Numbered

Chapter Fourteen

As the weeks passed, Kylie’s injuries healed but her home-sickness only got worse. She longed for another letter from her grandmother but Mr Worth would not let her after Mrs Worth voiced her concerns about the maid.

Every night, she would trace over the words of the one letter she had. Some nights she had blissful dreams of eating steak and roast potatoes with her grandmother. Other nights, she had nightmares of her grandmother being taken away from her forever. She was woken by Jared on several nights because of her screams.

She was lucky she was at the back of the apartment near Jared’s room, otherwise Mrs Worth would throttle her.

She had grown even closer to Jared. She felt like she could tell him anything. She’d already revealed so much to him about herself. He’d told her she had no need to be scared to tell him things. She trusted him enough to believe that her secrets would go no further than between him and the four walls they talked within.

She was still curious about the fact that Jared did not share his parent’s personality traits or judgments.

One morning she asked him.

“I haven’t told you this before,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “But my parents employed this woman to come in and look after me. She lived with us in our last house until I was about nine.”

Kylie had heard of the Topaz socialites employing nannies to raise their children, so they could go out and enjoy themselves. The nannies that looked after the children worked for their keep; food and accommodation. They received little money because of this and often were treated poorly by the families which employed them.

“In my eyes, she was my mother. But she wouldn’t allow me to call her that or she’d get in trouble. Her name was Cristabel. She was a 2. She taught me everything I know. I suppose that’s why I’m so different from my parents. Well, she got sick. She spent a week in bed and had her friend come around to look after me. My parents thought she was alright but when they found the friend entertaining me, they threw Cristabel out.”

“Over a friend?” Kylie asked, surprised that they had over-reacted so much.

“The friend was a Zero,” he replied. No explanation was needed. Kylie knew the lack of status she had.

Kylie frowned. “If they despise Zero’s, then why’d they bring me here?”

Jared sat down, clearly agitated. “Years ago, things were a lot stricter. Zeros were hunted down and tortured by people. Some have carried it on, because there’s no laws against hurting a Zero.” Kylie inhaled sharply. Didn’t she know it. He continued, “My father works in the government. He took you in because the Official looking after you promised him a promotion, which he got.”

“What happened to Cristabel?” She had to ask. Jared’s eyes met hers and she could see sorrow in them. She sat down beside him.

“As far as I know, she got sicker. My parents came in one morning and told me that she’d been found dead on the streets. They didn’t understand that I was upset, so I just tried to block it out.”

“I’m sorry, Jared,” she hugged him. He rested his head on top of hers. She was so small in his arms.

“Thank you.”

***

The next day, before he came home from school, she vacuumed his room. He walked in to find her there, scrubbing the tiles in his en-suite.

“Hey,” he said, making her jump.

She smiled at him. “Hi.”

“So I have some news,” Jared said, pausing to gauge her reaction.

She stopped what she was doing and stood up, placing her hands on her hips. “Oh yeah? What kind of news? Good or bad?”

“Good. I have a job,” he replied. He threw his rucksack into his closet and straightened his jacket. “You’re looking at a part-time waiter and employee of the Scala Bistro.”

Kylie had heard of Scala Bistro from Michel. Its chefs had won many awards because of its fine food and it had a clientele of higher numbers. Nobody lower than 4 was admitted into the bistro, Michel had told her.

She guessed it was the only place of employment Mrs Worth had approved of for her son.

“Wow. Congratulations.” She stood up and gave him a hug. She was happy for him, but she was also kind of living through him. She couldn’t wait to hear the details about the other staff and what customers he would run into. She knew she would never be employed as a waitress. She belonged in a work-place where she would not be seen or heard. Her grandmother had told her of the factories which worked 1s and Zeros to the bone and gave them close to nothing in return. She had warned Kylie not to go there, scared her with stories of abused employees and power-greedy bosses. But she knew sometime in the future, her grandmother wouldn’t be able to continue going door-to-door selling soup and she would have to go to work there. She dreaded the day that would come but she would do anything for her grandmother. Even if it meant coming home black and blue with pittance. If it got her by, she would do it.

“You don’t seem too enthusiastic,” he said, his eyes worriedly scanning over her. “Are you okay? How’s your ribs?”

“No, I’m fine. Completely healed,” she replied, smiling. “I’m just…going to miss you when you’re working those long evenings.”

“It’s only later in the week I’ll be working,” he assured her. When he saw her expression he realised that wasn’t the reason.

“I’m a jerk,” he added hastily. “I’m just talking away here about this great job, and you’re…well, you’re scrubbing floors.”

“You’re anything but a jerk.” She rolled her eyes. “I don’t mind, honestly. I’m pleased for you.”

“Come on. Just hit me,” he said. “I’ll feel better. So will you.”

“I doubt you’ll feel better,” she sniggered, ringing out the damp cloth in the sink. She was waiting for a bell to call her back to work at any moment. She knew Mr Worth would be home from work soon and would probably want her to make a snack for him.

"I bet I can beat you at fighting," he said. A smile twitched around his mouth. It seemed as if he knew he would win it. He was that confident.

Kylie raised an eyebrow. "Five's can't fight."

He was too upper class to be able to street-fight properly. She couldn't imagine him fighting. It was like he was "above" it. Plus, everybody knew rich kids couldn't fight.

"We'll see," he replied.

She jumped back as he lunged for her arm, and she kicked his legs from underneath him with one swipe of her leg. He fell to the floor loudly and winced in pain.

He didn't get up for a while and Kylie wondered if she'd actually hurt him badly. She crouched down to his level, and lifted up his chin, teasingly.

Before she could react, his hand shot out and grabbed her ankle, pulling her down sharply. She loved how he wasn't afraid of hurting her; he knew she was tough; he knew how to handle her. But she had to swallow her pride and admit defeat on this fight.

"No!"

She yelped as she came down, struggling but he was pinning her to the ground before she could realise what had happened. His arm was across her collarbone, stopping her from getting up.

Silence stretched between them. She looked into his blue eyes, and saw the smirk disappear from his face.

All she could hear was the frantic thumping of her heart.

With his other hand, he brushed the few strands of chocolate hair away from Kylie's face and smoothed his thumb over her cheek-bone. And then he leaned down and kissed her.