WANT TO KNOW A SECRET?

(33)

Nathan was out of his chair and half way to the door before I had the time to process what was happening.

"Nathan! Poppy!"

This voice... I thought. No, it can be...

But Nate was already opening the door and the strangled scream that came out of his mouth was enough to snap me out of it.

I crossed the few feet to the door on wobbly legs and did a double take at the sight in front of me.

Standing there were Owen, Leo and Tyler.

Nate seemed to be frozen a couple of feet ahead of me so I walked to him and draped an arm around his shoulders.

"Am I dreaming?" He muttered incredulously a full minute later.

"You're not..." Leo replied with a small smile.

"F*ck..." He then mumbled, his voice thick with emotions. "Does this mean we're going home?" His pleading tone brought tears to my eyes.

"That's what we've come to ask you..." Leo muttered sadly, which made me frown and I was about to ask him what he meant but my brother was quicker.

"Wh-what do you mean?" He stuttered with furrowed eyebrows.

"Well," He snapped clearly irritated, his light blue eyes sending daggers our way. In spite of the circumstances, I was kind of proud to hear what a confident young boy he'd become since the first time we'd met him. "The two of you decided to come and live to freaking England without even a goodbye, you're not answering your phones..."

"B-but..." Nate cut him off. "We didn't come here willingly." He managed to say through his tears. "And we're not allowed to use any electronic devices." He added. "Our mom took our phones from us before flying us here. She tricked us..." It was as if he was finally breaking down after all those weeks.

"She tricked you?!" Owen intervened for the first time.

"She made us believe we were flying to Greece to surprise you..." Nate explained with his hands clenched to his sides. "So, yeah! We did hop on the plane willingly and we even feasted on the yummy food they served us onboard. Only it was drugged and when we woke up, we were in a car that was parked outside the school..." He finished in one go.

The three brothers growled and I finally found the courage to look at the handsome blue-eyed guy that had haunted my nights since our arrival here.

My heart began racing furiously at the intensity of his cold stare. He wasn't just looking at me, he was trying to get inside my head and read me. I briefly wondered what he was looking for but didn't dare ask.

"Why didn't you contact us?!" Leo was the one to finally break the strained silence that Nate's declaration had provoked.

"I told you, already! We're not allowed to use phones or computers!" Nate shot back. "Heck! The only TV we watched were documentaries illustrating classes..."

"Oh! Come on!" Leo argued. "Do you think we're stupid?! We're in 2014, Nate! You could have sneaked out and texted or emailed us..." His glare hurt me so much I almost stepped up and slapped him.

"We're locked in our rooms when we're not in class..." I intervened, my voice icily cold.

"No, you're not!" He interjected pointing to the library door.

"It's exceptional, though..." Nate argued. "Plus, you seem to forget that our mother was the one who enrolled us here... Contacting you wouldn't have changed that..." He was getting as pissed off as I was.