#corlant

Safi came to the conclusion that whatever she did Iseult would support her. She also came to the conclusion that her friend's support was often mocking.

Iseult told her to be nice to her former nemesis, and Safi was. And then Iseult proceeded to mock her for it. Apparently it was worth an I told you so as well. Iseult wasn't usually like that, but it was different when it was just the two of them. Safi knew her friend loved her and didn't mean the insults that could barely even be called that.

As unfair as their playful arguments were towards her, Safi enjoyed them. She didn't enjoy anybody else mocking her, especially because she was an unrecognised genius.

And being so very clever as she was, Safi came to another idea.

Her first plan failed because of faithful (and one not so faithful) friends. And there was only one person annoying enough to drive absolutely everyone away.

Safi didn't say that about a lot of people. Maybe just Corlant and some girl who border line stalked Iseult last year, whatever her name was. But since she didn't know anything about that girl, Corlant was her new target. It was perfect. She wouldn't even need to bribe and corrupt people into it. There wasn't a single person in the school that even tolerated the guy. And Vivia already started with throwing him off the damn table.

Obviously if Vivia joined so would Stix. Safi didn't know if the two were together yet but they would be eventually. That went for Iseult and Aeduan too. As much as her best friend denied it, Safi knew that there was something between them.

And Merik said he and his friends would help out, too. His answer was probably just as sudden as Safi's question, but he said it and she was certainly going to bother him about it for the rest of eternity.

Now that she thought about it, the only person she'd really need to convince was Vaness. She didn't exactly say that she was going soft when it came to the group, nor did she show it in any way, but Safi knew. Call it intuition, or, if you're Vaness, imagination, but Safi knew.

She sent a message into the group chat. Not saying Corlant deserves to be miserable but that's exactly what I'm saying.

Needless to say, everyone agreed.

Well, not really, but in her head they called her a genius.

Iseult: No

Vivia: He deserves it but we're not going to do it

That was really confusing to Safi. Vivia gave her the idea, with her frustrated attack on the world's most useless religious fanatic. Honestly, how anyone could stand the guy was beyond her. Apparently nobody else could understand it either because nobody tolerated him. It took a long time for people to stop coming up to Vivia, calling her their hero.

Safi found the idea of Vivia not participating ridiculous. But you have to! You started it! Come on, it'll be a fun group activity!

Vivia: Maybe I don't want to have fun with this group

Leopold: Ouch

Vaness: She's right, all of you are immature and insufferable

Lev: You say all of you like you aren't the exhausted older sister in this chaotic family

Vaness: Please, you lot aren't nearly pretty enough to be my siblings

Stix: Ouch

Vaness: Especially you

Safi knew that it wasn't really directed at Stix. If anyone else said that the response would have been the same.

So you're all in?

Safi felt like she would probably get yelled at if she said it out loud. Her friends really were lovely. But since they couldn't yell, they sent passive aggressive messages. It was way more entertaining for Safi to see them try to convey their anger without using emojis. She personally overused them, but all the others thought they were overrated. They had a long discussion about it one day, and Safi came to the conclusion that they were all insane. Who didn't like emojis? There were so many, and there were some very unnecessary ones, and some creepy and bizarre ones as well. It was so fun.

Vaness: I am going to have your head. Of course we're not in. If we were in we would've said so. You're insufferable and irresponsible and I haven't the slightest idea as to why I'm even here

Lev: Is somebody going to tell her there's no word count for threats?

Iseult: The word count is under zero. Safi was just joking

Aeduan: Yeah, didn't you know that no one is allowed to call Safi an idiot? Except when Iseult does it, which is completely right

Iseult: Precisely

Safi was definitely not going to let this go in at least the following ten years. It wasn't like she overly liked Aeduan as a person or enjoyed his company too much but Iseult obviously did and Safi, as a good friend, had to show her how perfect they would be together.

But her pride had been a bit wounded because of the complication that her loved best friend could ever call her an idiot. She sent them the middle finger emoji, which resulted in everyone attacking her.

Caden: Not emojis again!

Vaness: Just when I thought this whole conversation couldn't possibly be any more draining

Safi loved seeing them annoyed. She knew for all of Vaness's fancy words that she probably just groaned out loud. Just for the sake of being even more 'draining', Safi changed the name of the group chat.

Bribery And Corruption ⚔🗂

Vaness: Ignoring my obvious obvious dislike of this atrocious title, what is the folder for?

Safi decided to copy Vaness's pretentious messaging style. Our plans! I'm pleased that you think all this genius comes at once but I plan it out. Or rather ✍🏼 it down

Vivia: Must you?

Safi was having so much fun with this. 👍🏻

Caden: You're horrible

That made her laugh out loud.❤ you too

So what do you say? We can 🔪 Corlant ⚔

Stix: What does that second emoji mean?

They were all so uncultured when it came to emojis. Safi had to fix that. Together!!

Vaness: Isn't there an insane person emoji? Because that's what you'll make me by the end of your insane plans

Does that mean you're in?????!!!!!

Vaness: This is the first and last time I'm ever doing this...👍🏻

[x]

Iseult was beginning to wish Safi was joking with the new revenge plan against Corlant, but she knew Safi well enough to know that she wasn't joking about it. Of course she wasn't - she enjoyed the last plan a lot (perhaps too much). Well, she didn't like the apologising part of it, but no one would really make her apologise to Corlant.

She had spent all night watching as more and more notifications came in through the Bribery and Corruption group chat discussing it - Leopold suggesting people push him off more tables, Safi suggesting that simply wasn't enough - and now she was forced to go through it at school, too.

Of course she was. Safi would've begged her to come if she didn't - "We're a whole new team, Iseult!" Safi had said when Iseult had only slightly suggested she wouldn't join in. "You can't just leave now!" Besides, Iseult was curious to see how this larger group worked out - Merik's group and Safi's group was not a thing she had ever imagined together. Mainly because of the revenge plan, to be fair.

Either way, the two groups worked well together. Safi still insulted Merik, but Merik seemed okay with it - in fact, he fired right back at her. Ryber seemed to get along with all of them, and took part in all their conversations and discussions. She was the rational side to the scheming - if a plan wouldn't work, Ryber could tell and would come up with a better one. Vaness still sat there and told them that they were all horrible people, but that was to be expected. Kullen didn't interact as much as she knew Safi hoped he would, but Iseult guessed he was still mad at Stix.

Strangely enough, Stix was no where to be found. Iseult usually noticed her glued to Vivia's side, but not this time. Even Vivia seemed a little down, too - she didn't really participate in any of their group conversations. Iseult was worried about her, but was unsure how to approach her. They didn't talk that much, after all.

Besides, Iseult was a little bit preoccupied with a few other things. Namely, Aeduan. She wasn't sure how he didn't know about Safi and Leopold setting them up - surely it was obvious? Iseult had figured it out in a few minutes!

And she wasn't sure how she felt about Aeduan not knowing, either. He truly believed that Safi and Leopold needed to simply do their own thing, and hadn't left her when they left them. Instead, he had taken her elsewhere - of his own free will. And he didn't have to. He was under no obligation to.

Then again, she was under no obligation to stay when Safi and Leopold's plan had come to light, but she had. Why?

She thought that maybe she enjoyed his company. That was strange, because she didn't enjoy the company of many people. Safi was a given - and that was because Iseult felt like she belonged with Safi, in a way she couldn't quite explain. She tolerated other people's company, and that wasn't quite the same thing.

But she seemed to enjoy Aeduan's. Probably because silence with them wasn't awkward - they both seemed to prefer that to small talk. And Aeduan's stories about Leopold were incredibly amusing, too. Aeduan never made her feel uncomfortable, so that was a plus.

That didn't change the fact that she didn't know what being comfortable around him meant, not really. She wished she did, because feelings were often hard to work through.

Aeduan appeared later that lunch time and sat next to her instantly.

Iseult laughed slightly at his expression that screamed why the hell am I here? "How'd they get you here this time?"

Aeduan waved his phone at her. "Leopold kept sending me messages."

She laughed again. "Poor you."

He sent her a glare. "Don't laugh at me. It's not funny. This was not the reason I gave him my number for!"

"What did you give him your number for, then?" Iseult asked, raising an eyebrow.

That made him pause. "I didn't even mean to."

She snorted. She had heard that story before, yes, but it was still hilarious.

Safi caught her eye and winked at her while gesturing between them. It wasn't even subtle! And when she turned back to Aeduan, she knew he had noticed it.

"Wait," he said. "Is that why she kept looking at us like that? Because she was going to set us up?" Not quite, but it'll do. "Pretty much."

"Oh."

She wasn't sure if that was a good 'oh', and they fell into another silence only disturbed by the Corlant-revenge-plan being discussed around them. Once again, she was struck by how she still felt comfortable with him, even if they weren't saying anything, and wondered if it would be the same as last time if they were alone.

Iseult turned to him suddenly, trying to stop herself from chewing her lip. "Would you like to go somewhere after school?" she asked him. What was the worst that could happen, really?

Aeduan raised an eyebrow. "In what way do you mean?"

"I'm not sure," she admitted.

He seemed to consider for a few seconds, then nodded. "Okay."

Vivia spent the next school day after her revelation wondering who theriverstix was. Really, everyone in the school could be her online friend, and she didn't really know. The whole school knew about her pushing Corlant off a table - stuff like that got around fast - making the whole school a suspect in her search for her online friend.

'The whole school' was also incredibly hard to narrow down, especially when she didn't talk to anyone. She debated asking the Bribery and Corruption group to help her - more people would probably be better - but she wasn't sure they were close enough for her to ask.

Vaness didn't have much more luck with the search. She had asked for a link to theriverstix's profile. She checked whether the same person made an account on a different social media platform, but apparently theriverstix was non-existent on other platforms.

Vaness had told her all this that morning, with an apologetic look. "Sorry," she had said, "but I can't help you."

That had made her a little angry, but what was the point in that? Vaness had done the best she could, and Vivia knew that Vaness' 'best' was more than she could do.

Maybe theriverstix just didn't want to be found. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but it was definitely an option. If theriverstix didn't want to be found, the chances of her doing so were slim.

It didn't make her feel very good about it all, but what could she do?

When she sat next to Stix that day, she knew she wasn't in the best mood, but not even Stix's flirting made her feel any better.

And, apparently, she was an open book, because Stix turned to her, a small frown on her face. Vivia wished she could erase it - the only expression that should ever be on Stix's face was a smile, beautiful and brilliant. "Is everything okay?" she asked her. "You haven't touched your food."

Vivia was surprised Stix noticed her barely-touched plate, and knew it was shown on her face. "Yeah!" She answered quickly. Probably too quickly, judging the way Stix's frown deepened. "Yeah, everything's fine."

"Really?"

Vivia hesitated slightly before letting out a sigh. Stix would help her, right? She seemed like someone who would. Or maybe she was just completely misjudging her. She wasn't sure, but she was willing to take that chance. "Could you help me with something?"

"Anything," Stix answered immediately.

Vivia laughed slightly. "You don't even know what it is."

"So?" Stix asked, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge her. "I will help anyway. So, what do you need help with? Because if it's math, you're screwed."

"No, no, nothing like that," Vivia replied, then took her phone out. She opened it up to the app, to the messages she shared with theriverstix. "I met someone online recently. We're close friends."

Stix nodded. "Go on."

"I - I was talking to them yesterday. And they mentioned the incident with Corlant." Vivia chewed on her lip, remembering that again. Remembering how Stix had defended her when Safi called her corrupted.

Stix's eyes widened slightly. "So this online friend goes to this school?"

Vivia nodded. "Exactly. But...I don't know who it is."

Stix nodded, a movement that seemed very forced. "And you want me to help find this person for you?"

"Yes," Vivia nodded.

Stix motioned to her phone. "Can I see the messages? Maybe it would give me a clue as to who it is."

Vivia nodded and handed Stix the phone, heart beating nervously. She wasn't sure why she was nervous, but she hadn't actually shown the messages to anyone yet, and watching Stix scroll through her phone felt like she was sharing a secret.

Well, it was a secret, wasn't it?

Stix handed her the phone back after a minute or so and gave her a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You two seem really close."

Vivia nodded and put her phone back in her pocket. "We are," she replied. It felt strange to say - Vivia had never been that close to many people. Not even Vaness. "Will you help me?"

Stix nodded, though it seemed hesitant, even to Vivia, making her worry that maybe she was wrong, that maybe Stix wasn't going to help. But she still said, "Of course I will."

Vivia beamed and threw her arms around Stix, who returned the hug after a minute or two. "Thank you."

*

Vivia didn't get a message from theriverstix that day, which was weird. Weird, because they had made it a daily thing, talking to each other after school. Every day after school, Vivia either sent or received a message from theriverstix around 4pm without fail. Usually they talked for hours at a time, but there were times where Vivia had to study for a test or complete some homework and couldn't talk.

Other times, theriverstix offered to help her study, though they drew the line at math.

Math is my only weakness, they had said when Vivia asked. It is the only thing I cannot do.

Vivia had laughed at the time, because theriverstix felt like a person who knew everything. Her online friend often commented about random mythologies that they knew about for some reason or they sprouted some fact that Vivia had never heard of.

In hindsight, the knowledge about mythologies made sense. Vivia figured her friend had misspelt 'the River Styx' wrong when creating their account but left it there for a laugh.

It was the same as always, until it wasn't. Vivia sent a message at their usual time, glad that their time zones aligned long enough for them to talk for so long. She had sent a simple 'hey'. She didn't mention their conversation from the day before, didn't mention the search Vivia was doing to find them.

But when she didn't a reply, she sent another half an hour later. Hey, are you there? She asked, because theriverstix never took that long.

When she didn't get another reply, Vivia figured her friend was simply busy.

She sent another two messages later on - one around 6pm, another around 6:45.

Uh, hey? I figured you've been busy. Are you free now?

Hello?

She didn't want to annoy her friend anymore than she probably already had, though, so she had left it like that. She didn't leave her phone out of sight, though, and each passing second made her wonder if theriverstix was alright.

[x]

The more Merik thought about it, the more Kullen was right. And not just Kullen. Vivia too. But not Safi. That's where he drew the line. He wasn't the nicest to her, but it was a thing that happened to everyone from time to time.

And it did not warrant hiding a body, or a rumour. As much as what Ryber had said made sense, Merik still believed it was Safi who orchestrated the whole thing. She was at least involuntarily involved, Merik concluded.

She also had an awful fashion sense, though that wasn't really relevant. Merik wanted to gouge his eyes out when he saw her new jacket. It was poorly designed and gave Merik a headache. And what did "Bribery And Corruption" even mean? Merik hoped it was from some movie. Maybe she wore the jacket ironically. If she didn't, there was no way Merik could follow up on his promise to Kullen. He couldn't be nice to someone who wore that kind of clothes, he just couldn't.

And she wasn't the only one. There were a few other people around the school wearing those abominations and Merik didn't know how to feel about that. He didn't want to openly criticise them, especially since he promised Kullen he wouldn't.

Kullen didn't say anything about their conversation in the forest, but Merik could sometimes catch him and Ryber whispering to each other while looking his way. It was awfully tense whenever they did, and Merik just opted for talking to Cam most of the time. Stix basically abandoned their table, which was apparently good, because, as Kullen said, "She's doing us a favour, really. You don't want to hear her awful flirting."

Still, it would have been easier if she was there and Merik could just say it in front of all of them at lunch and avoid them for the rest of the day. Say what? He wasn't sure, but he couldn't stand not being able to talk to anyone as he usually would. It was a suffocating feeling he couldn't quite give a name to.

Yes, it would have been much, much easier to just break it to them a second before the bell rang. But Merik wasn't that lucky. Nothing was easy these days.

It still had to be done. Merik hesitated before asking his friends to come over. He stared at the send button for what must've been ten minutes before deciding it was going to happen anyway and finally pressed it.

He hesitated even more before he knocked on Vivia's door.

Merik didn't wait for her to tell him to come in. He didn't know how long he'd have to wait, because Vivia recently paid no attention to anything but her phone. They had talked more these past few days. Well, more than they did before, anyway. Their conversations were awkward, but it was a start.

"Yes?"

"Well, my friends are coming. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to meet them?" Merik didn't know why he was so nervous. Maybe because he already had a perfect opportunity to mention that he had a sister when she caused a scene in school. Kullen would definitely criticise him for that.

"Uh, sure," Vivia said. She didn't sound entirely willing to leave her phone and whoever she was texting. Merik didn't want to mention the flirty message so he wouldn't ruin the little progress they had made. He still wanted to know who it was, though. "Which friends?"

Merik found the question strange. She met Kullen once, but she didn't know any of his other friends. At least he thought she didn't. "Just a few of them. Kullen, Ry, Cam and Stix."

Vivia made a face as he was saying it. More, specifically when he said Stix. "Can't, just remembered I have history homework."

Merik could see through her lie but he let it go. Mainly because he didn't want to get yelled at. "Okay, have fun."

When he left, Merik realised he shouldn't have. Waiting alone was ruining his nerves one by one. It was the longest twenty minutes in his life before Stix came. Then Cam, and lastly Ryber and Kullen. They always seemed to go everywhere together.

The conversation Merik and Cam had (Stix was infinitely more interested in her phone) was cut short when they walked in. Or rather Merik ignored his friend's attempts to continue it.

He could feel the tension all over the room, but it seemed to be just in his head. Kullen and Ryber walked in like any ordinary day, greeting everyone else. Merik couldn't stand how the conversation in the forest didn't take over their minds as it did over his.

He got up from the couch. This wasn't the kind of conversation he could have sitting down. "You're right." Kullen raised his eyebrow and Merik sighed. "You're right. I am self-centred and I'm unpleasant to be around."

"We know we're right," Ryber said, "we just want you to do something about it. You don't get an award for acknowledging the obvious."

That didn't make Merik feel any better. He thought having this conversation would help quiet that traitorous voice in his head that insisted he was guilty. The voice was quite new to him, and Merik didn't know how to deal with it.

"Admitting that you have a problem is always a good first step to solving it," Cam said. Merik had never been more thankful for his friends. Ryber and Kullen for telling him he was wrong bluntly, and Cam for still making him feel like he wasn't a lost cause.

"And it's a really big first step considering the fact that you're you," Stix added. Merik didn't know whether to take it as a compliment or an insult.

Kullen smiled a bit. It seemed like everyone but Merik didn't feel the ever present tension. "Well, sure. I don't see why not."

That made Merik feel better. The voice in his head was still there, telling him he still didn't really do anything to confirm his words, but this time Merik could effectively shut it out.

*

At first Safi had really been joking about the jackets. It wasn't like they could actually get them, was it? And even if there was a way to subtly defy Merik Nihar through an outfit, Safi knew that some of her group members would never approve.

Of course, Iseult, Caden, Lev and Zander learned long ago to give up rather than argue with her. Making them wear their jackets would be a breeze. Leopold didn't count - he'd wear his jacket willingly.

What Safi was worried about was the reaction the others would have. They were friends, sure, but their friendship barely started. They probably wouldn't like her getting the jackets without consulting them. They wouldn't wear them, which defied the point of jackets. Especially these jackets. They were meant to spite Merik specifically. There would be no point in buying jackets that would just stay inside wardrobes.

But as the week went by, Safi started to notice some things. She noticed the way Vaness started owning up to being her co-conspirator. There was much more mutual respect between them than Vaness would ever admit, and that was fine by Safi. She imagined Vaness would wear it once or twice, out of solidarity at least. Especially if Safi went through with the plan behind the others' backs.

Would Vaness turn away a gift? All Safi had to do was pay for it. She would have to wear it sometimes, out of basic decency.

That would probably work on Vivia as well. Safi still wasn't so sure what her problem was with Merik, but she wasn't completely opposed to the jackets when they were talking about it. And besides, she was unusually touched when Safi offered to pay for everyone's ice cream, since they came as a group. A single jacket wasn't that different than an ice cream, was it?

Safi doubted she'd have any problems getting Stix to wear her jacket. Her involvement had been pretty shocking, and even though Iseult told her that, realistically, Stix could be telling Merik everything they said, Safi still trusted her.

Safi knew Iseult was right, because Iseult was usually always right about this kind of stuff, whereas Safi just ran in and hoped for the best. Still, she trusted Stix completely, as stupid as it probably was.

Aeduan was Leopold's friend, and therefore his problem. Safi was going to tell him as much. It might be harsh, but she needed to take care of Vaness. One unwilling person was enough.

Safi made a mental list of pros and cons, and decided that it was totally worth it. Now she just needed to find a good website and place her order.

Ten custom jackets. Now Safi just needed to decide what they should say. It wasn't enough to just get matching jackets; They needed to be personalised. Needed to have hearts.

Safi opened up the group chat, looking for the suggestions of what the jackets should say. After scrolling up to reread the conversation they had about it, she still couldn't decide. It wasn't like anyone took the discussion seriously.

In the end, Safi knew she had to keep it subtle. And out of everything she wanted to put on a jacket, she chose the most obvious thing.

The jackets should be there by next week. Ten jackets, all the same, just different sizes. Safi was pretty sure she guessed the sizes accurately. And, if not, Caden could always help adjust them a bit.

They weren't very expensive. Turns out getting custom text on a jacket was easier than she thought too. She just hoped no one would ask about the fact that her jacket said Bribery & Corruption on the back.

Safi couldn't keep the smile off her face. This was a perfect, reckless plan.

Safi took her phone out and typed: love the smell of extreme probably unnecessary revenge so early in the morning. She sent a text to the group chat, revealing nothing other than the fact that she was up to something, but wasn't she always?

She didn't have to wait too long for responses.

Vaness: Safi, no

Iseult: I second that statement. What are you doing now?

Stix: Does it matter? She'll tell us eventually. And it'll be epic

Safi had to agree with that, at least.

Caden: We are not killing anyone, Safi, just so you know

Lev: I mean, depends on what you offer

Zander: We are definitely not killing anyone, Lev

Stix: I could work with murder if it's Merik. I'm friends with his friends though

Iseult: So... You're okay with murder if you decide who you murder? Saf, you're creating super villains

Lev: villains are cooler

Vivia: And there's not nearly enough female super heroes, which means we'd be mainly against arrogant men. That's a huge plus

Vaness: I made a mistake

Safi laughed out loud at the exchange. This group chat was the best thing she ever did. Well, maybe not the absolute best, but it was definitely up there.

Stix: So what I'm hearing is that the two of you will have my back if I rob a bank

Safi: Make that three

Aeduan: Nobody is robbing any banks

Lev: Not as of right now, but we totally could do it

Vaness: Safi, you are officially dead to me

Safi laughed out loud. Making Vaness go through all of this was hilarious on its own. She couldn't even begin to imagine what her reaction will be to the jackets.

Safi: Wait, don't bury me yet. You'll have much more anger-turned-energy for digging a hole when you find out what I have planned

Vaness: Safi, no

[x]

Vivia was fucking beautiful. There was nothing else to it.

She was absolutely beautiful. And based on their last conversation, maybe Stix actually had a chance. That, or she was just being self-centered.

She hoped that wasn't the case. Being self-centered meant being like Merik, which nobody would ever want. The thought itself made her feel sick.

Although, admitting she was self-centered wasn't like Merik at all, so maybe there was some hope for her.

But, Vivia was absolutely beautiful, and nobody could convince her otherwise. She was very much aware that she didn't know anything about her - she had told Kullen as much, too, though he hadn't been much help - but honestly, she couldn't help the flirting. She had no filter around pretty people, especially Vivia.

Vivia, currently, was waiting in line to get her food - at least a kilometre from the Bribery and Corruption table, which she began to refer to it as when she saw the name for the group chat. It was a fitting name, considering how many of their little group were, well, bribed or corrupted into joining the revenge plan.

Stix hated the distance between them, but it wouldn't last long. Before she went to get her food, Vivia had promised she would be back, so Stix was hopeful about that.

Hopeful enough to pay attention to most of the conversation going on, anyway. With Vivia in her line of sight, the only attention the Bribery and Corruption crew were going to get from her was forever going to be half-assed.

"I think we can safely say that the rumour we unleashed on Merik was successful," Safi stated in a business-like voice. Her business-like voice usually meant that she was planning something else, and that was almost enough to regain Stix's full attention.

Almost. She was still too busy staring at Vivia, and she was not ashamed go admit it.

"'Unleashed'," Iseult quoted with an eyeroll. Aeduan sat next to her, and they had been deeply engaged in their own conversation before Safi spoke and demanded everyone's attention. "Again, we aren't at war and we aren't 'unleashing' weapons on him."

Safi glared at her friend, though because they were so close, it really had no effect on Iseult. "Do I need to remind you that this is war and the rumour was definitely a weapon?"

"No," Iseult replied with a roll of her eyes. "I heard you the first few thousand times you said it."

"Good." Safi turned back to the rest of their group. "Does anyone have anymore ideas? We can't just leave it at one single rumour."

Lev raised a hand. Stix wasn't sure who Lev was, not really - all she knew was that she was a friend of Safi's and somehow part of the revenge plan. Stix wasn't sure how. "The offer to help hide his body is still up," she announced with a large grin. Zander, sitting on her right side, rolled his eyes.

Safi chewed on her lip, then shook her head. "Tempting, but no. Too risky. Anyone else?"

This time, Leopold spoke up. "Who else shares a class with him?" Stix reluctantly raised her hand, followed by Caden, Leopold, Aeduan and Vaness. Safi didn't need to do so - they all knew that their shared Geography class was the reason behind all this. "Great," he grinned. "When you get a task you have to do in groups or partners, make sure that everyone refuses to work with him."

"I like that plan," Safi announced, grinning back, but Vaness had another idea.

She rolled her eyes. "And how are we meant to do that? We don't posses the ability to control our peers' actions."

"If we did, there would be no revenge plan," Iseult pointed out. Stix wasn't sure what she meant - would there be no revenge plan because Iseult would control Safi and make her forget the revenge plan, or would Safi have controlled Merik and force him into staying silent during that one careful Geography class? Both options made sense.

God, if they could control the actions of the others around them, Stix would've made him shut up long before Safi would get the chance. Honestly, it would've saved her from being annoyed constantly in his presence.

But then again, if the hypothetical situation wasn't hypothetical, Stix wouldn't have had the chance to meet Vivia.

Vivia, who blushed whenever Stix sent a compliment her way; Vivia, who hated Merik just as much as she did, if not more. Vivia, who only had four more people to get past in the queue for food before she returned to the Bribery and Corruption crew.

Leopold sighed but he looked eager to explain. "Easy! Spread another rumour. Maybe Merik has a deadly, contagious disease. Maybe Merik shit his pants a few days ago. No one ever wants to talk to the guy who shit his pants."

"So, really, we're just spreading more rumours?" Aeduan frowned.

"Yes, but instead of feeling sorry for him, they're disgusted by him instead." Leopold grinned widely. "Perfect plan, no?"

Safi nodded eagerly. "I like that plan," she repeated. "Though, if we're to do this, make sure-"

"Attention please," a voice announced from the middle of the cafeteria. The voice was strangely familiar, but Stix couldn't place it - until the cafeteria gave a collective groan.

The school only ever got annoyed at one person at the same time if that person was Corlant.

Stix turned in her seat to see that she was right.

Corlant stood on a table in the middle of the cafeteria, wearing robes of black accentuated with dark grey cuffs that only just stood out against the black. He held a microphone close to his mouth in his left hand and a hard-cover book in the other - he always had his book with him. Stix assumed it was a Bible or another type of holy book, but, well, this guy was no Christian.

She, along with all the other students in the cafeteria, scowled at him. Who the fuck went around wearing robes? What the fuck?

"The time has come for you to repent," Corlant said, voice booming. He was far too confident for a guy everyone hated. "To repent for your sins! You are a plague upon this Earth. You are impure!"

Stix hugged, noting the constant 'you's and 'your's. Corlant was the damn plague upon the earth.

"Who the fuck gave this guy a mic?" Safi asked. She was loud enough for the Bribery and Corruption crew to hear, but not anyone else.

"Can we formulate a revenge plan for him, too?" Lev asked.

Corlant spoke again. "But do not fear! You can be pure again, with my help! I am the chosen one, the one-"

Stix had been paying enough attention to Corlant that she forgot about everything else, until she saw Vivia marching towards him. She could practically hear war-drums in the background as Vivia ripped Corlant's precious hard-cover book out of his hands with a force Stix didn't think she possessed before whacking him round the head with it. Vivia then proceeded to climb onto his table, hit him again with the same book, before shoving him off it.

Stix was too far back to see how he landed, but the whole cafeteria burst into cheers, including the Bribery and Corruption gang.

Vivia was beautiful. She was the most stunning girl Stix had ever seen, standing on that table with no expression but annoyance on her face.

Vivia was also the most confusing girl Stix had ever met. Vivia was shy, was quiet - definitely not the kind of girl to shove someone off a table after hitting them with a book twice. At least, that was what Stix gathered from their previous conversations.

Stix certainly didn't mind confusing, though. Not when it was Vivia.

Vivia headed back to the queue to resume waiting for her food, but the students before her moved out of her way, changing, "Down with purity! Down with Corlant!" Stix could just about make out how uncomfortable all the attention she was getting made her, and when Vivia got her food and sat next to Stix, she put her arm around Vivia's shoulders in what she hoped was a comforting way.

"You're a fucking adorable badass," Stix stated with a grin, loving the way Vivia's cheeks flushed red.

Safi cheered. "Hell fucking yes, Vivia! You are definitely corrupted."

Stix shot her a glare. "She is not corrupted."

*