Young Writers Society

Before you read, just know that this chapter used to be at the end of chapter 1, so if you're thinking that you already read this, it's probably because you did! You don't need to review it again, but I always love more feedback and things I should adjust! But I also changed chapter 1 up a little bit, so you could go check that out if you want! Have an awesome day, enjoy!

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     Amanda stepped through the unlocked door and immediately began to sweat from the heat. Why was this room so much warmer than the rest of the building? Blake didn’t even like the heat.

     There were two beds spaced about half a foot, and each bed was so neatly made that it looked fake. What sort of clean freak would do that? She definitely never made her bed, and it drove her mom crazy.

     She walked to the nightstand beside the first bed and carefully began to open the drawer, looking for something—anything at all. But all that seemed to be in there was an unopened pack of gummy bears, a few stray cough drops, and a folded up sweater. Blake hated gummy bears, and sweaters made him itchy…

     This was wrong.

     A pair of hands gripped Amanda’s shoulders and she couldn’t stop herself from screaming and falling into immediate hysteria. She spun herself around, kicking and flailing. An assassin had her. An assassin had her. Was she going to die? Oh she was definitely going to die. Before she even got a good look at the person who had grabbed her, she raised her hand to hit them.

     Everything stood still—and Amanda’s breath caught—as he firmly grabbed her wrist mid-air to stop her attack. She was locked in a gaze with a pair of eyes the color of dark honey, and both were frozen. She didn’t know what to do. She could barely form a complete thought—much less make words come out of her mouth.

     “Please calm down.”

     The boy in front of her had a voice that wasn’t cold or indifferent as Blake’s tended to be sometimes. It was stern yet comforting. Amanda yanked her arm out of his grasp and backed away as he lowered his hand.

     After a moment of staring, he cocked his head to the side. “I’m wondering about a lot of things right now. I guess I should start with asking why in the name of all things holy are you here?” He was silent in thought for another moment before he smiled, probably to make her comfortable. “And while you’re at it, who are you?”

     She opened and closed her mouth several times before any sound came out. “I-I . . . well I’m Amanda Ch—er, Amanda. I’m sorta here to learn about my friend? Don’t kill me.” Then half a second later, she quickly added, “—please?”

     This made him shake his head. “I’m not going to hurt you. It’s fun to meet new people in our apartment! So you’re . . . one of us?”

     Silence. So it was confirmed—this dude was a killer. He really didn’t look like one though, with his curly golden-brown hair, black glasses, and big sweater. Not to mention his friendly smile—something Blake hardly ever wore, though when he did, it made Amanda’s heart melt and her knees go weak.

     “Uh—I’m guessing you mean an assassin, and the answer is nope. Not yet.”

     “Ah. I see. Are you needing to start the recruitment process?”

     She looked away and found herself studying the floral pattern on his bed. “Maybe . . . but first I need to know if you knew my friend.” Biting her lip, she turned back to face him, and desperately hoped that he actually wouldn’t harm her. “Blake Thornton . . .?”

     If anything she had said before surprised him, this left him completely shocked. “You’re friends with Blake Thornton?” he gasped. “The kid who blew up the girls’ locker room?!”

     It was Amanda’s turn to be thrown off guard. They couldn’t be talking about the same Blake Thornton—could they? Her Blake Thornton didn’t like to make a big scene when breaking the rules; if he broke them at all. Blowing up a girls’ locker room seemed a bit out of character. But who knew? Maybe Blake was the Class Clown of the assassins.

     She almost laughed.

     “Why in the world did he blow up the girls’ locker room?” Amanda said through a small smile. “And the locker room for what? Assassin gym class?”

     Her remark made him snicker. “Not exactly. The locker rooms are just for changing into our gear and keeping things we can’t carry around all day. Plus, half of our training sessions are basically gym class.”

     Amanda felt tired just thinking about that. Even just one gym class was a stretch for her. But multiple? Maybe she should rethink her decision to become an assassin to learn more and avenge Blake.

     “He did it because our female instructor laughed at him for not understanding the enjoyment of some prank another trainee pulled. So Blake pulled his own! Man, that guy is a legend . . . this is his old room, too!”

     This made her smile a little bit. Blake loved proving people wrong, which was a trait she often shared with him. And according to this guy, he was pretty popular amongst the assassins. Strange—she was just now realizing how little Blake spoke about his life as an assassin. But another thing he’d said confirmed her guess. This was Blake’s room. Apparently he’d already been replaced soon after he…left.

     “Oh,” he suddenly mumbled, pulling her out of her thoughts. “I never even introduced myself!” The boy beamed and stuck out his hand. “I’m Kaden.”

     She cautiously shook it and marveled at how calming this boy was. He had a soft touch and a pleasant laugh that would’ve lulled her to sleep had she been sitting down.

     He must have been a pretty manipulative assassin.

     “So . . .” she trailed. “You actually . . . kill people . . .?”

     Suddenly Kaden looked extremely uncomfortable. “We don’t really like that word here,” he laughed nervously, biting his lip. “It’s a touchy subject for me, but we always say that the end justifies the means. Besides, we only get rid of the not-so-good people. And my sister stays because it pays well.”

     Then a voice came from the doorway, making Amanda’s heart leap into her throat.

     “Us girls get paid more because we absolutely annihilate our enemies, and we look fabulous doing it.”

     A girl that looked a lot like Kaden was leaning on the doorframe. She had the same golden-brown hair except long and straight, and the same warm, amber-ish eyes. The same olive skin but just slightly tanner, and even the same height.

     Kaden’s face lit up when he saw her, and he laughed at her joke. “Hey, Robbie!”

     Then he turned to her again. “Amanda, this is my twin sister Robyn—”

     “—Robbie,” she corrected as she shrugged off the doorway and came to stand by her brother. “Who the heck is this chick, is she a transfer? Oh wait—did you find a girlfriend at this place, Kaden? Wow, I didn’t think you’d ever—”

     “She’s not my girlfriend,” he groaned, rolling his eyes so hard that Amanda was surprised they didn’t get stuck at the back of his head . “And no, Amanda isn’t a trainee. She’s just a girl looking for—”

     Robbie suddenly looked horrified, and stared at Kaden wide-eyed as she grabbed his arm tighter than necessary. “Did you just say she’s some random girl?”

     Amanda felt a pit in her stomach and her heart pounded in her chest. She was dead, totally dead.

     Robbie reached into the back of the waistband of her ripped jeans and began pulling out something silver and shiny. A gun. Kaden let out a yelp and stepped in front of Amanda.

     “Robbie, no. Oh gosh, I’m sorry! I didn’t even think about protocol . . . Hansen is going to kill me!”

     She usually would’ve thought of that as a normal expression, but it seemed scarier coming from an assassin’s mouth. Was this sweet boy actually going to be killed? Was his twin sister going to kill her?

     Robbie huffed and her grip loosened on the handle of the gun and stared at Kaden for a few seconds. Finally, she grunted and aggressively blew a hair out of her face, putting her gun away. “We'll definitely be having a talk with Hansen, Stupid. And he will most definitely kill you. Now, let's get moving before I have to get rid of this girl you let in.”