Prompt: Griffin and Caroline talk when she takes over the Academy
-----------------------------------------------------------
It'd been a while since I'd been back where Constance Academy was located. I rarely had a reason to come up this way.
But Caroline Constance had asked me to come so we could talk. So, here I was.
She'd invited me to lunch, and I sat at a table waiting for her. She was running late, though she'd texted me to warn me, at least.
I stood up as she finally came into sight. She smiled, though I didn't miss the slightly troubled look. She hugged me tightly.
"Thanks for coming, Griff," she said. "I know it's a bit of a trip for you."
I shook my head. "Nah, no problem."
The two of us sat down and ordered drinks. Caroline and I met up for lunch or dinner on occasion, but usually she drove out to me, or we met halfway.
"What's this about?" I asked.
"Well, um, I got a new job," she said.
"Oh. Congratulations," I said curiously. "Where?"
"Constance Academy," she said.
I stared at her. Stared a little longer. Tried to find words. Couldn't. Stared even more.
She blew out a sigh. "That's why I wanted to tell you in person."
"I thought Adam was taking over?" I said at last.
"He was. But, well..." She sighed again. "Alright, remember when you were a senior and there was that group giving my dad a hard time?"
"Cara's friends," I said with a nod.
"Well, there was a similar group this year. My dad put Adam in charge of controlling them, as a sort of test. Adam failed. Miserably. There was a riot. Kids got hurt."
"A riot?" I said in surprise. "Jesus, and it couldn't even happen when Hal was there."
She gave the faintest flicker of a smile. "Hal punched plenty of Blues, I'm sure he'll deal with the news." Then the smile faded. "It was bad. I wasn't there, but my little brother Leon was. He told me about it. Blues and Maroons just going at each other, and no one could break them all up. There wasn't enough staff. The whole thing had been orchestrated by this group of students. Adam couldn't get control over the situation."
"Shit, so what happened?" I asked.
"Leon managed to stop it," she said. "And in the end, my dad decided that Adam shouldn't take over. Adam had been stoking the tensions between the Blues and Maroons, and even encouraging the Blues to go after the Maroons."
"Of course," I said in disgust, thinking of poor Thevan. He'd trusted Adam, and Adam had turned into such a monster.
"Adam couldn't get control over this group, and the power of the position was going to his head. I think my dad was too scared if he let Adam take over, Adam would end up in legal trouble. So he offered the position to Leon and me."
