Sidelines

Chapter Twenty-Two: Old Enemies

I blinked and stared at the ceiling of my room. Lena, Aiden and Brett were still asleep but the sunlight shining through the window had me awake in an instant. It was probably really early but I knew I had to get up soon. I didn't want to though. I didn't want to face my friends.

If they still were my friends that is.

After I chose the Radiants the day before, Trey had stomped away while Bree just remained frozen. Archer and Sera had tried to get her to move but she wouldn't. She just kept staring at me in disbelief. Don had just shaken his head sadly before walking away. Archer and Sera wouldn't look at me. I think I didn't even have Nisha on my side, since she was more a part of the camp that a part of the Radiants. I only had my family now.

Which was why it made it so much harder to go on our 'recon mission'.

But I had promised. Who knew what they would think of me if I backed out now. So I slowly got up and brushed my teeth, then washed my hair. Then, along with Chris, I ate breakfast. I always made sure to keep another person with me in case people actually carried out their threat and threw me out of the camp.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked while downing some coffee.

I ate a bit more of my scrambled eggs before responding. "What do you think?"

"I know it was really hard decision, Kaya. That's why I'm proud of you for choosing our family. I'm glad."

I sighed. "But, don't you think our views are wrong?"

Chris looked at me in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Don't you think one group ruling everybody is wrong?"

He was silent for a moment. "Yeah," he said softly. "I do. But I don't think I could tell Mom that. I don't know how she'd react."

So he didn't believe in it either. "Do you know, the only reason why I chose the Radiants was because you were my family, not because of what we believed."

"I had a feeling. You're not the 'control all' kind of person. To be honest, neither am I."

Suddenly, I had an idea. "What if we both left our seats in the council and joined the camp instead? There are plenty of Radiants who support the camp, like Nisha."

Chris smiled sadly. "You're already regretting your decision to choose the Radiants, huh?"

I shut my mouth. "No, not really."

We didn't talk after that. It wasn't long before we had to go to Trey's house. I couldn't stall anymore. When we reached his house I clenched my hands into fists at my sides as Chris rang the doorbell. Trey opened the door. "Come in," he said monotonously.

I let Chris walk in first and then closely followed behind him. Bree was already there, staring at the coffee mug in her hands while Archer sat next to her, dozing off. He woke up when he heard Trey close the door, a little too loudly. Xavier and Sera came out of the kitchen, both holding coffee mugs too. What was with these coffee obsessed people? Honestly, I couldn't stand coffee. It smelled really good but I didn't like the taste.

"Hey Kaya," Sera said with a strained smile. At least she was trying. Other than Chris, Xavier seemed to be the only one who didn't seem that mad at me. He said hi causually, like he didn't at all feel the tension in the room.

Then Nisha walked in, slightly panting. "Sorry, I'm a little late guys. I had to make sure my mom wasn't awake before running here."

Trey laughed. "You realize that we just told you to get here earlier than the others because we knew you would be late somehow?"