Malen'kaya Zemlya [2] [P. Parker]

3.12 Tears Without Reason

The bus pulled up in front of the hotel we were staying at.

There was a large banner over the front doors. United States Academic Decathlon. It was like they thought people would see it and go, 'Oh, my gosh! An Academic Decathlon! How exciting!' when in reality, what was more likely to happen was people would say, 'Academic Decathlon? What the hell's that?' because, in truth, I had no idea or interest in the decathlon even now.

As we all filed into the hotel lobby, wheeling our luggage, Liz spoke up from the front of the group, "Everyone stick together."

"Yeah," Mr Harrington added, seemingly trying to make it look like he was in charge.

"You kidding me?" a guy named Charles said in awe. "This place is huge!"

Flash shrugged. "I've seen bigger."

I rolled my eyes with a scoff. "Of course."

"There's a bird in here." another guy, Abe, said from near me.

I exchanged a glance with Michelle who raised a brow.

"Hey, you brought your laptop, right?" Peter asked Ned quietly.

"Why?" Ned asked.

"Yeah, Peter," I cut in, taking his hand. "Why?"

He blushed. "Um-"

"You wouldn't be planning anything stupid, would you?" I continued sweetly.

"I-"

"Because I would have to report you to Happy, and we don't want him coming down here, now, do we?" I said with a sweet smile on my face.

"Nope," he said quickly. "And that's why we're only doing... smart stuff. Not stupid stuff. We're smart."

I tilted my head. "If you say so..." With that, I let go of his hand and slipped away to walk beside Michelle.

"He's up to something," she said.

"Definitely." I agreed. "And I'm going to find out what."

That night, in the room I was sharing with Michelle, I sat on my bed with a frown on my face.

I was in my swimsuit, as Liz had come by before and told us to get into. Apparently the whole team was going swimming. I didn't want to.

I was one hundred per cent sure that if Peter was going to try something reckless, he'd try it at night and I wanted to be on my guard to catch him. I had a feeling that whatever was going on had something to do with the guy with the wings that dropped us in a lake and the glowy thingy he'd found.

Michelle came out of the bathroom and frowned at me. "Frowning? Not happening tonight, kiddo."

"I'm the same age as you," I replied.

"Not if you count months, you're not." she countered. For a second, I wondered how she knew my birthday, but then realised it was just the kind of thing she would know about people. "Now come on. I don't want to swim any more than you do, but you already told Liz we'd both come so that means we have to. Now, let's go."

I sighed and stood up, tightening the towel around my body. "Okay, fine. But what if-"

"Forget Peter." she said in her usual monotone. "If he wants to be dumb and sneak out then that's his fault. You don't have to look after him 24/7. He's not your responsibility."

I nodded. "You're right."

"I know." she walked over to the door. "Now, come on. And don't even think about abandoning me."