𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙂𝙤𝙙𝙨

I don't know how much time passed between the time the world went black and when I awoke. It felt like ions before I was able to open my eyes again but according to the sun outside, it hadn't been too long. My hand immediately went to my head, rubbing away the leftover headache. "Nini," I mumbled slightly, sitting up slowly in the booth.

She laid on the other side, her wavy hair covering up her face. Thankfully, she didn't look like she was any pain, just peacefully sleeping as if the whole thing had been a simple nap for her. I scooted out of the seat, squatted next to her, and rubbed her back slowly and gently.

It was the same way I've awoken her every time we had a sleepover. I've always been an early riser but a night owl at the same time. The sun always wakes me up when it beams its sunshine into the world, but I've always found working at night calming, despite always feeling drained.

Because of this, I've always slept very little through the night, taking naps throughout the day when I could find room.

And just like clockwork, Nina stretched out her body, "Oh Ori, you won't believe the dream that I just had. It was wonderful." She said through a giant yawn.

"I'm so glad you're ok." I cried out, hugging the side of her head though it was an awkward hold for both of us.

"Me too, I don't know what just happened but it wasn't a dream."

I looked around the cafe, trying to see if we were the only ones that had suffered. But it looked like almost all of the Salem kids that were in there seemed to be going through the same thing, trying to recover from whatever just happened.

Those that had came with others seemed to be taking care of each other while Aiko, who was alone, seemed to be ok taking care of herself.

"We're not the only ones Nini. Everyone looks like they were just electrocuted. Like lightning hit the building." I whispered once again. My eyes shot to the window, only to see that it was a bright summer day in the middle of late fall. The storm was gone, not even leftover raindrops on the window.

If I hadn't known that it had been raining earlier then I would have figured it was a beautiful day to go to the lake, that is if we could swim in Salem lake (that I would not recommend to anyone, not even Morningstar students, as much as I couldn't stand them).

"Is everyone ok in there? I've been in the back trying to mess with the breaker box since the lights went off." Rose yelled into the dining room, though we couldn't see her at all. The few of us that were in there all shared similar looks with each other.

"We're just fine Rose! Glad the lights are back on." Vivian yelled back, obviously trying to calm down her wavering voice so that everything seemed normal.

Almost all as once, we got up from our separate tables, conjoining in the middle. "Let's put some tables together here, just enough to fit the nine of us," I instructed the group, motioning to the three tables that were around us.

Everyone pitched in, until we were setted in a long rectangle, three square tables pushed together. Of course, I sat next to Nina, rubbing her back methodically to keep her awake. She seemed even more tired than usual, doozing off if she wasn't mentally focused on something that caught her attention. Once we got started talking, I figured it would be easier for her to stay awake.

Nick sat on the other side of me. The whites of his eyes were blood shot red, as usual, but he was calm and collected. There were a few times that I had seen him in a state that wasn't vaguely similar to one he was in right there and it wasn't the prettiest sight.

He had been frantic and anxious. He kept mumbling words that didn't make sense and looking behind his shoulder as if something was going to get him if he wasn't on guard twenty-four seven. Nick was in so much pain being sober, I was almost scared to know what had happened to him in the past that made him so shifty like that.

But he sat there quietly, letting his mind wander as he stared off.

"I think it was a Morningstar prank." Rania began, her voice full of anger. Her fingers wrapped around some of the loose threads of her hijab as if that was the only way to get rid of her anger without punching her hand through the wall.

Aku, in all of his beautiful soft darkskinness, sat up a little taller, "Why don't we order some food before we start discussing theories? A full stomach makes for an easier conversation."

We all nodded in agreeance for he wasn't wrong. Full stomachs made for calm minds. Calm minds are minds ready to learn. We all knew that line by heart, something the head lunch lady at the high school told us day after day.

Nina and I still had our shakes and fries at the other table so I got up to get them and returned to the long table. Aku was left in charge of going to order for everyone after they gave him their orders. It was his idea after all. And apart from Clementine, he was the youngest. Of course, we all pulled that card on him. A very upperclassman thing for us to do.

From the looks of it, neither Lily nor Rose had been affected by it. Thank God for that. They were too sweet and who knew what would have happened to either of them. The two of them were in the kitchen, singing songs to each other that poured into the dining room.

Yeah, they were good.

Aku returned to the table and the nine of us looked at each other.

"How could Morningstar have done something like this?" Aiko asked referring to Rania's previous theory. "They're still in school. It's only noon. And you know they don't skip to come here. This is our place until two."

"But they had access to it last night, what if they planned something?"

"You doubt the ability of the Gods." Another voice called out, putting her input into the group.

We all turned our heads to see who had said that. At the end of the table sat the redheaded Poppy with a gleam in her bright green eyes.

She was a year younger than the Nina and I were but she knew almost everyone on the Salem side of Snoh. She knew how to get things if you had the right payment. Some said she was a witch because she always seemed to know what to get, sometimes even before you knew, and where to get it.

Others thought she was really from Morningstar.

Everyone had their theories about everyone in this town but she was often examined underneath a close microscope. It never seemed to bother her though, or at least she didn't let on that it did.

"You're saying Allah did this?" Rania questioned, the sarcasm dripping from her words. It was clear that wasn't the exact answer she was looking for.

Poppy simply gave us a shrug as she went back to caring for her ever paling sister. But she never denied her words.

Surprisingly Nick seemed to be back in focus, adding himself into the conversation, "What other ideas. Or I guess they would be theories. Anyway what else do we have?"

"Ideas for what tamariki children?" Lily questioned, taking the baskets off of her arms and settling them on the table.

"A class project!" I said as quickly as I became flustered.

All I can say is Lord forbid that we all get taken to the police station and are asked to give statements of a crime that we committed because as soon as I gave my reason, everyone else as the table had one as well.

Nina offered "ideas for prom" while Aiko's soft voice let out a "community service project".

"A lock-in for the seniors," Vivian said, even though half of our group wasn't seniors.

"A homeless person drive." Rania added and even Clementine managed to whimper out a "freshman orientation."

Luckily Poppy stayed quiet, keeping watch over Clementine.

"Plans to smoke after prom." Nick nodded in delight and Aku quickly shook his head in disbelief. "Definitely not that."

Lily raised her eyebrows as if she was trying to figure out if it was worth asking about. After a couple of seconds of thought, she flashed us a smile and shook her heads, "What crazy tamariki. Enjoy your food and holler if you need anything. Rose and I will be singing love songs to each other." She returned to the kitchen humming.

Once she seemed far enough, we all turned to look at each other. "Way not to be suspicious." the hijabi mumbled.

"Well, she didn't care enough anyway. Maybe next time, we shouldn't all answer." My best friend grumbled as she wiped her eyes of the tiredness.

There were grumbles of agreement and scattered laughter here and there because of our situation.

"But for real. We need to figure out what the hell just happened." I mumbled to them all, lowering my voice so that we wouldn't attract the two women's attention again. "I don't think whatever just happened was something a rival school would want to do to us though. They love this cafe as much as we do. If they wanted to do something to Salem, they would send something over the wall."

"They haven't done that in-" Nina yawned before she could finish her sentence, "In centuries. The wall is too high for anything to be thrown, unless you have a crane. They do have the money though so I wouldn't be surprised."

"Ok, ok they're not doing that. That idea is being tossed out of la ventana. The window. Those Morningstar brats are not the cause of this." Vivian announced to the group, throwing a crispy fry into her mouth.

As much as I wanted to say that they were, to put a blame on something that we could see, that we could touch, I knew they weren't the ones who had done it. Something was off about this whole situation. Perhaps this was the work of something different like Poppy had said before.

I don't know about Gods though.

We threw around some more out of the world ideas about what could have caused it, eventually shifting the conversation over to our school itself. We complained about bad English teachers and how we thought Mr. Patterson was boning the assistant principal Mrs. Hawthrone, even though she was married.

We spoke of the leaky ceilings and how it was going to be a pain in the ass to clean up tomorrow and how geometry was the worst possible math with pre-calclus coming up in a close second. The underclassman expressed how much they hated the freshman hall and all of us upperclassmen recalled our adventures in the years that we had been in Salem High School.

Eventually, as the fry basket got lower and lower and stomachs starting getting full, we found our conversation getting back to its origin.

Rania cracked her knuckles the same way she would before she was about to fight someone. I would know, I always seemed to find myself in the right place at the right time when ever there was a fight at school.

In fact the whole school could usually find themselves in the right place at the right time. Word of who was fighting who spread like wildfire and the teachers did nothing to stop it. Nobody ever fought inside the walls of Salem, at least we had that dignity.

All fights were taken to the makeshift park near the border wall, just a ten minute walk from the school. Everything took place there.

Whether it be the monthly fight nights, as we Salem children called it, sneaking away from home in the middle of the night to fill our bodies with drugs in order to feel something, or meeting up with significant others for half dates, that was the place to do it.

"If Morningstar wants to mess with us and our cafe, then let's mess with them back. Let's meet at Matatos Park tonight. We're going to wreck the wall." She snickered mischeviously.

It was nearly two when we finished our fries and finalized our plans to meet up later in the dark of the night. A couple of us put the plates on top of each other and the others threw the extra trash away in the cute little waste basketballs. "Bye Lily! Bye Rose!" I yelled to the two before Nina and I left.

"Ka kite koe i muri. See you later! " Lily smiled, waving to the two of us from her place in the kitchen. The two of us waved back, exiting the building through the same door that we had entered in. The sun was warm on my skin like she had been missing giving her rays to the Earth.

I had missed her as well.

In fact, the sun never felt better than after everything that had just happened. "You wanna spend the night Nini? I've been working on a new shirt and I need my favorite model so I can adjust the seams. Plus we can raid the pantry, Pops just bought som-"

I stopped short as a trio of students walked past us. It wasn't hard to tell who they were with their rich uniforms. The sharp folds and expensive logos. Turned up noses and grandma shoes. Morningstar Academy students, or as we called them as a community, Morningstar brats.

This was the only place in town where the two cities intertwined. The only place where the two schools came across each other. This place was for two different groups of teenagers, never to see more than a glimpse of each other.

The two girls walked right passed us as if we were nothing but the boy stutter-stepped a little, turning his head to face Nina and I.

Those freckles on his face made my stomach turn and my heart beat faster than it had before. I had never seen him, much less spoken to him, but I felt like I had known him for the entirety of my life.

Soon everything will make sense, my dear.