"Haiden, we need to talk." Xeno said. He hadn't meant to sound so serious.
"Yeah? What about?" asked Haiden, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head slightly.
Xeno gritted his teeth. "I don't want to do this with you anymore."
"The party? We can go elsewhere, if you want."
He paused. "That's not what I mean."
"Oh.Oh."Haiden replied, taking a step back.
"It's just been really stressful for me. I could've lost my job after Mr. Crossley or Dr. Carmazan. And I've almost lost two close friends doing it." He hesitated, unsure whether he should continue. "Besides, it probably won't be astronomy that gets cut; they think I have a good chance of getting named head of department, so we don't even need to do this, anyway."
"Is that the only reason you were doing this? To get promoted?" Haiden took a step back, folding his arms.
"No, no, I wanted to save my department too." He added hastily.
"What about my department?" He asked, shocked. "Or the stuff that got damaged? You promised me we'd figure it out, mate."
"I know. But I mean, you can't honestly have expected us to work out who it was. And even if we did, who's to say the sabotages would've stopped? Who's to say that we still wouldn't have gotten cut?" He was grasping at straws, but he needed to get him to understand.
"We almost found out. We were so close." He paused. "I know we could." He turned away. "I misjudged you, Xeno. You know what? If you don't want to, that's your decision. I don't need your help, anyway. But mark my words, this? This whole.. situation? It isn't over."
Before he could say anything, he had already turned around and was walking towards the door. "Wait, Haiden!" Xeno called out, conscious that multiple people surrounded him, but it was too late.
"Ouch, that was rough." He practically jumped out of his skin. His head whipped around, and there was Jess. True to her word, was wearing the same emerald-green dress she wore to the last party.
"Oh, it was nothing. Honestly, I don't know why he's so angry." Replied Xeno, embarrassed.
"I do." Said Jess, concerned. "You basically just told him that you're putting your job over him. He probably also thinks you won't want to hang out with him without doing your weird little detective thing. I mean, it's what brought you together, right?"
At his incredulous look, she got annoyed. "What? You aren't the closed book you think you are. Honestly, you think I haven't seen you going over to palaeontology all the time? And I know you weren't sabotaging them. He's probably upset because you don't want to do what brought you together anymore, and, to be honest, you're kind of being selfish."
"How on earth am I being selfish?"
"You told me Ms. Pepper seems to want you as the head of astronomy for whatever reason, so we probably aren't gettingcut. Our departments have been sabotaging each-other, who do you think's the most likely to get axed?"
He hadn't thought about it like that before.
"If you want my advice, Xeno, I think you should apologise to the poor guy. Give it some time, though." She folded her arms.
"You told me the other day that I should tell him. You said it was better, "sooner rather than later."".
"I did, but I thought you'd be sensitive about it. Honestly, Xeno, you are such a... boy."
"That's sexist," he retorted.
"Right, you know what I mean." Her expression shifted. "Anyway, enough doom and gloom. Ms. Pepper's here; apparently they're gonna announce the next head of astronomy. Do you think it's gonna be me?" Jess joked.
She laughed; Xeno didn't. He was too lost in thought. He didn't really know the other few people in astronomy besides them. "Did I tell you I accused Dr. Carmazan of sawing the wires on that pterodactyl?" Xeno asked, laughing.
Jess' face went pale. "You did what? You`re joking. You could've been fired, Xeno. You know that, right?"
"I know, but she was our last suspect." He began. "We were almost one hundred percent sure it was her. Only, when she found out what we were doing, she seemed scared for us rather than scared of us."
The sound of a glass being tapped with a spoon drew their attention to the main stage, where Ms. Pepper was standing.
CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN:
