Burned 6.2

“Of course!” I say the words before I even take the time to process the question. It’s not like I haven’t rehearsed this exact situation over and over in my mind. Sure this usually happened in a daydream, but I knew that one day I would actually hear those words.

The funny thing is he didn’t even ask me. He just told me he’s going to take me out. I’ve never been asked out like that before. Well, if I have I don’t remember it. Obviously. But not having a choice makes it…romantic? He wasn’t about to take no for an answer.

“Oh good,” he said, sighing. “I was afraid you were going to say no.”

He really thought I would say no? Kellar and I have been around each other since I can first remember. We’ve always been friends, but I could always feel something more there. Even spending time with Colton was more enjoyable with Kellar there.

We didn’t start talking until third level. Kellar was assigned to a project with Will, meaning he was around more often. Will and I were always together, working on one thing or another or just simply hanging out. I was hesitant around Kellar at first, but when we were with him more often, I started getting comfortable.

The first time we hung out alone I will never forget. It was after he and Will were working on their project. Time had gotten away from them and Will had had to race off to class. That left me and Kellar alone in the library.

The silence was short, but it felt like an eternity. I ran out of fingernails to busy myself picking. A thousand words ran through my mind, each one sounding as ridiculous as the last. There was no way I was going to be the one to start the conversation.

But when Kellar got up to leave, I begged him to stay. He hesitated at first, but then gladly sat back down.

We talked for hours. I can’t remember how long it was, but I remember it was long enough that the librarian kicked us out. We wandered the halls, found our way outside. Friends; I had another friend. I learned as much about him as he did me. It made my heart swell knowing there was someone else on my side. Those people were hard to come by. Still are.

Someone cleared their throat, making me and Kellar. We were so wrapped in each other that we didn’t notice anything around us.

“If you two are done I need to talk to Bryn,” Will started. “It’s kind of important. Thanks.” He turns back and storms out of the room. What’s his problem?

I give Kellar a soft hug. “Let me know when Colton’s let out. I want to talk to him. And you’re not convincing me otherwise.”

Kellar pulls back to look at me. He wants to argue; I can see it in his eyes. But thankfully he doesn’t. If he had there would’ve been a problem. “Alright. Keep your phone on.”

“Will do.” I give him a soft smile before heading out into the hallway.

My head is still so in the clouds that I’m not bothered by Will’s hard stare. I’ll have time to dissect his pouty attitude later. He’s not about to ruin my good mood.

“Why’d you say yes?” he asks.

I’m so thrown off by the question that I don’t know how to respond. When he said he had to talk to me I imagined it being something important. Did he really just want to grill me over a simple date?

“Because I want to go. What’s it to you?”

“Kellar’s with Colton,” Will says. “You can’t trust him.”

Trust. When did this become about trust? “Who? Kellar or Colton? Because I’m pretty sure we’ve already established that Colton is a downright jerk.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about. They can’t be trusted.”

“I don’t see why,” I hiss. “We’re all on the same team here. Fighting for a job isn’t the same as having an enemy.”

“You might have more enemies than you do friends, Bryn.”

The words hit me like a boulder. “What enemies?” My voice is hushed, as low as it can be. It’s the second time I’ve heard the word today, referring to the ones I have.

He looks like he wants to keep talking, but he holds himself back. Looking around, he grabs my hand and pulls me down the hall.

We’re running, faster than we should be outside of an exercise. My heart is pounding fast, and not just because of the running. The fast pace sends waves of anxiety through me. This is becoming more serious than it should be.

Will pulls me down the comms hallway and into a sound booth. It’s a small room, barely enough room for two people to sit at the lonely table against the wall. He quickly shuts the door and pulls the screen down over the window.

He pushes past me to reach the other end of the room. I can’t get him to slow down; a touch on his arm or a simple call of his name doesn’t distract him. Now he’s fidgeting with a small device I overlooked.

It starting to get on my nerves. I let out a frustrated sigh. “Are you gonna talk to me yet about this enemy—"

“Shut up,” he snaps. “Just be quiet. For once you’re not the one in charge.”

I want to slap him. I don’t always think I’m in charge and he knows it. We both know that Will is the real one in charge. I could never make it without him. One step into a mission without him and I’d be killed. Or compromised. There was no reason for him to cut me down like that.

So I busy myself with watching him. I want to come up with an equal comeback, but everything that runs through my mind is dumb and mean. I’m not going to stoop to his level, whether he meant to or not.

When he’s finally done with the device, he turns back to look at me. I can tell that he’s not mad at me, that emotions got the best of him, but there’s still something dangerous in his gaze. “They’d record us if I left that thing on. Had to get rid of it before we said anything.”

“Record us? Will, what kind of place is this?”

With a shrug he replies, “Just a study room.” He points to the device, now torn apart carefully, on the table. “These are all around the place. You just never see them. They’re pretty well hidden.”

“Does anyone else know they’re there?” How could I have been here for so long and only now hear about this? There have to be other people who’ve noticed these devices.

I try to recall all of the rooms I’ve ever been in. A device this small would be hard to locate in a classroom, but in a study room like this it’s obvious. But as I run through everything in my mind, I can’t find a single time when I saw this piece of metal.

I must be really unobservant. Or maybe Will is just paranoid.

“Nope. I’m the only one besides the professors.”

“That you know of,” I argue.

“That I know of.”

Silence falls between us. I’m trying to wrap my brain around what Will just told me. The professors set up recording devices around the school, hoping to gather information from us. But what information? Any mundane conversation between teenagers wouldn’t interest high level agents. There has to be more to it.

“So they’re looking for something,” I start tentatively. I don’t want Will to think I’m buying into his accusation, but I need to pick his brain. “Something we might know?”

“Vido has a lot of enemies. You know that. He basically runs the country. Who wouldn’t want to be against him?”

“Um, us?”

“Duh,” Will responds. “My point is he thinks there might be more going on inside these walls than what the professors will tell him. He’s been spying on us since we first got here.”

“All of us?”

“He runs an agency, Bryn. Of course he’s been spying on all of us. I bet you he has drawers of folders wherever he is, each one filled with files on every kid here.”

“He’s looking for enemies inside his own walls.” I think I’m starting to get it. “Anyone could be a spy.”

“Exactly,” Will says excitedly. I guess he’s figure I’m on his side. He frantically checks the device again before staring directly at me. “I wanted you to understand all of this before I told you.”

“Told me what?” My heart is racing now. Will has given me so much information that I don’t have time to process it. Now he’s back to being all mysterious, hiding things he seems to think I should know. This would be a lot quicker if he just wrote it down or sent me some sort of message. Does this really require so much sneaking around?

He reaches into his bag and pulls out my parents’ journal. “Vido. Vido is the Cardinal your parents keep mentioning.”