I exchanged worried glances with everyone else. Michelle just stared at our faces with a blank expression.
"Um, well this isn't exactly what I was expecting. I thought you'd at least remember your own name." Trisha said.
"Well it can't be helped. Excuse me, your name's Michelle." Molly said.
"Well actually your name's Bethany, Michelle, Hamilton." Katrina pointed out. Michelle scrunched her nose up and said,
"I don't like that name." I sighed in relief.
"At least her likes and dislikes are still the same." I glanced over to Seth to see what his reaction would be but he shut off any emotion from escaping his face. Darn it. Basic protocal. Don't let the enemy know what your emotions are. It'll become a weakness.
"Well that's good. So Michelle. My name's Trisha. That's Molly Holly, Katrina, Amanda, Susan but we all call her Sue, Cole Michaels, Cole Katz, Peter, Kurt, Josh, and this is Seth." Trisha pointed to each person as she read off their names. I noticed her gaze linger on Seth's. They connected eyes. Michelle smiled at Seth and he looked to the ground, then back up, and then he smiled back. It was a sort of sad smile in a way. Michelle turned her gaze back to Trisha. "So what do you know about yourself?" Trisha asked. I knew we were all mentally praying that she would remember at least one thing.
"Oh that's easy. My name's Michelle apparently, I go to school at some private school in Greenwich, Connecticut." I nodded.
"That's it?" she nodded her head. "It's a good thing she knows where she lives. Michelle, do you know what type of school this is?" She nodded her head.
"It's a special private school for girls. Wait, what are guys doing here?! That's breaking the rules!" I sighed.
"This is going to take a while." The others nodded. "Michelle, the school had admitted boys from Leafered, Adams, Academy. It's an elite all boys school so they're at the same education level as us." She nodded.
"Oh-k. So I bet Kayla was so happy when we had a social with the opposite gender." I gasped.
"She's remembering stuff already." Trisha said. Michelle blinked a few times.
"Woh. that was weird. I somehow knew that." I sighed.
"Oh thank goodness she's starting to remember pieces of the puzzle." Amanda said.
"Well that might be a good sign then." Katrina said. I looked back over at Seth and he seemed slightly relieved. At least from telling through the little emotion that leaked out. My gaze shifted and eventually landed on Cole K. He looked at me and our eyes connected. I quickly moved my gaze to the floor. I felt his brown eyes still on me so I pretended to not know he was looking at me and directed my attention back to Trisha and Michelle and the situation.
"Does Dean Withers know she's recovered and is here as of now?" I asked. Matt shook his head. I'd almost forgotten he was here and guilt started to build up in my stomach.
"No, she wasn't at her office, and all the teachers would tell us was that she's away on some sort of business." he said.
"But we know something has gotta be up." Peter said.
"Obviously. We would've known if Dean Withers was going away and we'd have to have a specialist come in to sub as Dean while she's away." Trisha said.
"Considering the fact that we can't just call up the CT School Substitute Association and ask for someone who's in the same IQ range as Dean Withers and knows the 48 unknown projects the CIA has been keeping in Sector seven, and that the movie Transformers isn't as fictional as people think." Molly said.
"There's a CT School Substitute Association?" Katrina asked. I rolled my eyes.
"Yes along with the CT School Cheese-Bus Association Katrina." I said sarcastically.
"I got it." She said realizing it was fake.
"Well then we have our priorities as of now." Trisha said taking out her notebook. She handed it to me.
"What? Why am I writing?" I asked.
"Because you're the writer in the group. We're going to make a list of what we have to do first before everything else." Trisha replied. I nodded and opened the book. I turned to a clean page and bulleted #1.
"Oh-k so we have to find out who our supposed substitute for Dean is right now." Katrina offered. I wrote it down.
"We need to somehow keep Michelle's being here, a secret." Julie said.
"Well Then she can't go to any classes." Katrina said.
"I'm gonna go have a chat with Mr S. I'm sure we can trust him." Trisha said. I nodded.
"I'm gonna go finish some things with Amanda on her outfit." I said.
"Good luck on the date." Michelle said and then blinked again. "Weird."
"She's remembering more." Kurt said.
"Then she'll have her memories back in a matter of about a month I'd say." I said.
"Well it's much faster than most recoveries from amnesia." Trisha said.
"We can't leave her alone though." Amanda said. I nodded and looked towards Seth again. He was hesitating. I could tell he wanted to say something.
"Well Amanda, Trisha, and I are already doing something." I said.
"I think I'll do some digging to find the where-abouts of our book." Katrina said.
"What book? Like a diary?" Michelle asked.
"In a way, yes. But it's not ours. It's. . . our friend's log." Molly said.
"I gotta get back to practice." Matt said.
"Katrina how are you going to go search for the book without getting caught?" Julie asked. Katrina smirked and held up two titanium cans. She unscrewed them and she placed them upside down. Then she lifted the cans and the familiar holographic tortoise appeared along with an unfamiliar holographic miniature polar bear. "You all remember Jeff." she said. We nodded and said hi to Jeff. The guys were introduced to Jeff. "And this is Kyle. My talking, bowling, polar bear." Katrina said. The polar bear waved and we all said hi.
"So these are your snoops?" Josh asked. Katrina nodded.
"Well then I'm gonna find out who our new substitute Dean is." Molly said.
"I'll help." Kurt said. Molly smiled and I smirked.
"I'll go with Trish to talk to Mr S." Peter said. I nodded.
"We can stay with Michelle." Michaels said with Cole K. I mentally hit myself. I was planning on having Seth stay with Michelle. I had to think fast.
"Why don't you two just go try to see if David has the book, and see if you can brush up on some back round history on him." I said. I hoped they would bite. They did. So it only left Julie and Josh and then Seth would have to watch over Michelle.
"I can intercept the videos that watch Dean Withers' office and try to find out what happened to her." Julie said.
"And I can help!" Josh offered. I nodded.
"Perfect!" I said a little to cheerfully. Then I returned my gaze to Michelle.
"Um, someone needs to watch Michelle." I said.
"I don't need babysitting!" She exclaimed. I half laughed.
"You might not think so but we can't have you wandering around in case someone sees you. Especially a teacher. That would provoke questions and who knows what kind of trouble we'll get into. We're already waist deep as it is." I said. Trisha agreed. Then her eyes fell on Seth. She realized my plans as well and I noticed a clever look in her eye.
"Hey Seth. Why don't you watch Michelle since everyone else is assigned something." Trisha offered casually. He nodded. He almost said something but then shut his mouth.
"Oh-k then. So we all have our designated assignments. Lets move out!" I said. We all left the room leaving Michelle and Seth. I took one more look and then kept walking. Not turning back. It was all up to Seth to deal with Michelle.
It had only taken a few minutes to make alternations so Amanda's outfit. So I sent her to find Katrina and her holograms to help find a book. While I went to go find Matt. I felt like I had to remind myself that I liked him and not. . . well someone else.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I sat upright in my bed. My breathing was heavy and I had cold sweat on my face. I looked around the room. I was in my room again. The light from the moon shone through my window. I sighed and got out of bed. I slipped into my sneakers and grabbed a black zip up hoodie. I put it on over my white cami and and walked out of my room. I managed to sneak out of the dorm without the security guard noticing. I was only in my sweater, cami, and a pair of black soffes. I quietly made my way to the school fountain.
I stood infront of it, took 20 paces to the right, 10 to the left, and 8 to the right. Then I turned away from the fountain and took 6 strides forward on the stone pathway. Then I bent down and removed the stone in front of me and pulled out my journal.
It was a simple black notebook that had a red pen with it. I placed the stone back in place and sat at the edge of the fountain. The water was pouring and there wasn't a single sound except for the cicadas. I opened to a clean page and started writing.
I wrote everything on my mind and everything that worried or bothered me.
I made a list of things that didn't seem right and that confused me. I made lists when I felt confused and needed a way to sort out my emotions.
I made lists of friends, lists of enemies: Cald in Black Team, David, my dreams? I made lists of things that didn't add up: The missing book, Dean Withers' where abouts, and my constant dreams of Cole K. Then I made a list of things that were good in my life: my friends, my family (though we're going through a shaky state at the moment), Amanda's happiness with Michaels, my life, my fortunate self to be attending this school. I leafed through lists from when I was younger. Things I Hate About My Sister (We were having a fight at the time), Things, I'm Afraid Of, Things I Can't Get Enough Of, Things I Like, Things I Hate About Attending an All Girls Private School, there were lists and journal entries on almost every page.
I didn't even notice when someone was right in front of me watching me write. Watching my hand move the pen forming letters, words, sentences, phrases, paragraphs, pages, stories, descriptions, my life on paper. When I stopped writing from my hand starting to hurt, I noticed the jeans in front of me. They were standing up. Someone was wearing those jeans. They were right in front of me. I followed the jeans up till I saw a white shirt with a black zip up hoodie over it, up until I saw a neck, and then up until I saw the face. It was Matt. He was standing in front of me. I felt color rush to my face.
"H-How long have you been standing there?" I asked. My voice was slightly hoarse from not talking for a while.
"Only about 10 minutes." he said. I nodded. I looked around and realized that it was much lighter than it had been before. I looked at the time on my phone and realized that I'd been writing for over an hour. I gasped and stood up. It was quarter to 7 already. I moved to put my journal back but then realized Matt was still watching me. I became slightly self conscious in nothing but my pajamas and a sweater.
"Um, yes? Can I help you?" I asked. He shook his head. "Well this might seem strange but could you turn around a sec? I have to put this away." He nodded and turned around. I carefully made my way 6 strides from the fountain and moved the stone out of the way. All while watching him out of the corner of my eye. I placed the book and its pen back into the hole and placed the stone back over it. I stood up and moved back to my spot at the water fountain. "Oh-k thanks." I said. Matt turned back around and sat down next to me.
"Couldn't sleep?" I nodded. "Me either." I sighed. Everything seemed awkward since I started having those weird dreams involving Cole K. That was the reason I was even here.
"Um, yeah so I think I should probably get back to my dorm before Molly gets all worked up." I said standing up. I turned to go when Matt said,
"Do you hate me or something?" I sighed and turned around again. I shook my head. He stood up and walked towards me. I thought about when I'd first seen him. That time in the Mess Hall when Dean Withers announced for the first time in our schools history, the admission of boys in our school. I thought of how much I'd hated him at first because he's just make me feel so weird after interacting with him for even 5 seconds. Then I'd realized that I'd liked him. That the weird feeling was what you get when you have feelings for someone.
He was less than 3 inches away from me and I knew what his motive was. I just stood there and let him slowly close the gap between us and lean into me. I let him kiss me. And I felt my doubts and worries wash away. Any records of stress I might have had just minutes before was only on paper under that stone. It was like before, I was the journal with all my thoughts. And the stone was all the things that worried me and confused me. But now, I feel as light as one of the leaves that was being carried off by the wind. I finally remembered that I liked Matt. And I wasn't going to let my conscience tell me otherwise.
"Ok good luck you two!" Trisha said.
"And if I hear anything about you hurting Amanda, I'll-" Molly's threat was cut off by me covering her mouth and saying,
"What she means is, you better take care of our little baby!" He nodded and Amanda had her hands over her face shaking her head ashamed. We were all here to see the two off. When they were safely a block away, Molly and I squealed. We all (including the guys) rushed into a dinner and turned on our transmitters. Trisha and I forced Amanda to wear her Coms. earrings and the guys had implanted a small camera in Michaels' pocket with a remote controlled snake lens that was flexible and could turn.
"What do you guys see?" I asked looking over Matt's shoulder with my head resting on his shoulder. Peter was fidgeting with the remote control and Matt was working the computer. Everyone else was standing around.
"Oh-k Peter, there. That's good." Matt said. He typed a few things and the visual came up. It was only the sidewalk where Amanda and Michaels were. Trisha and I had set up the speakers so all of us could hear what was going on.
"Hey you two. Stop right there!" We heard all of a sudden. Amanda gasped and then she fell to the sidewalk unconscious. Michaels tried 2 turn around but then fell unconscious himself. Peter started pivoting the joystick but only got a fast glimpse of a man before a hand grabbed the camera and everything went black.
"What the hell just happened." Molly asked. Everyone was open mouthed.
The last sounds we heard were the sounds of Amanda and Michaels being picked up and the sound of a car door opening. A thump and we realized Michaels and Amanda were inside a vehicle of some sort. "Got them David" we heard ring through the speakers.
"No. . . way. . ." we all said in unison.
Amy, I am glad that you finally posted this chapter! I have been waiting to read it and guess what!... It was worth the wait! This was such a good chapter and you are an amazing writer!
Posted by: AnnaMariaC | April 10, 2008 at 04:24 PM