Betrayal Codes

Chapter 4: Cole

"Never seen a code before, Aiden?" Tuck jokes.

"What's it for?" Aiden approaches the device carefully as if it would turn into a dinosaur and eat him at any minute.

"It's for Shay's scavenger hunt, Cleo's 'something stupid', Taylor's shopping list, and my love letter." Libby goes around pointing at each of them as she announces their excuses. The girls enter their laughing fit again. I cover my mouth to hide a chuckle of my own.

"Yeah, well, it turns out these pretty ladies don't know how to read code." Tucker winks in the general direction of who I think is Shay.

"You showed them how to read it?" Aiden looks appalled. His face is a mix of shock and fury. I mentally wish Tuck good luck with the confrontation later because it's going to be hell.

"Well... um..." Tucker stutters.

"Let me see this code." Aiden doesn't wait for permission, seizing the paper from Tucker's hands. He scowls at it for a minute before recognition washes over his features. He slightly turns his head away from the girls and towards me, mouthing Peter's? I nod. Shit, he says silently.

He turns back to address the girls. "You know, if you need any more help deciphering these codes, I'm pretty good at it. As you can see." He gestures to Tucker.

"He took a class in high school," I amend.

"Oh. I'm not sure we'll need any–" Libby is cut off by Cleo.

"You would really? That would be so great. We kinda suck at it and we're working on this thing" Translation: criminal-catching mission. "And we need to know what all the messages say."

"Cleo..." Taylor pleads but is ignored.

"It would be so helpful but are you guys sure? It would require hanging out with us a lot. And we can be quite a handful," Cleo continues. At this point, it seems like she's putting on an act.

"Yes! We'll do it!" Tucker jumps at the opportunity but quickly registers the urgency in his voice. He clears his throat, shoving his hands casually into his pockets. "I mean, sure, I guess." Damn, he must really like Shay.

"Awesome! We're staying in the hotel right over there," Cleo points. "And I know you guys live around here, but would you mind renting a hotel room so we don't have to worry about distance and stuff?"

"No prob–" Now it's Aiden's turn to cut off Tucker.

"We'll do whatever on one condition."

"Anything," Cleo agrees despite the others' protests.

"We're involved in everything. Whatever thing you guys are doing, we want in on it. If you're doing a scavenger hunt, we want to find the clues with you. If you're going shopping, we want to go too. If you're having this relationship with whoever and they think it's cute to send messages with code, we want to third-wheel all of your dates. Etcetera." I stifle a laugh at Aiden's choice to actually say the whole word "etcetera."

"No problem." Cleo and Aiden extend their hands to shake on it.

Libby slaps their hands away. "No, no, no. Hold up a second."

"Yeah, we weren't consulted," Shay chimes in.

"And we have shit to say!" Taylor enters the misshapen circle we've created.

"Why are we trusting these strangers with this?" Libby directs this question at Cleo, seeming to block us out. "You know this is life and death and you're letting these boys be a part of it?" She says boys like a curse.

"They know Morse Code and if that's how he's going to send his codes, we're going to need them," Cleo counters. I don't know if they think they're being vague about their mission, but even if we didn't know who they were, we could have made a pretty good guess. They're really terrible at lying. I should teach them some tricks.

"We barely know anything about them or their intentions. I mean, I don't even know this guy's name!" Libby wildly gestures at Aiden and he supplies his name.

"There. Problem solved."

She throws her arms in the air in frustration. "Ugh! Cleo! Be rational!"

"This deal isn't even rational." Taylor jumps in. "Why should we let them join us in every little thing we do just so they can solve our codes? Like, what, are they going to end up watching us sleep? Because sleeping is a big part of this whole thing."

"Um? Guys?" Shay enters the argument. "We're unintentionally disclosing a lot of information to these strangers."

Finally, someone sees their mistake. "I like her," I whisper to Tuck.

"Me too. But I liked her first, so find someone else." I roll my eyes.

"Okay, you know what, Cleo?" Libby huffs. "Let's just go with this 'deal' but you can't blame any of us when this whole thing blows to shit." She breaks away from the others, sends us a scowl laced with hatred and fury, and storms off, presumably to their hotel room.

"Well," Cleo turns back to Aiden, Tucker, and me. "Now that that's taken care of, let's book you guys a room."