Vivid

Chapter 13

I went to the diner and found Aaron sitting there at our usual table. He waved me over and I went to sit with him. He told me he had already ordered for us when I sat down.

I sat down across from him and he looked at me sadly for a minute. I realized then that I probably still looked sad, tired, or worried about something so I quickly changed my face into a soft smile.

He smiled back and our waitress came back with our food. Instead of two milkshakes we got one with two straws. I rolled my eyes and let out a small laugh.

"What? You don't like cliche romances?" He said looking at me while I choked on another laugh daring to escape.

"No, not really. They are too, I don't know, basic" I said back, trying to see his reaction.

We both just ended up laughing. We ate a bit and talked about our biology project. Aaron had finished it and handed it in already.

Aaron and I decided that it was time to actually start planning for what we call 'mission dot'. It's basically what we are calling the plan to break the government.

We know we can't do it without Mr. Moon but we also both know he is hiding something. We started reading the book and planning out a few things like when we would have this all play out, which government building and office we would go to, and how Mr. Moon was going to help us.

We wrote most if not all of it down and were going to talk to Mr. Moon about it tomorrow. Our plan seemed safe but there was still a lot of risk in it no matter how much we planned and tried to play it safe. There seemed to be danger at every step and we were just praying we were going to come out together and alive.

We sat there talking and planning for a few hours before my mother called asking me to come home. I said goodbye and we decided that I would hold onto the plan and book because if I can catch it, it would make more sense because I have the dot. If Aaron was caught they might just kill him.

We weren't going to take that chance so I took the book and plans with me to my house. Aaron gave me a ride since I didn't want to walk home that late at night.

I got home and helped Sophia with her homework. She had to create a lesson plan for an 8th grade history class. She was miserable but we got it done after two hours of trial and error.

After we finished I put her to bed which was another long challenge. For some reason she just didn't want any sleep tonight. After she was finally asleep I dragged myself to my room and flopped my lifeless body on my bed.

Today was a very long, very... odd day. I was definitely not looking forward to another day like this tomorrow.

I got out of bed and got ready for school quicker than usual. I had extra time but I didn't feel like going to eat, or get coffee, or do much of anything. I just got ready and went to class.

"You're here early!" Ms. Arrows said with a mix of surprise and concern in her voice.

"Yeah. I just got ready faster than usual" I simply replied.

I sat down in the back and started working on my history of a famous pantomimer project. It was a fairly easy project. It just took a lot of research.

My class came in and we all just sat there quickly working with the occasional casual conversations between friends in the room. By the time the class was over my project was done. I just had to edit a few things and it was ready to be handed in, which meant I could spend my time in that class planning or I could get a pass to go meet with Mr. Moon.

I didn't like the idea of talking to him without Aaron but I would have to get used to it if this was going to work. I went to my next class and sat in the back as usual.

I said hello to Mr. Wood and just listened to his psychology lecture. Thankfully it took the whole class so I didn't have to do work, however, the lecture made the class drag on and on.

Eventually, the never ending class ended. I met up with Aaron in the hallway outside our next classroom. It was biology so it went by pretty fast. It was just presentation after presentation as most of my classes have been.

Then we went to Mr. Moon's class. We stood there for a moment deciding what we were going to do. We decided to give him the plans and ask him what he thinks after class.

The class period was going to be used for finishing our projects so he would just be sitting at his desk doing nothing. Aaron and I didn't feel like talking to him so we put the papers on his desk and rushed to our seats.

Throughout the period my focus kept shifting from helping Aaron with his essay to Mr. Moon who was looking at our plans and then looking at me. Aaron didn't notice because we was working but he did notice I was distracted.

"Are you okay Nixie?" He said taking a break from his essay to talk to me.

"Yeah," I lied, "just a little tired that's all"

"You need to get sleep more often. When are you going to listen?" He said, shaking his head and going back to his work.

I shrugged and looked at my desk. I didn't know where else to look. I couldn't look at Mr. Moon cause he would stare back at me. I couldn't look at Aaron because he is mad at me for not sleeping. So, I sat there staring at my desk until the bell rang.

Aaron and I were walking about and were stopped by, you guessed it, Mr. Moon. He told us he liked our plan but we needed a more detailed escape plan. He also advised us to have a few plans B, C, D, ect, just in case. He also told us about their updated security systems.

They all seemed to be more digital which was worse to sneak around with but we could hack the system and take it all down temporarily. Aaron and I left and said goodbye. I was going to see him tomorrow but the second I walked away I missed him.