Diamond Names (ON HOLD//EDITING)

Seventeen

"Are you nervous?" Allie asked.

Julia snorted. "I have absolutely no idea how I'm supposed to steal something, especially if I have no idea where it is and only have an hour to find it. Of course I'm nervous!"

It was the day before the heist, and Julia's nerves were close to getting the better of her.

Tyler rolled his eyes, smirking. "Relax, Castle. Almost everyone here completed their first heist, no problem."

"Please," Kristen interjected. "You fell out of a second story window and broke your arm." The group laughed.

"How did you get out of that one?" Liam asked.

Tyler shrugged nonchalantly. "Wicked basketball game." That comment sent everyone into laughter again.

"There's nothing to worry about,  Julia," Liam reassured her. "I planned the heist this year, it's nowhere near as dangerous as everyone else's was."

"On a scale of one to Australia, how dangerous are we talking?" Miles asked weakly.

Allie thought for a minute. "Black widow spider," she whispered back.

"So, Castle, your first heist." Tyler whistled, nudging her elbow. "How you feeling?"

"Do I have to do this?" Julia groaned.

Tyler raised his eyebrows.

"Stupid question," she muttered.

He nodded. "Just a little bit."

Julia knew the consequences if she failed the heist. She found it somewhat funny that a few weeks ago, she would have done anything to get herself kicked out. Now it was the opposite.

"Do you have your key?" Kristen asked.

Julia pulled the key chain out from underneath her oxford, growing suspicious. "How did you know I had a key?"

"We've all done this before, Castle. Remember?" Miles retorted. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he feigned horror.

He was right, though. Every single person in this room had to go through this same challenge; however torturous it might have been. She still had so many questions about what she had to do.

Tyler sighed. "Alright, Julia."

His voice snapped her from her thoughts. She looked up. Everyone in the circle now had their eyes on her.

"Alright what?" she asked, confused.

"Start talking." Julia could tell by the look in Tyler's eyes that he knew exactly what she was thinking. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay. I'm sorry, I just have absolutely no idea if there's a specific way I'm supposed to get this folder? I know that it's got something confidential in it, so then it must be in somebody's office, and that's why I've got the key - so that I can get into that office without triggering anything. But if I'm not told whose office the folder is in specifically, then how am I supposed to look through all of the teachers' offices in one hour? I had said something to Eva earlier about-"

"Wait, what was that last part?" Liam cut in, interrupting her. "When did you talk to Eva?"

Julia felt all of the color draining from her face. "I...did I say that? I didn't..."

"Julia, if you asked Eva about your task before you were given permission, that's against the rules," Tyler stated, his voice slightly rising. "I know for a fact that was stated in the letter."

"I-I-" Julia stammered. "I swear, I didn't." She was lying, and she knew it. "But you're letting me ask questions now!"

"Eva, did Julia ask you anything about what she read?" Liam asked calmly.

She glanced over to Eva, silently pleading.

Eva shrugged. "She didn't say anything to me."

Liam shrugged. "Fair enough. Let's move on."

"Thank you," Julia mouthed. Eva shook her head in response.

"Julia, really, it will take a lot less time than you think to find the folder. We made sure it's in the office of one of your teachers, and we hid it in plain sight, so you don't have to go digging for it." Liam reassured her. "There's nothing to worry about, here. You'll do fine."

Julia sighed in response. "I hope."

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. As everyone else jumped out of their seats and rushed out the door, Julia stayed behind and slowly began to pack her things. Soon she was the only student remaining in the classroom.

She cleared her throat. "Um, Ms. Webster?"

The middle-aged woman kept her gaze on her computer. "Hmm?"

Julia took a deep breath. "I just wanted to know if you had read my paper yet?"

At that Ms. Webster looked up. "I have. If you want it back, I can't give it to you. There are still several students whose papers I haven't graded yet." She placed her glasses atop her head and rubbed at her eyes. "Is that all?"

"Well, I was just...do you mind going over mine with me? I just want to see what I need to work on for the future." Julia tried to make her excuse sound convincing.

Ms. Webster shook her head. "I'm sorry, Julia, I'm afraid I can't. If I went over your paper, then I'd have to do the same with all of the other students who have come in and asked the same question." At that she got up and began to shove papers into her bag. "I have a department meeting in a couple minutes, so I'm afraid you can't stay in here."

Julia blocked the door. "Okay. I didn't want to say this, but my mom actually sent me to see what my grade was. She's got this rule that if I get below an eighty percent on any of my papers, then I need to discuss my grade with the teacher and rewrite the paper, and I really don't want to do that." She hated bringing her mother into this, even if what she said wasn't true. But she had already checked three of her other classes for the folder, and had had no luck.

Ms. Webster sighed. "Fine. Let's go into my office. But if I'm late for this meeting, neither of us will be happy."

Julia practically threw open the door leading into the office, whirling around, looking for her mystery item.

"Over here." Ms. Webster ushered her over to a grey filing cabinet. She slid open one of the drawers and pulled out a red binder. "Julia...Castle..." She flipped to a tab and pulled out a stapled pack of paper. "Here you are." She smiled. "Congratulations."

Julia grabbed the paper and smiled at the 100% written atop in red pen. She glanced up at the still open drawer and felt her eyes widen as she noticed a very thick manila folder with a bit of black writing sticking out at the top.

Ms. Webster held her hand out and filed the paper back into its proper tab. "Now, I have to go. Make sure the door closes on your way out."

Julia Castle had struck gold.

Author's Note:

Two chapters in two days! I'm on a roll!

I have a feeling that the reason these past couple of chapters were giving me trouble because nothing important was happening in them. It's a lot harder than I thought to keep the story moving while still making sure to keep people interested.

So Julia found the folder! That will definitely make things easier once the heist really comes around. The only question is, will the folder still be in the cabinet when she goes looking for it? Just because she found what she's looking for doesn't automatically mean she'll succeed. Haha, don't worry, I'm not that mean. But plenty of challenges could still come her way...

I have no idea if people actually read the author's notes, but if you do, thanks for sticking around for the end! Please remember to vote, comment, and share! Always appreciated xmxjxj

Song: The River of Dreams by Billy Joel