WHO TO TRUST

Chapter 14

I was walking down the halls towards my room when I heard my name.

"Jayden!"

I turned around and saw Miss Lovett. She's one of the caretakers that I talk to and I'm at ease with.

"Um...Good afternoon, Miss Lovett. Is something wrong?"

"No, no. I just wanted to see how you were faring. I heard that you're participating more in class. You've even made friends, right?"

"Yes. Yes, I have."

"That's good. It's better to be more open and freer with everyone, rather than being lonely and gloomy.

"Right."

"If you have any problem, you can come to me as well. Anything that's troubling you at all, you can tell me okay?"

"Ok. Thank you, Miss Lovett."

"No problem. Well, I have some paperwork to do, so I'll see you later."

"Okay. Thanks again." And Miss Lovett walked away.

I'm comfortable with Miss Lovett, so this didn't seem especially suspicious to me but couldn't help feeling cautious.

I finally got to my room and joined Nate on my bed.

"How long does it take to get some water?" asked Nate.

"It wasn't my fault," I replied. "I was already coming back, but Miss Lovett stopped me on the way here to talk a little."

"Miss Lovett? What did she want?"

"Nothing, actually. According to her, she heard that I've been getting along with people and I've been more active in class. So, she just wanted to see how I've been doing and was encouraging to me to make friends. Oh, she also told me to come to her whenever I need help with anything."

Nate seemed quiet after I finished speaking.

"Nate? What's wrong?"

He looked at me, looked away then put on a face, as if trying to recall something.

"Actually," he began, "I saw something today, but I didn't think it would mean anything especially since you're comfortable with Miss Lovett...but since you've mentioned this..."

"What did you see?"

"...it was earlier this morning. I went to the cafeteria after breakfast because I was looking for my doodle book. When I entered the cafeteria, I saw Miss Lovett talking to Miss Miriam. They were on the table that we were on during breakfast. It looked like they were really into their conversation because they were startled when they saw me."

"They asked what I was doing here, and I explained my reason. After they allowed me to search, I apologized for disturbing them and was about to leave when Miss Miriam called me back. She asked how I was doing and was making small talk before she asked if I was the one that made you more social. After I told her I was, she and Miss Lovett began to thank me and said it was good that you didn't make everyone around you enemies anymore. Miss Miriam also pointed out the fact that you weren't open with the caretakers either but ever since I came into the picture, you've been able to at least start with Miss Lovett."

"Jayden," continued Nate, "I left the cafeteria telling them that I'm happy that you're better than before but as I was looking for my doodle book in my room, the more I thought that conversation didn't feel right."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"They must have known that I've been pestering you to make friends and they must've also known when you started being more open with everybody...which was like more than two months ago. So why was it at that time they decided to thank me? It seemed a bit overdue."

Well, that's true, I thought.

"Not only that, but the fact that Miss Lovett was talking to Miss Miriam today tells me that it wasn't a coincidence when Miss Lovett said that stuff to you on your way here."

I sighed.

"It's been almost two weeks since I heard that conversation about Derek and everything's been normal. But as I thought; they're watching. Even Miss Lovett is in on it."

"Well, it's just a guess though...about Miss Lovett," said Nate.

"Nah. She's probably with them. We'll just have to assume that every caretaker is part of this...I'm worried about Derek," I said.

"Me too. But there's nothing we can do right now."

"...yeah."

"We can't tell the other kids because the bad guys will probably find you through them so be very careful, got it?"

"...yeah."

Suddenly, Nate yanked my face and with my face between his hands, he made me face him as he said, "If you need my help, let me know okay? Don't carry everything by yourself, got it?"

With a surprised look, I replied, "Got it."

"I can't hear you!" Nate shouted.

"Got it!" I shouted back.

He let go of my face, then ruffled my hair. "After all, you're my little brother."

I stared at Nate and realized...I'm very happy I have someone like him in my life.

"Thank you, Nate."

"Don't mention it."