~Day Seventeen, Tuesday

Being back here was not what I expected. I had expected some sort of nostalgia, standing in my old room.

Everything was still strewn around randomly on my side of the room. Jazz had packed up all her things neatly before she had left. Smart. I missed Jazz, and her quirkiness. I definitely need something positive in my life right now.

I glanced at the digital clock on my bedside table. It read 7:22 AM. She would be here any minute now. We were to get ready, and report to the hall by eight this morning. I had no idea what lies they plan to feed to us, but it should be interesting finding out.

I was stuck in the room cleaning for an extra five minutes then I would have perferred, before Jazz opened the dorm door.

She stood there, looking exactly like Jazz did. Colourful pants, loud shoes, and over excitable red hair. Her eyes were alight as she saw me, dropping all her bags in the doorway to rush over to me.

"Juliette!" she screeched, running over to me. I let her hug me, breathing in that familiar scent, that covered our room. We had to be back here, now that I wasn't being forced to stay with Jaxon.

We embraced for longer then I wanted too. When she finally pulled away, she noticed my eyes. She first frowned in utter confusion, then took an unsure step back.

"What did you do to your eyes?" She asks, appalled. I sigh. Having thought about the answer to this for two days now, I knew exactly what to say.

"It's an infection. They aren't sure what it is. Could be from stress...You know, from Jaxon being in hospital," I say, straight faced. I didn't want to lie to her, but this place could be bugged by Olivia, and her accomplices.

"You poor thing. How is he anyway?" Jazz asks. She turns around, still listening. She begins to unpack her things. I don't know what I would have done if she had been eliminated early in the trial.

"He's better now. Out of hospital. But he can't be here till he's healthy again. But he will be back, I promise," I say sternly. If Olivia is listening, she can suck on that.

"So what exactly happened? They haven't really released too much information on it," Jazz tells me. Of course they didn't...

"He bit me," is all I say. I might as well tell her I'm now mated. She could probably tell by the ferocious wound on the side of my neck that was refusing to heal. The other mark from the Alpha of the Resistance was nearly invisible if you aren't looking for it.

"Like a mark?" She questions, her eyes lighting up. I nod, as she pulls my hair back, seeing the mark. She cringed, not expecting to see it look so vicious and sore. I didn't hurt too much. Only if I turned my head a certain way.

"Why does it look like that?" She asked, horrified. I nervously pull my hair back over it, shielding it from her view again. Even then, she kept staring at the near vicinity of my neck.

"He did it wrong. That's why he was in hospital," I try explain. It's not that he did it wrong really, it's just he probably shouldn't have done it. Now he's not even a Lycan, but a Skinwalker.

"I didn't even know it could be done wrong," Jazz said, extremely appalled by my words. I roll my eyes, motioning for her to continue unpacking her clothes.

"Neither did I," I mutter under my breath. Jazz begins to unzip her bags and take her clothes out. None of us know how long we will be here for, so we pack as many clothes as possible, just in case.

Suddenly the sound of a bell ringing in our room went off loudly. It was so loud I had to cover my ears with my hands. It rung twice, like a school bell of some sort, with an announcement. "Everyone please report to the hall immediately."

This announcement ran through twice, before everything went silent. It was like the whole Trail Arena had fallen into a deathly silence, not expecting that.

"That's new," I mumble, rubbing my sore ears. Never has anything like that happened before. Jaxon would never have put us through that kind of ear piercing torture.

"Where did it come from?" Jazz asks. I'm too busy nursing my damaged brain cells, while she scouts the room. She ends up finding a gold bell mounted on the corner of the wall. Just by the roof.

"They must have put it up there while we were all away," I say, answering her thoughts. She looks disgusted. This was a way for Olivia to keep us in line. I could only hope she wouldn't do anything else too drastic.

"We better go," I prompt. Jazz looks annoyed that she didn't get to fully unpack, but nods anyway.

Once we are outside, we follow a crowd walking solemnly toward the hall. They are all obviously disrupted by the bell. I only notice a few familiar faces from a couple weeks ago, but probably because I never really took notice of anyone else back then.

The hall was where this thing first started. It was where we had all met up, and that perky introduction lady, Bluey, had made her first appearance. I have only seen her once since then. But today, what lies ahead in there is uncertain.

As we enter, it's already packed full of people. Even though many have been eliminated, it was hard to find a seat in that place.

"Hey gorgeous, glad I found yah," I hear an obnoxious voice say beside me. I turn, seeing Blaise beside me. He has a cocky smile on his face, as he gazes at me. I want to slam my hand on my face, at the sight of him.

"What do you want Blaise?" I ask, exasperated. He gives me a cheeky wink, slinging his arm across my chair. He leans closer, his breath blowing across my ear.

"You," he murmurs. I think Jazz heard what he said, because I see her give him a dirty look. I try not look him directly in the eye, hoping he would just go away.

"Leave her alone," Jazz snaps at him. He glances over at her, luckily taking his attention off of me.

"Are you coming onto me. I'm only into blondes, not redheads," Blaise says nonchalantly. I struggle to hide my smile, as I watched Jazz's face go bright red. If I wasn't sitting between the two of them, I'm sure she would have swung a punch at his face.

"You think I would stoop to the low standards of you?" Jazz snaps, like the idea appalled her. I appalled me as well. Jazz basically liked Alpha's, not losers like Blaise.

"I don't need you anyway. I have Juliette," Blaise says, trying to shuffle closer to me. I cringe.

"She's mated now. To an Alpha King. So touch her boy, and watch your own skull get split in two," Jazz hissed. Wow, I didn't know she was so sassy.

"I don't actually think it's possible to watch your skull-"

Jazz growled.

"I also have an infection," I add, looking at him. He finally notices my eyes, his mouth falling open. He looks disgusted, which gives me brief amusement.

He stands up, obviously wanting to get as far away from me as possible. I watch him move a couple seats down, taking a seat in the middle of a couple girls. They seemed pretty thrilled about that.

"Can I have your attention please?" someone calls from the stage. It's Bluey. Except it's not the same Bluey that I knew from the start of the Trial. She was more reserved, constantly looking down like she was afraid of saying something wrong. It made me sick to the stomach.

"There is a special announcement, a very important person would like to make," she said. She hurried off quickly. I could see a pair of boys in front of me exchange confused glances. I felt the same way to be honest.

Then suddenly, Olivia walked on stage. She had two Guards flanking her, like shadows. It was a terrifying sight. But she made me angry. I just wanted to go right up into the stage, and strangle her.

I shake my head; those aren't optimistic thoughts.

"Hello everyone. I thank you for you attendance," she says smoothly into the microphone. She looks more like a leader now. We wouldn't have attended if she hadn't sent out that deafening voice message.

"I would like to explain the situation to you. And why your Alpha King isn't standing in my place," she starts. I place my fingers on my forehead, hoping her answer isn't too out of the ordinary.

"As many of you may already know, Jaxon was tragically poisoned. He was bed ridden in the hospital for many days. Stuck in a coma," Olivia explains lightly. There is a soft murmur throughout the crowd, but no real surprise.

"I have taken his place now. And will command you all, and the other Alpha's here from now on," she continues. A sinister smile crosses her features as she listens to the crowds confusion.

"There will be an official funeral for your former Alpha. Jaxon will be missed."

My eyes widen, as a frenzy begins. She didn't...

∞

Oh no she didn't *Snaps fingers*

Hoped you liked this anyway, the Trial is back on!!

This chapter is dedicated to really wanting ice-cream right now, but it's in the freezer, and I'm in a comfortable position on the couch...I know. I'm bad.

Vote and comment if you enjoyed (:

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~Midika ♡