M3RG3

Chapter 24

Sunday

"Should we wake her up? It's eleven already."

"Just do it," The other voice muttered.

"Arista! You have five minutes to wake up before I blare 'the horn' in your ear!"

There was no need for a horn. Natasha's screaming was already enough for me to roll out of bed and stumble to the bathroom, half awake.

"So..." Lyla leaned against the bathroom door as I furiously splashed my face with water. "Since you missed breakfast, we helped you snag a few pieces of bread in case you got hungry."

"Thanks," I called back, opening the door just to see Natasha hopping around somewhat awkwardly while trying to wriggle her sock on. "What's this?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow at this somewhat funny scene.

"I also got your Tabloid," She finally wiggled the sock into place, snagging my Tabloid on the desk to hand it to me. "There are quite a lot of unread messages. See for yourself."

"Thanks again," I smiled sheepishly. "I'm not much of an early bird."

"More like a night owl," Natasha smirked. "Now let's see what those text messages say."

Carefully angling the Tabloid away from them, I swiftly read through the messages, the majority stemming from the Revolution.

Oliver: Meeting starts at 3, meet you at the locomotive station.

...

Anthony: Oliver sent you a false alarm. The actual meeting starts at 2.

...

Mum: Try not to wake up late. This meeting is important.

...

Oliver: Karen wants to have lunch with you. You okay?

Oliver: I'm going to take that as a yes. I'll meet you at 12:30, don't be late.

Crap. I snagged a few pieces of bread, stuffed them into a container and hastily shoved it into my duffel bag. After swiftly packing in my Tabloid and bottle of water, I sprinted outside, hopefully catching the locomotive in time.

"Where are you going?" Kyle interrupted my sprint, his voice partly amused and concerned. Unlike me, he certainly looked like he had a good night sleep. His hair was neatly combed to one side and his brown eyes were warm, like dark chocolate, and sparkling with energy. I shook my head, clearing away my thoughts before it would dwell any further.

"Training." That was true. Most of the time, I trained until I was practically immobilized by exhaustion. Kyle's smile widened ever so slightly, buying my lie.

"I'll come with you." He stated, his smile inviting and warm. To a certain extent, I wanted to say yes, but the Revolution was more important than my personal affairs. "I'm training with someone else. He'll be helping me with some... Stuff." I finished lamely.

"Is he a friend? Do I know him? Does he live in the Merging Institute?" My vague answers only lead to more questions from Kyle. I had to do something. Fast.

"Look, I'm meeting up with him on really short notice, so maybe later?" I smiled as convincingly as possible, the corner of my lips stretching so much that it almost looked like a grimace.

"Sure," He replied, his tone convincingly nonchalant, but not quite. I knew better, he was jealous. Of me and Oliver's friendship, I wasn't so sure. "Talk to you later, then."

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The locomotive doors slid open to reveal Oliver and Karen, both impatiently waiting for my arrival.