Unplugged: The Beautiful World (#3, Unplugged Trilogy)

Chapter Seventeen

    "Enna and Matthew sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N--"
    "Please, Oscar!" Leah exclaims rolling her eyes. "Do you want us to be mobbed?"
    The four of us had chosen the least pleasurable place to eat--a rotting wooden table in the leaky corner of the Dining Quadrant--in order to avoid any unwanted attention. But our dismal spot hasn't managed to completely turn people away. Already on more than one occasion people ran up to Matthew and I, asking for autographs and advice. Suffice it to say that I'm not prepared for fame, and neither is he.
    "Can you tell me again why everyone knows us?" I mutter, trying to hide my face behind my hands.
    "Because you're just so darn cute," Oscar says, slurping vegetable soup from a spoon. We all choke on our food, laughing. How is it possible that we're all here together, laughing over supper just like we did months before? How is it possible that such normal things can still occur in this world, alongside the impossible? Matthew takes my hand under the table and rubs his thumb over my knuckles. A blush rises on my cheeks and I force myself to keep eating.
    "Can you ever be serious?" Leah pokes Oscar in the ribs and looks at Matthew and I, lowering her voice. "You're both symbols of resistance now. Everyone's been speculating about where you've been."
    "I can understand Enna, but... Why me?" Matthew raises an eyebrow. I find myself holding my breath, wanting to know the answer myself as much as he does. Leah shrugs.
    "You were the son of John Elliot--you were the future Executive of Region Two--and all of a sudden you swoop out of the city with a most wanted criminal like some sort of superhero. Sounds pretty attractive to me." I raise my eyebrows.
    "Criminal? What happened to insurgent poster-child?"
    "Attractive?" Matthew almost gags on his food.
    "Yeah, Leah, what are you trying to say?" Oscar mutters, slowly putting down his spoon. Leah pats his back consolingly, and I watch Matthew for a moment. I never would have thought of it that way; Matthew always insisted that I would be affected because of him... But what if it's the other way around? I'd forgotten that he was the son of one of the most powerful men in the country, destined to follow in his footsteps. Suddenly, a deep feeling of dread encloses my heart. What if the government thinks to use him against me? Against the people?
    Don't think like that! I scream in my mind.
    "So, um... What happened to you guys after the Depot fell?" I try to change the subject swiftly, and Leah complies.
    "We did as you planned and escaped through the entrance. It took several days of dodging bombs and staking out abandoned buildings before Danny recruited us. Since then, things have been pretty constant between rescuing others and trying to reclaim our belongings from the Depot." Leah's eyes grow sad for a moment and she glances over her shoulder at the Medical Quadrant. I know that she's probably thinking about Sara. After a moment, she notices me closely observing her and brightens her demeanor. "So what happened with you two?" Matthew and I share a loaded glance, and then he launches into a brief summary of the past three months. When he finishes, I notice the people of the resistance starting to lie down on their piles of blankets.
    "So where's Josh?" Leah asks, eyes bright. She starts to eagerly scan the warehouse and I gulp. Before I can help it, a tear squeezes out from my right eye and I hurriedly wipe it away.
    "Oh, no..." Oscar's face falls, and Leah starts to look horrified. Matthew slowly stands, pulling me up beside him. He had to leave that little detail out of the story...
    "It's fine," he mutters, firmly grasping my hand. Matthew yawns, probably more for show than anything. "We're going to go to sleep, if you don't mind."
    "Of course..." Leah says, staring at the table guiltily. Matthew starts to lead me away, towards our designated sleeping space. I start to recognize how exhausted I am as people stare at us and whisper behind their hands: I find that I don't really care. Our pile of blankets is surrounded by Gale's, Victoria's, and those of a young girl whom I don't know. She looks to be in her pre-teens, with thick glasses and dark hair that ends at her shoulders. My knees crack in protest when I lower myself to the ground.
    "Were those your friends over there?" Gale asks quietly. Her face looks fair under the dying glow of the cooking fires. "The ones you told me about?" I smile weakly and nod, trying to forget about Josh. And then I remember the wristbands in my pocket.
    "Oh, hang on." I dig them out and distribute them among the four of us. Victoria is already asleep, so I give hers to Matthew for the time being. As Gale settles down, I sit closer to him for warmth.
    "I wonder what this means," he mutters, tracing the strange, dotted line on the red band. "If anything at all." I nod, equally curious but too tired to voice it.
    "Are you... Enna Price and Matthew Elliot?" I spin around to face the person who had spoken up: the young girl with thick glasses. As soon as I make eye contact with her, a huge smile blossoms across her face. Do I know you? I want to ask. When the young girl sees Matthew, she freezes up comically and a dark red blush creeps up her neck to cover her entire head. I smile as kindly as I can, trying not to come across freaked out.
    "Yes. What's your name?"
    "Uhh... Becca?" I nod a few times, because that seems like the right thing to do. Beside me, Matthew looks incredibly awkward. I roll my eyes so the girl can see and take his arm, leading us to the farthest side of our patch of blankets.
    "Leah wasn't lying. People are crazy about you," I mutter when we are out of earshot from Becca. An annoying twinge of entitlement surges through my blood at the thought. Matthew holds a trembling hand to his chest and shakes his head.
    "Yeah."
    "I thought you were about to explode," I tease, trying to lighten the mood. But he stares blindly into the distance, thinking about something I wish I could understand. Maybe he's thinking about how being close to me is the bane of any normalcy he may have ever had a chance at. Whatever it is, I quickly lie down on the blankets and try to fall asleep, hoping that the numb peace will erase my worries.