GRAY

“Relax… it’s, just, me, man,” He assured, him, coolly, with, an, eye-roll, having, just, come from, the same place, that Gray had. “No need to be shadier, than usual,” He retorted, in reference, to how, he had, immediately, hung up, on, whoever, had been on the, alternate end, of, his phone call, as Axl had, strolled, in Gray’s direction. 

“Have you ever seen the infamous Gray Crowley unrelaxed?” he asked, running a hand through his hair, “I’m a little uneasy with all this investigation stuff.” Gray didn’t really like Axl’s disposition at meetings or revolving the society in general, but he let it go most of the time. “It was just my dad. Naturally, he heard about the little stunt at the party and he’s not exactly pleased with me.”

Genevieve nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn’t noticed anyone ahead of her, blonde head buried in her phone as she scrolled through her music, looking for something new to listen to. She hit pause, pulled the cat ear headphones off, and turned large eyes up to Gray. “Oh, I was just coming back from practice.” She held her duffle bag up as evidence.

Gray’s face lit up as he realized who he’d approached, “Out of everything I hoped to see on my walk, this tops it,” he teased, taking the duffle bag from her, “Usually I’d let you lug this duffle bag home, but I’m feeling generous.”

Luciana was still adjusting to being at a new school and one much larger than the one she had attended back in Germany, she had lost her way slightly from Elizabeth house but was still trying to find her footing. Glancing up when she heard someone speaking. “I’m just looking for Elizabeth house.” She said with a simple shrug. “I was exploring and guess I got turned around.” She confessed, slightly embarrassed that she had gotten lost so easily on the school grounds.

“Well then,” Gray offered out an arm, secretly grateful that she didn’t ask why he was out, “Be my guest. I happen to know exactly where the Elizabeth House is.” He looked over at the girl, her face seeming unfamiliar, “How long have you been at Kingswood?” 

Hanging up her phone as he spoke, she gave him a curious glance, her nerves rising once he brought up the event. She was still unsure on what was going on with him, only knowing that there was a society that had caused Gray to be aggressive to Tyler Durden. “It definitely was. Although I did tell a few people I planned it just to kill their hysteria. I might just end up telling everyone else the same thing,” she shrugged. “It was probably some prank to scare people but as usual no one took it seriously. I’m fine though, just slightly hungover. But how are you doing? You seem to have disappeared last night.”

Gray relaxed his stance a bit, smiling at the girl before him, “Oh no, Max, that means people around here are going to start thinking you have a secret dark side,” he put a hand in his pocket, shrugging before answering, “I’m sure it was, I’m thinking about looking into who put on that stunt and beating them up in honor of you.” His charming smile wavered a bit at her next question, “Yeah I-” he started, thinking of the night he had, “I took Dawn away from the party, seemed like she needed to loosen up a bit.”

During the entirety of the society meeting, there was something at the back of his brain that Amos couldn’t shake the feeling of, something that happened during the course of the party. He’d chase the thought, though it had seemed to far away in his mind to catch. It was only on Amos’ way back to his dorm that he remembered exactly what he meant to say, the raven-haired boy immediately turning back the way he came in search for Gray, “I think we both know,” Amos replied as he came into view, his eyes slightly worried, “I just remembered something…off, about the party. Thought I’d tell you. Never know what’s important.”

Gray raised a brow, shoving his hands into his pockets out of instinct, “Alright, let’s hear it,” he commanded, not meaning to sound as authoritative as it came off. Gray had a bad feeling about that party. His desire to win Max over was starting to get clouded by the feeling that she was hiding something from him, and that she was going to get hurt by the society for the amount of research she was doing on it. 

Simon couldn’t sleep, no, didn’t want to sleep in his room because of his roommate. He really needed to talk to the guy about going outside to smoke, or someone else’s room instead of their own because he was over it. To get away from all of that, he decided to take a midnight stroll. No location in mind, he was just walking, listening to music as he went. It wasn’t until he saw someone most likely talking to him that he did take his headphones out. “I’m sorry what?” he asked. “I didn’t hear you, had my headphones in.” 

“Nothing, just wondering why you’re out so late,” Gray muttered, trying not to bring too much attention to himself, “What were you listening to?” he asked, changing the subject so the boy didn’t question anything. 

So, Dawn had no idea what to do in this situation, the only time she ever felt her heart beat fast was when she finished a workout or on an adrenaline kick. “Right?” she said before shaking her head, “What?” she said for the first time lost for words, no ramble, nothing just a blank replay of him kissing her.

“You okay?” he teased, gently pecking her cheek, “What? It was that bad?” he laughed a bit, knowing that probably wasn’t why she was shell-shocked. Dawn seemed like the most innocent girl and the likelihood that she was usually in this proximity of guys was slim, “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked before.”

That was a surprise to Dawn, because not only was it her first kiss, she also doubted he actually liked her. Not to mention some stupid stuff about kissing from her upbringing- but it was actually really nice. “Oh-,” she said as she gently bit her bottom lip, “I always thought that was a myth.” she said knowing her face was completely red now.

“Absolutely not,” he assured her, staying fairly close to her, his breath picking up a bit, “Haven’t you heard that the way you spend New Years sets up your entire year,” he said with a light smirk, his hand landing wrapping around her waist, “But you have walking to do, right?”

“I tripped, but it’s all fine,”she assured him, before she turned to face him when he took her arm. “What?” she asked tilting her head in confusion.

Gray leaned over, brushing a piece of hair out of her face before gently kissing her, pulling away after a moment, “Midnight kiss, of course. I mean, you wouldn’t want your year starting off without one.”

“Well I was on a midnight run on the track,” she said with a smile, “I had a false alarm with my ankle and so I ran.” she said before starting to walk. “Then walk with me.”

“That sounds nice,” he smiled, before raising a brow, “False alarm? Did you hurt yourself?” He asked, pushing concern into his tone before walking alongside her, “Wait,” he stopped, gently taking her arm, “You know what, we missed something.”

After the society had let Ben leave, naming him as pledge before he did so, he had taken to walking around the grounds of Kingswood, his mind still buzzing about everything that had just happened to him. He lost track of time, and where he was going, as he wandered in deep thought, his imagination thinking of all the incredible possibilities that the Shadow Brigade could hold for him. The faces of the members who had been present seemed imprinted in his mind, appearing like a glorious portrait of grandeur, and despite not knowing them, he felt a deep sense of admiration for all of them. At first, as he heard a voice speaking to him, and he glanced up, he thought he must be imagining that it was one of the society members, due to the fact he had just spent what must have been at least the past hour dwelling on them. But then as he took a couple steps forward and squinted his eyes through the dark, it was to see that it was, in fact one of the society members; the one who had taken the lead on introducing the society to him. “I’m refamiliarizing myself with the grounds.” He responded to the question with a curt nod. “I’ve been away for nine months. A lot can change in that time, and I’d prefer to have an up to date awareness of my surroundings.” He shrugged. “I would have done it earlier today, but I spent the day tied to a chair.” He added, although there was no hint of animosity in his voice, and he actually managed a small smirk.

“That’s a little kinky,” Gray teased as if he didn’t know what the boy was talking about. He wasn’t the biggest fan of society members discussing meetings after they happened, but he’d cut the boy a little slack since he was new. Gray looked around, not seeing anyone, after all, it was pretty late and not people were roaming campus. “You’re not going to have much time for anything in the next few weeks,” he admitted cooly, “Hazing is probably going to be one of the worst things you’ve gone through in your life, especially if Emmett has anything to do with it.” He shrugged, “Just thought I’d warn you.”

“I could ask the same of you,” she said taking her hands out her pocket.”You know these day’s you’re everywhere I pop up,” she said with a soft smile.

“And that’s a bad thing?” he teased, a coy smile playing upon his lips, “You know, walks at night go with the whole mysterious thing...but I’m not opposed to having someone to walk with.”

Emmett: that's not a real name

Emmett: seriously? Dawn Dawson?

Emmett: sounds like a made up town for a young adult romance on CW in the early 2000s

Emmett: fine i'll look out for the short blonde and cute girl

Emmett: yeah yeah yeah

Gray: She's kinda straight out of a teen sitcom

Gray: Also, look into Ben Orwell as a potential new member.

Emmett: wow someone dumpster dived?

Emmett: who was that bored

Emmett: it should be find, it's a universal remote and it doesn't have a tracker in it and i wore gloves

Gray: Dawn Dawson

Gray: Short, blonde, cute, but also if she dumpster dove for evidence, she might be someone to watch

Gray: Good, but smash it next time. We don't need any more suspicion around here.

Gray: Enlighten me.