EPISODE FIFTEEN:

Zora, with the participation of the group, ended the most successful meeting we’ve had since this whole fiasco began. She answered questions and explained possible schedules and setups for, by my estimate, two and a half hours. During this time people ate food and enjoyed themselves. Even though we are far from being out of the woods I felt like we were making progress as a group. When all of the questions were answered and everyone had satisfied their hunger, Zora declared breakfast over and asked everyone to gather all of their belongings like we had talked about. She then reminded them that if they had anything in the other buildings or in their car to meet with her after the majority of people had left. 

Chatter filled the room. I was surprised by how many people stayed behind who needed to retrieve things from another area of the campus. 

“Z?” I nudged Zora who was sitting beside me. 

“Hm?” She responded, swiveling her head around to face me.

My heart skipped a beat as her happy eyes locked onto my face. I held back a sigh of relief even though it meant a lot to me that she was able to be happy in a time like this. I just hope that everyone else is able to keep their spirits up. 

“I was just thinking that we might want to announce to them that- um, how do I put this nicely? We don’t need to- no… um, that we should be- no, gah, I don’t want to be rude.” I was trying desperately to be sensitive toward everyone and their feelings. 

“Don’t worry they can’t hear you. Just spit it out.” 

“Well I don’t think it would be a good idea to go looking for things that don’t matter. I mean if it has a sentimental value that’s alright. But, if it’s just some random thing that you just happen to own we shouldn’t be looking for that. I mean, we don’t need it. Especially if it’s in Caspian’s building. I really don’t wanna push that guy, Lord knows what he’ll do.” 

I realized my mistake shortly after saying it. Zora’s eyes flared angrily at the mention of building B’s “owner”. She sucked in a breath, closed her eyes tightly, and released it in an attempt to rid herself of the negative emotions.

“Why don’t you like it when we say that?” I inquired with a soft voice. 

She took in another deep breath and as she blew out her face relaxed and she opened her eyes. The remnants of her fierce hate for Caspian still remained but was significantly less noticeable and was masked by her calm expression. 

“That sounds like a good idea. We shouldn’t be running around for things that we don’t really need or won’t ever use.” she rubbed the crease between her eyes and sighed, “And to answer that other question… I don’t really know why that bugs me so much. It’s just that he, Caspian, he’s just so, so, so, infuriating!” she threw out her hands in an exasperated motion. 

“Let’s just focus on the task at hand for now, okay?” I patted her on the back kindly and smiled. 

“Yeah, yeah.” she said and then stood up. 

As she pushed in her chair and stood up she immediately captured the attention of her audience. She just had to stand up to capture the attentiveness it was if they were drawn to her. For just a moment jealousy sparked in my chest but I quickly squashed the rebellious emotion. ‘Zora is not mine’ I reminded myself, subconsciously. 

“Ahem,” she began. “Thank you all for coming here. I’d just like to remind you to really think about if you need whatever you’re here for, or if it’s… not something you need. I’m not trying to tell you that what you’re looking for isn’t good enough or worth anything. But, I don’t want to be running around looking for things that we don’t need. So, please, take some time and think it over.” she sat back down once she finished voicing her request.  

I was surprised to see that some people got up and left. ‘At least that makes keeping track of people easier.’ I thought. 

“Wow, I didn’t expect anyone to actually leave.” Andrew said. 

“Yeah, but at least that makes this a bit easier.” I commented. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, turning his head inquisitively. 

“Well, it means that we have less people to keep track of... right?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” 

We turned our attention back to the group of people who stayed. Then an idea hit me. 

“I need a pen and some paper.” I said to Zora, leaning forward across the table so she could better hear me. 

“Why?” she asked, turning her body to face me. 

“We should keep a list of all the people in the groups so we don’t lose anyone.” I said. 

“Yeah, I guess so.” she said and then turned back around to face the crowd. 

Her eyes scanned the crowd for a moment before she began to speak. 

“Alright everyone,” she began with a booming voice, “line up in two, single file, lines. One on the right side of me and the other on the left side.” she gestured to the left and right making what she said as clear as possible, “And, could someone volunteer to get Evie some pen and paper?” 

A few hesitant hands rose into the air. I was happy to see any response and Zora was too even if she didn’t show it. 

“I’ll do it,” Someone said, stepping out from the mass of people. 

I was surprised to see a familiar freckle speckled face. Alfred stepped out and looked at me with a smile as he volunteered to fetch something for me. ‘He likes to help people,’ I made a mental note. Smiling back and subconsciously turned to see Zora’s reaction. As usual her face was calm and calculated and seemed to already have turned her attention to something else, probably more important. My heart dropped a little but I pushed the feeling away, telling myself that there was no reason to feel hurt. After clearing my head I turned my focus back to Alfred who was walking out the door. For just a second he glanced back towards me his face askew and then he was gone. ‘What was that face?’ I wondered and then, just like everything else, I pushed it away to focus on the present. 

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A/N

1102 words

Compartmentalizing

- love from QueenCobra <3 -

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