. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋ [ EUNOIA ] ࿐ྂ
chapter two.

previously:

"sorry, i forgot you were in there-" before she could open the lid all the way, tyler pushed it forcefully as he jumped out.

margot didn't even have enough time to blink before she was face to face with a creature with giant eyes towering over her.

"a hyde? great. i brought a hyde into nevermore." she thought.

_________

             MARGOT stilled, not wanting to make any sudden movements. tyler, or the hyde, growled, staring the girl down. slowly, margot started making her way to her kit in hopes of finding something she could use to take him down.

before she had the chance, tyler had her by the neck, slamming her against the wall. margot grabbed his hand, trying to pry it off of her throat, but to no avail.

black dots clouded her vision as she began to lose her airflow. turning her head as far as she could, she noticed a flashlight hanging on the wall. she grabbed it and turned it on, shining it into tyler's eyes.

wincing, he jumped back and shielded his eyes. with him being stunned, margot ran back over to her kit, quickly searching for something that would calm the hyde down. she grabbed her jar of valerian dust, pouring it into her hand.

margot waited, anxiously, as tyler got closer. they were practically face to face before she blew the dust into his face. tyler roared, shaking his head and lunging forward towards her.

with her back flush with the wall, she closed her eyes, waiting for her final moments, for she assumed that her plan didn't work. when that moment didn't come, she slowly opened her eyes to see tyler's human, and once again naked, body lying on the ground.

he coughed, taking deep breaths. when he finally regained his breathing, he looked around the room, not remembering where he was. that is until he locked eyes with margot, who was now crouched down on the floor, visibly shaken.

"it happened again..." his voice was hoarse as he spoke. he didn't have to ask whether or not it did. just by looking at the girls face in front of him was enough evidence.

"margot.. i-i'm sorry.." he slowly got up off the ground. instinctively, the girl flinched, fear still running through her veins.

"you need to leave." her voice barely raised above a whisper.

tyler couldn't lie, hearing her say that struck a chord in him. although the pair had not even known each other for two hours, it still stung. he stood there for a few moments, not really wanting to leave the girl in the state she was in.

"leave!" margot yelled.

he decided that it was better to leave than to protest. tyler grabbed the shorts next to him and quickly put them on before walking out the door.

margot wasn't sure how long she stayed on the ground after tyler left her room, but after a while, she pulled her self up to stand, her legs shaking ever so slightly. she walked over to her bed without another thought and just laid there.

she didn't even have time to process what happened before tears began to stream down her face. she wouldn't admit it, but the last time she allowed herself to cry was when her parents passed.

before, she was very sensitive and vulnerable—not in a bad way, but she was able to process and deal with her emotions in a relatively healthy way. her parents passing caused something inside her to shut off. those same emotions that she had felt then, were now amplified. only this time, it was her own life on the line instead of her parents.

margot didn't remember falling asleep, but she woke up to the sound of loud knocking. she got out of bed and walked, more liked stumbled, to the door. opening it, she came face to face with enid sinclair.

"principle weems asked me to come get you- why are you not dressed? we leave for jericho in 20 minutes." she told her.

margot rubbed her eyes, still groggy, "what? why?"

"it's outreach day! hurry up and get ready!" enid said snapping her fingers at her.

her eyes flew open. she had completely forgotten about outreach day. "okay, okay!" she turned on her heels, frantically searching for her uniform. once she had found it, she discarded her old clothes and put on the fresh ones.

out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, which stopped her dead in her tracks. she looked awful to say the least. her hair was a mess, her cheeks were stained with dried tears, and her neck was bruised. she reached up to touch her neck, examining the damage that had happened hours earlier.

"you ready?" enid asked, popping her head in the room.

margot's hand quickly dropped from her neck, putting on a smile. "i just need to fix my hair really quick and then i'll be done. oh, and if you don't mind, could i borrow your snood? i'm feeling a little chilly."

"of course! let me go grab it!" enid excitedly padded off to her room.

when she had finally came back, margot was ready to go. "thank you." she put the snood on, making sure her neck was completely covered. "better safe than sorry." she said, laughing awkwardly.

the pair quickly made their way over to the quad where the students were gathered, all opening their envelopes that told them where they would be stationed for the day in jericho.

a staff member handed enid and margot their own envelopes. they quickly opened them, reading what was on the inside.

"i got pilgrims world! what did you get?" enid asked.

"the weathervane." she continued, "hey, at least i can get some free coffee while i'm there." she shrugged.

"alright students, please make your way to the bus on the front lawn. we will be leaving in approximately 5 minutes. remember to stay in your groups when we arrive in jericho." principle weems announced.

when the bus pulled into jericho, there was a shift within the townspeople. they became rigid and overly happy, like they had spent their who lives rehearsing for this moment. margot scoffed, seeing through the people's facade.

everyone filed off of the bus and into their respective groups. the groups for the weathervane and uriah's heap had the smallest groups, seeing as there wasn't much for a large group to do there, so the only person in margot's group was her friend, xavier thorpe.

"oh, sick! mars, i didn't know you got the weathervane. looks like this day won't be so boring after all. bold fashion choice by the way." he said, nudging her arm.

"yeah, enid let me borrow it. i was cold earlier." margot smiled through her lie.

"everyone may now go to their destinations, but don't forget that we meet back here at 1pm for the unveiling of the new joseph crackstone statue!" weems told the students.

xavier and margot made their way to the weathervane. walking inside, she heard a familiar voice coming from behind the counter that made her stomach churn.

"hey, are you okay?" xavier asked, seeing as the girl had stopped in the middle of the doorway. "mars, hello?"

"oh, um, yeah- yeah. i'm great." she swallowed hard, the snood suddenly feeling tighter around her neck.
she only had to make it a few hours in this place and then she would be free.

xavier furrowed his brows in confusion, but didn't ask any questions. instead, he led the way to the counter, with margot slowly following behind.

"hi, we're here from nevermore academy." he told tyler, who conveniently dropped what he was doing to give the boy his undivided attention.

"great! i was wondering when you guys were going to come. i'm tyler by the way." he held his hand out for xavier to shake, who took it.

"xavier thorpe." the long haired boy replied friendly.

margot had been hiding behind xavier's taller frame, so tyler almost didn't see her. when he did catch a look at the girl, he was taken aback.

"oh- um," he cleared his throat, "how are you?"

margot couldn't even open her mouth to speak. she was too fixated on his eyes, which were those same ones that stared back at her just as her life flashed before her eyes.

quickly saving the day, xavier put his arm around her shoulder, "she's not very keen on meeting new faces. it took me almost a year to get her to open up to me."

tyler couldn't hide the pained smile on his face, but he nodded anyway, "yeah, i get it."

"so, what do we need to do first?" xavier asked.

"um, you guys could start by arranging the cups by size. we just got a new case in." tyler informed them, pointing to a box on the floor.

"got it." xavier nodded, motioning for margot to follow him.

"what was that all about?" he lowered his voice, looking down at the girl with concern.

"nothing, i'm fine. just feeling off today." she said, smiling up at him.

"is it about yesterday? you could've came and talked to me you know."

margot only nodded, not really wanting to continue this conversation. xavier sighed, dropping it. he opened the box of cups, "i'll hand them to you and you can stack them. sound good?"

"yeah, great." margot said, trailing off.

the pair had successfully organized all of the cups, although it took way longer than it should have. xavier is to blame for that, because he thought it was a good idea to try to stack the cups by throwing them on top of each other, hoping they would land.

margot was laughing at some joke that xavier had made when tyler walked over to them. "what's so funny over here?" he smiled, looking at her.

"oh, it's just some inside joke we have between us." xavier said trying not to laugh.

tyler nodded, looking between the two, "well if you guys are done with that, the tables and chairs need to be wiped down."

"can i take a break before we start? i just have to go to the restroom." xavier said. margot's heart sunk. she didn't want to be left alone with this boy, even if it was just for a few minutes.

"yeah, go ahead. there's no rush." as soon as xavier was out of sight, tyler turned to margot.

"look, i am so sorry about last night. believe me, when i say that i don't remember anything that happened, i really don't. and i hope that i didn't scare you too bad-" margot cut him off before he could finish.

"scare me? you almost killed me! if i hadn't used something from my kit to calm you down, you would have choked me to death!" margot raised her voice, causing some customers to look in their direction.

tears brimmed her eyes has she continued, "let me just show you." she took the snood off of her head, revealing the yellowish-grey bruises along her neck.

tyler's mouth dropped open as he stared at the girls damaged skin. "margot...truly i didn't mean to-"

"save it. i don't care if you meant to or not. look, after today, i never want to see you or be anywhere near you, got it?" margot said seriously, putting the snood carefully around her head again.

before tyler could answer, xavier turned the corner.

"hey, everything okay?" he looked at margot, noticing her clenched fists and cold stare at the boy.

"yeah, everything's just fine." she said, her gaze never leaving the boy.

xavier looked between the two for a few moments, "hey mars, let's go wash off some tables, yeah?"

"yeah..." she dropped her gaze and let out a breath she had instinctively been holding in. following xavier, they grabbed nearby cloths, the tension still thick in the room.

"are you going to tell me what just happened?" the long haired boy eyed her as they made their over to the farthest table. margot stayed silent as she wiped down the table, wanting to change the subject.

"seriously, you looked like you could have killed that guy. what happened?" xavier threw his towel across his shoulder, as if to say, "i'm not doing anything until you tell me."

"it was just some disagreement, but everything is fine now, i promise." margot smiled up at him, accidentally dropping her towel.

leaning over, she reached and picked it up off the ground, not realizing her snood had fell down slightly, revealing the skin underneath.

"did he do that you?" xavier's voice was thick with anger, barely getting the words out.

margot didn't know how to answer, but her silence was louder than words, practically sending the boy over the edge.

in an instant, xavier had tyler by the shirt, shoving him against the wall. she couldn't tell who threw the first punch, but before she knew it, the two boys were on the ground.