The Differents | ✓

F O U R

A/N: So here's me posting two chapters in a day when I said I'd post chapter 4 next week but I'm posting this early because it's for an awards entry so ok :')

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On the third day of my confinement, I sat in my room sulking after having gone to the dining hall to eat my evening meal. It would have been okay if they had made us sit on our own, separated from the groups of people who eat together at the long tables, but for the past seven meals since our punishment started, they had made the four of us eat together, at one small table of four, off to the side. I hated every second of it. Not only did we have to tolerate each other for the amount of time that we had to eat, but we had to tolerate the looks and stares from the other people in the hall as they whispered amongst themselves about us.

We were no longer the best team, the one that had it all together, the one that got picked first for simulations or to do a demonstration. According to Captain (who I was not speaking to and whose opinion I didn't ask), we were "officially the worst group. Ever."

Sniper didn't attend the first few meals, as Captain had broken his nose when she punched him, and when he started eating with us, he didn't speak. Not even to Bear, who had gone through most of his dilemmas with him.

Actually, I'm not surprised he didn't speak to Bear. He had been very close to Captain of late and when the whole episode in the simulation room happened, Sniper wasn't the one Bear rushed to check on first. I never knew what was going on with him and Captain, but he definitely looked up to her.

Well, looked down since he was so tall.

As I was eating my evening meal, I glanced around at the other people at my table. Sniper was eating his meal very solemnly, his curly auburn hair hanging over his eyes. He didn't move apart from eating, and didn't speak. Captain leaned her back against the wall our table was pushed up next to and faced the rest of the room instead of facing us to eat. I followed her green eyes and found them gazing longingly at a table in the middle of the hall, unusually full since most people tend to stick to themselves. The table was full of a group of about six or seven girls, all our age, laughing and chatting with each other. I recognized some of them as Captain's friends.

Good, I thought. Maybe not having her friends with her will teach her not to punch people. I knew Captain punching Sniper wasn't the reason that we were here, but it was still a small victory.

Bear was sitting solemnly as well, eating his food quietly and looking somewhat uncomfortable. He had tried to apologize to Sniper that morning with no results -- Sniper had completely ignored him and had not even bothered to merely glance his way. And me? Well, I was actually quietly laughing inside at Captain and Bear. They looked so uneasy, as if they were finally realizing that the world isn't all fun and games and that you're going to end up alone after all.

Welcome to the club.

I understood Sniper though. He and Bear were close, but he never understood the appeal of big crowds and lots of friends. He was a person who liked the quiet and found peace in it. Yes, he had friends, but he knew that they would be fine without him, and would often spend his time alone, or in his thoughts while others would cause trouble.

I wasn't completely laughing inside, though. I'm not a heartless person. Yes, I found it funny to watch Captain and Bear squirm and wolf down their meals to get away as soon as possible, but I too was very solemn. The quiet didn't bother me that much because I was used to it, but the thick silence that hung in the air and smothered anything trying to breathe was what bothered me. Our entire table gave off a very sobering air, and I was quick to get away when I had finished.