Synectica

Chapter 8

        "Wait, so he just followed you?" asked Greg.

        "No! I told you, he was looking for his brother and he heard my, er, piano playing and wanted to say hi," Netta stuttered back. She was having difficulty trying to explain this whole thing to him without giving away Ryan's powers. She had to drastically alter his backstory to give Greg the general idea but he still seemed to think that Ryan was stocking her.

        "He sounds a bit sketchy if you ask me. Where did you say you met these people?"

        "At...um...Art history club. They just added it." 

        Netta could feel heat creeping up her neck and into her cheeks. She had to control her emotions if she wanted to fool Greg. He knew her better than anyone - possibly more than Charlotte. After all, she'd known him since they were kids. But he didn't seem to be buying her story.

        "I don't remember ever hearing of an Art History club. I'll ask Charlotte, I'll bet she'll know something about this..."

        "No! Um, I mean, I think they decided it at a different meeting besides the ones that Charlotte goes to."

        "Seriously?  I actually expect me to believe that? Look, I'm not an idiot. I just want to make sure that you're not hanging around bad people. I mean, I know that you get lonely sometimes, but hanging around weird, disturbed people..."

        "They're not weird or disturbed! Well, Ryan and Alice are a little odd, but they're not sketchy or dangerous! Just give them a chance, I think you might actually like them." 

         Greg's face started to lose some of its hardness and a smile cracked through.

        "All right. Fine. I just want to make sure you're all right. I'll trust your judgement on this."   

        Netta sighed with relief and Greg smiled reassuringly back. Then he got this wildly mischievous and almost serious look in his eye and said, "But if this Ryan dude tries anything he's going down." 

         Netta gawked at him for a second and then they both broke out laughing.

        "But in all seriousness,"said Greg, the smile slowly fading from his happy face, "you know that you can tell me if something's wrong, right? I mean, your foster brothers are kind of useless since they almost never actually come to school. I just want to make sure that someone is looking after you."

        "Yeah I know." said Netta smiling.

        "Hey, I gotta get to history. I'll see you later!" And with that he jogged off down the hall and caught up with a few of his other friends. Netta walked to her locker to grab her history book.     She was surprised when a piece of folded paper fell out. It was slightly crumpled and looked as though someone had ripped out of a notebook. She picked it up off the floor. On it was a scrawled message that read "Basement -  second door on the right. 4:00. Don't be late. -James." Netta starred at it for a second and then stuffed it in her bag, grabbed her book, and rushed off to history.

        At lunch, Netta got her lunch and found three of her friends sitting at their table. She had only been sitting for a minute or two when Alice came and joined them. James was a little ways behind her, trudging along as usual. Netta could have sworn she saw Ella smile a little when she saw James. But then she turned back to her tray and Netta was unsure of what se saw.

        "Hey guys!" Said Alice cheerfully as she sat down with her tray. "Are you excited for your first day of training Netta?"

        "What do mean?" Netta returned confused.