The Institute

by Kayla Howarth

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  They throw a party for us in the cafeteria, which I find quite weird. Some really sad-looking decorations are put out, and everyone from our class is here. All Chad and I want to do is go see Tate. We won’t be able to while we’re out in the field, so I want to spend as much time with him as possible. But we’re stuck in here, being congratulated by everyone and being toasted by Mr. Brookfield; he’s actually made an appearance. I haven’t seen him since that first day of training when Lynch and he … I shudder at the memory.

  Shilah’s across the room, standing with some other kids. He’s avoiding me on purpose. For here we are celebrating the fact that I’m doing what I would not allow him to choose to do. I don’t know why he’s angry at me though, he got his way. He’s still being trained, and he has his own apartment, thanks to me, but I can’t get into that with him again. We’ll just go around in circles again. I should talk to him. But here? In front of everyone? He’ll kill me if I embarrass him.

  No. I have to do it. I’m going to swallow my pride and make nice with Shilah.

  “I really wish someone here had a bravery ability,” I say to Chad.

  He gestures at Shilah with a nod. “You going to go talk to him?”

  “I was thinking about it.”

  “You probably should. Once we get sent out, who knows when we’ll be back.”

  As I make my way over there, my eyes tear up before I even reach him. What is wrong with me? I hope I’m not reverting to the blubbering mess I was before I was arrested.

  Shilah and I don’t exchange words. We just hug.

  But I have to apologise. “I’m sorry—”

  “Don’t. Don’t say it,” Shilah interrupts, “You don’t need to.” He pulls away from me. “Do you know when you’re leaving yet?”

  “Not yet. It could be a couple of days, maybe a few weeks. They haven’t really told us anything.”

  “They’re good at that, aren’t they?”

  I smile when he says this. Maybe there’s hope for him yet.

  “What about him?” He gestures to Chad. “Are you going to be close when you’re out?”

  “Don’t know that yet either. I doubt it, I think we’ll be teamed up with experienced partners.”

  “That’s a shame, I like you with him a lot better than with Drew. That guy is such a ... well, you know.”

  “That’s for sure, but I can tell you with complete honesty, Chad and I are just friends.”

  “Ha, if you say so. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. I see the way he’s looking at you right now.”

  He’s looking at me? I turn to look, but Chad is looking in the complete opposite direction.

  “Nothing may be happening between you two, but you just proved you want it to.” He smirks as I punch him in the arm.

  “You’re an ass.”

  This just makes him laugh even more. “Oh, he’s coming over here,” he says.

  “Yeah, I’m going to believe that,” I say sarcastically. I’m not going to look.

  “No, really, he is.”

  “Uh-huh, sure. You just want me to turn around so you can rub it in that I like him.”

  There’s a hand on my hip and a breath in my ear. The heat from Chad’s body warms my back. “Do you think anyone will notice if we escape? I want to go see Tate, do you want to come?”

  I’m absolutely mortified. Shilah’s laughing, and my face is burning.

  “Umm, sure.” We start to walk out, but as I pass Shilah, I kick him in his shin. He’s still laughing even though he’s jumping around in pain now.

  “So the talk went well then?” Chad says as we get into the elevator.

  “Oh, the whole kicking him thing? He deserved it.” I really hope he doesn’t ask me why.

  “Well, at least it didn’t look like you were fighting, so that’s a good thing, right?”

  “Yeah, I think he’s finally coming around.”

  We reach Tate’s cell, and as soon as he sees us, he knows. “You guys passed your tests, didn’t you,” he says as more of a statement than a question.

  “Yeah, we did,” Chad replies. He leans up against the cell door, which the guard has left open for us.

  Tate sighs. “Well that’s good, right? Come here then.” He walks over to me, giving me a hug.

  Tate and I sit down on his bed and lean our backs against the wall. This has become our regular spot for our chats lately. All three of us are silent; none of us really knows what to say.

  “Well, this isn’t goodbye yet,” Chad says. “We don’t know when we’ll be leaving, stop being so sad.”

  Tate and I don’t move. We just keep our heads down. It’s hard to know I won’t be seeing both of them every day.

  “Ugh, well, if you’re both going to be all mopey, I’m going to go back upstairs.”

  Chad leaves, and Tate and I are silent for a while, even in our thoughts. It feels good just being in his company. We don’t need to talk.

  ‘It’s going to be weird not seeing you every day, kid.’

  I know what you mean. But I’ll be back, I promise.