“I wasn’t going to leave it at the park.”
I turned on my phone, it still had a tiny bit of charge in it. There were a million messages and missed calls. I turned it off again, not wanting to know what I had missed. “Thank you for holding onto it for me.”
He shrugged. “I only rifled through it a few times.” His grin told me he was joking – I think.
“Well, I hope you had fun with my tampons.”
“More like used your credit cards to buy up a storm online.”
I gave him a slap on the arm for his teasing. “The jokes on you, my dad pays that bill. I’m sure he’d like to introduce you to his gun collection.”
“You don’t scare me, Jones. Now, what kind of a movie do you want?” He asked as he flicked through his collection.
“Anything, you choose.” It was a risky choice, he would probably play something violent and full of testosterone. I figured I probably wouldn’t be paying attention to it anyway. Not with my thoughts whirling around in my head like a tornado.
He popped in the DVD and settled next to me on the lounge. I snuggled up closer, overcompensating for my betraying thoughts. The movie titles came up – he had chosen my favorite. “You remembered.”
“You seem like you need cheering up,” he shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal. Except it was a big deal, he remembered my favorite movie. I only mentioned it once in passing, I never expected him to remember.
I cuddled into his side, not wanting to leave anymore. I had everything I needed right there, I didn’t need things to be easy. Hopefully I would feel the same when I saw Garrick.
I didn’t have long to wait. When the movie was finished, it was close to midnight. Both Lochie and I were nodding off.
“You don’t have to go, you can take the bed,” Lochie offered as I made a move toward the door. He held up his hands. “I promise to keep my hands to myself.”
It was tempting, but I didn’t want to be away from the trailer in case we got the call from our leaders. I needed to be able to move quickly and do whatever they told us to. That could include packing up and disappearing with Kyle somewhere.
I interlocked my hands with Lochie’s, our fingers entwining. I leaned in close as if about to reveal a secret. “If I could stay, I wouldn’t want you to keep your hands to yourself.”
A smile spread across his lips. I gave him a kiss before he could say anything. Chances were, if he said something I might lose my resolve to go. I turned around and left Lochie with a stupid grin on his face.
The drive back to the trailer was much better than the one there had been. My head was clearer. I would figure things out with Garrick so we could remain friends. I would make it work, I was determined.
The tin box was in darkness when I arrived. Garrick must have stayed at Kyle’s house. At least I could delay having the difficult conversation with him until morning. Some space was probably a good idea.
I bustled inside, turning on the light and wondering if I could be bothered to take a shower. The bathroom block seemed too far and morning was only a few more hours away. There was no debate really, I’d just fall into bed.
“Turn the light off.” Garrick’s voice gave me a heart attack. I didn’t notice him in the second bed.
“Sorry,” I whispered, trying to slow my heartbeat down. I flicked off the lights and felt my way back to my bed. Beside taking my shoes off, I left everything else where it was. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
I didn’t dream all night, which was probably a good thing. My brain was sick of thinking and needed some alone time. When I woke up, I crept out of the trailer and got ready in the shower block.
When I returned to our box, Garrick was holding up my cell phone. “Kyle called. The leaders got back to him and now he wants to see us as soon as we can get there.”
“I’m ready when you are,” I replied. At least talking about something else meant we didn’t have to talk about what happened yesterday. That was a small mercy. Maybe if we remained distracted enough, we wouldn’t have to discuss it at all.
“Give me a minute to shower, I’ll meet you in the car,” Garrick said as he pushed past me. So that’s how we were going to play it, he was going to be mad at me and I was going to pretend he wasn’t. Good to know.
I searched around in the trailer for the car keys, not remembering where they had ended up the previous night. I eventually found them on the unused stove. I locked up and waited in the VW, like a good girl.
Garrick joined me, smelling like soap, and we hurried across town to Kyle’s house. The silence in the car was deafening. I dreaded Garrick bringing up our kiss but, on the other hand, it would have been a relief to talk about it too. I wished we could fast forward to having had the discussion and agreeing to move on amicably as friends. I guessed life didn’t work that way.
“Hey, guys,” Kyle greeted us happily. When he only got a few grumbles in reply, he took his enthusiasm down a few notches. “What’s up with you two?”
“Nothing,” I replied, refusing to look at Garrick. “You said you got a reply?”
Kyle nodded. “Come listen for yourself.” He rushed through to the spare bedroom with all the equipment. We followed quickly behind, desperate to know what they said.
He clicked a few buttons and the loud, deep voice of our leader started playing. “We have established contact with the Department. A meeting will be held in project headquarters at ten a.m. on the seventh. Members Amery and Garrick will attend. Satellite, you must remain undetected and will therefore not attend. Amnesty has been assured to ensure no harm will come to members Amery and Garrick. They will be free to leave after the discussions. You must inform them of Protocol Eleven. Over.”
Garrick and I were to meet with the Department? Us? Of all the things I had been expecting, that definitely wasn’t one of them. Kyle played the message a few more times for us so we could remember every word.
“What are the chances the Department will let us walk free?” Garrick asked skeptically. I was right there with him. Once in the Department’s hands, there was no way they would let us go at the end of the meeting. If there really was a meeting in the first place. The whole thing felt like nothing but a trap to me.
“If that’s what they’ve agreed with our leaders,” Kyle started. “Then that is what they must do.”
“Yeah, just like continuing on with the project?” I added. “Just like protecting us? They’ll say anything to get what they want. The moment we are inside the Department gates they will take us back to the complex. We’ll spend the rest of our short lives in the dungeons.”
“No, you won’t. Our leaders know what they are doing, they wouldn’t risk your lives like that.”
“They don’t know us,” Garrick yelled, his frustrations bubbling to the surface. “We’re a number to the leaders, we’re a chess piece they can move around the board. If they really trusted the Department, they would send you.”
Kyle stared at us, back and forth, while taking a few deep breaths. Garrick and I did the same but I don’t think it was working. There was nothing coursing through my body except sheer panic.
“You’re not just numbers,” Kyle finally spoke quietly. “You don’t remember the day you were all handed over to the Department, but I do. All the parents were crying, mothers were screaming that they’d changed their minds, relatives were trying to comfort them. Everyone made sacrifices for the project. You have never just been numbers to our people, not even for a minute. You were our hope for the future.”
“They really cried?” I asked, taken aback. I had always imagined the scene in my head as a casual thing. Mothers handing over babies and just being okay with it, like it was their unquestionable duty.
“I don’t think the tears ever dried up.”
I stole a glance at Garrick. He was looking at the ground. “Can you tell us more about our planet?” I continued. If I was going to sacrifice my freedom and life for Trucon, I wanted answers about who I was doing it f
or.
Kyle nodded and gestured for us to sit down. I took a seat but Garrick remained standing, as still as a statue. “It’s a lot like Earth, in a way. The people live freely, they farm, they go to work, they have families. The main difference is they live with the asteroid looming in the distance. They know their time is limited so they try to enjoy what time they have.”
“Do they have televisions or phones?”
“We have a lot of technology there. Our phones are videos, our televisions are what you would know as a hologram. We have the same things, they’re just different.”
“Do you know my parents?” I bit my lip as I waited for the answer.
“Not specifically, no. But I do know all the parents of a project member look forward to the day when they come to Earth and can be reunited with their children.” Kyle gave me a warm smile. “Everyone talks about it with excitement. Some are counting down the years.”
“What’s Protocol Eleven?” Garrick asked all of a sudden. “If we’re going to do this, then we’re going to need to know.”
A hint of a smile passed over Kyle’s lips. He pulled out a manual from a nearby bookcase. Flicking through the pages, he located the chapter titled ‘Protocol Eleven’. Funny enough, it was right between Protocols Ten and Twelve. I wondered how many Protocols were actually in the thick book, there looked to be hundreds.
“This Protocol deals with negotiations and the tactic you must stick to. It’s vital you get this right, you’re representing the entire population of Trucon now,” Kyle explained. If he was trying to freak us out, he was doing a great job of it. I could feel the entire future of the planet resting firmly on my shoulders. At least Garrick was taking half of the weight.
The Protocol was in English, which was a start, but it could have been Latin for the level of difficulty it was to understand. Whomever had written it, obviously didn’t have seventeen year olds without law degrees in mind to actually enact it.
Kyle made a copy of the pages, using nothing but his hand and a piece of paper to do it. With a wave of his fingers, the ink seemed to imprint on the paper, creating a perfect replica. He could save the world millions in photocopying.
He gave us the copies and told us to study non-stop between now and the seventh. If we had any questions, he was available twenty-four hours a day for us. While it was good knowing Kyle was there to help, he wouldn’t be accompanying us into the Department and that was the scariest thing.
Garrick and I drove back to the trailer, planning on following orders. The problem was, all I could think about was not seeing any of my friends and family again. I fully expected the Department to go back on their word and detain us the moment we stepped through their doors. The last thing I wanted to do was spend my last week of freedom studying.
I pulled out my cell phone while Garrick drove. “What are you doing?” He asked, flicking his eyes back and forth between the road and me. It was the first thing he had said to me since leaving Kyle’s.
“I’m calling my parents, I want to see them.”
“Why? You can’t tell them what’s going on. They’ll tell the Department.” Panic filtered through in his voice. I couldn’t believe he still didn’t trust my parents, even after they had helped us. If they had snitched to the Department, Agents would have found us by now.
“I want to see them before the meeting,” I explained calmly, rationally. “If I’m not going to come back from the Department, I don’t want to have not said goodbye to them.”
I listened for further arguments and pressed their number in. I was listening to the rings as Garrick muttered. “Don’t tell them anything.”
I waved his concerns away as my dad came on the line. I arranged for the meeting, being extra careful about what I said. I was all too aware of Garrick listening in on every word I said and analyzing them.
When I hung up, I held out the phone. “Do you want to speak with your parents too?”
He shook his head. “No, I really don’t.”
He sighed, probably thinking I was a complete baby for wanting to run home to my parents before the meeting. I didn’t care though, I still wanted to see them.
By the time we were back at the trailer and inside, the silence was deafening. Garrick and I obviously weren’t on speaking terms anymore. Which kind of made it difficult to work together on the meeting.
After almost an hour of the cold shoulder, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Are you ever going to talk to me again?”
“We’re talking now, aren’t we?” He shot back, coldness in his voice. I wondered if it was my actions after his kiss that had caused it. Guilt plagued me, but what did he expect? I was taken by surprise, it wasn’t like I expected it to happen. I didn’t have time to think about it like he did.
“Can we talk about what happened yesterday?” I asked, trying to be the mature one. My mom always told me to confront a problem head on, you didn’t let them linger or they tended to grow. She was actually talking about my arguing with Lochie at the time, but I’m sure it translated to here too.
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
“You kissed me.”
“So?”
It was like talking to a three year old. Except, a three year old would probably actually tell me the problem eventually. I got the feeling Garrick could play the game all day long. “You asked me to choose you.”
“And you thought I was serious?”
I scaled my memory bank, replaying second-by-second what had happened. Garrick had grabbed my arm, kissed me, and then asked me to stay with him. There was nothing teasing or insincere in his eyes then. Yet, looking at him now, they were just empty. It was official, I was completely confused.
CHAPTER 18
“Right,” I started, sarcastically. “Because you go around kissing people all the time for a laugh. Like I believe that.”
Garrick’s eyes shot up to meet mine. They flashed with something – anger? Hurt? I couldn’t decipher it. “It happens.”
“I’m sure it doesn’t.”
“What do you want from me?” Garrick asked. “Because you made it pretty clear what you wanted before.”
“I got it wrong, you were joking. Because if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be speaking like that to me now.” I got up, unable to sit down any longer next to him. If he could be hurt and angry, then so could I. I hadn’t done anything to cause the current situation, it was all Garrick. He was the one who had kissed me, he was the one who wouldn’t talk through it with me. It was all on him.
I stormed out of the trailer and slammed the door behind me. The air inside was too stuffy, I couldn’t breathe in there. I needed to be on the move and if I had to read through Protocol Eleven one more time today, I would go crazy.
Normally when I was that upset, all I wanted to do was speak with one person. She would listen to everything I had to say, offer some advice and, above all, she wouldn’t judge me. I rushed for the car and got in, I didn’t stop until I was parked outside Lola’s house.
I knocked and waited impatiently, trying to get Garrick from under my skin. He was such an infuriating guy. The funny thing was I used to like him so much because it was easy to be around him. Now, it was anything but easy.
Lola’s dad answered the door. “Hi, Mr. Newell, is Lola home?”
“She’s in her room, go on through,” he smiled at me warmly as I stepped inside. I didn’t need help finding her bedroom, I had spent practically half my teenage years at the house.
The door was open, I could see a glimpse of two bodies sitting on the floor. I recognized Lola’s black sneakers but not the other pair. It wasn’t until I was at the door that I saw Asher sitting across from her. They both looked up when I knocked.
“Amery!” Lola exclaimed as she jumped up and threw her arms around me. I hugged her back tightly, remembering how much I treasured her friendship. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see you,” I replied. Asher joined us, looking at me pointedly. He probably wan
ted to make sure I wasn’t going to tell Lola about his hobby of hacking into federal computers. “Hey, Asher.” I almost called him Captain Roberts, it was going to be difficult to forget his online persona now.
“Hey,” he said casually. “I’ll leave you two alone, I’m sure you’ve got stuff to talk about.” He kissed Lola on the cheek before leaving. “I’ll call you later.”
Lola didn’t waste any time in pulling me into the room and closing the door firmly behind us. We sat on the bed and she looked at me expectantly. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“Tell me what’s going on! Your parents said the Department were looking after you.”
“They didn’t say anything else?” She shook her head. “A lot has gone on. Do you really want all the details?”
“Naturally,” Lola said, grinning. God, I missed her. I took a deep breath and started at the beginning. The only things I left out were all the gory details with Garrick and Asher’s help with obtaining the Department’s files. She kept interrupting with gasps and questions, but I eventually got to the end.
She stared at me wide-eyed. “That all really happened?”
“Yeah, crazy, huh?”
“Insane. It makes my life sound boring.”
I grabbed her hands. “Now it’s your turn, tell me everything about what’s going on with you. Start with all the details on Asher.”
“He’s been so good,” she gushed. “The band is amazing and I get to hang out with him all the time. He’s got this super sexy guitar god thing going on. I swear, sometimes I forget the lyrics because I’m staring at him.”
“Please tell me he’s treating you like a princess.”
She nodded happily, a stupid grin across her face – the kind only love struck fools wear. “He’s my Romeo and I’m his Juliette. It’s perfect, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
I couldn’t help but notice she was wearing decidedly less black than she used to. I guessed her emo phase was coming to an end. I wondered what the next one would be? Indy rock goddess? It seemed possible.
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