CHAPTER FORTY
Xeno walked out of the office and hurried to the planetarium, swallowing his anxiety as he walked briskly through the short hallway.
When he got there, he was met by about half of the palaeontology department, most of the astronomy department, and a couple of other curious onlookers.
It looked to be about twenty-five people.
Not bad, he thought. It'd be just like a normal presentation.
As he walked up to the viewing platform and turned on the projector, he could hear angry whispers from the crowd.
Most of them thought he was the culprit for the prank wars, or at least for dumping the paper mache on the ground a couple of weeks ago.
He took a deep breath as he got to the centre stage.
At the middle was a projector and his laptop that Haiden had set up about fifteen minutes prior.
"Hi everyone." Xeno began, feeling their eyes burning into him.
Scanning the crowd, he saw Haiden's face, giving him an encouraging look.
He was right at the front; he was surprised that he hadn't seen him sooner.
He gave the presentation to him, pretending there was no one else in the crowd.
For some reason, presenting to colleagues was hundreds of times worse than to nameless strangers.
"You're probably wondering why I've gathered you here today, and it's because.
. It's because I've found the real culprit of the prank wars.
" He stumbled over his words, conscious of his voice echoing back to him.
"When this projector behind me turns on, you'll all see-" The doors of the planetarium burst open.
Out burst a frazzled Dr. Aruda, two security personnel and. .
Ms. Pepper.
"Xeno Baxterson." She began, her usually quiet voice projected.
"If you do not leave this museum right now, I will have no choice but to have the guards escort you out.
" His heart dropped. He tried to reach for the laptop to play the video, but Ms. Pepper snapped her fingers, and the security guard got to him before his laptop could load.
"You're coming with me, bud." said the security guard, grabbing his arm and forcing him to step away from the projector.
"No! You don't understand!" he sputtered. "It's all there!"
"I understand perfectly, Xeno." Ms. Pepper said, loud enough for everyone in the planetarium to hear.
"This is a last-ditch attempt to get your job back.
I can't believe you'd go to such lengths.
And to think.." She wiped a non-existent tear from her eye.
"I trusted you so much." He couldn't believe it.
Was this what she'd been doing the whole time?
Manipulating him so that he wouldn't suspect her?
This must have been why he wasn't able to accept that it was her.
She began performatively lecturing him about having a "go-getting attitude" about finding a new job, as he tried to wrestle out of the security guard's grasp.
He didn't get it; he was so close. Why had she come in now? Why was she so hard to distract?
However, Pepper's lecture was cut short by a crisp shout from near the projector.
"He wanted to tell you all that Ms. Pepper was the one who destroyed Ste.
. The pterodactyl." Both Xeno and Ms. Pepper's heads whipped around to see Haiden standing in front of everyone.
He walked over to the laptop and hit "Play" on the file, showing the part of the recording they'd saved from the day of the party.
"Stop this at once!" Ms. Pepper shouted. "Get him!" She frantically gestured to Haiden.
"On what grounds, Ma'am?" The security guard asked, confused. "He's employed here."
"Just.." She started running for the projector, desperate to turn it off before it got to the incriminating part of the evidence. "This is defamation; I can have you sacked for this, you hear me?" She screamed, sprinting full force towards Haiden and the laptop.
"If it isn't true, then why don't you let it play?" asked Haiden, loud enough to be heard by the onlookers. "..ma'am?" He added, moving between her and the laptop.
"Because-.." she shouted, "Because... Because.
." She got quieter each time as realisation set in.
Behind her, the recording clearly showed her using a little saw from her sleeve to tamper with the pterodactyl.
The crowd let out a collective gasp. The security guard let go of Xeno's arm, which he took as an opportunity to bolt for the laptop and play the next clip, the one of her dumping Steve on the ground in the hall.
"I..." she began, before trailing off.
The planetarium was completely silent for a few seconds. Dr. Aruda began to approach Ms. Pepper; the sound of her heels clicking filled the room. "Why, Zara?" She asked. "Why would you do it in the first place?"
Ms. Pepper hesitated. She looked at Aruda with a mixture of fear and cold, unbridled fury.
Despite this, she seemed to resign herself.
"I decided to cut a department earlier this year because there simply isn't enough funding to go around.
" She began, her whispered words somehow filling the auditorium.
"That's not what she means, and you know it." Xeno stood from where he was crouched next to the laptop. He hadn't realised it at the time, but he had cowered from the woman.
She shot him a look of pure hatred. "I'm getting to it." She spat, dropping her calm facade for a moment. "The reason that I destroyed that silly dinosaur was because I knew that museum donors wouldn't take kindly to the astronomy or palaeontology departments getting cut without due cause."
"But why would you want to cut those departments specifically?" Asked Haiden.
"I can answer that." Aruda added. "They take up the most money, don't they? Money that could go to you. And, of course, there's another reason, isn't there? You're burying the hatchet. We're all that's left of your confidant, Dr. Carmazan, after all."
Ms. Pepper went pale. "How do you..?" She steeled herself.
And so what? Isn't it the job of a good boss to separate the wheat from the chaff?
You were acting completely unprofessionally, and the departments were getting too close for my liking.
You understand, don't you, Kiara? For the good of the museum? "
"Don't you dare." She spat. "The only good thing you'll ever do for this museum is leave it."
"But then.. why would you do it a second time? Framing Xeno, I mean." Haiden asked.
Ms. Pepper looked back at him, a mixture of resentment and defeat in her eyes. "It's because your.. friend told me you were looking into who destroyed that ridiculous dinosaur." The crowd perked up, now outraged. Angry whispers turned to furious clamouring.
"Zara, I think you should step down as head of the museum." Stated Dr. Aruda.
"I don't take orders from the likes of you." She replied, bitterly.
"Actually," Haiden began, "you probably should. Firing someone without due cause is a criminal offense." Ms. Pepper looked around frantically. Xeno felt a little guilty. He knew all too well how it felt. The eyes staring, the fear of losing your job, etcetera. Only this time, she wasn't framed.
She was guilty.
As she stalked out of the planetarium, the crowd was subdued.
Xeno hadn't noticed, but as he glanced at the clock, their lunch break had ended fifteen minutes ago.
"All right, everyone, don't just sit there gawking; I want to see some alacrity.
Get back to work!" projected Dr. Aruda. She turned to Haiden and Xeno.
He realised that amongst the chaos; they had subconsciously gravitated towards one-another.
"I'll sort everything out. You were both very brave, I wouldn't have had the courage to do that. "
And with that, they were alone in the planetarium, save for the people in the seats milling out, talking amongst themselves. He turned towards him, who looked back at him. "Haiden, you were.. amazing." Xeno said breathlessly. "I thought you said you'd be too nervous to do something like that."
"Oh, it really wasn't anything." His cheeks reddened. "You know, I just.. saw what needed to be done and did it, you know?"
"Even so, surely it was terrifying, right? You hadn't expected to."
"Yeah, but I'm hardly brave. I mean, I'm still shaking like a leaf." His slight accent was becoming more prominent with nervousness.
"I'm serious, it was really impressive." Xeno leaned towards him, drawing closer.
"I.. thank you." Haiden whispered. They were inches away from each-other now.
There was a moment of silence, where they both looked at each-other.
Their eyes met, and he felt his face grow hotter.
Finally, Haiden bridged the small gap between them and kissed Xeno.
Stunned, but not surprised, he kissed Haiden back as well as he knew how.
It was quick, probably only lasting about three seconds. For him, it felt like hours.