Lost in Hollywood

Hard Evidence

As soon as Demetri and Eli started working, it was clear that the rest of the room ceased to exist for them. At any other time, Sky would have found it fascinating to watch - the way they immersed themselves in work, how they spoke with half-sentences, one finishing the thought the other one started, using words that Sky didn't understand - but not today.

She was so nervous she felt like she could throw up at any given moment.

So she busied herself by getting some soda and snacks from the kitchen. Don't snack too much, I'm making pasta for dinner Dad said, but Sky paid him no attention. She was still mad at him, the anger tying her guts into an ever tighter knot, as she piled some sandwiches and potato chips on a plate and carried them back upstairs. The boys devoured the sandwiches, but Sky had zero appetite. She hadn't had anything since breakfast, but it was impossible to think about eating. In fact, she felt like she could never eat again.

This is taking way too long—

But what did she know? She had no idea how easy or hard it was, to break into someone's computer. She could only wait and watch, as the boys worked, her body tense as a string, every minute longer than a year.

"It's gonna be okay," Sam said, offering her a comforting glance as they sat side by side on her bed and Sky was nervously picking at the cuticle of her overgrown, pink nails.

"Yeah, but what if it isn't? What if Kyler's already deleted everything we could use?"

"Then we'll figure out something else. I promise. We'll find a way."

Sky shrugged and looked down at her hands. She wished she had Sam's optimism. Hell, she wished she had Devon's determination too, and Yas' strength and sass. Lately, it felt like she had nothing. Like she was nothing. No one. She was so tired all the time, and yet unable to sleep, exhausted and yet unable to rest. Making and executing this plan had taken everything she had, and she had lived only for this moment, only for the knowledge that she would get her revenge on Kyler tonight—

But now she could feel it all slipping through her fingers like sand in the wind. If she lost this, what was left? What was the point of even living, if they failed?

"We're in," Eli said, his voice suddenly clear and loud, wide with an excited grin. "We got through!"

Sky's heart leaped against her breast bone, she jumped off the bed so fast she almost lost her balance and only barely avoided falling to the carpet face first.

"Seriously?"

"It was relatively simple," Demetri said, sounding rather smug. "We downloaded the stuff we needed to my computer, then transferred it to Kyler's laptop with a USB flash drive, and then—"

"You sure? You're really in?" Sky interrupted. It wasn't like she needed the nerdy details.

"Yeah," Eli replied, with a hoarse laugh. "So? What now? What are we looking for?"

Sky rushed to her desk, followed by Sam, Yas, and Devon. She could barely believe her eyes - gone was the lock screen, asking for the password. God, it's really happening— It was true, it was a fucking miracle, it felt like winning in the lottery! Her glance flickered from the laptop to Eli's breathtaking grin, then back to the laptop, darting from one icon into another—

"Move," she said, shoving Eli's shoulder to make him get up. "Let me."

Eli didn't object but got up to let her slide into the seat. Sky didn't even look at him, didn't want to look at him now, because his crooked grin truly was so breathtaking, and she couldn't afford a distraction, not now, not at this moment that would define everything that came after, her only chance to be saved. She couldn't look at him now, and fall into those vast, blue eyes, that echoed the smile that played on his lips. But oh God, if this worked, she would. She promised that to herself. She would finally let herself look at him again.