Adore You #2
The admin wing is quieter than the quad.
Once we ride to my floor, the only person around is Raina, standing perfectly at parade rest outside Rockland’s door.
She’s in a pressed uniform and looks more like a security detail than the head of the kitchen crew, but the slight smudge of glitter eyeliner and the faint aroma of vanilla latte give her away.
The crossbow propped against the wall beside her is a threat, not an accessory, and I smile at her as we approach.
She gives a two-fingered salute and winks at me as we approach. “All clear here, Dolly. She’s waiting inside, I’m sure.”
“Thanks, Raina. I appreciate it.” I stop and take a breath, feeling the chill settle through my warm-up shirt. Fitz hands over my bag, then leans in for a temple kiss.
“Remember that she doesn’t matter and neither do her crazy opinions,” he whispers. “Also, text us if you and Raina need help.”
I nod, grinning, before I turn to face the office door. “Wish me luck.”
“You don’t need it,” he says over his shoulder, already skipping back down the hall.
As I reach for the door handle, the raccoon murmurs, “This will be fine. Don’t worry.”
“It won’t, but I’m getting used to that,” I say without hesitation. “You’re here to be a witness if I need it, and I can get through this. Only a million more times to go.”
The door swings open and I step through, my chin high and my secrets locked down tight. Fitz’s sabotage is a shield, but my ace in the hole is the memory of what he’s done to Asani and knowing that her version was probably much worse.
No matter what she throws at me today, I’m already three moves ahead.
The walk out of the admin building feels like leaving a dentist appointment with all your teeth still attached. You got lucky, and everything you did to prepare was not in vain.
Raina is beside me, crossbow slung casually over one shoulder. She doesn’t comment on the session, which is good. Some days, you don’t want to unpack the emotional suitcase on the front steps, and this is one of those days for sure.
We take the long path around the main green, past the wet benches and the flocks of regular birds pecking at the morning bugs.
My sneakers squelch on the moss, but I let Raina lead, which means a slightly unpredictable pace.
I don’t mind; it’s nice to have company, especially since she doesn’t crowd me or push for conversation.
I check my phone before we’re too far out.
There’s a text of encouragement from Chessie and a homemade meme from Fitz captioned ‘Sitting Tiger, Laughing Dragon’ that has Aubrey dying laughing in front of a computer screen that seems to show Asani getting drenched.
Nothing from Barrington or Erickson, though, not even a passive-aggressive ‘K’ in response to my email.
Twenty-six hours to the deadline and I’m not even sure they’re still alive.
Just fucking fabulous.
By the time we cross to the Shird side of campus, my mood has gone brittle again. I thumb the power button and kill the screen. It doesn’t matter, but the silence makes me feel like I’m the only one who cares if we bomb the assignment.
“Still nothing from the Heathers?” Raina finally asks.
“Not a peep. I’ve done the outline for my part and completed everything I can ahead.
They’ll still throw me under the bus, though,” I say.
My emotion isn’t anger at this point; it’s a flatness I don’t like.
“If I call them out, I’m a snitch. If I do their part, I’m a sucker.
If I just let it crash, Asani will make sure everyone thinks it’s my fault we flunked. ”
“The prey staff has had this exact problem, you know,” Raina says, stepping off the path to let a trio of soccer bros lumber by.
“Bowser used to vent about it at every crew meeting last year. There’s a couple of tenured staff who got so used to being ground down by predator management, they just do the bare minimum and stop helping with things.
When Bowser tried to pick up the slack, he’d end up doing half the shift and still get the blame if the job wasn’t perfect. ”
I nod. “He told me it wasn’t just me the other day.”
She laughs. “It’s pretty common in anything requiring group responsibilities, Dolly. The ones who get ahead here are the ones who do the least. It’s not right, but it’s how the world works, I think, especially in our society.”
I’m quiet for a bit, chewing the inside of my cheek.
“You know what Bowser did about it?”
“What?” I ask, honestly curious how the quokka handled it.
“He started pranking them.” She grins, her eyes glinting.
“Not mean pranks, just enough to make their lives irritating. One week, he rerouted the laundry so all the socks came out mismatched. Another time, he filled the breakroom with helium balloons so they couldn’t even open the fridge without getting hit in the face.
Last spring, he set every clock in the service corridor twenty minutes fast. It got everyone so off-balance that they had to pay attention again.
It didn’t fix the world, but it made them pay more attention for a while. ”
I laugh despite myself, picturing Bowser as some kind of avenging marsupial, tiny but determined to make chaos out of apathy. “He’s a genius. I think that’s Fitz’s current solution to a lot of problems, too.”
“I believe it. Fitz and Bowser have more in common than you think,” Raina agrees. “But I’m not sure if pranking those girls will really achieve anything. It’s probably why your mate hasn’t gone that route this week, I bet.”
The conversation lightens the walk, and when we cut around the pond to the Shird’s side entrance, I realize I’m actually feeling more relaxed. My jaw isn’t clenched, my shoulders have migrated back where they belong, and the world feels just a little less daunting.
Raina pauses at the base of the stairs and gives me a salute again. “Banjo will be outside your room for your escort to Diplomacy.”
“Thanks, Raina,” I say with a smile. “You helped more than you realize.”
She smiles and waves, watching me push into the building.
As I take the elevator up, I think about what she said until I get off.
In the dance hallway, the smell of sweat and rosin and ancient gym mats hits me hard.
I stop, breathe out, and let the familiar sensations of dance class swallow everything else.
I have an hour of hip-hop, then Diplomacy, and then maybe I’ll check the project doc again.
The day is what it is, but I’m more ready to live it than I was an hour ago.