Cilla’s POV
As I had feared, James did not give up so easily. After eating, he went out without a word to me. I felt relieved, thinking he had taken it smoothly. I continued with my work normally. Mila and I collected all the dishes and took them to the kitchen. This time, it was my turn to wash while Mila went to clean the dining hall. I was very tired but I managed to wash all the plates. Grace was busy cooking some weird smelling herbs. I was happy that she had decided not to speak to me. She was singing some weird folk songs I had never heard of.
When my work was done, I left the kitchen. The route to our residence was right in front of the dining hall. There was some light poles around there. One of grace’s songs had stuck in my head so I was humming as I walked along. I screamed when someone stepped out of the darkness.
“Calm down.”
I took a deep breath and faced James. “What do you want?”
“What’s your problem? How do you just get up and leave someone hanging like that? I thought you were nice.”
“And now, what do you think?”
“What’s going on, Cilla? Did I say something wrong? Am I going to fast? I just thought we were on our way to becoming friends and then you suddenly left.”
“I realized I don’t want friends,” I lied. “Just leave me alone.”
“Something is fishy here. What is really going on?”
“Nothing,” I said and started walking away. “Stop following me. It won’t end well for you.”
“I knew it,” he said. “Someone is blackmailing you, right? Cilla, you can tell me anything. I will defend you from that person.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him. “Could you please just stay away from me? I know what I’m doing, James and it is for everyone’s good. Why do you think I keep getting tossed about? I don’t think you want that life, so please stay away from me and you’ll always have the peace you have been having. You have a few months to leave this place, so don’t do anything that might jeopardize that. You have a number of friends already, just hang out with them.”
“What about you? Who will you hang out with? I hate to see you unhappy all the time.”
“I’m okay. I’m used to being unhappy. Besides, even if we were friends, that wouldn’t take away any of the things that cause me great unhappiness. I have to go now. Be happy and enjoy your life.”
“This is not fair.”
“I know, but then again life has never been fair. And it will never be. Goodnight, James.”
“Goodnight, Cilla.”
Walking away from a potential good friend for the second time that day was extremely painful. I glanced back and noticed he had not moved an inch from his position. He was still standing there, staring at me. I turned and continued to walk away. I just hoped he would understand the warning and leave me alone. He seemed too nice for his own good.
I could barely sleep that night because I was worried about James. Would he be found dead just like Kyle or would he be shown mercy. The good thing we had only talked as friends, and he had not tried to touch me or get intimate in any way.
As usual, I had to get up very early in the morning and take breakfast to the dining room. Imagine my relief when I saw James. I literally felt the stress leaving my body. I even found myself smiling and hoped he would not misinterpreted that and think it was a greenlight.
When everyone had served themselves, I grabbed a cup and turned the flask lever letting the milk go into the cup. Suddenly, I felt a nudge and turned to see one of the girls from the day before.
“What?” I said.
She moved forward, grabbed my half-filled cup and put it aside before putting hers to collect the milk. I reached over and turned off the faucet.
“Bitch,” she said. “Take your hand off.”
“No, I was here first. I won’t let you bully me today. Just because I let you do it yesterday doesn’t mean it’s going to be an everyday thing. Today is another day and I’m not in the mood to be messed with so better think again.
She laughed before slapping me.
I removed my hand from the faucet and slapped her as well.
“What the actual hell,” she said before charging against me. I was not about to give in. I fought back with all the strength I had. When she pulled my hair, I also pulled hers and we both screamed out in pain.
The room had started cheering while they watched us. She bit me in some places and I also managed to get her in others. All the anger I had kept inside came out and I unleashed it on her. Within a few minutes, I was on top beating her up and she was begging me to stop. I was so angry that I could barely listen to her. I felt someone pulling me away from her just before Marlon walked in looking very angry. Everyone ran back to their tables and James let me go.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to him. If it hadn’t been for him, I would never have stopped.
The girl sat up and looked around. Her friends appeared and helped her to stand up. She seemed a bit disoriented.
We stared at Marlon, the overseer, waiting for him to say something. He glared at us for a while, seemingly enjoying how scared we felt.
And then he did the most surprising thing. He laughed.
Everyone looked at him in confusion. I was more than confused. Dane would have led us to the red room by now.
“That was a great cat fight,” he said loudly. “Love those. You, Cilla Markle, are really something. You’re one hell of a woman. Make sure I’m here to watch the next time you decided to beat up someone.”
I smiled. “Thank you,” I told him.
James was smiling.
“What the hell is wrong with Marlon?” the other girl screamed at him. “You’re supposed to be punishing her.”
“For what? I didn’t come here for silly issues, little girl.”
He walked away, and the crowd started chanting.
“Cilla, Cilla…”
It seemed I was not the only one who hated those girls.
“Wow, you’re a celeb now.” James said and went back to his table.
The two friends went out while I went and poured myself a cup of water. That had gone better than I could ever have imagined.
I liked Marlon.