Dracon (1st book of the Draconon Series)

Chapter 9

Frederick sat down at the desk in front of him and watched as Miguel and I sat down before him. He folded his arms across his chest and stared at me, and I felt uncomfortable under his hard gaze. His desk was covered with a lot of paper, not as neat as it had been while I had been working there.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I asked, leaning back in the seat and crossing my leg. I folded my arms across my chest and raised an eyebrow, making sure that my face was blank. I didn't want him to know that I was nervous because I didn't want him to know that I had been doing something else besides working here in the office.

Frederick sighed and moved a hand through his hair. He twisted his chair around until he was facing his desk and looked around for something. "I need you to do something for me," he said.

"The answer is no," I said, and he paused in what he was doing. "If you want me to do something for you, I'd rather be hired or have an internship with the company before doing anything."

"If you do that, I want you to go to school," he said, and Miguel shifted in his seat. "College, I mean."

"With... what?" I asked, raising my eyebrow higher and scowling. I was excited and nervous about going to college. I wanted a normal life, but I was by far, not normal. "I have no high school diploma, I have no GED, and I have no money for school. You don't get far without those."

"Do you want to take the GED?" he asked. He pulled out some paperwork and turned towards me. "I have to say your organizing skills have made it easy for me to find stuff."

I shrugged my shoulder, feeling a small spark of pride as he praised me. "Miguel isn't that organized," I said. "He sometimes loses stuff that is on him."

Miguel opened his mouth to refute what I had said closed it. "That... is actually true..." he said, moving a hand across the back of his neck in a sheepish way.

"Hmmmm," Frederick said before looking at me. "If you had the money, would you go to school?"

I shrugged. "Depends on what I will go in for," I replied. "For some, college isn't the path that they want to take."

Frederick frowned and cleared his throat. "What do you want to do?" he asked. "What do you want to study?"

I licked my lips and shifted in hesitation. "Art," I said. "Maybe something to do with construction."

"Like..?" he asked, and I shrugged. He raised an eyebrow.

"Make plans or something. I want to build something safe and structural."

"So, basically like houses?"

"Or skyscrapers," I replied. "I know how to use different tools."

"How?"

"I have been on the streets since I was ten. Are you really asking me how I know how to use different tools? I worked and learned and studied in my own way."

"She has taken a mock GED test and had passed it with flying colors," Miguel said, and Frederick looked at him. "She tries to read what she can get her hands on."

"Does that mean you can speak different languages?" Frederick asked, looking at me.

"A bit," I replied honestly. "I know more Spanish because I practice it with the guys here. I try to watch videos of people speaking different languages, but I don't have a computer or wifi."

"Then what do you do if you aren't here?"

"Paint and read," I replied. "Which is why I want to study art."

"Are you any good?"

I hesitated but nodded my head. "Yes," I said.

"She isn't confident in her abilities," Miguel said, and I shrugged.

"I see." He cleared his throat and pushed the paper towards me. "Are you sure that you can read his handwriting?"

I nodded and looked at the piece of paper that he had pushed in front of me. "I can," I confirmed. "Why?"

"This is your test. If you can read it, then I will pay for your college tuition and your testing." He raised his hand when I opened my mouth to say something, and I closed it. "You will be working here when you are not at school, at this desk, and nowhere else."

I shifted in my seat and looked at him. I was nervous and excited. I wanted to work with tools, but I understood that he didn't want me to get hurt for whatever reason. "And, if I don't?" I asked. "What then?"

"Then you are to leave these premises and never come back. You may never talk to anyone of my workers, and if you do, then you will be sent to jail."

I raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. "I will talk to them if they talk to me. You cannot control them or me. I will leave the premises and never come back, but if they do talk to me, then I will talk to them."

A small satisfied smirk appeared on his lips as if he knew that was what I was going to say. He leaned back in his chair and stared at me with this unknown emotion in his eyes. He placed his hands in his lap and crossed his fingers as he watched me. "Then, I hope that you can read it. No one else was able to, so I wish you luck."