S3 - Chapter 1: Ancient History Club

Deep within the labyrinthine shelves of the university library, Piper Bentley trotted the last few paces to her destination, puffing with the exertion of lugging the vast stack of books. The dozen old tomes hit the table with a resounding ‘THOOM’, thoroughly drowning out the hushed chatter of the other students.

“Glad you could join us, Miss Bentley.” A mildly stern voice spoke from the far end of the table, dark brown eyes peering out from beneath thick spectacles whose rims were the same charcoal-black as their owner’s bob-cut. “Keeping busy I take it?”

“Sorry Tessa,” Piper replied with an apologetic grin, her cheeks as red as her hair, “I got held up again.” She slid into one of the few available seats as swiftly as she could, not wanting to hold up the meeting any further. Tessa however seemed like she wasn’t going to let her off that easily.

“I am aware that in the absence of President Ives it can feel a little less formal around here than it might otherwise be,” she spoke with calm authority, leaning back in her chair and folding her hands on the table before her, “but even so, I expect everyone to take these meetings as seriously as if she were still here. That includes you, Piper.”

A flush of embarrassment washed over Piper as she sunk down somewhat in her chair, rubbing the back of her hand across the band-aid on her nose reflexively.

“I know Tessa, I know. I’ll try to get here on time from now on.”

Tessa’s expression softened at the reaction from Piper and she nodded after a brief pause.

“See that you do. Now then, I don’t believe we are waiting on anyone else, but let’s do attendance to be sure.”

“I can’t believe we still do attendance even after everything.” Muttered the surly-looking girl beside Piper, arms folded across her chest.

“If we’ve learned nothing else,” Tessa replied calmly, “it’s that it’s all too easy to overlook a missing person. You of all people should know that, Miss Cobb.”

The sour expression on Cobb’s face grew deeper as she rolled her eyes.

“It was one time.”

“In any case, we can cross Piper Bentley and Ashley Cobb off the list.” Tessa spoke formally, ticking a pair of names on her clip-board. “Now then. Rosanna Kennedy?”

“Present.” Came the reply from Rosanna, her entire ensemble starched white right down to the gloves on her hands.

“Good, good. Abbey Graves?”

“Here.” Abbey’s compact frame looked comically small compared to the rest of the students, particularly buried in the folds of the frumpy grey sweater as she was. However, she made up for it with the most absurdly plush beret she could possibly find.

“Deidre Phillips?”

Silence followed the call of the name, save for a low, rumbling snore from the midst of the group. Abbey cleared her throat.

“She’s… also here.” She nodded at the unconscious brunette whose face had evidently decided the thick volume beneath it was the perfect pillow for this moment in time. “Same condition as ever.”

“Good. We know Ana won’t be joining us today as she’s at work, so that just leaves Yasmin. Yasmin Pin?”

“Yes.” The soft-spoken voice was accompanied by a small raise of Yasmin’s hand, her gaunt frame looking like she might blow away if someone turned on the air-conditioning.

“Great, okay, that’s everyone.” Tessa said with finality, slipping the lid back on her pen and setting it down along with the clipboard. “So then, Ancient History Club is now in session. Would you care to read out the minutes from the last meeting, Rosanna?”

As Rosanna reached for the paper, a deep groan of irritation escaped Ashley’s throat.

“Uuuuuugh, do we have to? We all know what we really want to discuss today.”

A few low murmurs circulated the table as Tessa gave Ashley a piercing stare, Rosanna pausing with her hand on the paper. A moment later, Tessa took the paper herself and slid it across the table to Ashley.

“Perhaps you’d like to read out the minutes then, Ashley. We wouldn’t want President Ives hearing that we left any other loose threads, would we?” A single eyebrow rose as Ashley scowled in response, but took the paper all the same.

“Fine. Fine. Okay, uh… first item; Piper’s missing pen?”

“Recovered!” Piper said immediately, beaming as she plucked the smooth, silver pen from her blazer pocket. “I told you it would turn up!”

“Great, so glad we’re covering this vital information.” Ashley replied dryly before she pressed on. “Second, we discussed the updated security for the club-house.”

“Everyone’s got their new passwords sorted and memorized? We can’t do basic key-cards anymore after all.” Tessa inquired, looking about at everyone. A wave of affirmations followed and she nodded at Ashley to continue.

“Fantastic. Finally, the island’s latest overcrowding laws. Anyone still trying to fill out their dormitory?”

“Yeah,” Piper replied glumly, scratching the back of her head as she stared at the huge stack of books she’d been lugging around, “I’ve been so sidetracked with study and uh… other stuff, that I really haven’t had a chance to ask anyone to move in. I mean, it was already feeling pretty stuffy with just the three of us, but getting it up to five people? I can’t imagine being an introvert in times like this.”

“It’s not fun.” Yasmin noted by way of response, thin palms folded in her lap.

“Well you’d better get on it,” Abbey said with an emphatic look at Piper, “it’s mandatory as of tomorrow evening; if you haven’t chosen by then, they’ll choose for you.”

“I know, I know.” Piper let out a huff of frustration as she let her head fall back, staring up at the ceiling. “I was thinking of hitting up Club Grace later tonight, seeing if anyone else is looking for a place. Gotta be someone, right?”

“Oh there’ll be someone,” Ashley replied, “whether or not it’s someone you want living in your space is something else entirely.”

Piper gave a non-verbal shrug of resignation, indicating her lack of further commentary on the subject. Ashley gave a satisfied grunt and flicked the paper back across the table to Tessa.

“Well, look at that, all that highly important discussion out of the way at last; now let’s get on to the good stuff.” She leaned forward, eyes practically aglow with anticipation as she stared at Tessa eagerly. The vice-president nodded, carefully taking the paper containing the minutes and slotting it with infuriating delicacy back into her clipboard. Once she was done she made sure the clipboard was neatly pushed aside, clearing the space before her.

“One moment.” Tessa spoke mildly, fishing a bottle of water out of her bag and unscrewing the lid, lifting it to her mouth and taking several slow, steady sips. A few stifled titters broke out around the table as Ashley’s eyes narrowed into a seething glare, jaw clenched as Tessa returned the bottle to her bag, making very sure that it was in the correct spot amidst her other possessions.

“You know what Tessa?” Ashley spat, her tone positively livid, sounding as though it were going to be followed up with a stream of vitriol.

“Yes, Miss Cobb?”

Ashley inhaled sharply, raising a finger to point at Tessa. Before she could say anything however, she gave a long, slow exhale and seemed to visibly deflate.

“… You are extremely… organized.”

“Thank you, Miss Cobb.” Tessa replied, quietly accepting Ashley’s surrender without further comment. “Now then, regarding the topic of today’s meeting; the swimming club has announced the return of their expedition down to Old Earth.” Everyone at the table was paying full attention now, save for Deidre who continued snoozing peacefully in her book.

“Did they find it?” Piper asked, tone hushed with cautious excitement as Tessa allowed herself a small smile.

“They found it.”

An explosion of excited chattering erupted from the table as the entire group tried to express their delight while simultaneously trying to keep the noise down. Tessa remained perfectly composed throughout, watching the other girls bubbling over with glee until they managed to reign themselves in long enough for her to continue.

“More than that, the stone has already been delivered to the lab. Atsuka is looking at it as we speak.”

“Wow! Wait, it’s already there?! I thought they only made contact a couple of hours ago, how did they get the artifact all the way out to the lab already?”

“No idea; the swimming club aren’t exactly slouches when it comes to the water.” Tessa replied as though that were answer enough. “That part is not important however. What is important is that everything we’ve been working towards for the past two years may be about to actually pay off. If the stone can give us the information we need, then we might finally have the tools we need to save what’s left of the Earth.”