United Regnum

Allec 6

The other trainers and I sit at our own table. Usually some of the initiates come and talk to us, but we're alone tonight.  

If I were to turn around I would see daggers coming towards our table from most of the cafeteria. That and tears falling. No doubt there will be a suicide tonight. It happens every year.  

None of us are hungry, apart from Gage. He still eats like a starving dog.  

I wonder what he said to Eva. I haven't been able to find her. 

"How did it go with you, Tara?" I try to start the conversation, hoping Gage won't be able resist braging about Eva. I remember how she smiled at me after. She's so much like Ruth and I. That or her mask is stronger than I thought. She has been pretending for years.  

"It was fine. I got some really strong kids. You?" Tara answers, breaking my train of though.  

"Same. Some of them were stubborn so I had to yell a lot louder." I say, trying to provoke Gage.  

"I know what you mean." Kale joins us, "I think I went easy on one girl after she spilled her whole life story to me." 

Jack never joins a conversation, but Gage doesn't shut up.  

"I never feel bad. I think I really broke my second person's spirit. Oh, and that transfer, Eva, she really knows how to fuck with you. She made me so angry I almost hit her. I really wanted to slap her around. She's just too polite."  

I feel his words shoot through me and I feel my fist ball up. If he had hit her, I would have knocked him out. I would've made sure he knew that she was my girl, and that she was not to be fucked with. Wait, what? She's not my girl. Not yet, anyway. I need to control myself.  

I clear my throat, "I don't think she's that bad." I can refrain from fighting, not from speaking. Tara and Kale begin laughing.  

"Of course you don't." Tara snorts.  

"Too bad she's a year younger, eh?" Kale nudges my arm and laughs even harder. "Hey, we still have three years until we get married off. You could fuck her until then." Kale winks and clicks his tongue. I know Tara and Kale are joking, but my blood is boiling. I feel the rush in my ears and my heart begins racing.  

"I am not fucking her, nor have I ever fucked her. She's an initiate and a friend." Kale stops laughing and Tara is reduced to a frown and flushed face.  

"Hey man, I'm sorry. We'll take your word for it." I brush it off and look across the table at Gage's hard glare.  

"I'll take it as you haven't fucked her yet."