Perfect School

Kira:

I didn't look at Marie, but only hunched my shoulders as she praised Jonah and talked about me as if I wasn't even there after giving me my instructions. I was still in my hospital gown. I still ached all over, and felt a mess. But I was better now, and improving by the hour. I knew how close I'd come to losing my life. I decided I'd take better control over my medicine from that point on, perhaps even seeing about getting it in injection form to speed up the process and to always have some on me.

After Marie left I climbed out of bed and grabbed the pile of clothes. "I'm going to go shower." I told him while moving into the bathroom. I kicked the door closed and while I lingered for longer than I should have I came out fully dressed with my hair as neatly taken care of as I could without a comb or brush. It was a mess but it was the best I could do.

Tossing the gown onto the bed I nodded to Jonah and after he passed me my backpack we made our way down into the lobby and then into a waiting car. Sitting beside him in the backseat I finally spoke to him a very soft and quiet "Thank you."

He tried to pull me into conversation every now and then but I resisted until finally we were sitting in our shared compartment on the train. I sat on my bed, one knee drawn up to my chest before I broke my self imposed silence. "How are the others doing?"

Jonah:

I didn’t think she would normally ask about the others. That she had was a mark that she was straying from Marie.

“Fine. No one else was hurt. Kyra is worried about you. She didn’t want to leave. And if the rest of your family hadn’t been there to pull her away, I don’t think she would have,” I told her, turning my gaze from the scenery rushing by the window, to focus on her.

“Do you remember what you said while you were drugged?" I asked a moment later out of curiosity. I wondered not just about what we had spoken about, but if she remembered speaking to her mother.

I settled my gaze upon him, looking into his blue eyes as he spoke. When he brought up the question as to what I'd said I looked down. "I don't. Most of the time in the hospital is a haze...I know my family was there, someone held my hand and bits and pieces of conversation. I was too out of it for anything to stick."

It was a half truth. I remembered some of what I'd told my Krissy, and a few parts of what I had told Jonah. And as I raised my gaze up to look at him I asked a question that surprised even myself. "How are you doing?"

Jonah:

I raised my eye brows questioningly. How was I? That was never a question asked of me. People assumed I was fine. And I was.

“I’m perfect,” I said with a little shrug, looking out the window again. Somehow her question made me feel uncomfortable, like she wanted to see inside of me. I suppose that’s how I made her feel on a daily basis.

I watched him for a moment longer then focused on the floor. I didn't know what to say to him at the moment. He was in a position of power over me normally. But after this trip I had a worry I'd seriously disappointed him and there was nothing really I could do or say to fix that. Such information didn't sit well in my head.

Jonah:

“Do you want to see your family again?” I asked her a few minutes later. I wanted to turn the focus back on her. She clearly wasn’t pleased with Marie, now more than ever was she vulnerable to the other side. I wanted to make sure I was on that side. It was a thin line to walk while trying to please Marie as well.

I very nearly responded automatically with a flat no. But I paused and hugged my leg tighter to my chest. I thought about it for a long while, giving it more consideration than anything else I had done. In the end I was torn on what I wanted. My duty to Marie, and what I wanted for myself.

"I don't know." I spoke honestly as I looked up at him. "I want to get to know them, and no matter what I'm sure Andrew and Kyra especially will try to pull me in. But Marie wouldn't want me to reach out to them." I frowned and shrugged before repeating, "I don't know what I want."

Jonah:

“She doesn’t have to know,” I said, watching her carefully. It was the same thing I said when I was trying to convince her to be intimate with me, and it hadn’t worked then. But she was in a different state now. She doubted Marie, and she had grown closer with her family.

“I could help you. Zero could help you. Not to mention Kyra.” I leaned in closer. I had a new interest in her family. If Michael was as he said he was, then I could gain powerful knowledge from him and possibly connections in the process.

Kira:

I had looked away after my shrug but my head snapped up to him the second he spoke.  At first I was confused, that confusion gave way to suspicion and then returned to confusion again as he spoke once more.  I looked away after that and grew still as I considered it.  I threw on my mask, built up my walls and pondered it for several minutes.

"Maybe."  I replied after all that time.  I raised my eyes to his.  "I don't know if I can believe you aren't setting up a trap.  We will see what happens and what They decide to do as well."  Shifting from the bed I went over and sat across from him at the table. Folding my arms on the table I glanced up at him, "Thank you though....if you mean it."

Jonah:

“You know I wouldn’t betray you,” I said. It was true. Even Kyra couldn’t say that after tricking her into seeing her family. “You don’t remember what I said to you, do you?” I said, looking out the window again. It didn’t really matter, she knew it anyway.

"No...I don't. I remember more of what I said than what you said." I admitted. Without him looking I took the chance to study him. He wasn't the most attractive person I'd seen, but he did look nice. Charming in his own way. False as they were sometimes, it was his smiles however that I knew really got not only to me but to others as well.

Jonah:

I let the silence hang for a while before finally flashing a smile at her. “Do you want to play cards?” I asked. I had a pack in my bag. Evelyn liked to play, but we were only allowed to play games that revolved more around chance than strategy. Even so I usually won. Speed was her favorite, it was a amazing how a simple card game could get her frisky.

Kira:

I kept studying him as the silence was drawn out and then the very same charming smile I'd thought about appeared on his face as he turned to look at me. "Cards?" I paused and my head got the slightest tilt to it. "What game?" Card games themselves weren't something I'd been taught. Nothing frivolous at any rate. I'd been taught how to play a few casino style games in case the need arose for me to visit one as part of a hit.

Jonah:

I got up to retrieve the pack of cards. When I sat down again I pulled them out into my hand and shuffled them expertly. I dealt the piles then went about explaining to her how to play Speed. As the name implied, it required a quick hand to accomplish the task. Once she got the hang of it, I had no doubt that she would become an excellent opponent. My ability to count cards still gave me a leg up.

Kira:

I kept things slow, regardless of the name. It wasn't that I didn't want to show off, I was just biding my time until I understood the game. And once I was sure I had the rules down I put on the speed. What had once been his win for several games in a row turned around and became my wins until things evened out. It boiled down to a matter of luck on either one of our parts. The order of cards, and various reflexes.

It was fun, and it showed on my face.

Jonah:

The game kept us occupied for some time, and when it grew old, I thought her other games. I thought her some strategy games, but I beat her nearly every time. The only time she won was by being too erratic for me to understand her motives. I liked watching her face, while she played. She was enjoying it.

Some of the games we played I couldn't win no matter how I tried. It was frustrating until I understood really how Jonah worked. It was better not to think and to just play a card to win rather than think it through. But over all instinct simply won me more games than anything else.

Jonah:

Come evening Kira decided to lay in. After a few minutes, I turned the light off and laid in the bed across from her. I pulled my window curtains open and watched the night race. When I was sure she was asleep, judging by the sounds of her breathing, I rolled over and faced her. She was more at peace now than she had been in the hospital bed. I watched her sleeping face four hours before I fell asleep myself.

I was up before Jonah, taking a moment to close myself off in the bathroom and change. I went down to the food carrige and purchased breakfast before returning to the room. I decided to just lay on the table and stare at the ceiling, appreciating the harder surface after being in a bed for so long. When I heard Jonah start to stir I looked over his way munching at a crisp apple. "'ornin'." I replied around the apple against my lips.

After he got up and ate I got off the table and we resumed our card games for a while. But as we neared the station we seperated to pack up and I spent some time on the floor and standing to stretch out all the kinks in my body. From the train we had a driver waiting for us who dropped us off at the house.

Kyra:

As soon as the car pulled up I was running out of the house to meet them. I still had on pajamas, and blanket wrapped around my shoulders. I ran to Kira and wound my arms around her, pulling her into a close hug.

“I was so worried… I didn’t want to leave you,” I murmured to her. I knew she didn’t like physical affection, but I still didn’t let her go.

Kira:

I had been about to say something to Jonah when the front door opened and a flash of fabric caught my eye.  As I turned and prepared myself for something hostile Kyra practically tackled me and had her arms around me in a tight hug.  I was smothered into her chest and helpless about the whole situation. But over all I felt Kyra had earned the moment and I tried to just accept it but my body remained a tiny bit stiff.  "I'm sorry I got that way."

Kyra:

I gave her one more squeeze then held her arms as I pulled back to look at her.  She looked better, but not entirely well.  

“Just let me know before it gets than bad next time, okay?  Why weren’t you taking your medicine?” I asked her, eyes wide and concerned.  

“Why don’t we move this conversation inside?” Jonah said behind her.  My gaze flicked to him in annoyance.

Kira:

I whined in my throat as I was squeezed one last time but relaxed a bit as Kyra pulled back. "I didn't know the medicine could do that if I didn't take it....and..." I frowned, garbled conversations bouncing through my mind as I tried to remember what had happened and what had been told to me. "I brought it with me...but it wasn't in our stuff when I went to take some."

I looked to Jonah after answering Kyra then looked back at her, "I do want to at least go in where it's warmer."

Jonah:

I ushered the girls inside. So Kira didn’t remember what I had told her about Evelyn. That wasn’t surprising. She had hardly reacted to the news when I told her in the first place.

When we got inside, Evelyn came up to greet us. She spoke first to Kira, hesitantly, but I told her what she was wondering with a slight shake of my head. Then she came up to me, and kissed me. It was a short kiss, but it told me what I more or less knew already. She was nervous and seeking reassurance.

Kira:

I greeted Evelyn with a nod and brief pleasantries. But as she went to Jonah I tried excusing myself from Kyra and went upstairs to put my stuff away. Having memories that were just out of reach was a unique experience. I couldn't quite tell what was just made up and what might be real. And then so much of it I simply couldn't remember.