Truth Chasers

Chapter Seven

Monday 13th August, 2040.
Dalton Academy- Section 1, Quarter 1.
2:08pm
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This has to be a joke. A sick one at that. I gawk at him. The rude boy from Section 2. I hope strongly that I am the only one hearing how loud my heart hammers in my chest. His honey colored eyes are on me and they say the same exact thing on my mind;
What the actual heck?

I'm the first to look away from our mini staring competition. It suddenly feels like it is 150 degrees in this classroom. All the heated angry emotions I buried on Saturday night come flooding back in all at once. I notice some of my classmates are giving me curious looks. Flustered, I shuffle to my seat and the silence in the room is so loud that the sound of my metal chair scraping against the floor tiles carries throughout the room. I try to steady my breathing and count to ten to calm myself down but my mind is far from being at rest.
What is he doing here?

"Miss Cohen, is everything alright?" Mr Wagner inquires, making the attention linger on me even longer. I nod, still too shocked to open my mouth.
"Okay then!" He claps his hands together. "You can introduce yourself." He gestures to the rude boy. I force myself to look at him again. It's really him. He's actually here.

"My name is Rory Ackerman. I transferred here from Section 2." His voice is just like I remember. Deep and authoritative with that unmistakable hint of pride. He sounds just as infuriating as two nights ago.

"Even his accent is hot." Winter whispers to no one in particular from the seat to my left. I cringe. Of course she would like him.

"You can take your seat, Mr Ackerman." It dawns on me slowly- there's only one available desk, and it's right next to mine. I watch in horror as he walks toward my direction. Every step he takes makes my fists clench tighter. My finger nails dig into the fabric of my gloves. He drops his bag with a heavy thud beside the table and takes his seat, completely oblivious to the storm brewing inside me.

Mr Wagner wastes no time and delves right into today's agenda but I cannot focus. My mind is in a million different places and each of these places bears a common denominator.
Him.

Why is he here? Does he know dad is a spy? Is he a spy? It is definitely not coincidental that I met him in Section 2 and he suddenly shows up here. What if he exposes me and tells everyone I was at the Headquarters on Saturday night?
A shiver runs through me.

But on second thought... I doubt he's a spy. What floor did we have our horrible encounter again? The 11th floor. We met on the 11th floor and that is the furthest floor from the meeting room. And then again, I doubt that someone of his nature could even have anything to do with the organization. Of all teen spies in the Union they would never hire him... right? Even though I'm almost certain he is definitely not a spy, his presence here is still too suspicious to ignore.
What if-

"I'm Winter." The whisper of the blonde girl seated to my left, whom I have come to despise, snaps me back to the situation at hand. Her head is turned in my direction and for a split second I think she's talking to me.

"I'm Rory." He manages to sound bored out of his mind. Or maybe I just don't like him and his voice still irritates me.

"Are you enjoying your first day at Dalton?" She whispers while Mr Wagner scribbles away at the board, deep in his math lecture.

"I'm enjoying it better now that I'm talking to you, I guess." I can't help the way my nose scrunches up in disgust. Why am I the unfortunate one who has to sit between them? I can basically hear the fireworks going off in Winter's brain. I sneak a peek at her and sure enough, her cheeks are red. I roll my eyes. I really can't endure anymore of this.