Innovation Co.

An Invitation to Secrecy (Chapter 4)

I sat in a chair with Samantha to my right and a young boy, maybe 15 years old, to my left. I glanced over at Samantha who was looking at her feet. She looked up at me and smiled a nervous smile. I was scared too, but also excited.

"I think we should go around in a circle and say our names and how we got here," said Cameron breaking the silence, "I'll start."

"My name's Cameron, although I think you all know that," he laughed "I got here because I founded the club." he paused looking at Samantha, Samantha was staring back. "How 'bout you?" he said as he nudged the boy to his left. He was rather tall but skinny, his pale skin made a huge contrast to his black hair and dark brown eyes. He looked 17.

"My name's Jimmi" he said "You all probably know that, too" unlike Cameron he didn't seem to find this amusing. "I found this place online- recommended by a classmate on Facebook."

"Wait, this place is online?" I interrupted.

"Yeah," Jimmi replied, "But you have to look hard, most people are asked to join though so there's really no point looking for it" he explained looking at me rather intimidatingly.

I nodded my head, too afraid to talk.

Jimmi nudged the girl to his left. She was the only girl in the group except for myself and Sam. She was short and I assumed she was from an east Asian country. She began, "Hi, my name's Lily. I was in Cameron's group for the Stanford orientation." Oh yeah, I remember that, Cameron declined Stanford. He said- word for word- "The Universities in Great Britain give a better education. UCL is my pick, maybe even Cambridge."

"Many of you know," she continued "I decided in the end not to go, that's when Cameron and I decided to make this an actual club."

As  she finished the boy began to speak "I'm Phillip. I actually asked to join when I heard about it from Jaques over there." he said pointing to the boy sitting beside Sam "After that I was dying to join, I am a genius after all and this is the one place I actually felt welcomed." he smiled and shyly glanced towards Lily "And after tons and tons of prying I was finally introduced to this place."

Finally the boy introduced as Jaques began "Hi, my name's Jaques" he said with a slight accent, probably French "I got here after being asked by an old member who left- Emma. She kept commenting on my intellect and then eventually asked me to join." he took a long pause and then glanced at us "What about you guys, why are you here."

Sam looked at me then spoke "I read about this place in Cam's journal," Cam shot her a deadly glance "I didn't see much, but I read that he comes here often for some 'secret' activities. I just had to check it out, and with my curiosity I dragged Victoria into this."

I spoke up "I also wanted to come. I never read Cam's journal but the club seemed interesting."

Then the room went silent and all the club members began to send each other knowing glances. I looked towards Sam, she looked back. Then someone spoke, it sounded like Phillip although he sounded a lot like Jimmi. "We need a new member," I looked up and saw it was Phillip, "And Cameron's been telling us about your potential, would you like to join?"

I looked at Sam in amazement then back at Phillip. I didn't even know what this club was about. "Well what's the club for?"

"The club is for the most intelligent teenagers we can find." he looks sharply at Sam, "According to your records you guys qualify"

I knew I was smart, I was in a gifted class throughout elementary school, I also took all the advanced courses. I didn't, however, know I was genius.

"What do you do here?" asked Sam, "Why is this place so secret?"

"We come up with the best ideas for everything, from efficient laptops to vaccines." I look around but I don't see many things that could prove that. "This place is secret because we don't need private or government organizations begging us for ideas,"

He smiles at me then Samantha then says, "So, are you in?"