It was silent. I grabbed his hand and went to the senior table. There wasn't a spot by my friends, but I didn't want to sit there. Everyone's eyes were trained on us. I sat him at an empty seat. It was him, me, no one, then Tina Walters.
She looked at us, probably wondering why her sources never said anything. I was off the grid. That's why, I thought. After a little bit of silence, I turned to her and said, "Tina," she seemed to light up that she was technically the first person I talked to since my arrival, "I'm giving you full permission to ask me any question. But only one."
She thought the offer over. It surprised me when she leaned in, cutting off our conversation from everybody. "Did you find your dad?" she whispered.
I shook my head sadly. Standing, I turned to the hall and shouted to everyone, "Stop staring! It's creeping me out!"
Most people continued to look at us; the rest still glanced over quite a bit, though.
He looks at me with sympathy, and I can't help but smile. He's too cute!
After that (I'm still standing), Bex, Macey, Liz, Jonas and Grant all got up and dumped their trays. As they past where I was they gave me dirty looks and death glares. They were mad. What really broke my heart was that Liz didn't even look at me. She must have been the maddest.
"Are you okay?" he asked. I guess I zoned out. Tears started to burn my eyes.
"Yeah, I'm just going to go." I should have talked to my mom (she's still in shock). I should have found Mr. Solomon (he's here somewhere . . . I can feel it). I thought about finding my friends but pushed the thought aside. They hate you. You've been gone three months and half a semester. They won't just forget about that when you show up. . .
I got up and left. He wouldn't follow; he knew when I did this I needed to be alone.
I had to think. The best place to do that is my secret passageway. I know I shouldn't say that it's mine, but it feels like it's mine.
I slipped into the passageway. It was silent, but I felt a presence. My spy self kicked in. I eased further into it, waiting to see some (and I'm just guessing here) Circle Agent looking for clues on to where I am (or where Solomon is, maybe?), or a terrorist that is breaking into Gallagher to capture Mr. Smith and take him to his dictator. I'm kind of hoping for the second one; Mr. Smith is a big boy. He can handle himself. Before long, I found myself almost at the end of the passageway. Unexpectedly, there was someone there, just not an agent trying to attack anyone at Gallagher.
But I don't know if it's good or bad that I found him. . .
