Snippet #2793819

Alex had been like this for weeks but it didn’t hurt any less to see him like this. The hollow smile did nothing to reassure Phoenix, but he returned the smile anyway. Phoenix returned the look that Abuela gave him with a small reassuring smile, promising to look after him.

Alex didn’t wait particularly for Phoenix, only glancing to make sure he was following, but Phoenix caught up easily. It was like being with somebody else entirely as they walked in silence. Before the attack, there had seldom been a silence between them, always filled with laughter or teasing. Now, Phoenix knew not to try and fill the space with noise. Even he found it hard to know what to say.

The contact of Alex’s arm pulling him to a stop shocked Phoenix out of his thoughts as he mentally prepared himself for an attack, but he saw nothing. Just Carl. Phoenix took one look at Alex’s face and thought for a moment about suggesting they ditched the meeting and went back to his apartment instead. And then Alex started moving again, apologizing in more of a mumble than anything. Alex actually spoke as they reached the town hall. Phoenix just shrugged. “It’s okay. I get it. Everything’s different and weird and… Just… know I’m always here, okay? Even if you just want to get drunk or drink tea, or… I dunno, sit in silence on the floor. Any time of day or night.” They’d been friends long enough that he knew he didn’t have to say it, but sometimes a reminder was needed. Alex clearly wasn’t in a great frame of mind right now. And besides, there was plenty of nights when Phoenix found himself awake at three, four, five in the morning, unable or unwilling to go back to sleep.

Phoenix was glad that the first person they ran into was Kay. It was hard not to smile in her presence, and her energy was practically infectious. Her outfit put them all to shame as they huddled in their jackets and scarves. He left the two of them for a moment as he went to put the tray of brownies down for people to take as they pleased. He got back just as Kay put a flower crown on Alex’s head, struggling to balance it on his curls, and Phoenix couldn’t help but laugh. Then she bounded away, and Phoenix could see the slight change in Alex’s expression. He wasn’t in a flower crown mood, but Phoenix knew he didn’t want to hurt Kay’s feelings. And so Phoenix very obviously reached over and stole the flower crown from his head, balancing it on top of his hair instead.“Bullshit, we all know I’m the cuter one wearing this,” he declared.

Alex started to ask wear Phoenix wanted to sit, before darting to an unoccupied seat.“This is perfect. I’m afraid if we sit any closer to Rosie’s skirt without sunglasses, we might do permanent damage,” he joked. The exact location of the seat hadn’t escaped Phoenix either, but if he was being honest, he was happier here too.

He caught that familiar, sickening scent before he saw her. He didn’t even turn around to acknowledge her, not wanting to grace her with a reaction. But he could feel her eyes on him, see her out of the corner of his eye. But instead he kept his eyes forward, trying desperately to keep his expression neutral despite the twisting in his stomach and the anger that rose within him. The only outward reaction was a clenching of his jaw as Camila kissed Alex’s jaw. She slunk away and Phoenix had to resist the temptation to glare at her as she did so. Thankfully, a distraction came in the form of Rosie getting to her feet and walking to the podium, the room starting to fall silent at that single action.

The hall filled up relatively quickly, which Rosie was pleasantly surprised by. She spotted Kay bounding around, handing out flower crowns and trinkets. The small smiles they produced didn’t escape her notice, and that meant a lot. People looked scared, and confused, and angry. A smile wouldn’t change or erase any of that, but it was a start. It made things seem a little less terrible. Kay quickly ran up to the front and threw her a necklace, which Rosie caught and pulled it over her head, before going to stand at the podium as the last few stragglers came in.

“Good evening, everyone,” she said, and silence fell over the room. “Okay, wow. This isn’t high school English, don’t worry, guys, you can relax,” she added, getting a few giggles out of the crowd. “It’s wonderful to see so many of you guys here. Thank you to the wonderful Kaylessa for these trinkets and to everyone who brought anything. I know that things have been scary… and I know people are afraid. But we rallied around tonight, and that’s a good start. We fought them off once and we can fight them off again. So, let’s get this started. First, Chief Kaner is going to discuss what the police force is doing and what volunteers are needed for them, then I’ll open the floor back up for a discussion. So please welcome Chief Kaner to the stage and hold any questions until the end.”

Rosie took her seat as the police chief stood up to drone on about increased vigilance and whatever. He had never been the most engaging of speakers, but Rosie had long ago perfected the art of listening to boring speakers. Her students tried, but some were always more engaging than others. It was only as the crowd gave polite applause that she came back to herself, getting to her feet. "Thank you, Chief Kaner. So, now that we're aware what the police are doing, it's time to discuss what we can do. So, first up is... voluntary patrols. I'm aware some have already been running, so would anybody like to fill us in and let us know what we can do to help?" She asked, glancing down towards Markus. She highly doubted he would speak up, but maybe someone else might.