Chapter Eight
“Goodness Taylor, could you move any slower. My grandma would have had the box opened by now and she’s dead!”
Glancing up from the book I was reading, I watched Yuri stare down at Taylor who blew out a breath of frustration. These two were always at each other’s throats about something.
“Are they always like this?” Kerry asked from beside me on the sofa.
“This is mild compared to their other arguments. I’ve learned from years of dealing with them, to just let them argue.”
Taylor had received an important package in the mail that we all had to be here for. It had been ten minutes since our arrival and Taylor was still nowhere close to getting the package opened.
“Let me!” Yuri said shoving Taylor to the sighed. She snatched the scissors from her hand and began cut the tape off with insane speed. Within seconds all of the tape was removed. She shot Taylor a look of triumph. Taylor took the scissors from her and made a stabbing gesture over Yuri’s head. I wagged my finger at her as she sighed.
“Thank you Yuri for so kindly opening the box.”
“No problem.”
“What is it?” Kerry asked scooting down to the floor.
Taylor opened the box and reached in. She pulled out an item, removing the plastic bag from around it. Once it was free, she held it up for us to see. It was a silver and black masquerade mask covered in a flower decoration. “I sent a suggestion to the Queen that everyone wears the same mask—everyone but her of course. That way, it’ll be hard for anyone to identify us out of the crowd, and hard for the police to trace later.”
“How did you get her to listen?” I asked.
“I pretended as if I was the stylist of the party. I hacked into her email and contacted the Queen’s secretary. The invitations have already been changed and sent out with the new information about the masks and where you can get them from.”
“Great idea Taylor.”
Taylor beamed happy to be in high spirits again. She passed the masks around and also withdrew some stretchable black cat suits to go under our gowns. After the clothing and masks were distributed, the girls worked on a cover story to get their parents to let them go to Paris for thanksgiving break. I didn’t have to worry about asking my mother since she never showed on thanksgiving anyhow. However, I did have to persuade James to let me go alone. Which was better said than done.
My phone beeped letting me know that classes had ended. I gathered my books in my hand, feeling a rush of excitement either from the heist or going to meet up with Micah. It felt a little like both. We headed out of the janitor building no longer concerned about getting caught. Taylor had helped one of the lead custodian fix his taxes and he was more than happy to do anything she requested, even covering for us.
“Do you think anyone will notice that we weren’t in classes?”
“Who cares?” Yuri replied. Taylor threw an arm around her neck as the two of them bounced off towards the dorms. Their fight for earlier long forgotten. Kerry turned to look at me as I just shrugged.
“Do you want to get something to eat at the café?”
“Maybe later. I’m supposed to meet someone in study hall.”
“Okay, well catch you later.”
I waved at Kerry as I headed towards the school building. The halls were empty since classes were out so I didn’t have to worry about anyone asking why I wasn’t in class today. The study hall room was also empty besides two students and Micah. I took a deep breath to compose myself before venturing into the room.
“Hey”
“Hey” He said smiling up at me. “Have a seat.”
I moved my chair over to the side of the table. I couldn’t handle sitting across from him the whole evening. Micah only gave a raise of his eyebrow, but otherwise ignored it. “You weren’t in last period.”
“You came to my class?”
“No I um, my roommate takes last period with you. He told me.”
I smiled. He was checking up on me. Maybe I wasn’t the only one having feelings. “I had some personal things to take care of. I would have waited until after classes, but it was important.”
Micah laughed. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. Trust me, I know all about taking time off for personal problems.” He stared over at me— his dark brown eyes roamed my face as if he was storing it in his memory. I felt the butterflies flutter in my stomach as I turned away. Micah cleared his throat. “We should get started.”
“That’s a good idea.”
I pulled out my books as I helped Micah with his lab paper. At first, the atmosphere was one filled with awkwardness. But little by little, the awkwardness began to disappear, and soon we were talking to each other as if we’d known each other for years. I noticed during our study session that whenever Micah would concentrate on something, he would bite down on his bottom lip as his eyes would squint smaller. I thought it was the cutest thing and I couldn’t help but to stare at him. He often caught me staring at him. At first I was embarrassed, but after a while I didn’t care. I was never a shy person, but when I was around him, I felt like a girl with her first crush.
The study hall room had begun to fill up with people needing a quiet space to do their homework. As students entered, they shot glances over at us and began to whisper among their groups. Seconds later, cellphones were pulled out as they sent messages to any and every one in their contacts about the fact that Micah and I were huddled together over a stack of paper and books. I was worried for a second that Micah might sense what was going on and want to leave. But like me, he ignored the curious glances and even dropped his voice to a whisper.
An hour later, Micah’s lab paper was complete. We packed up our books and headed out of the room past the curious glances. My phone beeped alerting me to a message that I ignored. I figured it was Yuri wanting to find out about what was going on between Micah and I. I didn’t even know that answer so how could I tell her.
“I think all of that research has drained the energy out of me.” Micah said as we walked out on the building. “I was thinking about going to the Café, do you want to join me?”
“Yeah.”
Micah led me to the Café as I fought back the giddiness. I was acting like such a geek and I was trying my best not to show it in front of him. Entering the Café, Micah led me to a booth away from prying eyes which made me wonder if he did it because he wanted privacy. I slid into the booth while Micah went to go place our order. I didn’t want anything special so I just decided on a plate of fries and some chicken strips. Though this wasn’t our first date, I still didn’t want to embarrass myself by ordering a messy hamburger, or make him think that I was on a diet. I busied myself by playing with my nails until Micah slid into the booth.
I ate my food in small bites while stealing glances over at Micah. He must have been truly hungry. He didn’t waste any time going to work on his hamburger. If it was anybody else, I would have been disgusted. But he made it look cute.
“So Micah, how does one go about applying to Baldwin on scholarship?”
Micah paused eating his hamburger. His whole body had tensed with caution and I wondered why. It was a simple enough question and yet he appeared to have been ruffled by it. I thought he wasn’t going to answer me, and then I heard him say, “My parents wanted me to go to a school where I could get a good education. This school is the best in the country and I had a high enough GPA to apply for the scholarship. Top that off to the fact that Headmaster Blake and my mom are best friends and the next thing I know, I’m saying goodbye to public school and hello to a school that’s far greater than a private school.”
“Well behalf on the student body, I would like to say welcome and congrats on being the first scholarship kid in the history of Baldwin Faith Academy.”
Micah laughed as his body relaxed. “Thanks, I guess.”
We finished our food off
when a shadow fell over the table. I glanced away from Micah to see Paige and her main follower’s standing there, their arms folded trying their best to imitate a mean girl pose.
“Hi Micah. I thought that was you over here. Did you get your lab paper finished?”
Micah glanced from Paige to me as he sat back in his seat. “Yeah, Autumn help me with it. If it wasn’t for her help, I would still be sitting there.”
“Well isn’t she helpful.” Paige said glaring down at me.
I sighed. I didn’t have time for this tonight. I was finally having some alone time with Micah and Paige was trying to ruin it. “Did you want something Paige?”
Paige scoffed at my tone. Waving a hand through her brown hair, she turned to Micah. “Actually, I came over here to ask Micah if he wanted to hang out with us. The seniors are getting up a game of soccer on the quad. I remembered you said how much you missed playing soccer.”
“I do miss playing soccer.” Micah said. Paige shot a triumphed look over at me. “But not tonight. Thanks anyway.” Micah stood from the booth ignoring Paige’s dropped jaw. “You ready Autumn?”
“Yeah.”
Micah led me past Paige and her friends as I stifled a laugh. Everyone had been staring at her since she entered, and now that had witnessed her humiliation. I didn’t even have to do a thing.
Leaving the Café, we walked side by side down the walkway. Out the corner of my eye, I could see Micah throwing glances at me. His expression told me he was worried about something. He proved it once he stopped me from walking.
“Hey, I’m sorry about what happened with Paige. Don’t be upset with her. She can be real snotty sometimes, but she doesn’t always act like that. She’s really is a good person.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, well I’ve only seen one side of her, and it’s not good.” I switched my books to my other hand. “Look, if you can’t hang around with me anymore then that’s cool. I don’t want to cause problems with you and your girlfriend, even if she’s Paige.”
I turned to walk off but Micah yanked me back by my arm.
“Whoa, wait a minute. Paige is not my girlfriend.”
“You’re defending her like she’s your girlfriend.”
“That’s because she’s my friend. I defend my friends Autumn. You can’t fault me for that. Besides, she’s not the one I want to be my girlfriend.”
I froze in place as I stared at Micah. Did I hear him right? Was that statement directed towards me? By the look on his face, he was directing his statement to me. I felt the butterflies in my stomach take flight again as my mouth grew dry.
The moment was broken by the ringing of my cellphone.
“Sorry.” I said. Micah stepped back giving me some space as I dug through my purse for my phone. Glancing at the screen I froze.
“What’s wrong?”
“I…I have to go.” I said glancing up from my phone. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Turning from Micah, I ran down the walkway ignoring Micah calling my name. Once I was far away from him, I stared at my phone as it continued to ring. Taking a deep breath, I answered. “Daddy.”
The line was silent, and then. “Do you want to know how your father begged for mercy before he was killed? Continue looking for the painting, and I will show you.”
The line disconnected as I stood there clutching the phone to my ear, my body shaking with fear.