Fontaine Academy

Chapter 14

Patrick

“Is the new girl part of your harem now?” Jamie asks.

Seeing as only one of us has a bunch of groupies, I assume that question is directed at Tiago.

“No, why? Were you planning on asking her out?” Tiago replies.

“Don’t be ridiculous, she’s not my type. I heard you were her knight in shining amour in Chem. Why else would you do that if you are not sleeping with her?”

“Wow you really don’t think much of me do you?”

“What? Your harem girls are there only ones you pay any attention to.”

“What happened in Chem?” I ask.

“Jules had an allergic reaction and I took her to the nurse’s office. But apparently I am usually such a douche, Jamie finds it shocking that I would take someone to receive medical attention rather than watch her suffocate to death.” Tiago says.

“Don’t be dramatic no one thinks you are a douche. Also she wouldn’t have died, Jenna wouldn’t take it that far.” Jamie says.

“Jenna? What does she have to do with this?” I ask.

“So the rumors are true, she’s the reason for what happened to Jules. What the hell!” Tiago exclaims.

“Dude, calm down. It was just a little prank.” Jamie shrugs.

“Where you also part of this “little prank”?” Tiago asks.

“No I wasn’t. Jenna found out about her caffeine allergy while going through her file and decided to have a little bit of fun. It was just supposed to cause sudden diarrhea and make her a laughing stock. I guess Jenna underestimated how reactive she would be.” Jamie says.

“So what happened, is she hospitalized or something?” I ask.

“No, she just got treated by the nurse and was fine afterwards. Tiago is just being dramatic as usual.” Jamie says.

“Dramatic? She could have died! You and your sister need to come up with ways to have fun that don’t put other people’s lives at risk. Do you even realize how much trouble your sister can get in if Jules finds out she was behind this?” Tiago says.

“Oh please, you overestimate the new girl too much. She already found out and had a disciplinary committee about it. The thing is you underestimate Jenna, she took care of everything. Not only could they not prove her involvement but she also made sure the new girl got punished for slandering her. Now the new girl has to clean this very hall for the next two weeks.” Jamie says.

“Dude, your sister is a genius.” Charles says in awe.

“Wow it was really brilliant how she turned everything against Jules. How did she even do that?” I ask.

“Hell if I know. All I know is I wouldn’t want to ever go up against my sister.”

“Where are you going? You haven’t finished your food yet.” I ask as Tiago gets up from the table.

“Lost my appetite.” He says and walks away.

“Ignore him, he’s become soft recently.” Charles says.

As I watch him walk away I wonder what has gotten into him.

When I catch up with Tiago later he still seems quieter than usual. It can't be all because of the new girl. Something else must be bothering him.

“Is everything fine with you? Did something happen at home?” I ask.

“Everything is fine. Why?”

“First you don’t finish your lunch and now you are being all quiet. It’s not like you.”

“Like I told you at lunch, I lost my appetite and if I am being quiet it’s because I have nothing to say.” He says dismissively.

“You are never not hungry, you always finish all your food and a third of mine too and the only time you are ever quiet is when you are asleep and sometimes not even then. I call bullshit.”

“Okay fine, you want to know the real reason I lost my appetite. It’s because of you!” He yells.

“What?”

“I know growing up in our world can give anyone an inflated sense of self-worth. I expect a certain level of lack of empathy especially from Jamie and Charles and the rest of the guys but not you. No matter how callous you usually are I told myself you weren’t actually like the rest of them. Back when we were 9 and our parents told us to hang out with them because it was what was expected of us as future heirs, we promised to never turn into them. Pretending was okay though because it is what is expected of us.” He says.

“Nothing has changed.” I insist.

“Of course it has. You didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact that they risked someone’s life for a couple of laughs and got away with it. In fact Jenna getting the victim punished instead seemed to impress you even. I wonder if it impressed you enough that you might even decide to give her a chance that she has been hounding you for all these years.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”He continues like I didn’t say anything.

“I guess all this time I thought the two of us were in it together, pretending to be like them. Today I realized maybe I was the only one pretending, the only thinking we are still a team. I don’t know when it happened but maybe I have already lost you without even realizing.” Tiago says sadly.

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A/N

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- Oli 💌