DEG- Encounters

"Hey, Keisha!" I shouted at a girl 3 aisles from me. I was on a ladder, taking books from one section of the non-fiction section of a library down and placing them on a cart.
"We're in a library, there's no yelling!" she replied, also on a ladder.
"Sorry, but the exhibit's going to be here in a few days. Do you have the article on ice cream?"
"No. Armando has it, I think. I'm not sure why, his part of the exhibit is the British."
"Just wondering. I need that article for mine."


I woke up from a restful sleep, despite the moving train. Apparently, we had made another stop during the night. Glancing at the bed beside me, I noticed that Hecate was already awake. Her bed was empty. I stood up, used the washroom, got dressed, and stuck my dagger in my coat.
"Look, I really just want to be your friend. We seem to be the sanest ones here, so we might as well be friends." I turned around to find Hecate directly behind me, waiting for my response. I scoffed, but she continued.
"Really. I know that you're afraid of me, but please, don't be."
"First off, let's get one thing straight. I'm not scared of you. I just don't trust you.
"You have nothing to worry about concerning me. Unless you do something to me or my friends. So, please. Be my friend."
The look in her eyes was firm, and it appeared that she knew the gravity of the question she was asking me. However, she appeared to be telling the truth.
"Fine." Did I really just say that?
"Good," she said, readjusting the chopsticks in her hair. "How about we start by you showing me that dagger?"
I smiled. "You'll see that dagger when you earn my trust." And with that, I left our room to go eat.

The walk to the dining car was much longer than I had anticipated. On the way, I passed several people of various ages, some even speaking different languages. I was distracted by this when I bumped into a running boy, literally.
"Sorry," I said, but the boy ran so fast that he probably didn't hear me. From what I saw, he had very dark hair and was wearing a rusty-orange shirt.
As I continued towards the dining car, I noticed more people going in the opposite direction that I was; rather hurriedly, too. Then I saw why.
There were two boys standing at the entrance of the dining car. One was the boy in black with the auburn hair that I had seen last night; the other was a blonde boy that I had never seen before.
"Please," the blonde boy begged. "You should really give me some points, Ace. You know you want to!"
"No, Sam," Ace, the boy with auburn hair said. Then he caught sight of me. "Yo, girlie, Dotty, or whatever your name was. Leave before Sam here starts harassing you for points. He doesn't deserve any as his entire group was wiped out." As he said this, he was grinning, as if Sam's pain delighted him. Was he a sadist?
"Well, will you give me points?" Sam asked as he looked at me with innocent eyes. "It's just like he said, my group got wiped out. So I have none, and I can't get any more until someone donates to me. Then I can join a new group and participate in events!" He sounded a little too sweet as he said this.
"Sam, stop asking newbies for points. She probably only has 10, as she just joined last night. It's a good thing that Luke took my advice, or you'd have taken his!"
"Who's Luke?" I interrupted. "And my name's Dolley, not Dotty."
"Sorry, Dolley. Dark hair and orange shirt," Ace replied, coolly. Luke was the boy that had run into me. It now made sense why people were going in the opposite direction of the dining car; they didn't want Sam to steal their points.  Just then, some girls entered the car from the other side, and Sam went to harass them.
"That flirt," Ace said. "Can't trust him."
Well I don't think that I can trust you, as you seem to be a sadist, I thought to myself. "Pardon my asking," I said aloud, "but are you a sadist?" My hand was ready for my dagger, just in case.
Ace chuckled. "Aren't you the observant one," he said, and he gave me an evil grin as he left the dining car. I continued to stare at him as he walked down the corridor leading back to the lounge area. Finally, someone got me to my senses.
"I warned you," Hecate said, her eyes saying "I told you so." She had just entered the car, and was heading for food. I followed suit.

And with that, we ate our first breakfast together, as friends, with no interruptions from sadists or flirts.