Meliora - Extricate - 21

[lady_mab]

Jun Zhou

“I told you you would do well on that quiz.”

Glen rakes his hand through his hair, staring at the grade on his tablet. As he had been doing for the last five minutes. “I still don’t believe it.”

I arch an eyebrow, one hand on my hip as I wait for him to finish packing up his bag so we can leave. “Maybe a wow Jun you were right would suffice.”

He finally tears his eyes away from the screen to look up at me, expression softening into something resembling wry amusement. “Wow Jun, you were so right,” he mocks. “I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“Um, it is true though.” It is not that I tutored him, but we started doing homework and reviewing together. Anything that we fell short on, the other could help with. “It is all thanks to my assistance.”

He’s been opening up since our ‘intervention’ last week, and even looks less exhausted. I hadn’t realized what a weight must have been on his shoulders until it was lifted.

“Yeah, yeah,” he says, but I can hear the honesty in his tone. “Let’s get out of here.”

We gather up our bags and make our way to the doors of the school. October has brought with it a chill, carried in from the Thames and the expanding channel.

“Mal and Robbie have been arguing over books again,” Glen says. “I always wonder why they read the same books if they’re just always going to disagree on them.”

“Healthy competition?”

“Healthy? They haven’t been talking for two days.”

I wince, though I am beginning to realize that this is a common practice for the two of them. “Well, they were eating, so I did not notice,” I joke. While the two of them generally sit on the same side of the table, they’ve recently placed Ayumu between them so they can glare. “What book is it this time?”

“I don’t know? I think it had something to do with a French poet--?” Glen immediately cuts off as he accidentally bumps into someone walking in the opposite direction.

I blink, and it takes a second for my brain to realize who I am staring at. And this time I can tell that it is Lionel, not Liala, that we’ve run into.

“Glen. Jun.” He stares at us in surprise, looking more like he wants to retreat five paces and go around us. “Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Hi Lionel,” I say. “How have you been?”

“I’m… good…” Lionel looks more confused than reassured that I’ve asked this question. He also looks like he’s waiting for something to happen -- a dismissal or something so he can jump away.

Glen lifts a hand and waves. Nervousness drifts off him. Apparently he hasn’t faced Lionel about what happened with Ayumu’s phone, but considering the fact that we had to pin him in a classroom to admit it, I’m not surprised. “Hullo. Thanks for your help with Ayu’s phone.”

This was apparently the wrong thing to say. It’s immediately clear that Lionel has no ‘tactful’ setting on his filter. “Why did you ask Ayumu to install the app on his phone?”

Glen’s smile flickers, but instead of backing down like he did with Zoné and me, he looks a little angry. “I was just curious, is all.”

He admitted to us that he really had no idea that it would mess up the OS. He didn’t understand why or how it was limited to registered people.

It’s not a question we had thought about before, but now it’s been hanging over our heads.

“The Program Manager said not to involve anyone outside of the Participants and selected Informants,” Lionel adds, and Glen’s expression darkens.

“Easy for you to say, don’t you think?” he asks, frustrated, defensive.

Lionel realizes what he said a beat later and winces. He waits, considers his words, and then tries again. “Are you a Participant?”

I can feel Glen’s hand twitch. When he glances at me, I have to resist the urge to reach for him. This is still something that he has to learn to cope with on his own, and I am there for moral support. “Informant. Two of my coworkers asked me to work for them.”

“Oh.” Lionel shuffles awkwardly. “Do they go to this school?”

“No, they go to the private school in the First District.”

He makes a sound of understanding. “Fancy types then?”

Glen laughs, and the tension eases from his shoulders. “Yeah, something like that. My curiosity regarding the whole thing won out, but I’m not going to let that distract me.”

This gives me an idea, and I know that Zoné would do the same thing if he was here instead of me. “It’s always nice to have a support system, too,” I say. There’s a small number of us students who are participating, so we might as well stick together. Glen was evidence enough that even knowing that support is there means enough.

Lionel is silent for a long moment, glancing between Glen and myself before focusing on something in between us. He looks conflicted before blurting out, “Have you guys heard of the Ghost and the Lady blog?”

My head tilts to the side, and Glen’s confusion mirrors the one hovering on Lionel’s face. “We… have not.”

“How did you hear about it?”

Lionel rubs the back of his head. He wears his hair just long enough that it really does look like Liala’s cut, though far more disheveled. “My coworker’s teammates found it somehow.”

The impression that I get from his tone is that it’s something involving the game that shouldn’t. I think about Uncle Bao’s advice to me when I first signed up for this game, about how I should learn everything I could. “What is on the blog? Have other people found it?”

“Apparently. A lot of people are thinking that it’s a LARP.”

Before I can get the chance to ask what that means, Glen leans over and says, “A live-action role play. Like, they have a huge story where they run around acting as characters trying to figure out this plot.”

I laugh before I can stop myself. “It is sort of accurate, no?”

Lionel shrugs, still looking confused. “Sort of, I guess. Anyway, Rain’s team wants to gather information and dump it onto the blog, only… to try and get the host to keep it more secure.” He makes a gesture with his hands. “For players and Informants only.”

Glen mirrors the shrug. “I… think that would make sense.”

He frowns and crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re not really in a position to--”

Glen holds up his hand and Lionel immediately falls silent. “Yes, I get it. I didn’t know that it would ruin Ayumu’s phone, okay? Going forward, it’s definitely something I’m going to take into consideration.”

Lionel’s mouth snaps shut.

I glance between the two of them, quiet and cautious. The tension is once again palpable, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Glen this worked up over something. The guilt must be eating away at him, and that’s not something that a sit down will resolve.

It’s Glen who breaks the silence and leans back to put some distance between them. “Zoné’s birthday is on Monday. Jun and the guys and I were going to throw him a party.”

Lionel doesn’t reply, though it takes a few seconds for him to realize that he is actually supposed to. “Yeah?”

Uncertain how to proceed, Glen looks to me for assistance. He clearly does not know how to handle Lionel’s social awkwardness.

“It is an open invitation to you and Liala, if you want to come,” I add helpfully.

Something resembling shock and the familiar traces of confusion overcome him. “Really? You’re inviting us?”

I nod. “Of course.”

He starts to look like a cornered animal so I give him the exit that he’s trying to find.

“You are okay to say no. But just think about it! Oh!” I reach for my phone while Lionel is still reeling from our invitation. “I do not think I have your or Liala’s number.”

He is pulling out his phone as he slowly starts to answer. “I… Yeah, I think we’ll pass, but… Thanks?”

I put my phone in his hand and take his. “That is fine. Next time, perhaps. Give the two of you more of a chance to get used to us, hm?”

I suddenly feel Glen’s weight leaning against me, and I laugh when I find him pressing a hand dramatically to his chest. “You can’t possibly be counting yourself among our strange numbers, Jun,” he says.

It takes a tremendous amount of effort to prop him up. “Ayumu started it. What did he say? Ah, yes: The Wendy to your Lost Boys?” I grin over at Lionel, and his shock continues to hover around him.

He slowly hands my phone back to me as I pass his over. “Well… I’m going to go now. I gotta get back to check on Lia.”

Glen straightens upright, far more relaxed than when we started this conversation. “Don’t be strangers.” He allows me to steer him away, and eventually falls into pace at my side.

We walk for a bit in silence, reaching the front doors and stepping out into the gloomy afternoon.

“Are you feeling okay?” I ask, hesitantly.

He doesn’t immediately respond, but then turns to look down at me with a soft smile. “Yeah, I think I am. It took a bit, but I’m feeling better.”

“Good.”

“Yeah,” he repeats. “It is.”

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