Sorry, I Love You.

2.27

/ I'm hurting, baby, I'm broken down \
/ I need your loving, loving I need it now \
/ When I'm without you,
I'm something weak \
/ You got me begging, begging,
I'm on my knees \

In order to keep track of the students of Hudson High School and make sure they were well taken care of, it was mandatory for all of them to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner together. For half an hour, they ate together, and for the second half hour, they listened to the Human Geography teachers try to teach them things from their lesson at school so that they didn't forget why they were on this trip.

Meanwhile, all Zoe could do was look around the mess hall in search of Teddy.

Earlier, Teddy told Zoe not to go anywhere, which she figured meant that he would come back, but it had been hours and he was still nowhere to be seen. When everyone gathered in the mess hall, even the teachers asked around to see if anybody knew where he was and nobody had an answer. They let everyone eat, however, and even gave their lessons as they hoped he was simply late or forgot about lunch.

Luckily, towards the end of the lesson, Howl got a call from Teddy and got up to leave and find him. Zoe stood up to follow but a teacher gently pushed her back into her seat and followed Howl to make sure everything was alright. Zoe anxiously tapped her foot, her eyebrows cinched between her eyes and a deep frown on her face. Teddy was prone to getting into trouble and danger so Zoe was worried. Where had he taken off to so suddenly and why was he gone for so long?

While Zoe worried and worried and worried, Teddy was busy trying to bullshit his way through his conversation was Mr. Stevens. Teddy had no problem explaining what happened to Howl but Mr. Stevens was another story, literally. Teddy made up a story about him being mugged when he went out to find some fast food, since the resort didn't have fast food. Mr. Stevens scolded Teddy for leaving the resort without permission and all by himself but he couldn't really punish him in any way.

The resort had a small hospital-like section for those that got injured while they were here but it wasn't anything fancy. Luckily, all Teddy needed was a few bandages, a wrap around his shoulder, and some ice packs for his ankle, face, and fingers. The doctor lady at the resort let Teddy relax for awhile as Mr. Stevens hurried to talk to the other teachers about the incident. When they were done, Teddy explained the situation to Howl with a quiet, hoarse voice.

"He's dead?" Howl's eyes widened but he kept his voice low. "It was that easy? You just had to take his pin and he was shot dead?"

"That easy? Does it look like I had an easy experience?" Teddy joked as he raised a swollen hand to gesture at his dirty clothes and injured body. He could still feel all his bruised, aching muscles throb. He felt like his body was one big heart beat.

"I just mean... It doesn't feel like it would be that simple. I mean, what if they just send another guy up here? Isn't there some kind of catch?" Howl asked.

"I already asked Abe to make sure the test was over and he said it was. The test was suppose to be harder, and it would've been, but Abe says I came up with a solution that they didn't expect."

"A solution? To have him killed?"

"Killing him was not my intention." Teddy said and let a strangled sigh fall off his chest. "My original plan was to plea for the test to be over and then Abe said there was no way out so then I decided to go after Brian. I figured, maybe I could beat him in a fight and warn him not to touch her. Then I realized I wasn't going to win and figured I could at least stall him and waste some time getting thrown around. But then, I saw his pin... and I just went for it."