The Differents | ✓

E L E V E N

My stomach lurched. What was I going to tell Sniper? I fumbled with my books and scurried down the hall, taking a deep breath before cracking open the door to my classroom and stepping inside.

Thirty-three heads turned to stare at me, all except for a boy whose number I couldn't remember, who wasn't able to see. Captain and Sniper were among those in the class, and I felt my face flushing as the stares of my classmates fixed me intensely. Nobody was ever this late without a good excuse.

"9412. I see you've finally decided to show up," the Instructor said flatly. "Take a seat and come see me after class."

I quietly made my way to my seat, passing Captain with cold indifference. My spot was near the back of the class, and I slouched in my seat, trying to ignore the looks Sniper was shooting me. My gut twisted as I remembered the map, and I avoided his gaze as I figured out what to tell him. Should I lie? Tell him the truth? Or avoid him entirely? No, I couldn't avoid him if we were escaping; we were in this together. I decided to just tell him and hope he'd understand. That was after I'd figured out an excuse for being late, of course.

After class, I stepped up to the Instructor's desk nervously. He set down the papers he was marking and looked at me expectantly. "Well?"

"I'm really sorry, sir. I got very preoccupied at the library and when I looked up again my class had left me behind. It won't happen again."

"Hm," was all I got in response. He looked back down at his papers and traced a big red number sixteen in the top right corner. "It better not happen again. Now go and let me grade these papers," he huffed, and proceeded to ignore me. I nodded and left the room, closing the door softly behind me. Turning around, I came face to face with Sniper.

"Hey," he said. "I was waiting for you to come out so we could go continue planning."

I grimaced. "Yeah, about that..."

He took my elbow and led me into a quieter hallway. "What?"

"The map, I don't have it anymore. I was walking down the hall and I bumped into a Mask and it fell and he picked it up and he saw it and--" I was panicking, my heart beating fast and my words tumbling out of my mouth. "He took it."

Sniper's eyes widened. "You let a Mask take it?"

"I didn't let him, Sniper. I couldn't stop him from taking it."

"You could have at least tried!" his tone turned angry. "That map was our only clue to the outside world and you lost it! I have been waiting for this moment for years, Arthemis, and the one time I was this close, you ruin it!"

"Sniper, I'm sorry, okay? I really didn't mean--"

"I honestly don't care anymore. Forget it, 9412."

A stab of pain shot through my chest. I wasn't used to him calling me by my real name, and hearing it from his mouth with such malice attached to it hurt even more. He leaned against the wall and turned his head the other way, refusing to look at me.

I hesitated. "What are we going to do?"

A long moment of silence stretched between us. "I don't know."

I tried to think of something to help the situation, but all the things that came to mind seemed so insignificant. I sighed and sat down against the wall. "Do we just try to estimate where to go? Are we even going at all anymore?"

"If we go, we need to find something that will help us, and quickly. Cleaning week will be here soon and it's our only chance." He swallowed and sat down next to me rigidly, as if he no longer trusted me. "Before the map was taken, did you find anything?"