Chapter 88 - Out Of The Blue

Out of the blue, Madeline asked Briar, "What if we invited Indiana to hang with us?"

Briar gave her a strange look, wondering if Madeline had lost her mind and gone insane. 

"Indiana?"

"You mean the girl that accused you of using Xavier?"

"Why would you possibly suggest the idea of hanging out with her? She—"

"She's alone, and she doesn't have anyone else here because she was forbidden to join the hunt because of me."

"It wasn't because of you, it was because of her actions and her poor decision making," Briar corrected.

"Why are you blaming yourself for what happened to her?"

"Xavier punished her fairly, and it'd be better if she could just spend this time to think her actions through and see the wrong in her ways."

Madeline reasoned, "She must feel a tad bit guilty, she apologized."

"Many people can apologize, Madeline. You know that."

"But—"

Briar shook her head, "No buts, Maddie."

"We're not hanging out with her."

"No matter what."

"There's no convincing me for this one," Briar said to her, knowing that Madeline would eventually find a way to get her approval to spend time with Indiana had she not set that ground rule.

Madeline pursed her lips, "Oh, fine."

Crossing her arms, Madeline surrendered. There was no arguing with Briar when it came to this. 

Briar would stand her ground.

"I'd say please but you wouldn't agree anyway," Madeline said, chuckling lightly.

"Fine, if we won't invite Indiana to hang with us then why not a game?"

"A game? What type of game?"

"Truth or dare?"

Briar stared at Madeline incredulously. 

She had not expected that.

Of course Madeline picked truth or dare. 

Briar found the game childish, but… 

"Whatever floats your boat," she said to Madeline, beginning to question her strange taste in games.

Briar wondered what it would've been like had Madeline asked Xavier to play a childish game like truth or game. 

Did Xavier even know what truth or dare was?

Briar doubted Adrian knew much about it either. She could imagine him asking when he heard such a thing, 'Truth or dare? What's that? Some sacred ritual performed to summon something?' 

Madeline was still considering inviting Indiana over. 

Why not? What's the worst that could happen? It was a game of truth or dare after all. It was practically harmless. 

But, Briar was against the idea so… Looks like Indiana would be all by herself till the others returned, much to Indiana's relief. 

Indiana found that to be a relief because… After her demotion, she'd discovered who was truly her friend and who wasn't. 

Most of the people she befriended backed away from her and tried their best at avoiding her now that she had received a demotion in rank and was unliked by Eudora's alpha. Being in close vicinity with her would certainly go noticed by Xavier. 

Even those that made her talk to Madeline disappeared the moment they heard what happened to Indiana. 

One bad thing and now everyone hated her for it.

Hmm, hated on wasn't the right way to put it. 

Indiana was exiled from her previous friend group. She was now a castaway. 

A castaway's first instinct would be to search for another group to insert themself in, but Indiana doubted anyone in their right mind would take her in. 

See, in Eudora, there were many cliques. 

There were the gossipers, the Emilio worshippers, the warriors, and many more.

No one would take her in if they wanted to remain in Xavier's good graces. 

No one would mess with Madeline for that same reason as well. 

The whole of Eudora knew how taken Xavier was by her. 

And no, not in that sense. 

Although, Eudora was also taken aback and confused as to what was going on between Xavier and Madeline. 

Were they friends with benefits? Just friends? Lovers? A fling? A situationship? 

Who knew?

No one but Briar, Adrian, as well as Xavier and Madeline themselves. 

However, some in Eudora had already made up their minds as to what Xavier and Madeline were, even when all they did was assume, assume and assume. 

It was simply all assumptions and no truths. 

Heck, Indiana practically thought Xavier and Madeline were an item. 

And that they were going on a date right after she had apologized to Madeline. A dinner date, to specify. 

She hoped they had fun, and that Xavier was happy. 

If only she knew they weren't going on dates or dating or anything like that. She and Xavier simply had plans with each other that evening and had dinner together. That was all, there was nothing more to it. 

She sat outside her room, kicking rocks as she felt incredibly guilty about what she did. 

A part of her knew it wasn't all her fault. A part of the blame went to the girls that encouraged her when they could've stopped her from doing anything foolish and then she would have never been in this situation in the first place.

But no, they cheered her on and added fuel to the already burning fire. 

They were just as guilty as her, if not more whilst they escaped unscathed, while she had to bear all the horrible consequences. 

'It's so unfair,' Indiana thought.

'How come they get to join the hunt and I don't, all because I was the one who spoke out on what everyone thought? I'm not in the right this time but don't they deserve some punishment at the very least?'

'Why am I the only one who's gotten a demotion and was forbidden to join the hunt?' 

'Do I have to spend the rest of my time here sulking and thinking my doings through when I wasn't the only one who planned it?' 

She knew talking to Xavier about this wouldn't do anything since he wasn't some counselor, he was Eudora's highly respected and powerful alpha. 

And then, there was Madeline. 

Her only shot. 

And as far as she knew, there was only her, and Madeline at Eudora.

Who knew if Madeline wanted some company?

Of course, she wasn't aware that Briar was with Madeline so when she visited Madeline's quarters with an olive branch, she was surprised to find Briar there with her. 

Said olive branch was actually a batch of muffins Indiana had made the other day. 

"You," Briar said coldly, glaring at Indiana. 

Indiana had never seen Delta Briar so upset before. Then again, she had heard that Briar and Madeline were really good friends so she understood why Briar was upset. 

"What are you doing here?" She asked sassily, crossing her arms together. 

"Who's that?" Madeline asked from the closet since Briar had dared her to wear two pieces of clothing she'd never be caught dead in. 

"Guess who."

"Emilio?"

"Why would Emilio be visiting you?" 

"Indiana?"

"Bingo," Briar replied.

Madeline rushed to the door.

"Hey Indiana," she waved at her.

Briar slapped her hand away. 

"Hey!"

Indiana waved timidly at Madeline.

Briar grilled her for answers.

"What do you want, hmm?"

"Did you come here to accuse Madeline of more because if you want to fight then--"

"Briar, stop," Madeline said. 

"Come on, she apologized already."

"People can fake apologies, it's been done before."

"I was sincere with my apology," Imdiana insisted.

"I really was."

"Look, I even brought this," Indiana said, gesturing to the tray of muffins she held in one hand with the free one. 

"As an olive branch. Sort of."

"Aww, thanks," Madeline thanked, smiling. 

Briar looked at her. 

'What?' 

'She's not to be trusted!'

'Oh come on.'

'We can trust her. It's not like she can hurt us.' 

'And what guarantee do we have?' 

'My dad's locked in another room.'

Briar looked at her questioningly. 

'And?' 

'Wait, never mind.' 

Briar narrowed her eyes. 

'Do you really trust her, Maddie?' 

Madeline nodded. 

Rolling her eyes, Briar gave in, giving Madeline a look that said, 'Fine, but if she does anything I'm hurting her.' 

'And I don't mean the hair pulling out kind of hurt. I mean pinning her to the wall with my claw to her neck kind of hurt.' 

Indiana asked curiously, "You done?"

Madeline nodded, "Yeah, sorry about that, come in!"

She gestured for Indiana to enter her quarters, taking the tray of muffins from Indiana's hand. 

"I'll take that," Madeline said cheekily. 

"Thanks by the way."

"No problem."

"So, what were you doing before I came?" Indiana asked, wondering what they were up to.

"Truth or dare," Briar answered.

Indiana furrowed her brows, "Truth or… what now?"

"Truth or dare. It's a game where we're given two choices. To either execute a task also known as a dare we're given by another player or answer a question another player asks truthfully." 

"Ah."

"Want to join us?" Briar asked, faking a smile.

Indiana saw right through Briar but appreciated her efforts.

At the same time, she felt all warm and fuzzy inside.. She had never been treated so… warmly before, even if Briar seemed hesitant to trust her.