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I scroll through my phone, looking for some sort of distraction. I recently got Clickchat, and Lex went through my phone following basically everyone at our school. Thanks for that.

Anyway, it's totally normal. Lex had gone on yet another date with Mitchell, a few girls from school had gone to Americana, and another group of teens had gone to a BTS concert. Fun. Cool.

Then I hit a repost of one of the popular girls...and it's of her boyfriend. Her boyfriend Jack.

And Cole is with him. Woah. His face is so...crazed. Like he's...super hyped. Almost high. He looks high. He can't be. Not him.

He wouldn't. I know him. He wouldn't. He's just...high on energy. Right?

"Saturday is for the boys" read Jack's little caption.

I recognized the place. It was near the city's power plant. And it had to be recent. Jack bleached his hair a few days ago, and his hair is bleached here. They were recruiting someone. Word travels fast here.

They all have little lights as eyes because they used a bright white flash. They wore dark clothing. Well duh. Because they didn't want to be spotted. Wait. This was posted last night. Even more recent than I thought.

And a new recruit? Oh no. The recruiting process was almost legendary. Legendary for being dangerous.

I walk downstairs where Dad was watching TV. If anything bad happened, it probably wouldn't show up until the 11 o'clock news. So I googled it.

And there it was. Four students from Cambria High School were found trespassing "yet another private property." They were trying to get one of the boys to do some daring stunts. The article didn't reveal what the stunts were, but I'm glad they didn't. Nobody's hurt, though. Thank God. If they had gotten hurt...if Cole had gotten hurt...

Speak of the devil. Cole just texted.

Wyd

I frown. I wonder if he's going to bring up last night.

nm. u?

There's a short pause.

Nothing. Bored af

I silently shunned him.

Hope by f you mean fruitcake or something.

Lol ur weird brianna

Okay?

Do you want to do something tmrw? he types in before I respond to the previous message.

Let's see if he'll come clean if I say okay.

Sure. Where at?

I was thinking BB.

BB. Beverley Breakfast. It's really a diner, but their breakfasts are the most famous.

Kk, I reply.

The place is walking distance away, so I won't have to worry about being in a car with him.

I guess he's not the driest texter. Honestly, some boys only say "ya" "good" "no" and "wat?" I don't know why, but I appreciate it when guys act like they know fluent English over text.

What if we ran into my mom? I don't want to. It'd be so...awkward. And weird. And confusing. I don't even know if I'm angry at my mother. I mean, not super angry.

Well, I mean think about it. I hate her for leaving, but I want her back too.

You're not going to get her back.

Hush. Just...don't think about it.

Facts are facts, Brianna. Live with it.

Ugh! Why can't my brain shut up?

--

I'm sitting at BB's with Cole the next day, waiting for the food to come. Cole has this thing where he always looks out the window for a long time. Like literally, I don't know what it is, but he could do that for the rest of his life if he wanted.

He's not saying anything. He isn't going to. He's not going to tell me.

I take a sip of my water before saying, "I was on Clickchat yesterday."

He looks at me, a goofy smile on his face.I roll my eyes.

"And?"

See, I've never brought up personal stories of his before, and this story might not even be personal. It was on the news.

"You had a fun time at the Powerplant again?"

His eyes grow wide, as if he wasn't expecting me to confront him.

"What? How did you--"

What?

"Yep. You made it to the news again too." I say, frowning. The guilt on his face confirms everything.

"You thought I wouldn't know?"

I flash back to the Clickchat post, seeing that high look on Cole's face. When he was in a territory that was completely foreign to me. A mentality that was completely foreign to me.

This confirmed everything.

"Of course you did. That's what everyone thinks. Come on, which high schooler do you know that doesn't have social media? And access to the internet, for that matter."

He can't answer, his face almost expressionless. But this time his emotions are so strong that I can see a tiny bit of regret in his eyes, though he's trying so hard to hide everything. His feelings, his emotions, his thoughts. He's stamping them down. He's pulling up the walls...walls I can't see through. Almost.

"Does everyone see me like that?" I ask. "That I don't know anything? Like, how long were you going to hide it from me? We used to be friends, you know. I used to tell you everything."

"Brianna, I—"

His phone buzzes on the table, a message notification on the lockscreen. He only glances at it before his face goes white.

I've never seen him get this way. Never.

"Brianna, I didn't...I'm sorry," he says, rushed. "I've got to go. I swear, I'll explain. I promise you."

He stumbles out of his chair, as if his limbs can't move fast enough to satisfy him. In a moment he's gone.

I sit there, dumbfounded. What just happened? What's wrong? And is he ever going to talk to me again? We were having an intense conversation before, and I was on the verge of tears. Cole might be a jerk, but he isn't heartless. He'd never leave unless something really really important came up.

The waiter came up with two trays of food.

His food, I realize.

"Can I have these boxed up? And could you bring the check?" I ask her. She nods and takes the two trays again.

I should bring it to him. It's his food. Huh. It's an excuse to follow him. As fate has it. I would do it for anybody. I'm not a stalker, I swear. I'm being a friend.

I pay for the meals and take the two bags. I have some food to drop off.

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