[i]As much as I'd love to continue teaching all of you, my place is not here. It never was to begin with. I'm truly sorry that I have to leave you behind, but this is my calling. It's been a honor teaching all of you, and I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors. -Exile[/i]

He set his pen down next to the small pile of discarded drafts and began re-reading the note. After several minutes he sighed and set the paper down. "This will work," he muttered, having finally written a parting note that he felt neatly summed up his thoughts. He put the note in his bag, along with the less-than-satisfactory drafts he had written before. He may have been acting overly paranoid, but he felt that if he tried to dispose of the papers someone would read them and know that someone was planning to leave. Certainly The System would want to crack down on those responsible, and Exile wasn't going to be the one to trip up and leave a paper trail that led straight to him.

It occurred to Exile that he didn't even know if the rumors were true. The very definition of a rumor meant that the validity of it was, at least, hit or miss. Maybe Exile wouldn't even need the notes. Maybe he would make an idiot of himself and show up to school the next day quietly laughing about how idiotic he was to believe such rumors. Then again, it wouldn't hurt to see if they were, in fact, true.

Exile took another look around, noticing that Cristi, Evelyn, Sean and Daniel had gone to sit with Mina. Knowing Mina technically worked for The System, he didn't suspect she was involved in the escape plan until he noticed that her drink was just as full as it was when he first saw her. It had been several minutes since then, and Exile didn't take Mina as the type of person to skip out on a drink, especially after having bought it herself. The way she held herself hinted that something was on her mind, so it was definitely possible she knew something about the rumors. Hell, as far as Exile knew, she could have been the one orchestrating the whole thing. The fact that Cristi was there made Exile think of the situation as being more likely, since he and Mina often thought alike; the same went for Daniel and Cristi. Exile couldn't speak for the rest of them, but he figured three out of five was enough to cement his theory.

Exile picked up his beer and took another swig before walking over to Mina's table. "Ladies, gentlemen. Mind if I join you?" he asked, gesturing towards an empty seat next to Daniel.