It was a late night with barely ten people left lingering in the dining hall after it was closed. Harvey and I were the last to get the provided meals before they closed up the kitchen for the night. The second and third dining hall were already closed down, so they usually left this open for cleaning up and another option for study hall. Aside from the floating banners of the different organizations, and clubs, they were in the process of decorating the school in preparation for the games. When Harvey told me this is where he comes to learn information about the school before it happens, I decided to tag along to see exactly what he meant.
“Hello to you too, Clementine,” I greeted as her eyes immediately focused on Harvey. He was wolfing down his beef stew when he looked up, adjusted his frames and stared back at her, unmoved. “She didn’t make a fool of herself at all.”
“So what is this?”
She tossed a crumbled-up piece of paper my way with an attitude that was misguided. She was jealous of Harvey being this close and knowing him, he picked up on it almost instantly and grinned.
“She’s one of yours?” He asked with a mouth full.
“Hush, Harvey,” I muttered as I flatted the paper out. When I saw the animated loop of Maggie with wild white squiggly hair, red eyes, and cartoonish fangs poking out of her mouth as she attacked the poor witch boy to the ground, I shook my head. “Nothing of the sort happened like that.”
“They’re literally trying to do a witch hunt on her. What the fuck is her deal and why is she not answering her phone?”
“She’s in Legacy Park, you should go see her,” I said.
“Where is the fish with the locs in all of this? Did she not turn into King Kong and defend the woman in white?” She pressed. Harvey turned his head to let out a sneeze that sounded strangely more like a suppressed laugh.
“Clementine?” I let out.
“I’m just saying! This is not a good look for her, for the Betas, for anybody! You need to tell her to get it together because if I get a hold of her, I’m going to hurt her feelings. You know how sensitive she can be while pretending not to be.”
Without another word, she turned and walked away like a president with no team or group behind her for once. Harvey reached for the paper to see as his eyes blackened for a brief moment behind the frames.
“This school is going to make her want to leave,” he said.
“Why do you say that?”
“The last standing First Family member that we know of? The other one is locked up waiting trial? Years and years of people worshipping and fearing The First Family and now…people feel the reverse is happening. They think this is some sort of liberation or freedom from the oppressor bullshit when in reality, it’s about to be chaos. You need fear. You need control, and power in a society where equality doesn’t work the same way it does for above.”
“That’s not necessarily true,” I defended. “And she has a brother, and a few cousins left.”
“Where are they then? They’re not stepping up and showing themselves.”
“She’s not either. She just happens to have white hair.”
“Which makes her a target of people’s hatred towards that family. Unfortunate but that’s the reality,” He pushed his glasses up. “I grew up hearing about the First Family. This almighty powerful family that was rumored to eat people and drink their blood. She is a nightmare and bedtime story come true for a lot of us you know.”
“Are you afraid of her?” I asked softly as I began picking over my food. When I looked up, his eyes were blacked out, a swirling mass of darkness just staring back at me as I smiled. I knew he’d be offended by the question. He wasn’t going to entertain nor answer me. Instead, I looked up at the floating banners as I watched them all suddenly change to the school colors with our trojan mascot head on the front and back. The paintings and wall art decorating the walls began to transition into snap shots of athletes as early as the first games ever held.
Something that started out behind a local church as a way to mimic our own Olympics and field day. A way to release that animal predator hormone, get together, and rejoice as a community. It honored the fundamentals of our society. Community, tradition, education, and prosperity.”
“They’re getting it ready,” Harvey said as some of the wall art began playing loops of videos in black and white. You could seethe girls lining up in a row with the letters D C on the front of their sweaters cheering on the men as they took to the field. The sound of the doors bursting open caught us off guard as I turned to see the dean strut into the dining hall with her assistant behind her. She was taking notes as the dean stood in the center looking around at the change of decor and colors. Harvey pulled my chair closer to his as the legs scraped the floor.
“Anything regarding the First Family needs to be removed,” I heard her say. I looked at Harvey who watched her carefully, analyzing and taking in information like a sponge. He would occasionally look up at the floating banners once more before looking around.
“When the media arrives, we want to look like a neutral school with zero tolerance for predatory behavior,” she went on as she stepped into the second dining hall with the doors closing behind her. Without warning, Harvey glanced at his phone before suddenly packing up his things.
“Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
He didn’t respond, just grabbed my things along with his as we quickly made our way out of the Dining Hall and back onto the Grounds. It was quiet for the most part. No band practice, no athletes running around, nothing but a few students heading to late night classes or back to their dorms for the night. Yet as we walked further toward the traditional side of Drew Collins. Where the dorms, commons, and other living facilities were, I could see the small crowd gathering. It was nothing like Legacy Park or Legacy Row where students were a bit more focused, and independent. Whereas here, community was at an all-time high. I saw more of the flyers depicting Maggie as a monster scattered across the ground, chomping and biting away at the paper as it turned red before repeating itself.
It made me sick to think somebody had this much time on their hands.
“What is this?” I asked but Harvey grabbed my arm and pulled me in close as we came up on the first courtyard of dorms. There were students hanging their heads out the window looking down while the rest gathered around in clusters, listening to the few in the center speak. I could barely see above the shoulders and backs of those before me, but Harvey moved us closer until I caught an opening. It was a young woman wearing all black, down to the lipstick and eyeliner with multi-colored locs hanging freely as she spoke. Harvey’s arm wrapped around my neck, keeping my body close.
“They say they want us to be the change we want to see!” She shouted, using her pointer finger to touch the side of her neck as her voice projected into the air. “But they never tell you how much blood is sacrificed!”
