“What is she talking about?” I looked at him and I couldn’t help but notice that he actually seemed guilty. I waited, but he would not respond to my question so I looked at her.
“Your friend here used to be one of our interns.” She opened a folder and took out some file that had his picture attached to it. “He worked with us last year until he stole something of great importance so we had to let him go,” she added and looked at both of us.
“What on earth is she talking about?” I asked again.
“I am sorry,” he told me and tried to grab my hand but I pulled away.
“Problem is that when we kicked him out, we thought he gave us everything back but he didn’t - he made a copy, that the frequent visits to the hospital confirm to have been exactly what we thought it was.”
“And what is that?” I asked because he didn’t seem to want to say a single word.
“A formula we had been developing, to cure cancer.” Those words always sound so incredible yet so far-fetched. “It is in no way perfected and it is not ready for human trials but your friend here has been experimenting on himself and you know that.” She grabbed his hand and rolled up his sleeve. It was all red and swollen, I have no idea I had not seen it before, I guess my eyes were elsewhere.
It felt so strange to find out that he had lied to me, no matter what his reasons were, I did not tolerate lying in any way, not at all. I felt so disappointed, lied to, I even felt like he had manipulated me.
“You lied to me.” I looked at him and I know he could see the tears in my eyes.
“Lana…,” he grabbed me by my shoulders “Everything I have told you has been true. The only thing I lied about is that I stole it, I have been trying to perfect it, I am so close.” He was trying to convince me that it was okay but it was not working.
“You aren’t close at all,” the woman said and shook her head. “You have gained certain abilities that make you sick; you have altered your DNA but in no way did you come closer to the cure of cancer.”
“That is not true!” He raised his voice.
“I have your research!” She raised hers as well. “I have gone through it twice, we have been there too, you’re not close, you’ve taken a wrong turn. It isn’t medicine yet, it is a toy that you are playing with, you’re playing with a dangerous toy.” I couldn’t take listening to more of this. I felt so disappointed that Troy had lied to me. I didn’t really want to talk with him, see him or have anything to do with this.
“I’d like to leave now,” I said and walked up to the door.
“Lana, wait!” he said while following me. “Don’t go, I didn’t mean to lie, I just couldn’t tell you I stole it, for your own good.” He was trying to convince me.
“I don’t care why you did it, I just know that you lied and that is all that matters to me right now.” I opened the door and walked out.
I couldn’t help the tears that were rolling down my cheeks, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, I felt stupid for trusting somebody I had just met and most of all I felt naive and betrayed. I was done dealing with him and trying to help him when he didn’t have the guts to admit to me that he had done something wrong.
Chapter 8
My feelings weren’t gone, not even by far. I still had a terrible feeling inside, I felt so disappointed I found it hard to even think about him. Two days had passed and I was ready to go back to lectures and possibly face him somewhere around the corridors. I had planned in my head what I would tell him if he asked me things, I had planned how I would react to seeing him, if I would even look at him.
When I went to the university it was fuller than ever before - I think everyone had finally decided to start going to lectures which was a good thing I guess, but the overcrowded hallways sure did not feel that good. I kept looking around in hopes of seeing Troy somewhere. I was playing a game, I wanted to see him just so I could ignore him and make him try to fix it. I wanted him to try to keep me in his life - I saw this as a test in a way.
Amalie and Jonas were sitting on a big round table in the cafeteria when I went in. I was starving so I went up to them as fast as I could.
“Hey, what are you eating?” I said looking at Amalie’s meal. I had forgotten to bring food and the line was so long that I couldn’t even imagine having to wait for the whole thing. I needed to eat right away.
“Okay, stop eyeing my food, you can have half of the sandwich.” she said and put it towards me as I sat down.
“Oh, thank you, my lord and savior,” I said and attacked the food, I was starving.
Everyone at the table was being oddly quiet, I was usually the one to start a topic but I was too occupied thinking about what had happened recently to have the energy to come up with ideas for a conversation.
“Why are you being so quiet?” Jonas asked.
“Ok guys...I went on a real date with Troy a few days ago,” I said and felt like I was starting to blush.
“Oh my god! How did it go?” Amalie was excited to know; she was on the edge of her seat. I wanted to tell her everything and cry in her arms so bad but I couldn’t. I had promised not to and even though he had lied to me I couldn’t live with myself if I broke a promise like that.
“It was amazing... But it’s over,” I said and put some food in my mouth so I didn’t have to talk.
“What...? Why?”
“He lied to me about something,” I replied, it was technically true.
“That’s it? People lie all the time, Jonas has lied to me a million times. What did he lie about?” Amalie was curious.
“I promised not to tell anyone so I can’t tell you.” luckily they were mature enough to understand that a promise should not be broken so they didn’t ask more questions about it.
“You know… people make mistakes, truth is that if you really like him, you shouldn’t let a small hiccup get in the way of your happiness.” Jonas made a lot of sense sometimes and that was one of the times he did. I was beginning to question my actions. Maybe I shouldn’t have left just like that. I had to see Troy and talk with him.
Just as I was about to text him and ask where he was a guy approached our table. He was quite attractive, super blonde and tall. A Scandinavian-like guy that I had seen before in Amalie’s class. He had never really talked with us before so him approaching us was odd.
“Hey, are you Lana?” he asked and looked at me. His expression seemed a bit worried.
“Yes?”
“I’m David, a friend of Troy’s. Have you seen him recently, the last time I heard of him was when he went out on a date with you.” He had told his friend about it?
“He told you?” I was a bit surprised, guys don’t seem to usually talk about girls much.
“Of course, he was super excited about it, I think he likes you,” he said with a smile.
“I haven’t seen him since then, no. Have you looked in the lab and checked his apartment and all?” I was just making sure.
“Yes, I’ve looked everywhere...It’s just odd that he has disappeared at this time.” he seemed worried again.
“Why is it so odd?”
“I hate saying this...,” he was hesitant to speak, “his mother died yesterday.” Everyone was suddenly quiet. I feel like the world stopped for a second, it was terrible to hear that and I could only imagine how Troy felt. He had worked so hard for so long to try to help her and that was over now.
“Oh my god, I am so sorry,” I said and looked down. “When is the funeral?” I had to be there for him no matter what.
“Nobody knows, as I said, I haven’t even seen Troy, I’ve only spoken with his aunt and she hasn’t seen him either.” It was odd how he had disappeared and a terrible thought crossed my mind. What if he wasn’t okay? Where was he?
“I’ll go look for him as well,” I said and grabbed my bag. I had no idea where to even start but I knew that I had to go back to the facility and check there. The thoughts crossing my mind were so terrible that I could only hope none of them were
true.
“Bye guys,” I said and headed towards the exit.
Chapter 9
When I got to the facility figuring out where the door was wasn’t easy. It was full of guards everywhere so when I went up I was stopped. They asked for my name and I had to wait for about ten minutes to actually get access in the building. When I did, I asked a girl at the reception to contact me with the most important person here who I imagined was the lady from the other day. I had to ask her if she knew where Troy was and I had a feeling she did know.
I waited another twenty minutes for us to come and when she did she didn’t seem surprised at all, in fact she seemed like she was expecting me.
“I was beginning to wonder if you’d come back,” she said without stopping, she expected me to walk after her and follow her so that is what I did.
“What is going on?” I asked while running behind her, she could really walk fast despite wearing high heels.
“You’re here for Troy, aren’t you?”
“Yes. “
“Well, I am taking you to him.” I felt a sense of relief that I had found him.
We took an elevator and a few short corridors and ended up in front of a room with the number 133. She stopped right before we entered and looked at me.
“Just, prepare yourself. You may not like the view,” she said and opened the door. The room looked just like a hospital room and at the end of it you could see Troy on a bed right next to the window.
“Oh my god, what’s wrong with him?” I asked and ran up to him. He was unconscious, pale and I felt so bad for what I had done, I should not have left.
“He agreed to have us help him get rid of the ...powers.”
“Why is he not awake?” she didn’t really give me a specific answer.
“We are waiting for the treatment to respond but it is taking a bit longer than usual.” I felt that terrible pain in my stomach. I was so worried about him I could start crying.
“Is he going to be okay?”
“We can’t really tell yet… he should be, but he is responding a bit differently than we expected.”
“What the hell did you expect? What if you kill him?” I was getting angry, what were they doing?
“Look, he agreed to it. He wants to be normal again,” she said and looked at me, her facial expression was telling me that she was also worried. “All you can do is wait,” she answered a question that I hadn’t even asked. I wanted to know if there was anything that I could do but there wasn’t.
I wasn’t ready to leave the facility, I wanted to hang around for a bit. The woman was called Jessica Brown and she was the head of this pharmaceutical company. They didn’t only make medicine, they also made experiments in different and innovative ways. I didn’t understand much because my science knowledge is limited but I knew they weren’t bad people. I had no idea how I would tell Troy about his mother when he would wake up but I really wanted him to do so.
Waiting on the couch in some big waiting room filled with vending machines and magazines for people to read reminded me a lot of a hospital. I called Troy’s friend David to inform him that Troy was okay and I had found him, when he asked where he was I just lied and said he was taking a shower at my place and I would have him call later. If he never woke up... My plan was to just finally be honest, but I couldn’t break my promise just yet by telling anybody about this.
It felt like the longest day in my life, I kept staring at my clock and time seemed to stop. I opened my book and tried to study a bit, I knew I wasn’t doing so well at university, I had a bad beginning and I would have to work way harder to be able to catch up and get good grades. I hated that I had let a situation get in the way of my goals and I hated the person I had been. I felt so guilty for leaving Troy behind, for getting so angry and letting him go, if he didn’t wake up I would never be able to forgive myself.
After an hour and a half or so I saw Jessica approaching me. I got up the couch and headed towards her as fast as I could have.
“Did he wake up?” I asked eagerly.
“I’m afraid not.” she said and shook her head. I could tell she was sorry and felt bad for what had happened even though in reality it was not really her fault. I admired how flawless she looked, she reminded me in a way of what I wanted to be - somebody who has things under control and works hard.
“Oh, I thought that is why you came here.”
“I just wanted to tell you to go home, we have your number, if he wakes up, I’ll just call you and let you know.” she was right, I had to go home because I wasn’t really helping in any way and I had work to do
.
I took her advice and went back home, I had to catch up on university work and try to distract myself a bit. I felt the stress all over my body - I was constantly tired and worn out, even something as simple as getting off the couch felt impossible.
Chapter 10
I was waiting around the phone all evening and then all night with no luck. I didn’t get a phone call and my hope was slowly dying. The next day I had to spend at home because I knew that if I met anybody I knew at all they would ask me about Troy and I had no idea what I was supposed to tell them. I had about twenty missed calls but I was still hiding, I needed to give him some more time before spilling everything out in the open.
Despite being kind of a douchebag move, I am glad I did what I did because around noon I actually got that phone call - he had woken up.
I went back to the facility as fast as I could. When I got there Jessica met me and led me to his room. She seemed so relieved, I imagine she had also just dodged a bullet - they would have gotten so many questions from everywhere if he had died.
“How is he doing?” I asked her while walking.
“Surprisingly fine, no sign of anything at all, I think he can go home by the end of the day,” she said and smiled to me.
“And the powers?” I asked.
“All seem to be gone, no sign of any of them,” she said as we just got to the room. Before entering I wondered a few times how he would react, what if he was mad that I had left? The only way I could find out was by going inside.
When I went in he looked better than I imagined. He had color in his cheek and he just seemed more alive than ever. It was like looking at a different person. He looked healthier than all those other times and even more beautiful than before - I didn’t think that was possible.
“Lana,” he said and got off the bed and ran off to hug me. I loved finally being in his arms again, it was like being in heaven, he smelled like his cologne even though he had been here for days, I could recognize him by his lovely scent. “I thought you left,” he continued and would not let go of the hug.
“I did, but I came back,” I said while doing my part of the hug and holding him as tight as I could.
“Thank you,” he was so happy to see me I had no idea how I would tell him the bad news. When he let go of the hug he looked at me and he noticed my worried face expression.
“What’s wrong?” he asked while holding my hand.
“I…,” I couldn’t say those words. I couldn’t be the person he would remember having told him that for the rest of his life.
“Lana, you’re scaring me…,” he saw that my eyes were tearing up and I knew I had to just do it, he deserved to know as soon as possible.
“I don’t know how to say it…,” I really did not, nothing seemed appropriate.
“Just tell me, please…,” he held my hands and I knew he wouldn’t let go. I took a deep breath and I tried to get the courage that I needed to give him the terrible news.
“Your mother has passed away; I am so sorry.” I looked at him and waited for a reaction, I waited and the time seemed to have stopped. His expression completely changed, it was blank. He looked like he had just frozen and he would not say a thing. “Please, say something,” I continued.
“I… knew this would happen,” that was really not what I expected but it was better than silence. “I’ve been ex
pecting this for months, she lived for way longer than the doctors said.” I saw a tear roll down his eye, I was somewhat glad to see him cry, it was the most natural response in the world to such news.
“I’m sorry…,” I said and hugged him.
“So am I…,” he managed to say through his tears. I kept holding him tight because I knew it was what he needed in that moment, I held him and I tried to make him feel like I wasn’t going anywhere because I really wasn’t. I was there to stay for as long as he wanted me to - I loved him. I never ever saw tears as a sign of weakness, I thought it was good that he had the strength and trusted me enough to cry in front of me.
The couple following weeks I tried to help him with everything that I could. We had a lot on our plates - I tried to catch up with university, helped him out with the funeral and generally tried to be there for him in this terrible time. It wasn’t easy to try to be there for everything that was going on but I think I did well and I could tell that he thought so too. In those week we got closer than ever, at one point it felt like I was hanging out with my best friend even though we had to deal with things that were not pleasant at all.
Eventually we even made it public and Amalie made sure to tease me about it all the time and ask at least a million questions a day. It was worse than being questioned at the research facility…
About the research facility, even though Troy had made a lot of progress with his studies, he was forced to give back all his research – which was probably for the best. I think that knowing that he had nothing to do with it anymore gave us a sense of calm and relief. It was like weight had been lifted off our shoulders. It was like we had a story that we were allowed to share only with each other because others wouldn’t understand and quite frankly – would not believe either.
Chapter 11
Troy didn’t want us to fall into habit with the way we were around each other - at least not yet. We deserved some of the dating and the sweet words and the excitement so he finally asked me out again. I was excited and this time I was planning on going all the way with how I looked - amazing from head to toe.
Romance: The College Bad Boy: A Young Adult Romance Page 112