Loyal

by Scarlett Haven

“Will they be willing?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Then let’s do this.”

  The truth.

  I hang out with the boys until ten o’clock then head back to my dorm for curfew. We devise a plan of how we are going to sneak into the administration office to see my file. It’s a good plan. It’s also a little frightening to know how secure this school is. They actually have two guards on duty outside the office at all times.

  When I walk into my dorm, Taylor is sitting on her bed, doing something on her laptop. She looks up at me, rolls her eyes and huffs, before turning her attention back to her computer. She smiles at whatever is on her screen.

  Honestly, it’s sad she doesn’t want to be my friend. Not that I think we’d have a lot in common, but if she tried, we could at least be civil towards one another.

  I grab a pair of black yoga pants and a black t-shirt before walking into the bathroom. I go through my normal, nightly routine of brushing my teeth and putting on ‘pajamas.’ Mostly, I don’t want to alert Taylor. She always goes to sleep pretty early, so I’m not worried about her thinking I’m up to something.

  I look at my all black outfit in the mirror. I’m pretty sure anybody could see my light hair coming from a mile away, but the boys said to wear black, so I am. I pull my hair into a messy bun on top of my head, exactly how I do every night. Taylor might be mean, but she’s not stupid. She would notice if I wore my hair differently tonight than I did the last two nights. Not that two nights is enough to know somebody’s ‘habits’, but I still don’t want to take the chance of anything going wrong.

  When I walk back inside the room, Taylor’s lamp is off and she is lying down with her eyes closed. I know she’s not asleep yet, but I don’t figure it will be long. I grab my phone from my nightstand and lay down, going through my text messages while I wait.

  I have a text from Jason, my brother, letting me know that his team is five wins away from going to the World Series. I know he will make it. Nobody is a better baseball player than he is. I text him back to let him know I’m proud of him.

  There is a text from my dad, he’s letting me know that Erin’s, his wife, baby appointment went well and that we should expect him or her on March 17. I’m sad about the date because it won’t be summer break, meaning I will miss the birth of my brother or sister.

  Before I left, Dad and Erin took me out to dinner to tell me the news about the baby. They said they weren’t telling anybody else yet, since it was still so early, but they wanted to tell me before I left. I was glad I didn’t have to find out via text or on social media. They’re not going to tell anybody else until the twenty week mark. Even Jason doesn’t know yet, which makes me feel special.

  There is one more text. It’s from my mom. A video. I stick headphones in and watch the video. I nearly start crying when I see Chloe and Charlotte’s faces on the screen. They’re singing a song and dancing. It’s literally the cutest thing ever. At the end they tell me they love me and blow a kiss to the screen.

  Why are they so cute?

  My phone vibrates in my hand.

  CAMDEN: You ready?

  I take off my headphones and now hear Taylor snoring quietly. I send Cam a text, letting him know I’m ready, and then head out of my door, being extra quiet so I don’t wake Taylor.

  I tiptoe down the quiet hallway, towards a staircase that leads into the common room. It’s really dark tonight and I can barely see. I don’t notice somebody in front of me until I walk right into them.

  “Sorry,” I whisper, hoping I didn’t just bump into a teacher.

  “Zara?” I hear a familiar Kiwi accent ask.

  I put my hand against my franticly beating heart. “Stefan,” I breathe his name. “You scared me.”

  “Sorry,” he whispers. “Let’s go.”

  In the dark, I feel him grab my arm, slowing trailing his hand down until he feels my hand. He holds onto it and we start walking forward.

  “Hey, Stefan,” I whisper, as he head down the stairs. “What happened with Justin Miller earlier?”

  “He’s now sporting a black eye,” he answers. “He deserved it.”

  I’m not so sure that he deserved a black eye for bumping into me, but I don’t fight it. The guys were only looking after me, and if they say that Justin Miller deliberately tried to hurt me, maybe he did.

  Once we make it into the common room, I make sure to stick close to Stefan. I’ve only been in this room once and don’t want to accidentally bump into anything. We make it through the room and walk into another dark hallway, where I see shadows.

  “You guys ready?” Camden asks.

  Everybody says yes, so we go on our pursuit of the administration office.

  We turn the corner and I see a lit hallway. There are two guards standing outside the office.

  “Everybody know what to do?” Austin asks.

  We all nod.

  “Good,” he says. “Let’s go.”

  Camden and Dylan are going to distract the guards. Austin and Stefan are going to be the look out. And Tristan and I are going go through the ventilation system into the office. I’m pretty sure the two of us are the only ones who can fit and I’m not even certain that Tristan can fit.

  “This is where you’re going up,” Austin says, pointing at the ceiling.

  I’m short. There is no way I can get up there unless they brought a step ladder.

  “I’ll go first,” Tristan says.

  He removes the cover to the ventilation system and Austin cups his hands, bending over. Tristan sticks his foot in and Austin gives him a lift. He effortlessly climbs up, and now I realize that I’m going to look like a complete idiot.

  “I don’t have great upper body strength,” I say.

  Austin and Stefan both laugh, and I see Tristan stick his head out.

  “Come on,” Tristan says.

  Austin puts his hands on my waste and lifts me up like I weigh nothing. Tristan grabs onto me, pulling me up the rest of the way.

  “Thanks,” I say to Tristan.

  “Let’s go,” he says.

  The vents are bigger than I thought they would be, so I don’t have problems climbing through. I was worried I would feel claustrophobic, but I don’t. I’m thankful for that. I didn’t tell the boys about not liking small spaces. I knew if I had told them, they never would’ve let me do this.

  I follow Tristan through the vent, thinking about the task at hand. I’m not sure what my file is going to say, but the boys think there is something in there. Something important. And it’s a clue as to why I am here. I want to know.

  I wish I could just call my mom and ask her, but she and Dad both gave me the run around when they discussed sending me to school here. They avoided answering any questions and simply said I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Of course I didn’t want to come, but now that I’m here, I’m kind of glad I am. This school is exciting—even if everybody aside from Cam, Tristan, Austin, Stefan, and Dylan hate me. At least I have them.

  “I think you’re going to have to take it from here,” Tristan says.

  I look up and see that the ventilation vent gets much smaller from here.

  “You just need to go where you see that light shining through and drop into the office,” he says. “From there, I will talk you through how to access your files. You have your phone, right?”

  “Yeah,” I say, hating how out of breath I sound.

  “Hey, are you all right?” he asks.

  “I’m fine,” I say, completely lying.

  “Can you squeeze past me?” he asks.

  I nod.

  Getting past Tristan isn’t the issue. It’s the whole getting through the tiny ventilation system that has me worried.

  I look at Tristan one last time before crawling forward.

  I have to do this.

  I need answers.

  With determination, I crawl forward and try not to think about how tight the space is. Or how dark it is. Or how my hand just grazed
something that might have been a bug, but I’m not sure.

  Just breathe.

  It’s hot in here. It’s definitely hot.

  My shoulders literally touch both sides of the vent. I stop for just a second to breathe. I just need to breathe.

  “Zara,” I hear Tristan say.

  “Yeah,” I say, now gasping for air.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I... can’t... breathe,” I say, between breaths. I’m not even sure if he was able to understand me.

  “You’re having a panic attack,” he says. “I can’t get to you, so I need you to calm down so you don’t pass out, okay?”

  “I... can’t.”

  “Breathe with me,” he says. “In your nose... out your mouth.”

  He continues to talk to me for several more minutes, me just trying to breathe.

  “It’s only ten more feet until you get into the administration office. Can you go ten more feet?” he asks.

  “I... think so,” I say, hating how out of breath I still sound. At least I’m not hyperventilating anymore.

  “Good. Crawl forward. Just a little at a time.”

  And so I do. I keep crawling forward until I finally am above the vent. I carefully lower myself into the room, trying not to make any noise as I jump down.

  Thank goodness I am out of that tight space. I try not to think about the fact that I have to go back through there in a few minutes, to get out of here. One thing at a time.

  I pull my phone out and dial Tristan’s number. I use the tiny bluetooth that is in my ear, surprised that it actually works. The thing is smaller than a pea, and sticks to the inside of my ear.

  “I’m in,” I say, keeping my voice low.

  “Good,” he says. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with,” I say.

  Tristan gets right down to business, walking me through how to unlock the computer without a password, and then how to get into the files where they keep student records. After only a few minutes, I am able to access my file.

  The first few pages of the document are normal: my date of birthday, social security number, and old school records. By the time I’m almost to the end, I am starting to feel frustrated. Maybe it’s not even in here. Maybe I went through all of this for nothing.

  But then I turn to the last page.

  Student Zara Summers is to bypass all admittance regulations by my order. She is important, so I trust you will protect her.

  —Zach Stone

  I read the sentence out loud to Tristan.

  “It’s signed by Zach Stone,” I say. “Do you know who that is?”

  “Yeah... but I don’t know why he would be interested in you. It doesn’t make sense,” Tristan says. “Are you sure you don’t know him?”

  “I’m positive,” I say.

  “We’ll figure it out. For now, just get out of there,” he says.

  “How do I pull myself back up the vent?” I ask.

  “You’re not going through there again,” Tristan says. “You’re going to walk out the front door.”

  “But the guards are there. I can hear Cam and Dylan talking to them,” I say.

  “I texted them and told them about your panic attack,” he says. “I don’t know why you didn’t trust us enough to let us know you’re claustrophobic, but we all agreed it was better to get caught than to put you through that again.”

  “You don’t have to get caught,” I say. “I can take the blame all by myself.”

  “Too late,” Tristan says. “I’m walking towards the guards right now. Come out the door.”

  What?

  I push open the door and find that it isn’t just Dylan and Cam standing there, but also Tristan, Austin and Stefan. And because they’re my friends, they’re going to get in trouble right along beside me. I love them for it, but I also hate it. They don’t deserve to be in trouble.

  Who is Zach Stone?

  “It was me,” I say to the principal of the school. “I acted alone. They found out that I was going to break in, and they came to help me shoulder the blame. Don’t punish them because of me.”

  “They said the same thing about you,” the principal says.

  “Oh.”

  “If you were anybody else, you would have a one way ticket back home,” she says. “And if you had accessed anybody’s record aside from your own, I wouldn’t care who asked for your admission, I’d still send you home. But my hands are tied. You and your friends will have Saturday detention for two weeks and I expect you to be on your best behavior for the rest of the semester.”

  I nod. “Thank you.”

  “You can go,” she says.

  “Um... I just have a question,” I say.

  She raises an eyebrow at me. “Miss Summers, it’s almost midnight and you have class in the morning.”

  “I know,” I say. “It’s just... who is Zach Stone?”

  “Good night, Miss Summers,” she says, letting me know that the conversation is definitely over and she has nothing else to say to me.

  I get out of the chair. It’s obvious she won’t give me any information, but maybe the boys know. Unfortunately, it will have to wait until morning.

  Wednesday, September 12

  Memory Lane.

  I get up early the next morning to meet the guys for breakfast. I figured I would be tired from staying up late, but honestly, I’m exhilarated. I want answers and I feel like I’m so close to them now.

  “So, who is Zach Stone?” I ask, sitting down with the boys. I put my energy drink on the table in front of me.

  “You have way too much energy for this early,” Stefan says, eyeing the can in front of me.

  “Come on, I’m so close to answers,” I say.

  “Actually, we’re farther away from answers than we ever were before,” Tristan says. “Zach Stone is kind of a big deal. He is fourth generation at Spy School. But they’re top of the line at everything they do. The best of the best.”

  “So, what does he want with me?” I ask. It’s a valid question.

  “Which is why I say we’re back to square one,” Tristan says. “We don’t know. Honestly, I was kind of hoping you would know.”

  “I don’t know Zach Stone,” I say. “Do you have a picture of him? Maybe I’ve seen him before and just don’t know his name or something.”

  Dylan is the one to pull out his phone and show me a photo.

  The man on the screen has light blond hair and striking blue eyes. He’s not smiling in the picture and he looks a little scary. I definitely wouldn’t want to run into him in a dark alley. But he looks familiar. So familiar.

  “I know him from somewhere,” I say. “But I can’t quite place him.”

  The boys all share a look between themselves and I look up.

  “What?” I ask.

  “Zach Stone isn’t seen unless he wants to be,” Stefan answers for the group. “You have to be somebody important to him. I mean, he’s never asked for special permission for anybody else to get in.”

  I shrug. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

  “Are you related to him in some way?” Cam asks. “Maybe he’s a distant cousin or something?”

  My eyes widen as he says that.

  “I know where I know him from,” I say.

  “Where?” Austin asks, sitting forward.

  “I was six when my parents got divorced. I had a pretty hard time with it. Harder than my older brother did,” I say. “My mom, I guess, was trying to make up for it, so she threw me this huge birthday party when I turned seven. It was incredible. One of my favorite boy bands even came to sing. But I remember that man... Zach Stone... he was there. He was talking to my mom. Maybe even fighting with her. I’m not sure. But I remember him looking at me. And then my dad came, saw him, and they got into a fight. My dad ended up in the pool and I don’t know what happened to Zach. He disappeared and I never saw him again. But it was one of those things that you just don’t forget about, yo
u know? I hadn’t thought about it in years though.”

  The boys all look at each other, curious looks on their faces.

  “Maybe my mom had an affair with him,” I say. “I mean, I don’t know why my parents got divorced. I’ve never asked. All I know is that it broke my dad’s heart. He just recently got remarried, a year and a half ago.”

  “Maybe,” Dylan says. “But if he had an affair with your mom, I still don’t see why he would be interested in you.”

  I shrug.

  “Do you think she’s having another affair with him,” Cam asks.

  “Hey, I don’t know if she had an affair the first time. But, no. I don’t think she would do that. Not to Brad. He truly is the love of her life,” I say. “Besides, it would crush Chloe and Charlotte. She wouldn’t do that to them.”

  “But she did it to you and your brother,” Austin says.

  “It’s not that,” I say, raising my voice slightly. “There has to be another explanation. I just... have to figure it out. Until then, let’s forget we had this conversation. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” the five say together.

  It’s too much to even think about my family falling apart for a second time, especially when it seems like everybody is happy right now.

  I really hope my mom isn’t cheating on Brad.

  Regret.

  “Hey, are you okay?” Stefan asks, jogging to catch up with me.

  I haven’t talked a lot today, not even to the guys. I don’t know what to say. I wonder what they must think of me and my family. Really, we’re not bad. Lots of people have divorced parents. It’s just; my parents’ lives tend to be broadcast more than most.

  I’m also worried about my little sisters—I don’t want them to go through what Jason and I did. Having your parents get divorced sucks. Especially when you have to choose which house to go to at Christmas, Thanksgiving, and summer.

  “I’m fine,” I say.

  He grabs my arm, not hard, but it’s enough to make me stop and turn to look at him. My heart stammers when I look into his dark green eyes.