Slavery or Freedom? (Closed, started!)

Of course now they move on to fist fighting. Jo storms off and everyone just sort of stares. Brady says something to Ethan making him scream back at him. Well this sucks. I think sighing. Samantha goes over to calm Ethan and Jake, Valerie, and I just stare. I snap out of it first and shake my head and sit down at one of the tables. Jake and Valerie join me and we all grab a piece of pizza.

"What is going to happen now?" I say looking up from my pizza.

"I guess we just try to calm everyone down," Valerie says trying to sound hopeful.

Yeah, like that's gonna happen. I read Jake's mind. I smile knowing I'm not the only one in doubt. We stare at each other for a second then dive back into our pizza. I could feel Valerie tensing next to me so something must have happened.

After Jake got up to get another slice I took the chance to talk to Valerie. "What happened?"

She shook her head but I needed to know. "Please, you can tell me."

She sighed and finally turned to face me. "I was talking to Brady and he's just messing up everything. Everything was fine till he had to come and just ruin everything."

I nodded and stared into her eye's that just completely melted me. She finished and I couldn't help but to feel bad for her. She always seemed so happy but I didn't know she was part of this mess to. Jake had returned now and was starting on his second piece. By the time we where finished Samantha and Ethan had left. We got up and I walked with Valerie to her room.

"Thanks Sam," She said smiling at me. I smiled back and turned to leave. Valerie grab my wrist before I had time to leave. "Seriously, thanks."

I smiled as she let go and walked down the hall to my room.

Ethan

I hate that guy. I'll never forgive him. Why can't he stand at his own feet and be a real guy? Trying to snatch away a girl when she's already taken is pretty cheap. I see Brady and Jo walking back to their rooms with their hands tied. I don't know what made me not get up and ask her what she was doing but I got the feeling that she didn't want to be with me anymore. She was comfortable around him...

The pizza I was eating didn't seem to entertain me anymore. I put my fork down.

"I don't feel like eating. You guys enjoy the rest of the dinner." I say, and walk to the beach side.

"Hold up! I'll come with you." I hear Samantha say and she walks beside me. Her hands brush by my side a little. I move one step away.

I sit down at the sand and look the ocean waves. It was amazing. I remember how me and Jo shared our first kiss here, just us. It was one of the most wonderful nights of my life. I have the torn feeling that it just might be all over.

"Are you alright?" Samantha asks me in a concerned voice.

I nod slightly. Well, I can't say I am but nor can I say I'm not. I'm just confused. A guy like me never gets it confused. I could feel Jo was confused too, sad at the same time.

"Hey... Let me give you some advice. Don't take Jo too seriously, okay?" Samantha tells me, gently. "I always thought she was the one who can let down a guy. Its just outrageous to know she walked back with Brady and didn't even tell you a word."

Just that moment, I got a mind message from Jo. I love you. Always know that. I didn't know what to feel. What was Brady doing to her now? Are they back in their rooms yet?

"Come on, let's go back." Sammy says and gets up, wiping the sand of her shorts.

"Hey, wear this. Its cold." I tell her, lending my jacket to her. I didn't want her to freeze to death.

"Thanks." she says, with a small smile.

Samantha:

As Brady leaves with Jo, holding hands with her, Ethan puts down his fork and says "I don't feel like eating. You guys enjoy the rest of the dinner." He gets up and makes for the beach.

"Hold up! I'll come with you." I call, catching up with him. My heart skips a beat as my hand brushes against his, then plummets as he takes a step away. I know that e loves Jo, but I can’t help but love him anyway. He sits down on the sand and I land next to him. I look at Ethan and there’s a pained expression on his face. I wonder what he’s thinking about.
“Are you alright?” I ask, concerned. He just nods. I want to comfort him, but I don’t know what to say. I decide that it doesn’t really matter. "Hey... Let me give you some advice. Don't take Jo too seriously, okay?" I say gently. "I always thought she was the one who can let down a guy. It’s just outrageous to know she walked back with Brady and didn't even tell you a word."

A look passes over Ethan’s face a little after I’ve talked and he seems almost like he’s trying to fight of bad thoughts. I winced. Maybe I shouldn’t have said all of that.
“Come on, let’s go back.” I stand and brush the sand off of my shorts, clothes that I rarely wear. A gust of wind whistles past and I shiver. I hadn’t counted on it being this cold.

“Hey, wear this. It’s cold,” says Ethan as he gets up, handing me his jacket. I take it timidly.

“Thanks,” I reply, a small smile on my face as I slip the jacket over my shoulders. He turns towards the main building and I breathe in the scent that covers the jacket. Ethan doesn’t know what one small act of kindness, one small sentence from him can do to me. If I wasn’t sure that joining Brady was right, now I know, seeing the way Jo acted today, that it was. She doesn’t deserve Ethan if she’s just going to hurt him this way.

We walk back to the main building, which isn’t that far away. I spend most of the time stealing glances at Ethan. I’ve never spent that much time alone with him, there’s always been someone else with him. I’d do anything for this quiet moment to last. We quickly arrive at the rooms. By habit, he starts towards Jo’s room then stops. A confused expression passes across his face. He shakes his head then walks off towards his own room. We stop in front of his door. I take his hand and squeeze it, trying not to blush.

“It’ll be okay,” I whisper. “If you need someone to talk to, then you know where to find me.” As he still seems sad, I continue. “You know, I’ll always be here for you.” I can’t stop myself from blushing a bit. I know that he’s looking at me, but I’m studying our hands. “See you tomorrow.” I say abruptly and let go of his hand as I leave. I hear his door close behind him and hurry off down the corridor, not wanting anyone to see the flush that’s staining my cheeks. Snapping my door shut behind me, I lean against it. I can feel my face burning. It’s amazing what being in love could make you say, I think with a shake of my head.

Leaving the door, I flop down on my bed and sigh. What a day.


Suddenly, I hear a clattering noise in my bathroom and shoot upright on my bed. The noise stops, but I can hear someone muttering slightly. I go invisible, cautious as to who exactly is in there. You can never be sure in this place. Sliding off of my bed, I creep towards my bathroom. I pull open the door slightly and see Jo.

Sighing, I turn visible again, but hide slightly behind the door. I’m still only really comfortable with Ethan and Jake.

“Um, Joe? What on earth are you doing in my bathroom?” I ask in a quiet voice. He stares at me like an animal caught in a car’s headlights.

“I…um…You…” he stutters. He’s blushing and seems rooted to the spot.

If he had wanted to leave, he would have gone by now, wouldn’t he? I think. Seeing as he can teleport and all.

“I love you!” He manages to blurt out before turning bright red. I stare at him.

He didn’t just say what I think he said, I think, slightly panicked at the sudden way I’ve apparently been confessed to.

“Ah! I said I love blue! Your bathroom is a really nice shade of blue. I wanted to see…” he trails off. There’s a knock at my door.

“Um, sure. Can you please go?” He disappears in front of me without saying anything and I blink. Is this what it’s like for people when I go invisible in front of them? I can see why they’re disconcerted. I shake the thoughts from my head and go to open my door.

Spoiler

I am not inspired. Someone please start the escape plan...
edit: I've changed it so that Veeren can come in^^ all was discussed

Joe Schmoe

“Um, sure. Can you please go?” Samantha asks.

Don't have to ask me twice.

I rematerialized outside her room door and accidentally bumped into someone in the process. Fear of embarrassment and facial reconstruction quickly overtook me, so I apologized and ran down the hall towards my room as quickly as possible.

My fear quickly turned to despair as I realized I had lost my room key in all the excitement of the day. I closed my eyes and thought back to everything that happened:

There was the girl with my name kissing that dude from that other table, was Eton his name? I don't care, I looked way better than him anyway. And then there was the other Jo getting in trouble, gosh, the whole love pentagon was in on that one. She got sent there twice, no? I hear she's on death row cause of that one. Hopefully they read the name correctly for execution day. Anyway, what was next? Oh yeah the pizza place, with the two wannabe me's fighting over some girls. Everyone knows that's pointless since all the women are fighting over me, but that's a discussion for another time. What was next? Oh yeah! Samantha room... Dammit.

I opened my eyes and looked back at the hall I just ran through.

"Well, at least this time I have a real excuse."

By the time I reached her door, I was trembling from head to toe. Not because I was scared or anything, it was just cold. My hand hovered a few inches from her door but wouldn't move.

Come on, just knock, what's the worst that could happen?

Holding my breath, I tapped on the door and shut my eyes. I heard the slow creak of the hinges and shouted, "I'M SO SORRY TO BOTHER YOU BUT I MAY HAVE DROPPED MY KEYS IN YOUR BATHROOM PLEASE FORGIVE ME."

No one spoke.

I opened one eye and found myself staring at not Samantha. I gasped, "Um. Wrong person. My apologies."

They slammed their door in my face and I found myself staring at their room number for the longest while.

What am I supposed to do now?

Spoiler

And that's that. That could be anyone's door by the way, if you feel like having some fun