Page 55 of Eat. Prey. Love.
Cori turns bright red and I arch a brow. She’s not remotely shy about her design talent, so that reaction is weird. “I hope so. We have a lot of scheduled collab appointments for the uniforms andteam merch. It would be a good start to a diversified brand portfolio for me.”
I blink. “You want a sports line, not just high fashion? When did you decide that?”
“Zhenga said preds ignore sporty fashion and it’s an untapped market. I like paving my own path and my parents wouldnever.”
“It’s brilliant, really,” Rufus says as he pulls his camera out again. “Gimme some of that biz talk for the film. I want to show all aspects of life here and how we’re making our opportunities when the school isn’t paying attention to the students who didn’t start out here.”
Man, he’s really on a tear about this; hopefully, it doesn’t bring more trouble to our door.
“I think the groups are good,”Felix says as we all look at the board Chess wrote on.
Alphahole
Felix, Cori, Zhenga
Crazypants
Fitz, Dolly, Raina
Grumpy
Aubrey, Percy, Bowser
Pirate
Renard, Holliday, Banjo
Cinnamon Roll
Chess, Kirby, Captain
Chessie nods, tilting his head to look at the tiger with a pleased smile. “I think it’s as balanced as can be. I didn’t know Zhenga would be joining us, and I think maybe?—”
“Nope. If I’m joining this weird ass quest, I pick where I go, little kitty.”
Scratching my chin, I give my newest friend a suspicious look. “Coach, I trust you as much as I can at this juncture, but?—”
The lioness rolls her eyes and sighs heavily. “Look, the current leaders aren’t working out for me, obviously. You know I’m not after the royal dickhead, so stop worrying. I don’t want this place to become a smoking hole in the ground they can’t seem to rebuild, nor an unsafe cesspool like Cappie. I like having a place to live comfortably.”
That’s fair.
“Plus, any of us that share a Council-associated name should be worried about retribution if the magic people win whatever battles they’re waging,” Cori says quietly. “It won’t matter if we’re exiles or disowned—that’s like Supervillain 101. You can’t leave a Skywalker.”
“Niceref, Coco-cabana!” Fitz says, leaning over to fist bump her. “And very fucking true… look at our dickweed father. He’ll regret his bullshit eventually.”
“Yeah, okay Team Rocket,” Rennie says drily as he looks at the board then signs for Holliday quickly. “Regardless, I think we’re ready to explore the campus looking for the entrances to whatever hidden shit they have here.”
“There are five teams, so I think maybe we will send the Pirates to the forest in the west. Then Alphahole goes to the north mountain and lake while Cinnamon heads for the east forest. Grumpy can take the southeast area with the lake leaving our team to scout the southwest by the arena,” I say as I visualize the map in my head.
“That seems like a good plan, snack size,” Aubrey says as he rises to his feet. “Let’s get moving. I don’t know what the hell we’re going to find, but everyone needs to make certain they have both their phones and their earwigs in. We don’t know where any of us will be, after all.”
“Hopefully not dodging random enemies,” Rennie says as he gives the dragon a pointed look.
I wrinkle my nose. “Yes, that’s definitely on my ‘no-no’ list, babe. But if anyone gets in trouble, raise the alarm sooner rather than later. I don’t want anyone to get hurt; I’d never forgive myself.”
“Baby Girl, we’reallgoing to be safe; stop worrying.” Fitz stands and holds his hand out to me, pulling me to my feet. “Especially us because I’m in the mood to beat some ass to get the energy out.”
Oh, fabulous. Good thing I’m with him.