Jailbird

c h a p t e r XLVIII

THEY SPRINTED BACK INSIDE the school, not wanting the weight of Ricardo's wrath to fall on them. They laughed and chattered as they walked in with smiles on their faces. A wind of peacefulness and joy enveloped them.

"WALLAH JAIRO, IF YOU DON'T GIVE IT BACK I WILL BURN YOUR HAIR TO ASHES!!"

The group stopped walking as a boy ran past them, raising something in his hand similar to a phone. Two seconds later, a girl ran out of the staircase and started sprinting after the boy.

"OWWW! Stop pulling my hair!!! I'm sorry!! I'm sorry!! Here take it!"

"Well it wasn't so tough now was it?"

The girl rose from the ground where she had pushed the boy and smiled at her phone in contentment.

"Ilaria right?" Amaya asked.

The girl looked up and frowned as if noticing the group for the first time.

"Yeah, Amaya, I think?"

Amaya nodded, "Ilaria was in our group for the tour," she explained to the rest.

"This is Jairo," Ilaria said, gesturing to the boy who was meticulously massaging his scalp.

"Hi, I'm the one who gets constantly attacked in our small friend group," Jairo said before he took out his phone, "We need to get on the bus right now, I don't want another lecture from Elias."

"And I don't want to get stuck here," Ilaria added before saying, "No offense," to the others.

And just as quickly as they'd ran out the staircase, they ran to the front doors.

The others shrugged it off and went to the roof to talk some more before dinner. Once they'd eaten, Sapphire and Aviva went back to the roof to talk while the others went to their dorms.

"I miss my mom," Sapphire said as she watched the rosy clouds hiding the sunset.

"You should talk to Mr. Dubois, I didn't trust the guy at first, but he helped me a little with my father," Aviva replied while looking down at the few kids playing basketball on the court.

Sapphire didn't add anything and let the sounds of playful laughters from the teenagers envelop her as if somehow they'd make the cloud of grief over her heart fly away.

The next morning, Sapphire was woken up by a persistent sensation of someone tapping on her shoulder.

"Are you sure this is safe? I can't have a black eye on my perfect face, it would ruin my charm."

"Right, that would ruin your charm."

"Sapph, wake up. Come on Sapphire."

She mumbled some inaudible words and turned on the other side.

"Sapph wake up."

"What?" She groaned as she covered her head with her pillow.

Suddenly someone pulled off her pillow and Aviva's voice echoed in her ears.

"Sapphire you better move your lazy ass right now or I'll call Ricardo to do it himself."

Sapphire opened her eyes to see Enzo and Aviva in front of her and Maddox leaning on her wall with a small smile.

"Come on, chop chop," Enzo added, clapping his hands.

"You people are horrible friends," she muttered shaking her head as she made way to her bathroom, "waking poor me up for no reason."

She got ready and slipped on her uniform, tied her hair in a high ponytail and put on her golden earrings before getting out.

"Took you long enough now let's go, we only have twenty minutes before students start coming down to eat," Enzo said, pushing them out of Sapphire's dorm room.

"And you woke me up early?! That's twenty more minutes I could've spent sleeping," Sapphire whined, "Is your respect for this friendship nonexistent?"

Maddox chuckled as he walked beside her before speaking, "Enzo planned a prank for the students of Hayward, he-"

Enzo gasped, "Don't you dare reveal my master plan for me, you traitor."

Maddox frowned at him as they got off the elevator and a few seconds later they'd reached the cafeteria where Amaya and Julian were standing, Julian holding a small box in his hand.

"Come on," Amaya said as she opened the door, "We need to do this rapidly."

Sapphire frowned in confusion but followed her friends inside and Enzo spoke.

"You can explain Aviva."

Maddox scowled, "You just told me you wanted to say it."

"No, I said I didn't want you to say it," Enzo countered. "Aviva can."

"Wow," Maddox whispered, shaking his head.

Aviva rolled her eyes at them, "Who cares, anyways, Sapphire you're going to ask Gloria if she needs help giving the students their breakfast, and when she says yes you're going to give Hayward students plates with laxative in their food."

"And you need to be careful not to let Gloria see you," Enzo added.

"Wait wait wait, why do I have to risk my life for this?" Sapphire frowned, "Have you met Gloria?!"

"You're the one she tolerates the most," Julian explained, "For some reason I cannot comprehend."

Sapphire narrowed her eyes, "First of all I am extremely tolerable Julian and second of all once she kills me with her spoons, I'm coming back to haunt all of you."

"Yeah yeah, off you go," Enzo waved her off as Julian gave her the box.

She stuck out her tongue at him before taking a deep breath and slipping in the kitchen.

People were running around and cooking unlike all the other times when it was empty and aromas of different food made Sapphire's empty stomach roar. She spotted Gloria pouring food in different plates in the front and started making her way towards her.

"Hey Gloria!" She chirped with a charming smile.

The tall woman didn't turn as she spoke, "Sapphire, what are you doing here, this is busy morning."

"Yeah, about that, I was wondering if you needed any help," she said, "I don't have anything better to do anyways."

Gloria threw her a glance and after a short silence nodded, "Okay, you can help me put food in plates, just put on apron, gloves and put net over hair."

Sapphire nodded and did as the woman said. She placed the small box on her right side so Gloria wouldn't see it and started putting food in the plates on her left.

Twenty minutes later, the students started arriving, all laughing and talking together as they took the plates of food. Sapphire was careful when she put the laxative and made sure to do it smoothly like a magician would do a trick. She sometimes would put it in a student from Vela's plate whom she didn't particularly like.

After a little more than forty five minutes, Sapphire had out laxative in most of the new students' food except for those who deemed Vela's food unhealthy. Gloria relieved her of her task and sent her to the cafeteria with a tray.

"How did it go?" Enzo asked eagerly as she approached their table.

"I feel like my friends just took advantage of me," Sapphire answered as she sat.

Enzo frowned, "You didn't answer the question."

She sighed, "It's done, and I have to admit this will be fun when we'll be in class."

Enzo raised a victorious fist in the air, "Plan poop-fest is in action."