Chapter 3 - OMG.

About two days later at breakfast, Sitara rushed in over to Kerri and Mel.

“He proposed!” she shrieked.

The girls—and Drake—screamed gleefully while Arik and Carter covered their ears and winced at the noise. “Let us see the ring!”

Sitara stuck out her hand for the others to admire the ring.

“Why are you screaming?” Carter asked. “You already know about it.”

“But this time he actually proposed,” Mel explained.

Arik and Carter looked at her blankly.

“Don’t worry,” Kerri said, waving away the blank stares. “It’s a girl thing.”

When Joshua came into the room, Arik and Carter stood up to greet him and thump him on the back, making jokes about balls and chains. Joshua actually laughed.

“They do this and they don’t understand why we do that?” Mel asked, perplexed.

“They’re men.”

“I told you he would propose last night,” Arik said as he made his way over to Sitara.

“Hey, how’d you know when Joshua was going to propose?” Kerri demanded.

Arik kissed the top of her head. “We’re men. We know each other well.”

Mick suddenly materialised and went over to hug Sitara. “Congratulations, Sitara.”

“Uh, thanks, Mick. Sorry, I’m just not used to you suddenly appearing and disappearing yet.”

“Yeah, where have you been for the past few days?” Kerri asked. “Drake missed you.”

From a distance away, Kerri could see Drake’s eyes widen when he saw Mick.

“Speak of the devil,” she murmured as Drake made his way over to them.

“Hey,” Mick said as Drake joined them.

“Hi.”

“Uh…I’m sorry I haven’t been around for the past few days.”

“It’s okay,” Drake said quickly. “It’s not like we’re an item or anything. It’s cool.”

Kerri and Sitara both raised their eyebrows but Drake shot them a look that said something along the lines of you tell him and I promise I will kill you.

“Yeah,” Mick was saying. “Exactly.” He bit his lip. “I uh, can we go somewhere else? I want to ask you—”

“Let’s,” Drake said quickly. “Let’s go. I’ll see you later guys.”

Kerri and Sitara grinned at him and he winked at them.

“He hasn’t been this happy since he last saw Mick,” Kerri murmured to Sitara as Mick and Drake made their way out of the room.

“I know.”

Drake and Mick had just gone out of the room when they came back in again and sat down at their table. Kerri and Sitara exchanged a look, confused.

Kerri was about to ask Drake what was wrong when suddenly the hall fell silent. Everybody sat down when they realised the boss had entered the room.

What’s he doing here? Kerri asked Arik. I thought he never comes here.

He doesn’t.

Oh crap.

“I just received a letter,” the boss announced. “The Chocolate Express has formally issued a declaration of war.”

A collective gasp went around the room.

Behind her, Arik groaned. “shoot.”

Kerri smiled weakly. “Sorry, this is all my fault.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Don’t think of it like that. We’re all glad to have you back. If you hadn’t escaped, we’d have issued a declaration of war on them sooner or later.”

“Yeah, K,” Drake said, reaching across the table and squeezing her hand. “Never think of it like that. Stop blaming yourself.”

She sighed. “Thanks. I think.”

“The war starts on the fifteenth,” the boss was saying. “That’s exactly two weeks away, people. Start training.” With that, he turned abruptly and left the hall.

The noise of the chattering in the hall heightened immediately after the boss left.

“Does he know that I’ve been kidnapped?” Kerri asked Arik.

“He’s not supposed to, but you never know with him. He knows more than he lets on.”

“So he probably knows why the C.E. declared war.”

Arik shrugged. “Even if he didn’t, he does now. The C.E. probably told him why in the declaration.”

She groaned. “This isn’t good.”

“Look at the bright side,” he offered. “He hasn’t come over to punish us yet.”

“Punish?”

“Yeah. We broke the rules by not telling him about what happened two weeks ago.”

“Certainly if he knew about it he would’ve come over to tell you off by now.”

“Maybe he wanted to give me time to mourn,” he muttered.

Kerri kissed Arik. I’ve been back for a week. Surely you would be celebrating my return.

Arik smirked. Who said I wasn’t mourning over your return? He slipped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck. Just kidding.

Ha freaking ha, very funny.

I’m just a very funny person.

Ha, now that’s funny.

Arik kissed her again. You’re so mean to me.

You wouldn’t be attracted to me if I wasn’t.

True.

“What are we going to do?” Carter was asking them.

“Um, train, maybe?” Drake said, rolling his eyes. “Oh, this reminds me. I’ve got your finals results.”

Carter’s eyes widened. “How did I do?”

Drake shook his head. “Maybe…maybe you should read it for yourself.”

Everybody at the table fell silent as Drake handed Carter the results and Carter took it from him shakily. After a second, Carter picked up an apple and threw it at Drake’s head.

“Dammit, Drake, you scared the shoot out of me!”

Drake burst into laughter. “Well done, Carter. You passed with distinction.”

Everybody at the table whooped and went over to hug Carter.

“I told you that you were going to do well,” Mel said, kissing him on the cheek.

Is it really hard to pass your finals? Kerri asked Arik.

Depends on how good you are, I guess.

NO, really?

Arik kissed her forehead. You sarcastic git. He stood up. Come on, we should go train.

What? Now?

Yes. The C.E. is coming in two weeks. You need to be ready.

Can’t I at least finish my coffee?

No.

Oh, piss off. Kerri took her coffee and downed it before saying goodbye to her friends.

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