fair/unfair

04.

cw: boring chapter ahead

       "Every morning you'll report to the front office, and I'll sign off on your sheet that states you showed up on time and ready to work. This closet here is where you'll find any supplies you'll need. It's locked, so here — "

       Elena, an older white woman that had found Reid wandering around the halls, lost and trying to find the front office, handed him a set of keys hooked to a ring. He took them and she set off walking again, continuing their tour of Foxcreek. Reid shoved the keys and his hands back into his front pockets, moodily staring at his shoes as they walked.

        In all honesty, he'd rather be anywhere else than here. Jail was looking better and better the more Elena talked. He'd rather be stuck in the middle of a will-they or won't-they with Jax and Grace. He'd rather be knee-deep in the pig sty that doubled as his older brother's room. Anywhere, dear god anywhere, but here. It was bad enough he was waiting hand and foot for his fiercest rivals; it was worse that he had to do it so early in the morning.

        He was barely even awake, squinting as the sunlight filtered in through the abundance of windows that lined the hallways. He couldn't be bothered to put his contacts in this morning, so every thirty seconds he was pushing his glasses back up on his face, wondering how many times he'd have to swear at God for a lightning bolt to crash through one of those windows and strike him dead.

        "Most of the doors here are locked," Elena was saying as they passed through a hallway of classrooms, "but there should be a key for them on the ring. The only rooms you won't have a key to are the dorms, but you won't be cleaning them until you've finished with the fake blood and spray paint, so we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

       Reid smiled faintly at the disapproval in her voice.

       Eventually, they'd made it full circle and back to the first floor. Finally stopping, Elena gestured to a set of double doors. 

       "This is the dining hall. Lunch break is at twelve; don't mess with the other kids, there shouldn't be a problem, and I won't have to write you up. You can check back in with me at three, return the keys, and I'll sign your sheet again so you can be done for the day. Any questions?"

        Reid ran back through everything she'd just said. Well, the bits and pieces he actually managed to catch while putting on the semblance of caring. "Yeah, other kids?"

        "Full-term boarders," Elena explained, "Due to special circumstances, they're allowed to stay on campus over the summer holiday. There are four of them and one of you, so don't try to start anything."

        Reid didn't have time to worry about the prospect of being in the same building as four Foxes for a good portion of his summer vacation, too caught on what the older woman had implied. His laugh was pleasantly surprised. "Elena, I'm hurt that you would suggest such a thing."

        She gave him a look. "I may be old, boy, but I'm not stupid — and that's Ms. Wickham to you."

        "Miss?" Reid smiled, a warm, heartmelting thing that worked on the staff at Hollis, bending the older women to his every will. "You're telling me a pretty little thing like you isn't married? Unimaginable!"

        Elena, for what it was worth, looked supremely unimpressed by his charm. "Mr. Wickham is no longer in the picture."

        "What happened to him?"

       "Test my patience, and find out."

       Reid's grin was genuine this time. "I think you and I are going to be good friends, Ms. Wickham."