Chapter 311

Clementine:

I didn’t talk to any of them, and eventually, they realized I wasn’t in the mood for it.

I was holding back tears, wishing I could go back and see if Ian had made it to the mainland and found the antidote in time.

I guess I was finally done with the others, and it was time they knew it.

The fact that they still tried to talk to me, without realizing they should back off and stop pressuring me after everything they’d done, made me see how giving them chances before, without letting them redeem themselves or even taking the time to understand what they wanted, had made them believe it was easy to reach me whenever they messed up.

The minute we arrived at the train station, I saw the three ringleaders standing with the headmaster beside them.

The door to our carriage opened first, and Zian jumped out, stretching and yawning, obnoxiously handing over the six flags Ian had collected for him.

He was such a loser. He couldn’t even fight a single monster and let his brother take the fall for him.

After him, the others started getting off, handing over their flags.

I was the last one in my carriage.

My head was lowered when I stepped down, and instead of giving my flags to Mr. Rick, like everyone else, handed mine to Miss Rue.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

I lifted my head briefly, and it seemed like she saw right through me because her eyes widened at the sight of me.

All I could do was give her a weak nod.

I wanted to tell her what was going on with Ian, but Zian had eyes everywhere, and one of the lurkers already worked for him.

I worried there might be more.

What if he found out I’d been running my mouth and telling others about him and his secrets?

Ian was still in his custody, and I didn’t want to risk it.

“Everybody go back to your rooms and rest,” Miss Rue said.

I had already started walking away.

I knew Oriana had given her flags to Ms. Lenora and was ready to head to our room, but right before we could move any further, I heard Miss Rue call out.

“Oriana, you’ll be going back to your own room p>

Everybody stopped, and I turned to look at her.

She gave me a reassuring nod, but I didn’t want her to stop Oriana from going into our room.

I didn’t want to be in that room.

Ian wasn’t there, and I didn’t know if he ever would be.

With the way Zian was acting, he could use Ian for the academy’s northern tasks while enjoying the rest of the drama here himself.

As long as I stayed in my room, I knew I wasn’t safe.

“Why not? I can’t stay alone in my room,” Oriana said softly, her voice small.

“The black squads want me in their room.” She pointed toward my squad mates, and I rolled my eyes.

“The other crusaders are returning today, so you won’t be alone in your room,” Miss Rue replied.

The headmaster had already started walking away, showing no empathy for the sadness on our faces.

He simply didn’t care.

“But I want to be in the black squad now,” Oriana said loudly, making everyone turn to watch her in silence for a few seconds.

“Well, you can’t change your room like this,” Miss Rue replied, not letting her do whatever she wanted.

Oriana started looking around at my squadmates, trying to get them to speak up for her.

“But why not? We have no problem with her being here p>

As expected, Haiden spoke up after Oriana touched his arm, pushing him to say something.

He did it like he was our puppet. Troy and Yorick began nodding along.

I figured it was best to stop paying attention to them for now.

Nothing surprised me anymore.

Then I noticed Ms. Lenora looking at me before leaning toward Mr. Rick to whisper something.

He quickly turned his head in my direction, making it obvious they were talking about me

The two nodded, and then Ms. Lenora stepped forward.

“I have no problem with Oriana joining the black squad either p>

The minute she said it, the matter was settled.

But what they didn’t realize was that I had already stopped caring about any of them.

Everybody smiled widely. By everybody, I meant Oriana and her puppets.

“Now you all can return to your rooms,” Mr. Rick announced, smiling as if he’d won something.

Just because they noticed I was uncomfortable, they decided to keep her in my squad.

Shouldn’t they be giving us a calm environment so we could keep fighting the monsters in the north?

What I didn’t understand was why they didn’t treat it as something important.

They’d said many times that this was the first time the crusaders were performing so well in their tasks.

So why wouldn’t they want to give us some relief?

We all silently started walking back to the dorm, but my eyes stayed on Zian.

I knew he was going to leave soon to find out what had happened to Ian, so I was waiting for him, desperate to know.

But as soon as we stepped into the dorm room, the others began walking toward me.

I had fallen behind because I was walking slowly, and when I entered, they jumped up to rush toward me.

Oriana had her arms open, probably asking for a group hug since she’d managed to stay in the black squad, but they pushed past her to reach me.

“Clementine, listen to me. I don’t know what happened out there, but I swear I would’ve never left you there,” Haiden said quickly, reaching for my hands.

I pulled them back.

“Stay away from me!” I shouted.

The moment I yelled, I saw the look on their faces.

They seemed shocked and hurt, full of nerves to still think I’d let them touch me.

“I was there, Haiden, ready to be crushed under that monster! And you all left me there!” I screamed.

This was the last time I would speak to them, the last time I’d remind them of the pain they’d caused me because after this, I was going to reject them.