Falling Stars

Chapter 11: We have to win

Anita's POV

My right hand fingers hurt from scrolling through all the files. Sha's plan worked, we collected lots of data from T.W. machine hack. And now it's time to sell it. I sent anonymous emails to some journalists, that I thought would be interested. I have been up all night doing this. There are also about another fifty member who are helping us. Then tomorrow, I'm also supposed to help Sha go through the Russian T.W. files, personally. This job has been really getting to me. I work constantly, every night.
In the end of the night, I probably sold fifty-thousand dollars worth of information. Once I got all the money, and checks secured I decided to call it a night. Skylar planned for Mari, Brandy and me to come over to her house tomorrow. I'll feel offal tomorrow if I don't get some sleep.
My mother started to make paper work, for us to move to Turkey today. I have two month left here. It bothered me because I still haven't told my friends. They need to know, but I just keep holding it back.

Skylar's POV (next day)

I watched TV, as I waited for the girls to show up. My mother made me clean the whole morning because the girls are coming over. The past week has been pretty laid back because of the competition. So I don't have to do any projects or homework for school.
They all showed up at around two o'clock in the evening. Brandy showed up a bit early, Anita came just on time, and Mari was a couple minutes late. We decided to watch a movie on Vudu, and my mom made us some snacks. It was just another normal day together with my friends. But then I realized that Mari was acting a bit distant.
"What's wrong?" I asked her. She was about to say she is fine, and I could tell, so I gave her a look.
"My mom got cancer again." She mumbled. This almost made my heart break. I went over to her and hugged her, Brandy and Anita joined us. She looked like she was about to break down. I felt horrible seeing her like this.
"And-d...My dad said that mom has to go to a special hospital this time." She sobbed. I just hugged her tighter.
"It's all going to be alright." Brandy tried to calm Mari down.
"Yeah, she's survived it before. Your mom is fighter." Anita added.
"But, it's worse this time!" Mari bawled.
"When did you find out about it?" I asked her.
"About three days ago." She stuttered.
"But you looked fine the whole time Mari! You should have told us." I muttered. She must have thought that it would mess us up to know what she is going through.
"I didn't want to worry you guys." She explained.
"It's okay, everything is going to be okay. We're here for you." I continued to calm her down. Anita went to make her some hot tea, and Brandy was calming her down, as I held her in my arms. After Mari drank her tea, she looked a bit more calm.
"Um, guys." Anita stammered.
"What is it?" I asked her.
"I got a bit of news too." She mumbled. We all looked at her with confusion.
"My parents are planning to move in two month to Turkey." She quaked. This news really didn't make anything better. Anita always has a tendency of saying things as they are, even if the time isn't right.
"What...?" Mari asked.
"I know it doesn't make things better, but I have to tell you that I'm moving in two month." Anita said, "But guys, we are winning the competition. And I might stay if we win" She tried to cheer us up.
"We do have big chance of winning." Brandy admitted.
"Yeah, so we're all going to be alright." Anita beamed.
"We better win!" I fumed, "Because you know that you can't move that far away. If we loose, Mari and Brandy will have to go, and you'll leave too. I'll be left all by myself here." I tried not to cry on the thought of it. But Mari having her mother go through cancer again, and Anita possibly moving. It all just made me nervous. Now we definitely have to win the competition.

Anita's POV

It was pretty emotional today, at Skylar's house. At least now they know that I might move. And the fact that Mari's mom isn't doing too well, made me nervous for her.
After getting home, I did most of my chores, and left for my room. I decided to start my hacking early today. It took me four hours just to scan through some of the Russian T.W. files. Sha joined me about two hours in. We did notice a strange difference in the serum Russians where using for their soldiers. In the charts it says it works efficiently, but there are a lot of side affects. There was also proof of illegal transactions between Russia and China. All of this didn't sound good. Sha and I decided to assign a group on this project. Sha let me be the director. This is the first time he ever let me do anything like this. I was pumped about it. So I stayed up most of the night going more through the files, and collecting more evidence, and data. This also made me think about my safety, if someone finds out about this. I may get in butt load of trouble.