The Uprising

Chapter Eleven--Peter

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       I paced the halls of the hospital frantically. Ina had been fine when we had left the wedding, but her condition only worsened.

"I'm afraid that she is unstable. We don't think she'll ever wake up," Mikkel said. My head was resting on my desk from exhaustion and anxiety.

     "What am I supposed to do?" I asked my hands.

      "Peter, we think it would be best if you go stay with your mother. The kids are going back to the Berlin Academy. It's for the best. With the bombings going on, Germonio needs people with education and jobs like you," he continued.

      I raised my head off my desk. "I know. My bags are already packed to leave on Thursday," I said.

      Mikkel faked a smile and returned to his work.

Annabelle Sommer

     The air in the car while we drove back to BAYA was tense. Even Evelyn was silent.

     "Now, you three are going to stay here on weekends. I would prefer you to come home, but traveling back and forth is tiring--and dangerous--for someone my age. But you have friends at school, and Berlin is a fun city. Staying there will be much more enjoyable," Evelyn said as we were carrying our luggage back to our dorms. Lukas separated from us at the entrance, but Evelyn walked with Emma and I to our rooms. We passed Katelyn in the halls. She waved at us, but kept walking.

Before I could even knock, Lisa had opened the door, her eyes bright. "I'll be going now," Evelyn said, seeing that we would rather talk to our friends.

"Lebewohl," Emma said.

"Goodbye."

"Oh! I'm so sorry about your guardian!" Lisa exclaimed when Evelyn was gone. Lena nodded her agreement in silence.

"Me, too," Emma said.

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It's five thirty. Why?" Lisa asked.

"We have a dance class at six," I told her.

"Do you really think we need to go to that?" Emma asked me. I nodded.

"We've missed two weeks. That's already puts us behind. The TWD production, and Gisele, is coming up fast," I reminded her, already pulling out my dance clothes from my suitcase.

Running to the bathroom to change, I pulled off my shoes. I changed into a black leotard and black shorts--our dance uniform for all classes except ballet.

"Wait for me!" Emma called as I left the dorm, dance bag slung over my shoulder.

Outside the studio doors, I almost ran into Mallory, one of the other dancers.

"Hey, Annabelle. Emma. Lena told me, well, she signed me, that your guardian was really hurt. Are you guys okay?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," I said, brushing past her awkwardly.

       Mr. Volcov was standing in the front of the room by the front mirror, and most students were gathered in groups on the sides.

       Erik was sitting against the wall, his legs outstretched in front of him and a textbook in his lap, closest to me, so I walked up to him, kicking his left foot when I could reach it.

         "Hello, Annabelle," he said, his pale green eyes never looking up from his book. I couldn't tell if it was just his accent or not, but he sounded tired.

       "Miss me?" I asked. Erik glanced up at me, his face anything but enthusiastic.

        "I'm sorry—" he began.

          "Did Lena tell you, too?" I asked.

        "For someone who's mute, she's surprisingly talkative," he said, a small smile playing across his lips.

        "Students, please be getting warmed up!" Mr. Volcov called to everyone.

Erik got up, and he, Emma, and I walked to the middle of the floor with everyone else.

•••••

After dance, Rudy invited everyone to go to join him at the food court in celebration for the male football (Or soccer—Emma) team's win. Other than Lukas and Pierre--and of course Rudy--I didn't recognize any of the boys already in the food court.

"Come here," Erik said, pulling me by my arm to a table where I was suddenly staring at a boy that looked very similar, although a little shorter, than Erik.

"You must be Juan," I guessed. Juan smiled.

"Yes. And this is Renee, Erik's girlfriend," he said, motioning to a girl seated across from him. Renee had blonde hair and brown eyes, and she had a friendly appearance.

An unexpected feeling overcame me. Relief. Erik wasn't single.

I smiled. "Hi. I'm Annabelle," I said. Renee waved and said "hello" as well, but I could tell she was looking at Erik, who's carefree and energetic personality had come back halfway through the dance class.

"You're from Ivania, right?" Renee asked.

"Um, no. Germonio," I said.

"I'm from the IK," she said. I just nodded, starting to feel a little awkward. Thankfully, I was saved by Pierre, who suddenly was standing in front of Erik, clinging to his arm.

"The Bulgarians are back!" Pierre cried.

"Oh, well. France has already disowned you," Erik commented. Pierre's eyes widened.

"What?" he asked. Erik just smirked in response.

I glanced over at Emma, who was having a conversation with Rudy, Lukas, and some of the other football players.

"I'm going to go talk to Emma," I said, slowly starting to back away.

"Okay," Erik said, prying Pierre's fingers from off of his arm.

Peter Strauss

"Peter, you know how this works," Mikkel said. I nodded, not moving my eyes from Ina's pale face--her blue eyes that would never open again, her lips that would never smile again.

        "Just tell me when you're ready," Mikkel said.

        "Now. No point in putting it off," I said, my hands shaking and my vision blurring with tears.

           I looked away as Ina's lifeline was unplugged.

*turns on some Ivish rock...* My husband has become concerned after reading this. Ha. Ha. Ha. Hi! *waves*