A Coalition Story

Peach Cobbler: Is It Really Worth It?

A few weeks had passed since the incident with Lev and Alice had done a pretty good job of avoiding him and his sister. She was safe from their wrath during class, as neither had any overlap in courses with Alice's advanced hacker courses. She ate lunch and other meals exclusively with the protection of Atticus or Ravyn in the cafeteria, in her dormitory, or in the safe haven of Kyra's office. Any extra time she had, Alice spent in her dorm or, if Atticus forced her, with Ravyn and him. She had closed herself so well off that she never even caught sight of the Zima's.

Of course, that wasn't going to last.

Alice braced herself as she stood outside the tall, oak doors of the cafeteria. She had overheard in her Mandarin class that they were serving peach cobbler for dessert today – an unexpected delight for the students. Peach cobbler was Alice's favorite dessert. She hadn't made plans with Ace or Ravyn to eat in the cafeteria today, but she really wanted some cobbler.

Gripping the strap of her messenger bag a little tighter, Alice raised her head high as she pushed open the door. It was time to face her fears, and she wasn't about to scurry inside with her head down like a scared mouse. Blackbournes were tougher than that.

Taking even steps, eyes trained forward, and emotion absent from her face, Alice successfully made her way through the line without any interruption. After loading her tray with a poppyseed salad and grilled chicken, Alice reached for the largest slice of peach cobbler available. Only her hand bumped someone else's.

Alice's blood ran cold.

Her eyes trailed from the larger hand, up the muscular arm, and landed on an all-too-familiar face. A face that was smirking at her. A face that to anyone else would appear charming and flirtatious. But Alice could see the malice behind the eyes. This was not the face of a prince charming, but the big bad wolf.

Alice's hand retracted as if she had touched something white-hot. She could feel her pulse quickening, could hear the rush of blood in her ears. Her chest clenched tightly as if Lev had reached into her chest and was squeezing the life out of her heart. Between her ragged breathing and the whooshing of blood in her ears, Alice almost didn't hear his words.

"Hello, blyat'," Lev cooed, sounding like a perfect gentleman greeting his (ex)girlfriend.

But Alice could detect the contempt in his voice. She could see the anger in his eyes. And she knew enough Russian to know that the "pet name" he'd just called her was very, very unpleasant and not gentlemanly.

"Hello, huā huā gōngzǐ," Alice muttered in Mandarin, matching Lev's smirk with a glare.

It wasn't as intimidating as Lev's or any of Alice's friends, but it still got the job done in scaring off most people. It only made Lev chuckle lowly, taking a closer step towards Alice as he held the piece of cobbler tauntingly before her.

"Were you hoping to have this, Alice?" he teased, a glint catching in his eye. "Because I was hoping to have something of yours, remember? Maybe we could make a trade?"

Alice's breath hitched in her throat. Her hand instinctively reaching for her knife as she took a step back. She cursed herself silently as she remembered that she had never quite gotten that back from Lev. She eyed his abdomen suspiciously, noting the faint outlines of bandages under his shirt as she tried to calculate her best plan of attack. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, by two much larger bodies coming to tower behind her.

"Leave her alone, Zima," a low, rough drawl called from her right.

"Sloane, Alice and I were just discussing dessert," Lev taunted, smirking a little more at the word 'dessert.' "Why don't you and your boyfriend-"

"Why don't my boyfriend and I meet you in the training room for sparring?" Torin cut off, stepping between Alice and Lev, effectively blocking her view of the Russian boy.

She spared a glance back towards her left, where Cal stood silently. He looked stoic with his arms crossed and that glare gracing his features, but Alice could tell that he didn't particularly volunteer to come to her rescue. This was all definitely Torin's doing. Cal had simply gotten wrapped up in it.

Alice turned her attention back to the assassin defending her, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Torin, it's alright," she called softly, tugging his shirt. "He's just trying to get under my skin. It's not working anyway, so let's leave it."

She was lying. Blatantly. They all could tell that Lev's mere presence had set her on edge. But Torin didn't want to push it. Not if it was going to make it worse for the girl. He glanced down at her small frame, noting how her entire demeanor had changed from the moment she walked into the cafeteria. He had caught sight of her as she stepped inside, her head held high and her composure brave. Now she looked every bit the broken, scared little girl that Torin knew she had been inside. It was reminding him of his youngest sister, tugging at his heart in a way that made him overly protective.

Torin didn't say anything else, simply nodded at Alice before placing a gentle hand on her back and leading her towards the table he and Cal had previously claimed. They had been discussing payback on Lev, planning on filling Atticus in on their progress later that evening. But as they were discussing their next steps, Torin had caught sight of Lev approaching Alice. Torin had always had a soft spot for the girl, both because she reminded him of his siblings, and because she had proven herself to be a very useful ally in the hacker program. He hadn't given Cal a moment to argue but had grabbed the back of his shirt collar to pull him from his chair and towards the duo to save the poor girl.

Torin spared one last chance to glare at Lev, watching as Cal took a step towards the Russian boy. Cal muttered something to him that Torin couldn't hear, before turning around and marching back to their table. Lev looked smug though as he turned on his heel and walked out.

"What did you say to him?" Alice asked Cal softly, looking up at the boy nervously. She too had witnessed the encounter, but unlike Torin wasn't afraid to ask.

"Just told him to leave you and Ravyn alone," Cal responded gruffly. He refused to meet either of their eyes though, as he stabbed at the food on his plate.

"You can eat with us whenever Atticus and Ravyn aren't here," he added, almost sounding like that was an order and not an invitation.

Alice smiled softly. She finally could see why Torin was in love with the icy Excalibur.