Several knocks on the door woke Julia with a start. She snapped awake, groaning. The clock on her phone read 1:26 in the morning. Who kept waking her up so early?
"Eva." She whispered. "Get the door."
The knocks on the door sounded again.
"I'm up, I'm up," Julia mumbled as she slowly climbed out of her bed. Feeling her way through the front hall and to the door with her eyes still partly closed, she grabbed the doorknob and twisted it quietly.
An envelope sat on the floor outside her dorm. Knowing immediately what it was, Julia's eyes snapped open. She grabbed the envelope and tore it open furiously.
"Dear Julia Castle,
This letter contains the exact details pertaining to your first heist, to take place on the twenty-eighth of October. The information you are about to receive must be kept an absolute secret - do not share anything with anyone, including members of the Light's Men. For this first mission, you are on your own."
Intrigued, Julia closed the door behind her and walked back into the main room. Sitting down on the couch, she continued to read:
"On the back of this paper you will find a photograph of the item you will be required to retrieve." Julia flipped over the letter and stared hard at a picture of a manila folder with the word confidential stamped across it in big, back lettering. "That could be anywhere," she muttered.
"In the envelope we have also included a master key. This key will allow you to open any door on the Keaton Academy campus. Use it wisely, and don't lose it. It is not yours to keep."
Julia fished the tiny key out of the bottom of the envelope. It hung on a silver chain. Quickly she fastened the chain around her neck.
"Depending on the outcome of your heist, the congratulatory celebration will commence at midnight. This gives you an hour to complete your mission. When finished, place the key in the mailbox furthest on the right in the main entrance to Brenway Hall. Give the envelope, should you obtain it, to your instructor."
"None of this makes any sense," Julia whispered to herself. Her eyes drifted down to the final paragraph.
"Remember, Julia, you were chosen for the Light's Men because the current members believed you would be the most successful. Should you prove us wrong, any status you have shall be revoked. We advise you to think long and hard about the decisions you are about to make."
The letter, again, had no signature. Julia scanned the letter over and over again for any details she might have missed. This folder could be anywhere! How in the world would she find it in under an hour? Maybe that's why she had the key...
This was going to be harder than she thought.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
"God, guys, quiet down! Please!"
Julia felt bad for Mr. McLennon was she watched him grow more and more frustrated. No matter how hard he tried, the class still continued to carry on their own conversations. She couldn't help but grow annoyed, too.
She turned around and snapped her fingers. Eva looked up, confused.
Julia pointed to the empty seat next to her. After making sure Mr. McLennon wasn't paying attention, Eva quietly slid up into the open chair.
"This is miserable," she whispered.
Julia took a deep breath. "I got my letter about the heist yesterday," she began. To her surprise, Eva started to walk away.
"Wait!" Julia's arm shot out and grabbed Eva's wrist. Mr. McLennon looked up, his eyebrows raised. "Sorry," Julia said innocently, smiling.
"Let go!" Eva hissed. "You're not supposed to talk to anyone about the letter! You're supposed to figure it out yourself!"
"I'm trying!" Julia whispered back. "What am I even supposed to figure out?!" Eva tried, to no avail, to twist her arm out of her tight grip. A minute later she exasperatedly sat back down, scowling even more.
"The letter is supposed to answer your questions," she said through gritted teeth.
"All of my questions weren't even mentioned in the letter," Julia retorted. "Trust me, Eva, I wouldn't be saying anything if I honestly didn't know what to do. Please don't tell on me."
Eva closed her eyes and sighed.
"Look, I've only got an hour to find this thing, and I have no idea where to look for it," Julia continued. "I know for a fact that it's gotta be in someone's office, their private office, which I have no intention of breaking into, mind you, and I also know that there's no way that I'm going to be able to look in all of the rooms on campus in under an hour."
"I can't help you with that," Eva answered angrily.
"Isn't there some kind of...protocol I'm supposed to follow, or...something?" Julia asked.
"The only protocol, Castle, is to keep the letter to yourself. And you've already broken that rule." She yanked her wrist out of Julia's grasp and walked back to her seat.
The task at hand still hadn't gotten any easier. That talk left Julia only more annoyed than before. If she couldn't get help from anyone else, all she had left was to look for the folder herself.
She'd have to break and enter into teachers' private offices and steal, neither of which she wanted to do, but if she wanted any of the sliver of social status she had gained, that was her only choice.
What could go wrong?
Author's Note:
EDIT: I already published this chapter on the computer, but the app glitched and I accidentally unpublished what I had already written, so I had to retype it...oops.
She speaks! Well, writes.
I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I've been blocked for long, and I just got the idea for how to finish this part at like 10:00 last night. If it's choppy at all, I'm getting better.
Things pertaining to the heist are moving along faster than before, but the same questions still need to be answered. Will Julia succeed or fail? Will her questions be answered? We'll find out in the next couple of chapters...
Please remember to vote, comment, and share! This is the first time I've ever published any of my work online, and it's also motivated me to write a lot more than I have on any of my other stories. I'm so grateful for all the attention Diamond Names has gotten, even if it isn't that much. xmxjxj
Song: Gasoline by Halsey
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Diamond Names (ON HOLD//EDITING)
Teen FictionJulia Castle has always lived life under her mother's shadow. Everything she does has to be perfect. When Julia is finally old enough to attend Keaton Academy, the prestigious boarding school where her mother works, she quickly gets swept into a sec...
