The Classix

(OLD) Chapter 14

CANADIAN READERS: I'm going to be IN CANADA from next Thursday (May 26) to next Sunday (May 29)! Wattpad invited me and a few other writers to their headquarters to do a lot of amazing exciting things, and I would love to know if you're in the area!

On the first day I'm in Canada, Thursday (May 26), I'll be at the Indigo Bookstore in Yorkdale Mall at 7PM for a little meet and greet with a few other writers in Imagines! If you can make it, you'd also be meeting some amazing people like Anna Todd and Kevin Fanning, and I promise you that we can hug for a solid five minutes if you want to.

Other than that, I believe I'm going to have some downtime to wander around Toronto, so if you want to run into me somewhere and discuss the Famoux or something, I couldn't imagine anything better! This trip is honestly the coolest thing that I've ever gotten to do, so I want to make the most of it!

Okay, I've held you long enough and I'm already late. LET'S GET TO THE CHAPTER!

PREVIOUSLY ON THE CLASSIX: Emeray met the new members! Guess who's one of them . . . GERALD! It was pretty surprising to me that there was a substantial amount of comments that said, "Wait, who?" when everyone seems to remember names like Finley week to week (and Finley hasn't even actually appeared in the book at all!) It's okay, though. I forget about my characters ALL THE TIME. Consider that why sometimes in book 1 it felt like I hastily tied up certain subplots. I just totally forget.

emeray

    I was afraid the room would burst. Into flames, into tears, into something. But the windows don't shatter. The furniture doesn't topple and sizzle like velvet purple embers. The people don't stumble and brace themselves against the wall for cover.

    Gerald and I stare at each other, and the room stays put. The bomb is a dud. No flames, no tears, no movement.

    "The other members should be here any moment," chirps Norax. "I think it's best if we sit them down for their meeting with their new friends. Angad, could you be so kind as to set up the living area for tea?"

    In my peripheral view I can make out Angad nodding. "Of course, ma'am." And just like that, my new guard strides right out of the kitchen, leaving me here to stare wordlessly my old one.

    My fingers fidget against Cartney's hand. What is Gerald doing here as my new Famoux member, when I had two different, perfectly viable options to choose from? It seems like the last thing Norax would let happen; after all, the handful of rumors and articles about our supposed relationship was the reason why she replaced him with Angad in the first place.

    I thought she'd fired him, and Angad thought so too. But Gerald wasn't missing from all the other guard positions because Norax was having him dismissed––he was missing because she was having him promoted.

    As Norax ushers everybody toward the living room, Cartney forces out a cough, removing his hand from mine to scratch the back of his neck.

    "I actually think I should get going," he announces to no one in particular. He then looks down at me. "You good?"

    I want to scream No! but refrain. Everything about the room has suddenly shifted, almost like I'm standing outside of my body. Meeting new people at premieres and clubs is uncomfortable enough, but everything surrounding these members and this situation feels like it's painted in every dreadful color combination to make a person feel ill-at-ease. Some of these people hate us. Some of them might be a part of a group that's killed us. And one of them . . . one of them used to escort me to coffee-shops and rushed into a bullet-infested Fishbowl to save me from certain death.