Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

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Project Integrate Series Boxed Set Page 87

by Campbell, Jamie


  “So any time one of you aliens commits a crime you’re going to run off into space? That’s ludicrous.”

  “Gentleman.” Another voice, one I knew. Agent Schroder, the head of the Department, and the former head of Project Integrate. “Let’s agree that both parties could have acted more admirably and move on. I do not wish to sit here all night and listen to you go back and forth. What’s done is done. We need to focus on making sure this isn’t going to happen again.”

  I could imagine both Krom and the police guy huffing out angry breaths inside. Unless they were on the ground throwing a tantrum like a toddler, that was equally as possible.

  “Do I need to remind you, Schroder, that the eyes of the world are watching us closely,” the policeman said pointedly. “We cannot let these aliens walk all over us.”

  Even though everybody in the waiting area was pretending to be bored, I knew everyone was listening in. Lochie was beside me, completely still. Garrick, Lola, Kyle, and Roch were exactly the same. It was hard not to overhear when they were all yelling.

  “I know exactly what is at stake here, Captain. Which is why we all need to ensure we make the right decisions.”

  “Finally, someone with some sense,” Krom said.

  “Don’t talk to me about sense. You’ve made a fool out of our entire police force and justice system.”

  “You did a good enough job of that.”

  “Hey, soda pop.” Rob sat down beside me, startling my frayed nerves. I hadn’t heard or seen him approach as I was enthralled in the argument. “Reception said you were up here.”

  “Rob, hey.”

  “I heard you went for an intergalactic space ride.”

  “I did. I saw my home planet.”

  He nodded thoughtfully. “And what did you think?”

  “It was… different. I prefer it here.”

  “I prefer you here too, I can make sure you stay out of trouble,” Rob joked. At least, I hoped it was only a joke. I didn’t have the best track record lately. “I’m glad you got to see Trucon, though. You don’t have to wonder what it’s like anymore.”

  That was the best part. When someone talked about Trucon now, I knew exactly what they meant. It was more than most of the other project members could say.

  I bumped him with my shoulder. “So, I take it I have you to thank for being able to come home?”

  A look of shock crossed his face, but I thought for sure it was just put on. “What makes you think that?”

  “Because if someone from the Department worked out who really killed that poor girl, it had to be you.” I’d had a lot of time to think about it on the way home, and the more I did, the more I was certain the agent who solved the murder had to be Rob. No-one else really cared enough about the former project members. Garrick’s old case officer certainly didn’t. Most probably he wouldn’t even work on the investigation if given the choice.

  He held up his hands like he was giving up. “Fine, it was me. You can shower me with your everlasting gratitude.”

  “Thank you.” I draped my arm around his shoulders and gave him a squeeze. “We’re all really grateful.”

  “Just another day on the job,” Rob said humbly. I owed Rob a lot of gratitude for everything he had done for me over the past few months. “I’ll catch you later.”

  We listened to the arguments for another hour before we were invited into the meeting room. Kyle spoke for us, recounting exactly what we had done and where we had gone. The police captain made snide comments the entire time he did.

  After that we were allowed to go home. I rode again with my parents and Garrick in a van while the rest travelled in another car. The agents were going to drive everyone back to their respective homes. I didn’t know where Roch lived, I wasn’t sure if he even resided in Portview. I wondered if he kept the keys to the spaceship hanging on a hook in his kitchen. The thought brought a smile to my lips.

  Being home was wonderful. There really was nowhere in the world like your own home. I took a shower and got into my favorite comfy pajamas. They were bright pink, so much more colorful than any of the clothes on Trucon.

  I curled up on the lounge in the living room with ice cream topped with whipped cream – my adoptive mom’s specialty. I could have died over how good it tasted.

  My adoptive dad was sitting beside me with a bowl of his own as we watched the news. Garrick’s murder trial was no longer the headline news. But the new one was almost as bad.

  “I thought people were getting used to us being here,” I commented. The newsreader was lamenting on the recent anti-alien protests. They were getting more violent by the day, apparently.

  “They were. But then the murder happened,” Dad said sadly before going straight into agent mode. “The Originals have taken advantage of the situation and are recruiting more and more people. They now have quite the political sway with their numbers.”

  “But Garrick has been proven innocent so their argument is moot.”

  “It doesn’t matter to them. In their opinion, even if it wasn’t an alien this time, it will be next time. They are saying it’s inevitable the Truconians show their real colors eventually.”

  Anger was burning, building up inside me and threatening to shoot steam out of my ears. “How do we even argue against that? We can’t disprove something that might happen in the future.”

  “Which is exactly why they’re doing it,” Dad finished, using his spoon to punctuate.

  Something horrible occurred to me, making a knot in the pit of my stomach. “The government is going to do whatever it needs to do to stay in favor with the people, isn’t it?”

  Dad nodded slowly. “That’s what we’re afraid of. There are a lot more humans than aliens.”

  “All our work could be for nothing.”

  “If the Originals get their way. I’ll give them this, they’re a crafty bunch. Who needs swords and weapons when you’ve got political power?”

  We both fell into silence. My excitement at being home was vanishing rapidly. We were far from being integrated. It seemed we were going in the opposite direction and a greater divide was formed between us and the humans. It shouldn’t have been like that. If it wasn’t for the Originals, it wouldn’t be like that. They were ruining everything.

  If they were continuing to put more and more pressure on the government, there had to come a time when they caved. Why risk your term in office to save a few hundred thousand aliens when you could make an example out of them instead and guarantee your re-election?

  Depressed, I dragged myself to my bedroom. However two faces appeared at my door before I could climb into bed. “Come in,” I told my birth parents. They were both grinning like fools as they sat on the bench under the window.

  “You look so well, little bug,” Mom started. I loved it when she called me little bug. “I thought the trip might have tired you out.”

  “It wasn’t so bad in the spaceship,” I replied. Although, I wasn’t going to volunteer to go for another ride in it anytime soon. “It sounds like things were worse here than on Trucon.”

  “Makes a change, huh?” Dad joked. “What did you think of our planet?”

  “It wasn’t what I imagined it would be like. But I’m really glad I got to see where you lived, where I came from. I saw your house.”

  “You did?” Mom asked.

  “I did. How did you live without windows?” It might have only been a small thing, but I still couldn’t believe how much we took windows for granted. Seriously, they were fantastic.

  “We had lights, they did the work of windows,” Dad explained.

  “You must have thought Earth was very different when you first came here. Were you worried about it?”

  They both nodded eagerly. It was Mom who replied. “It was a lot to take in. But we had been given classes about Earth so we knew what to expect. They were mandatory and had to be passed before getting a ticket to leave. We were taught how humans spoke and how they interacted. We were shown many
pictures and played videos. Our leaders prepared us as much as they could.”

  “They did a really good job,” I conceded. “Knowing what you came from, I would never have guessed it was so different there.”

  Dad grinned. “The scenery is very beautiful here. I think one of my favorite things is grass. I love walking around in the backyard with no shoes on here. It’s very luxurious.”

  I returned his smile because I could completely understand what he was talking about. After living all their lives in an ashen landscape, grass would certainly seem a lot different. A tiny spark of hope ignited in me, hoping we would be able to live together more harmoniously now we could understand each other better. If only they’d love Lochie like I did.

  We talked for a while longer before they tucked me into bed and let me sleep. As I lay there, I half-expected to hear tapping at the window from Lochie wanting to come inside. But everything was quiet. I guessed he was probably as tired as I was and wanted to stay in his own bed. I missed him though.

  I drifted off to sleep alone.

  CHAPTER 19

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was like I had awoken and was living in the twilight zone or something. I sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast, almost choking on my cereal.

  “Are you serious?” I asked. It was only Garrick and I in the room, thank goodness. My parents didn’t need to hear this.

  “What’s so weird about wanting to hang out with Ella?” He asked innocently. We had just had a full five minute conversation about how he was thinking of asking Ella out on a date now his murder charge was no longer hanging over his head.

  “You didn’t like her before.”

  “I never said that.” He might not have said the words, but Garrick had made it clear he wasn’t interested in her. I was still waiting to be convinced his mind had magically changed over the last few weeks.

  “You didn’t have to,” I pointed out. “What’s changed?”

  “Nothing. Can’t I like a girl? We had fun at her party, I thought it might be nice to get to know her better.” He shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal.

  I eyed him suspiciously. “You’re not going to just hook up with her, are you? Because I’m not going to get involved in that.” Surely it was a fair enough question considering his previous one night stand with what’s-her-name.

  “I don’t want to just hook up. Dinner, a movie, maybe. A date, if you will.”

  “Date, singular?”

  Knowing Garrick had been subjected to interrogations from the Department, Krom, and the Portview Police Department, he actually seemed pretty nervous under my questioning. Maybe I had a future in law after all. “Multiple dates, if they go well.”

  I munched on my cereal while I studied him, trying to work out what had changed since Ella’s party when he declared he didn’t want anything to do with her afterwards. The real killer had been caught and we’d been to Trucon. That was a lot to happen but it wasn’t like Garrick’s love life was involved. Unless you counted his one night stand, which I didn’t.

  Then it hit me, something had changed. Garrick had made it clear to me on several occasions that he had feelings for me. He once asked me to choose between him and Lochie. It was heartbreaking to hurt him. It broke my heart again every time I thought about the feelings I couldn’t reciprocate.

  Nothing between Lochie and I had changed, but Garrick had caught us the morning after we had spent the night together. The morning where it was painfully clear what we had been up to together.

  It was the only explanation I could come up with for Garrick’s sudden interest in Ella. Perhaps he was ready to move on. I couldn’t be happier about it. He deserved to have a girl like Ella. She was all kinds of smitten with him, after all.

  “Will you just call her?” Garrick asked, interrupting my silent study.

  “Are you going to break her heart?”

  “Not unless she breaks mine first.” He smiled, I think that was supposed to be a joke. Garrick joking, another thing to blow my mind that morning.

  I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and started a new text message to Ella. “I’ll send her a message and see if she wants me to pass her number onto you. I can’t guarantee anything though, a lot could have happened in the past-” A reply text interrupted me. “Oh, okay, she’s keen.” I twisted around the phone so Garrick could take down the number. He did so eagerly.

  “Thanks, Ame,” Garrick said as he stood. He was already dialing before he left the kitchen. I wished I didn’t have such a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach about it. Hopefully my worrying would be for nothing.

  After I finished my breakfast and washed the dishes. I pulled out my cell again, this time to call Lochie and see what he was doing. It had been less than twenty-four hours since I had seen him and I missed him already. When had I become such a sap? I blamed him for that too. He’d turned me into a love struck soppy sap.

  Knock knock knock.

  Everyone seemed to be deaf to the door knocking except me. I hurried into the foyer. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it,” I said sarcastically to no-one in particular. I don’t think anyone was listening to me anyway. My parents were wrapped up in some deep conversation together. I hoped they weren’t plotting something.

  As I opened the door, Lola was there. She wasn’t the happy little abductee I had last seen. Her eyes were red raw from crying, the tears still wetting her cheeks. She sniffled, not even needing to say a word.

  I pulled her into the house and hugged her tight. It didn’t matter what was upsetting her, only that she was upset. I let her sob into my shoulder for as long as she needed.

  When she managed to straighten up again, she also managed to choke out some words. “Asher… broke up… with me.”

  “Oh, honey, no.” I took her hand and guided her into the kitchen. It was devastating that Lolasher was no longer a couple “Can I get you some water or a cup of tea or something?” She shook her sad little head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  She slumped into the seat Garrick had occupied only ten minutes earlier. I handed her a tissue and she blew her nose. “I thought being away from him might have helped us. You know? I thought a few weeks would give him time to miss me and realize how great what we had was.”

  “I’m sure he did miss you,” I replied. I couldn’t imagine Asher without Lola anymore. They had become a set pair, like salt and pepper or chips and dip.

  “He didn’t miss me. You know what he did?” She looked at me like I really should know. I shook my head uselessly. “He went to L.A. He didn’t even wait for me to get back. I turned up at his house and his mom had to explain he wasn’t there. His mom.” She wailed the last few words.

  My hand covered over hers to try to offer her some comfort. Not that there was anything I could do or say to make her feel any better. It would have been horrible to be expecting to see your boyfriend only to be told he had run off to do the thing you were planning on doing together.

  I couldn’t help but feel partly responsible for her pain. If she hadn’t spent weeks in Trucon, if she hadn’t missed Rockapalooza, I could write a list a mile long of ifs.

  “This would never have happened if I didn’t drag you to Trucon,” I admonished.

  Lola quickly shook her head. “It’s got nothing to do with that. That was my decision, remember? You had nothing to do with it.”

  We settled into silence. I grappled for words that would bring her comfort but came up short. There was only one thing I could think of. “Maybe he meant that you would join him in L.A.?” I suggested hopefully.

  “I called him. He doesn’t want me there,” she moaned. There goes that idea. “He said we needed to find our way separately. That if we were going to be serious musicians, we had to live before we settled down.”

  “It’s not like you were going to get married.”

  “I know, right?” She wiped at her eyes angrily. “I hate being this girl. The one who cries over her boyfriend because she can�
�t live without him. It’s ridiculous.”

  “It’s okay to be hurt, you loved him.”

  “But I don’t want to need him. I want to be fine without him.”

  “You are fine without him,” I stated. “Look how great you were on Trucon. You voluntarily went to another planet, you took it all in your stride. You are so much stronger than you think you are, Lola. Seriously, you don’t need him.”

  She blinked, taking in the information. “You really think so?”

  “Come on, you are Lola Newell. Enough said.”

  A faint hint of a smile crept across her lips. “I’m so glad you’re my best friend.”

  “So am I. Now, how about some ice cream? I’ve been led to believe that is the appropriate medication for a broken heart. To make it worse, I think it kind of works too.” She nodded and I went to the freezer, pulling out two bowls as I went. Ice cream and cereal went well together, right?

  Before I could open the freezer door, there was another knocking on the front door. I paused, waiting to hear footsteps pad toward the foyer. Apparently I was the only one who heard that too. “I’ll just grab the door,” I said as I crossed the kitchen.

  This time, our visitor was Lochie. I threw my arms around him, so much happier to see him than I wanted to admit. I seriously needed to reign in the affection or I’d turn into a real softy. His head was going to get too big for his body.

  “I was thinking about you before,” I said quietly, making sure Lola couldn’t overhear.

  “Good thoughts I hope.” He gave me a smile but it was tense, not the usual one. No dimples. Instantly, I was concerned.

  “Lola’s here. She and Asher have broken up.”

  “Oh, I won’t keep you. It’s-”

  “No, it’s okay. We can all help cheer her up.”

  He let my hands go and put his in his pockets. Something was up and I had a horrible feeling I wasn’t going to like whatever it was. He was hesitating, stalling, he didn’t want to say something. It was written all over his face.

 

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