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A/N: Jayden in the picture above. Simp in peace :))
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The day of the school fair arrived quickly, and Lumière International School was bustling with parents, students and visitors alike. Other schools had also been invited and among the royal blue of Lumière, the crimson red of their rival school, Leonare Academy, could be seen.
Leo wrinkled his nose in distaste as he walked with Cam through the booths. ‘Why did the headmistress have to invite the filthy lions?’ he complained loudly as a few of them walked past.
They heard him and shot him a mocking grin before walking away with an imperious stride. Leo stuck at out his tongue at them before cursing with a few colourful words. He had not forgiven them for defeating Lumière in the previous championship game.
Cam nudged him absent-mindedly. ‘Be nice.’
‘Why should I? They are a bunch of snobbish entitled rich brats.’
‘In case you haven’t noticed, so is Lumière,’ Cam pointed out tiredly.
Leo glanced disbelievingly at him and took a few steps back. ‘You traitor!’
Cam rolled his eyes at him. ‘Come on, we need to meet up with the others.’
Their way was suddenly blocked by a wall of red. ‘Well, well, if it isn’t Ferrars. Didn’t expect to see you again after we kicked your ass. Tell me, what is the view from the bottom like?’
‘Griffin,’ Leo spat as he glared at the mocking sneer on the handsome face of the captain of the Leonare soccer team.
Griffin shook his head in disappointment. ‘Now is that any way to talk to your superiors.’
Leo stepped forward with his fists clenched but Cam stepped between them. ‘Enough.’ He glanced at Griffin. ‘If you have nothing better to say then could you please leave.’
Griffin stared at Cam for some time before shrugging and turning away. ‘Let’s go guys. He is not worth it anyway.’
Leo stared after his retreating back in anger. ‘The only reason you won that game in the first place was because you cheated. If we had played in Lumière there is no way your sorry ass would have won.’
Griffin’s steps paused. He turned back as he raised an eyebrow in a challenge. ‘Do you want to test that theory?’
‘We could have a rematch right now.’
‘It’s on.’
By now a wall of blue had formed behind Leo and both sides stared the other down. The air crackled with tension and Cam rubbed his forehead with his fingers as he felt a migraine come on.
Leo took a threatening step forward. ‘If we win, you will give us the championship trophy that we already deserve.’
‘And if we win?’ Griffin asked, taking a threatening step of his own.
‘What do you want?’ Leo spat.
By now the two were so close they could hear each other’s breaths. Griffin seemed to consider this for a moment then his eyes turned to meet Cam’s.
‘Him.’
That took Leo aback for a moment. ‘He’s not on the table. Why do you want him anyway?’ he asked suspiciously.
Griffin shrugged. ‘That’s no concern of yours. If we win, he has to spend the rest of the day with us and do whatever we say.’
Leo hesitated.
‘What’s the matter Ferrars?’ Griffin’s tone was mocking. ‘You were so full of confidence before. Finally, realising that you are way out of your league?’
Leo’s eyes blazed. ‘It’s a deal.’
Cam blinked his eyes in surprise. ‘Wait, what-‘
‘You’re going down, Griffin,’ Leo cut him off, glaring at Leonare’s captain before grabbing Cam and storming off.
‘You can’t possibly be serious,’ Cam protested.
‘Don’t worry, I’m going to beat him.’
‘And what if you don’t?’
‘I will,’ Leo stated firmly.
Cam held back his eyeroll with herculean effort. He was about to protest further when they were joined by Jayden and Samuel.
‘What’s going on?’ Samuel asked. ‘We heard a commotion over here.’
‘Leo just used me in a stupid bet.’
‘It’s not a stupid bet, I’m going to win.’ He turned to Samuel. ‘It’s good you’re here. We need everyone on the team for the match.’
‘What match?’
Samuel shook his head in amusement after Cam explained what had transpired to him. ‘Well,’ he said after Cam was done. ‘Good luck but keep me out of it. I have a treasure hunt to get ready for.’
Leo’s shoulders sagged in disappointment. He turned to Jayden curiously. ‘Are you coming to watch the match?’
Jayden shook his head. ‘I have my own stuff to do.’
Samuel tugged at his arm with a small pout. ‘Come on the treasure hunt with me. Please? Pretty please?’
Jayden’s lips curled slightly in distaste. ‘It’s a bunch of people scrambling after some prize like a flock of confused chickens.’
‘It’s fun.’
‘It’s demeaning.’
Samuel shook his head at his boyfriend and turned to Cam and Leo. ‘See what I’ve been dealing with all day. Anyway, see ya.’
He gave them a wave before walking off. Jayden glanced at Samuel’s retreating back before following an arguing Cam and Leo as they searched for Paul.
They found him wearing a grease-stained apron and serving food to customers in a food booth. The sight struck them with more than a little horror, and it was only after he reassured them that he didn’t make the food, just serving it, did they sufficiently calm down enough to explain what had happened.
Paul listened in that quiet thoughtful way of his and after Leo was done explaining, he gave him a long look. ‘Your hot-headedness will land you in serious trouble one day.’
Leo looked away sheepishly. ‘Will you play then?’
Paul sighed and shook his head. ‘I’m afraid you have to deal with this by yourself. I’m swamped over here; I’m not even supposed to be talking to you.’
Cam glanced around curiously. ‘Why are you here anyway?’
‘Since I don’t know how to cook, I figured I must as well learn from a master.’
Leo grew curious. ‘Who?’
He was answered when a loud shrill voice cut through the air. ‘OI, PRINCEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING LOLLYGAGGING ABOUT WHEN THERE ARE CUSTOMERS TO BE SERVED?’
Paul grimaced. ‘I need to go.’
Leo’s mouth was agape with shock. ‘Her? But she is a terror!’
Paul grinned awkwardly. ‘You do have to admit her food is the best.’
Leo opened his mouth but the ‘terror’ herself walked from the kitchen and fixed them with a beady glare from her one good eye -the other having been lost in Syria. A former military woman and a drill sergeant who had served two tours in the Middle East, she was regarded with something akin to both fear and awe by both the staff and students of Lumière. As the head cook, she was in charge of the school’s kitchens, and she run it like a military camp, earning herself the moniker, Old Sarge. Leo had served several detentions under her, scrubbing pots and pans until they shone like diamonds, and he had developed a small phobia for her.
‘Ah, Ferrars,’ she said in her gruff voice. ‘Missed the pots, did you? I have a few in the back with your name on them.’
Leo’s face paled considerably. ‘There’s something… I have somewhere… something else came up. I have to go, sorry.’
He grabbed Cam’s arm and fled from the place as if the hounds of hell were at his heels. Old Sarge turned her beady eye to Paul. ‘What are you still doing here, princey?’ She flung out her arm and pointed her ladle towards the front where several customers were huddled. ‘We need you on the front lines before our defences are breached! On the double with you!’
Paul nodded and quickly made his way to the counter. Old Sarge glared at his retreating back before marching back to the kitchen. Jayden watched in amusement before making his way to lean against the front counter as Paul quickly took orders.
The rush period soon died down and Paul could finally lean back and relax. He glanced curiously at Jayden. ‘Where has Samuel run off to?’
‘A treasure hunt,’ Jayden replied, his distaste for it seeping into his voice.
Paul nodded in realisation as he rubbed his hands on his apron. ‘He was talking about it last time. He’s crazy about the prize.’
‘The prize?’
‘Mhm, dinner with the head prefect in the prefect’s dining room. he’s always wanted to be head prefect you know, it-‘
‘Wait,’ Jayden stood upright, and a small frown graced his features. ‘The head prefect was the one who organized it?’
‘Yeah, it’s a fundraiser event. They are raising funds for… Jayden?’ Paul blinked and looked around, but Jayden was nowhere to be seen.
The treasure hunt was just about to begin, and Samuel was huddled up with his teammates on the edge of the woods. They were four in total and were waiting their turn to register their team at the desk in front of the judges’ tent.
The team before them stepped forward and soon it was their turn. The guy at the desk slid the clipboard to Samuel and he wrote their names down before handing it back.
He took it and glanced at them. ‘Is that everyone on your team?’
Samuel nodded and handed the clipboard back to him. He turned and was surprised to see Jayden suddenly jog up to him. ‘Sorry I’m late,’ he said.
Samuel gave him a searching look. ‘I thought you hated treasure hunts.’
‘I changed my mind,’ Jayden replied pleasantly.
Samuel grew suspicious and peered closely at him. ‘Why?’
Jayden pouted. ‘I thought you wanted me to come.’
‘I do but…’
‘Then stop complaining. Come on, let’s get this ghastly business over with quickly.’
Samuel still wasn’t convinced but he let it go and led Jayden to the rest of the team. ‘Hey guys, this is Jayden my boy- my friend.’
Jayden’s lips quirked slightly at the slip-up. Samuel cleared his throat and continued with the introductions. ‘That’s Sarah, Connor and Raj. Do you guys mind if he tags along?’
The boys shrugged but Sarah fixed him with a scowl. ‘Why should we let him join us? He could be a spy sent over from the other team.’
Connor and Raj seemed to consider this and shot distrustful looks at Jayden. Jayden ignored them as Samuel quickly reassured them. ‘Don’t worry, he’s cool. I trust him.’
The others weren’t convinced but they finally agreed after Samuel insisted. Sarah glared at him and muttered, ‘Just don’t get in our way.’
Jayden didn’t bother to glance at her and instead turned to Samuel, asking in a bored voice, ‘When does this bloody thing start?’
‘Soon, we just need to get our riddle from the judges.’
Jayden humphed in impatience but soon enough an announcer’s voice came through from a megaphone.
‘Alright teams, take your places. The rules are simple; solve the clues to find the treasure. After you get your riddle and map you may begin. Good luck!’
The teams all filed into the woods as the horn sounded. Samuel read the riddle aloud as they walked, the fallen leaves crunching quietly under their feet.
‘The treasure you seek lies in blue. To find the key follow this simple clue; two hearts divided, different but similar, in a world of chaos the government cannot be allowed to fall.’
‘What could that mean?’ Raj asked as he grabbed the riddle from Samuel.
They read the riddle several times but still couldn’t make sense of it. Sarah turned to Jayden. ‘Well, what do you think?’
Jayden said nothing and she turned away with a glare. They walked on for a while trying to figure it out until Samuel swore and leaned against a tree in frustration.
‘Why did they have to make it so unbearably complicated?’
Jayden scoffed. ‘The only thing unbearable about it is the rhyme scheme.’
Samuel glanced at him. ‘Wait, you know what it means?’
‘Of course I do, it’s outrageously simple.’
‘Why didn’t you say anything then?’ Connor asked with a small frown.
The others came closer to them. ‘Go on then,’ Raj prompted. ‘Tell us what it means.’
Jayden shrugged and said nothing. It wasn’t until Samuel asked him to explain did he sigh and speak.
‘Like all riddles, most of the words mean absolutely nothing. They are just red herrings; the trick is to find the important one in the sea of nonsense. We are in the woods, and which creatures of the woods are known to have something that resembles a form of government?’
‘Ants,’ David answered in realization.
‘You’re right,’ Raj replied. ‘The head of their government is the queen, and they have soldier ants to protect the government from chaos.’
‘There is a huge rock a few metres from here which has an ant nest. The key must be hidden underneath it.’ Sarah revealed in excitement.
They quickly followed her and soon came before a small boulder. Sure enough, a trail of ants could be seen moving dutifully over it.
‘This seems to be the one, but other teams could have been here first,’ Raj pointed out.
‘I’ll go check, you guys find the key,’ Samuel said with a noticeable trace of excitement in his voice.
He left to check the surrounding tree line whiles the others approached the rock and looked around it. They searched for a while and found nothing even when they got to their knees and tried to peer under the rock.
‘Looks like we have no choice, we’ve got to move the boulder. They must have buried the key underneath.’
They took up positions around the boulder and proceeded to push all their strength into it. Jayden sat on the ground and watched expressionlessly as they strained and strained but the boulder stubbornly refused to budge.
‘Are you going to help or not?’ Connor asked Jayden after they paused for breath, sweat dripping down their faces.
Jayden pointedly ignored him causing Connor to grit his teeth in annoyance but said nothing. They resumed their futile effort to move the boulder until they felt it move an inch.
Samuel appeared and looked at them hopefully. ‘Did you find it yet?’
‘No,’ Sarah grunted. ‘We think it is under the rock. Come and help us, we just felt it move.’
Samuel nodded and made his way over to help but Jayden grabbed his arm. ‘Don’t bother.’
Samuel looked down at him in puzzlement. ‘Why not?’
‘The key isn’t there.’
The other stopped pushing and glanced at him. ‘If you knew it wasn’t there, why didn’t you say anything before? Stop being so unhelpful and tell us where it is.’
But Jayden seemed determined to be unhelpful, he ignored their question and pulled Samuel down to sit beside him. ‘It’s tiring to keep standing, why don’t you rest for a bit.’
‘What about the key?’ Samuel asked as he allowed Jayden to pull him down.
Jayden smiled at him. ‘If you want to know, I’ll tell you. Ants aren’t the only creatures with a queen. We passed a clearing on the way here and there’s a bees’ hive hanging from one of the trees. In that tree there’s a small hollow, the key is probably there.’
Samuel attempted to rise but Jayden held him back. ‘No need to get up, one of the others can fetch it.’
Raj and Connor glanced at each other, and they nodded before leaving in the direction Jayden described. Sarah rolled her eyes and turned away, refusing to look at Jayden.
A few seconds later, Raj and Connor returned, carrying a small cylinder. Samuel stood and gathered around them with Sarah as they opened it to find a tightly rolled piece of paper inside.
Samuel pulled it out to reveal a badly drawn map with another riddle scrawled behind it. Samuel studied it for a moment, ‘This one seems straight-forward enough. Looks like we just follow the map.’
He handed it to Jayden who stood and took it. He took a quick glance and gave it back to Samuel without saying a word.
It was almost noon as they set off on a steady pace. They walked in relative silence and about half an hour later, Samuel noticed that the others were a good way ahead. Jayden had been gradually slowing his pace and since he was walking with him, he had unnoticeably slowed his as well. He tried to catch up with the rest but Jayden grabbed him and slowly shook his head without looking at him.
He was about to ask why he held him back when there was a sudden yell. He looked around for his teammates, but they seemed to have vanished into thin air. He soon heard Sarah’s angry voice coming from a few steps ahead.
He rushed forward with Jayden strolling leisurely behind and he soon came before a hole about six feet in depth. They seemed to have fallen through a trap.
‘Get us out of here!’ Sarah demanded angrily the moment she saw Samuel peering down at them.
Samuel nodded and looked around, trying to find something with which to help them up. ‘Don’t worry yourself,’ Jayden stated as he arrived at the hole. ‘The officials would come around and help them as soon as the hunt is over.’
Sarah glared furiously at him. ‘How come you didn’t fall in here with us? You knew about this didn’t you?’
Jayden crouched at the mouth of the hole and gazed at her for a few seconds and in a terrifying moment, he resembled a panther studying its freshly killed prey.
‘You,’ Jayden began in a lazy drawl, ‘are not fit to speak to me.’
Sarah sputtered in indignation. ‘Who do you think you are?’
Jayden stood and gestured to Samuel. ‘Let’s get going before the other teams get there before us.’
Samuel glanced at down the hole worriedly. ‘I can’t just leave them here.’
‘They’ll be fine. You want to win, don’t you?’
‘He’s right,’ Raj said, his quiet voice sounding even more faint from the hole. ‘As long as one of us finds the treasure the whole team would win so you go ahead.’
Samuel hesitated and Connor stomped his foot with impatience. ‘If you want to make it up to us then win this for the team. As much as I hate to admit it, despite our current predicament we would have no chance of winning this if it weren’t for him. He refuses to lift a finger to help us but for whatever reason he’s willing to help you so go.’
Samuel seemed unsure but he nodded. He gave them one final look then set off with Jayden.
They walked for a few feet before Samuel finally asked the question that had been burning in his mind. ‘How did you know that there was a trap?’
‘Remember what I said about red herrings?’ He waited until Samuel had nodded before continuing. ‘Well, the second riddle was one of them. I got suspicious when the cylinder had a map and another riddle instead of a key. The first riddle already told us where the treasure was, so it made no sense for the next clue to be a map.’
‘Where is the treasure exactly?’ Samuel interrupted.
Jayden smiled and quoted the first line of the riddle to him. ‘”The treasure you seek lies in blue”. Where else could that be instead of the lake.’
‘Oh.’
‘Exactly, so if the first line of the riddle is a promise of the treasure, then the last part must be a warning of danger.’
‘In a world of chaos, the government must not be allowed to fall,’ Samuel repeated in understanding.
Jayden nodded. ‘It’s a very common trend in riddles which is why it didn’t take me long to figure it out. They really should be more creative in coming up with challenges, the last word even hinted at the type of trap it was.’
‘That’s why you held me back and let them go forward.’ Samuel frowned. ‘But why did you let them fall into it instead of just telling them.’
Jayden shrugged. ‘You are the only one I care about. Besides,’ he added, and a tiny bit of anger seeped into his voice. ‘They’ve looked down on Noel and called him names many times before.’
Samuel thought about it for a moment. ‘I can believe that of Sarah and Connor but not Raj. He wouldn’t even hurt a fly.’
Jayden shrugged. ‘He kept quiet and watched it happen and that makes him equally guilty.’
Samuel said nothing to that and it wasn’t long before they reached the sparkling blue water of the lake.
They were the only ones there and it seemed, the first to arrive. Samuel frowned as they stared at the still crystal blue expanse. ‘Which part of the lake is the treasure hidden?’
‘We should probably split up and search, you take the left, I’ll take the right.’
They split up and combed the beach and it wasn’t until a few minutes later that Jayden found a half-buried chest at the foot of one of the piers. He called Samuel over and they pulled it out together.
They studied the chest carefully. It was a two feet long box made entirely of wood and stubbed with fake rubies. The lock mechanism was a bit peculiar and after they fiddled with it for a while, they concluded that they needed to roll the dials until it displayed a certain combination of figures to unlock the chest.
‘The question is, what figures do we need to unlock it?’ Samuel slumped on the ground with a soft thud. Jayden sat down beside him and studied the chest with a curious expression on his face.
‘What was written on the back of the map?’ he asked after a while.
Samuel frowned as he tried to remember. ‘Something like the sixteenth key lies in the seventeenth rank of the spear.’
Jayden contemplated the words as the water lapped gently on the pebbles along the shore. It was a cool day with a soft breeze and Samuel had began to doze off when Jayden suddenly sat upright and smacked himself.
‘I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.’
Samuel sat up curiously, but his curiosity soon turned to bewilderment when Jayden began to laugh.
He held his sides as tears began to stream down his cheeks. ‘Oh, what an extremely clever trick and a twice as clever joke. I’m almost impressed.’
Samuel was beyond confused at this point. ‘What trick? What is the joke?’
Jayden waved him off as he composed himself. ‘It doesn’t matter, you won’t get it anyway.’
‘Have you figured it out then?’
Jayden nodded. ‘The key is a lock combination so it’s obvious that it has something to do with mathematics.’
Samuel wrinkled his nose in distaste. ‘I don’t like maths.’
Jayden seemed genuinely surprised. ‘Why? Maths is the noblest and most beautiful form of art there is.’
‘Of course, someone like you would think that,’ Samuel muttered.
‘Anyway,’ Jayden went on. ‘The rank of a spear obviously means Spearman’s rank correlation.’
‘Obviously,’ Samuel repeated wryly, it being anything other than obvious.
Jayden didn’t catch his dry humour. ‘Now here’s the tricky part, Spearman’s rank correlation means absolutely nothing without the appropriate data to work it out and we didn’t have that. That’s the cleverness of it, Spearman’s rank correlation was both a red herring and a clue.’
Jayden shook his head wistfully to himself. ‘There’s only one person I know who has both the intellect and temerity to devise something like this.’
Samuel was lost. ‘So, what does it all mean?’
‘Spearman’s rank is represented mathematically as rho and rho is the seventeenth letter of the Greek alphabet. Remember, “the sixteenth key lies in the seventeenth rank…”. The sixteenth key in this case means the sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet. That’s the answer.’
‘What is the sixteenth letter then?’ Samuel asked excitedly.
Jayden glanced at him. ‘What do they teach you in this school?’
Samuel shrugged. ‘The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell.’
Jayden shook his head. ‘There’s nothing more useless than a formal education. The sixteenth letter of the Greek alphabet is pi and pi is a mathematical constant which is approximately equal to…’
‘3.14,’ Samuel stated, happy to finally be able to contribute something.
Jayden nodded. ‘Exactly.’
Samuel glanced sheepishly down at the chest. ‘But Jayden, there are more than ten slots and I only know the first four digits of pi.’
Jayden sighed. ‘Pi is approximately equal to 3.141592653589793.’
Samuel inputted the figures carefully and there was a soft click as the chest swung open. They peered inside and found the chest empty except for a single golden rectangular card.
Samuel picked it up and read it aloud. ‘Congratulations, you have won the hunt and have earned yourself a place at the table of the gods.’
He looked up from the invitation. ‘Sounds a bit pretentious don’t you think?’
‘Yes, I suppose it does,’ Jayden murmured. His eyes were distant as he stared thoughtfully at the empty chest.
Samuel stood and helped him to his feet. ‘Let’s get going then. I can’t wait to tell the others we won.’
They made their way back through the woods. The student official looked up in surprise when they approached the desk and handed him the golden card.
‘We were expecting it to take another hour or two before anyone started arriving. You are the first to make it back and quite frankly, there’s no protocol for this. Hold on, let me talk to the head prefect.’
He went off to confer with a golden-haired boy who turned to glance at them in surprise then nodded at the official before stepping up to greet them with a charming smile.
He was the picture-perfect golden boy, and he exuded an easy charm and elegance that mesmerized all those who came before his presence.
‘I hear you two are the first to make it back, well let me be the first to congratulate you on this amazing feat.’
He flashed a dazzling smile at them which showed off his perfect row of white teeth. Samuel seemed awestruck as he shook the hand that was proffered to him but Jayden regarded the boy before him with something akin to cold disinterest.
‘Rutherford,’ he drawled.
‘Mills,’ the head prefect replied.
Samuel glanced between the two. ‘Wait, you know each other?’
‘Unfortunately,’ Jayden replied.
‘Don’t be like that Mills,’ Rutherford said brightly, coming closer to punch him playfully on the arm.
Jayden stepped aside and wrinkled his nose as if he had caught whiff of something particularly revolting.
‘Jayden and I go way back,’ Rutherford explained to Samuel. ‘Why we can even be described as close friends.’
‘Do not insult me Rutherford,’ Jayden drawled. ‘I have had closer friends than you in the contents of my vomit the last time I threw up.’
Rutherford laughed. ‘I’ve always liked you Jayden Mills.’
‘How inconvenient for you cause I utterly despise you.’
Rutherford laughed again. ‘Always with the cutting honesty, I see. But tell me something, I went through the list of those participating and I don’t remember coming across your name.’
Jayden shrugged nonchalantly. ‘He asked me to tag along and I owed him a favour so I could hardly refuse.’
‘Oh,’ Rutherford glanced at Samuel with faintly concealed interest. ‘First, you were able to convince Jayden Mills to act in a play, then you do the nigh impossible and get him to kiss you, now I hear you managed to get him to owe you a favour.’ He wagged his finger disapprovingly at Jayden. ‘Why have you kept him away from me Jayden? If I didn’t know better, I’ll think you were hiding something from me.’
Jayden glanced disinterestedly at Samuel. ‘You know how loathe I am to share my toys Rutherford but I’m growing bored of him anyway. If he interests you so much then please do take him. I do however, expect to be reimbursed.’
A look of hurt flashed across Samuel’s face and Rutherford’s sharp eye caught it. He laughed and placed an arm around Samuel’s shoulders. ‘You hear that? He’s already growing bored of you.’ He shook his head in sympathy. ‘He’s always been quite the rake, leaving behind a string of heartbroken lovers in his wake.’
‘I would be offended if I didn’t care so little of your opinion. Instead of impugning my character why don’t you use that effort to hire officials who don’t have the creative capacity of a boiled egg.’
Rutherford sighed. ‘Sadly, it’s difficult to find people on the same intellectual wavelength as us. I try to make up for it by doing the final riddle myself and making it ten times more challenging.’
‘I did enjoy the little joke at the end,’ Jayden admitted grudgingly.
Rutherford beamed. ‘You got it? Of course you did, I am not surprised in the least that you made it out first.’
Samuel turned to look at Rutherford in excitement. ‘I really can’t wait for the dinner. I want to be head prefect and I have so many questions to ask you.’
Rutherford glanced at him with delight. ‘Is that so? In that case, I can’t wait either. There is however one small problem.’
Samuel blinked curiously. ‘What is it?’
‘Jayden didn’t register his name for the competition so he can’t be part of the dinner. It’s just a small technicality however and I would be pleased to extend the invitation to him.’
‘How magnanimous of you,’ Jayden replied sarcastically. ‘As tempting as this fresh reason to commit suicide is however, I fortunately have much better things to attend to.’
‘Don’t listen to him Sam,’ Rutherford said cheerfully. ‘Student politics is clearly not for him. Come, let me give you a few tips on how to win an election.’
He drew Samuel away with his arm still on his shoulders as Samuel stared at him with admiration. A dark look appeared on Jayden’s face as he watched them walk away. He was so focused on them that he didn’t hear Paul come up to him.
‘I figured this is where you would be,’ Paul said as he stepped up beside him. He stared at two up ahead and said, ‘Rutherford has been Sam’s role model for some time now. I’m not surprised he’s so taken with him.’
Jayden shook his head firmly. ‘I don’t trust him.’
‘You don’t trust anyone,’ Paul pointed out.
‘That’s beside the point.’
Rutherford suddenly raised his hand to rub Samuel’s head causing Jayden’s gaze to turn completely murderous.
‘Get. Him. Away. From. My. Boyfriend.’ Jayden hissed as he glared at Rutherford with such tenacity, Paul was surprised he didn’t melt on the spot.
He quickly jogged up to them and subtly untangled Rutherford’s arm from Samuel, apologizing as he did so, ‘I’m so sorry but we need to go. Leo’s game is almost over, and we need to catch it before it ends.’
Samuel pouted. ‘Do I have to?’
Paul bent down and whispered in his ear. ‘Trust me, if you don’t want a murder on your hands, I suggest you do as I say and come with me.’
Samuel was confused but he nevertheless turned to wave apologetically at Rutherford as he followed Paul towards Jayden who by then had slid his mask of cold indifference back on his face and was watching them approach him. He waited until they had reached him before turning and walking with them in the direction of the soccer pitch.
Rutherford watched them go with a thoughtful look as a slow sinister smile spread across his face.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: So… what did you think? This is currently the longest chapter in the book and I’m not going to lie, it was a bitch to write.
Two new characters were introduced, what did you think of them? Griffin seems sus and I have a feeling that this would not be the last time we come across Rutherford.
If you enjoyed this chapter, please don’t forget to light up the little star below to light up my day <3.
Until next time…
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