~Louisa~

"You caught her?" A guard observes with relief.

"The governor wants her. He wants to punish her himself." Blake lies with no problem.

"You have to run it past King." The officer states, eyeing me sternly.

"I have direct orders." Blake argues and walks passed.

Blake keeps his hold on me and picks up his pace. We go through the winding halls until we come face to face with none other than Mason King himself.

"What do you think you're doing?" He demands.

"Governor Redding has requested to see her." Blake replies.

"No he hasn't, I would have heard about it." King retorts.

"Then I guess you'll have to come see him with me and explain how you let her out of the Thinning." Blake threatens.

"Give her to me." King hisses.

I feel Blake gulp and tense up, but he complies to get up his façade.

"Come on, let's go." King declares and tightens his grip on my wrists, forcing me to walk in front of him with my hands behind my back.

"I can call the governor." Blake says as we all walk.

"Yes, make it quick. We can't delay the Thinning much longer and need to decide if she will receive the same punishments as those other kids." He spits.

Blake walks around the corner and I catch a glimpse of him taking the mask off. He must be doing that so he can call his father as himself.

King pushes me roughly to the ground and I crash into the wall of lockers, hitting the floor with my head and elbow.

I groan and rub both now throbbing body parts.

"You aren't getting away without consequences." King sneers, looking me in the eye intensely.

I look away and pray that Blake's call was going well or that Kellan had leaked the news successfully.

***

~Blake~

"Dad." I greet in a rush.

"Blake, you passed the test?" My father asks, relief pouring from his voice.

"Yes, but that's not why I'm calling. I'm sure you know that though." I growl back.

"Ah, is this about your little blonde that clings to you?" My dad states with disapproval.

"She passed the test. I know you did something." I snarl.

"You have no proof." He laughs in response.

"You're wrong and everyone will know if you don't get here now and fix this." I demand.

"You're bluffing." My dad replies.

"You wish I was." I threaten and hang up on him.

I put my mask back on and return to find Louisa on the ground, blood trailing down her left arm and her head. I hold in my anger and simply clench my hands, biting my tongue.

"He's on his way." I inform King.

"Good." He says courtly.

"He wants us to meet him at the back door." I add.

King nods and harshly grabs Louisa again.

She sucks in a quick breath when he grabs her arm and she winces loudly.

"I'll take her." I offer.

"Fine, I don't want to look at her." He agrees.

I pull Lou to me softly and wipe the blood from her brow. I wrap my arms around her again and lean down to her ear.

"I'm sorry. It's going to be okay, I love you." I whisper lowly.

She nods, unable to murmur it back to me in our position.

I follow King closely until we reach the back entrance of the school. All the press and the mob of parents loitered the front so the back was the safer option.

King opens up the security door and we all exit the school, stepping into the light.

"Mason!" My dad calls out, waiting against his driver's car.

He stands and walks over to us.

"This is her." King states, jabbing his finger toward Louisa.

"Such a small girl causing such big problems." He taunts angrily.

"I think that all the big problems were caused by the likes of you two, not me." She replies quickly.

"A big mouth too." My father mutters. "Where's my son?"

"Blake? With the other students in the recreation room. More importantly, what are we going to do with her?" King inquires.

"Bring her to the Thinning. Just like his last 'girlfriend'." My dad orders.

"No!" I object and pull the mask off.

"Blake? Mason, you said he was with the others? How many kids have you lost today?" My dad yells in anger.

"I- I thought he was in there." King sputters.

"We have proof that you've been tampering with the results." Louisa speaks for the first time.

"What proof? How can you do anything to hurt me?" My dad replies.

"There are photos, I'm sure everyone has seen them already." She shoots back.

My dad pulls out his phone and is silent for a little before he roars out.

"How did you let this happen? Get more officers here, now" My dad shouts hitting King.

He takes the hit and lowers his head, pulling out his walkie talkie.

"We need reinforcements out the back of the school." King stutters.

We wait for the DPC officers in agonizing silence.

"Take them both to the Thinning." My dad commands once the guards finally show up.

I'm grabbed immediately by two officers and Lou is taken by an aggressive man.

"You won't get away with this!" Louisa screams as we're pulled back into the school.

***

This chapter is a bit rough and I'm not 100% sure where I'm going from here but..?? haha

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