amusement escaped her nose as she wiped her face. "I was telling Petra about how I was so annoyed that the so-called 'leader' of the Order was really a coward who couldn't even be truthful to his closest friends."

"I mean, yeah, I think all of us felt that way," Petra replied, patting the amateur engineer on the back. "Not surprising that you got pissed at that loser."

Jess relaxed and sighed, letting go of her friend. "I couldn't help it either. Kept thinking, 'that rat bastard should get his ass back here and be our errand boy until he feels the same way that Ivor and the others felt,' but... that's pretty harsh of me, huh?"

The other two girls laughed, and Olivia held up her hand. "Nah, I had a very similar line of thinking, too."

"Also, you are just kind of evil, sometimes," Petra added, earning herself a soft punch on the shoulder from Jess.

"I know I'm mean, but you don't have to say it out loud," the black-haired girl joked as she crossed her arms. "Anyway, let's go meet up with the others. They're in the lounge."

~*Ω*~

Jesse was sitting opposite Lukas at the same table from earlier, and Axel was on one of the accent chairs nearby. All three boys sat in silence, thinking about the interview and mentally going over anything that had caught their interest. Isa had left the group to store her recording and the girls were still talking in the hallway, so there was no one to interrupt their thoughts for a bit.

The brown-haired boy was staring at the ceiling, his gaze moving past it as he delved deeper into his mind. So, Soren had been the one with the command chip. He never shared info about it, and he never let the others use it. Yet, he often used it for his own research and didn't hesitate to use it offensively when he deemed it necessary. Was it all out of the need to be the "leader"? Was it because he felt he was lacking in some way and needed to prove himself? Was it because he felt like nothing without it? There were honestly too many hypotheticals with possible correct answers for Jesse to filter through them all with no bias.

He sighed and leveled his head, his line of sight now on Lukas, who was scrutinizing his journal. The Ocelot was definitely racking his brain for more connections in the same way Jesse had been doing. Lukas's face was stern, focused on one page at a time before scribbling something and furrowing his brow. What a nerd, thought Jesse amusedly. I wonder what he's written in there so far. 

Then, Jesse tilted his head to look at Axel on the side. The big guy had his arms crossed and was uncharacteristically quiet with his head down and eyes closed. It was different, seeing Axel deep in thought like this with no occasional speaking. But the guy had changed a lot because of the Witherstorm, too, and Jesse couldn't deny that watching the Storm fall probably changed some chemical path in his friend's brain. After all, Axel did have to receive therapy of his own when he arrived at their hospital.