A/N: Hey y'all! Thanks to Mi Mi for the idea for this chapter. It was definitely fun to write. You'll know what I mean when you get there. :D Thanks to Robin, Chi, Ember411, and Nausicaa of the Spirits for reviewing the last chapter! It really means a lot. :)
And now onto the chapter…
I pulled my hair into a low ponytail and made my way down the maze of hallways, desperately looking for Morgan. She had to be close. But she had to know I was here too, so there was no way I could catch her off guard. Maybe I could trap her in a room though…
Before planning my evil scheme, I had to find her. I snorted. Great, this was going to be fun. Well, the bright red hair would be easy to spot. I made my way around the grounds, only just remembering where everything was. There were over two hundred rooms in this school – half of them completely separated from the rest. I would be dead tired before I reached a fourth of them.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone swiftly turn the corner, heading back the way I had come. I snapped my head back so fast it hurt, but saw that it wasn't Morgan. I sighed and continued looking.
The half-opened door ended all the questions in my head. I slipped in as quietly as I could and spotted Morgan peeking out the back window. I made my move, slamming the door shut. Morgan screamed and swiveled around, preparing to run. A wave of relief passed over her face when she saw it was me.
"Oh… oh, Lela, you scared me. I thought you were with Grandpa." Confusion twisted her face, but I didn't buy it.
"No, I saw you sneaking your way around the grounds," I replied bluntly and Morgan recoiled back into the corner even more.
"I wasn't d-doing anything wrong," she managed to stutter, smile faltering. I walked closer, cocking my head gently.
"No?"
The venom in my voice was laced delicately with mock kindness. Morgan shook her head violently and stood up straight, as if she suddenly remembered she was over three inches taller than I was.
"Then why are you so scared?" I kept going, relishing in this moment of total control before I lost it all again. Morgan hastily tucked her hair behind her ears and began to walk towards me. Her eyes sparkled with fury and her hands clenched tightly on either hip. My tongue ran along the bottom my teeth and I tried to keep myself from smiling. Here comes the explosion.
"Why wouldn't I be scared of a manipulative little brat like you?"
The joy slipped from my face, my nose scrunched, and my eyes narrowed. I wasn't going to stand here gawking while she insulted me. "Takes one to know one!" I shot back.
"Just because Wilbur likes me better does not mean I'm the manipulative one."
"He does not like you better!" I growled. My cheeks were turning red in rage. I could feel my face burning up.
"And how do you know? You haven't talked to him at all in two full years, except for screaming 'I hate you,' in his face after I destroyed your room," Morgan giggled and rolled her eyes at me. I was sure my face was the same color as her hair.
"At least – at least I don't have some ugly scar on my forehead!" Yeah, that wasn't avoiding the topic at all. Morgan flinched and her hand rose up to her bangs self-consciously, but a twisted grin appeared on her face. My jaw dropped. I knew where this was going. And I knew I wasn't going to like it one bit.
"You used you though, didn't you?" Her voice was soft, slow, eerily quiet, but it sent terrible chills through my spine, horrible memories spiraling through my brain. She continued. "I know what you went through. You were pathetic. You had to hurt yourself to get attention from your own parents, your own family, your own brother. You were worth nothing to them. And then the one person who cared – really, truly cared – left."
"Wilbur was always there for me before." I hadn't noticed the tears running down my cheeks.
"He – he never left. Lewis – Lewis –" The tears came faster. "Lewis was always here."
Morgan's falsely sweet grin grew ever so slightly. She knew I didn't really believe that. Wilbur had told all my secrets to her. I swallowed and knew I had to fight back somehow. She had brought back the terrible memories of my past, now I would recall hers. Or what little I knew of it, at least. I wiped the tears from my face roughly.
"Oh, please, don't give me that. At least I had a family," I interrupted. Morgan's jaw clenched. Looks like I hit a nerve.
"At least I had a place where I belonged," I continued, gathering courage. Slowly crossing my arms, I sighed. "I had someone who loved me my entire life. Maybe they didn't pay attention to me most of the time, but they were my family and loved me all the same. You had nothing."
"That's not true," Morgan said quickly. I ignored her.
"You are all alone."
"Stop," she pleaded bluntly.
"Your own adoptive father isn't even here."
"Stop!" she cried out and I thought I saw tears appear in her eyes.
"Everyone will eventually abandon you, just like half the people in your life already have!" I yelled over her. Her eyes flashed, but something caught her gaze in the window. She stared for a few brief moments. For one horrifying second, I thought she was going to scream out, "Grandpa, Grandpa!" But she didn't.
Instead she began to scream. "Get out! I don't want to hear any of this, just get out!"
I jumped at the sudden noise, but scrambled out of the room with a grin on my face anyways. It always felt good to win. I skipped back to the research room where Carlisle and my father were still talking. I made sure my eyes weren't red or puffy from crying in. Something tugged at my heart. I glanced over my shoulder and again saw Larson heading the other way. What was he looking for now? I guessed Morgan had come with him. He seemed nice enough anyways.
"Back to the research room where I can again be bored out of my skull," I muttered to myself as I slipped back into the room. Unnoticed. Still.
"So we'll be seeing you soon?" Carlisle was saying, accompanying my father to the door. He nodded and straightened his jacket. I could have sworn his eyes still looked a little different, but I brushed it off. No need to worry myself anymore than I just had with Morgan. He always knew what to do.
"Wonderful. Goodbye!" Carlisle called behind us. Cornelius took my hand and we walked together out of the room.
"So… how'd it go?" I asked, gazing up at him. "I wasn't really paying attention," I added hastily when he looked in my direction oddly.
Cornelius replied, "It went fine. The Tech Teachers work perfectly. All the settings were programmed correctly. It was like they had never stopped working at all."
Really? I wouldn't have known. Oh, wait. Yes, I would have. Because I went to the school! But you never bothered to ask me, did you? I bit my tongue to hold in my cynical retort. Instead, I replied, "What about the report that was lost in the fire?"
Cornelius chuckled and sighed. "I've still got two days here. I'll get the report tomorrow. We've had a long day and you look tired. Your eyes are all red."
I blinked quickly. Windows were not good mirrors. Smiling slightly, I said, "I'm not tired!" Hurt and angry, yes, but not tired.
"Fine. Whatever you say. But I still think we should go back to the hotel. I know you're going to like it." Defeated, I followed him to the hovercar and leapt in. Within five minutes, we were at the hotel.
I hadn't been to many places outside of Todayland and I knew there was a lot of stuff out there, but this… this was amazing. The hotel was gorgeous on the outside, with gleaming white marble, wood doors, and at least twenty stories high. Even craning my neck back, I couldn't see the top of the building. Sure, I had seen buildings taller than I could see before, but this was amazing.
After the hovercar had been parked, we walked inside, where soft cream colored carpets covered the floor and nearly ten chandeliers hung from the high ceilings. Leather seats and glass coffee tables were placed around the large lobby. My jaw was practically glued to the ground and, still in awe, I followed my father to the front desk. A young man in a nearly-too-small tux greeted us.
"Welcome to the Raynold-Marcus Hotel, how can we help you today, Dr. Robinson?"
"Hello. I have reservations for the penthouse suite?" my father answered and as the man checked in the computer, he looked down at me. "You'll like this, I know. You haven't been anywhere with me before, have you?"
I thought, but knew the answer immediately anyways. When would he have had time to take me anywhere before? No one noticed me anyways, so I had been left to find things to do on my own. It was definitely different now. I looked back up at him and shook my head no.
"Well, we can celebrate, then," Cornelius smiled and handed his briefcase to the bellhop. He led me over to the old-fashioned elevator (this hotel didn't have travel tubes) and I felt it move up, up, up, until the small, cramped room dinged and the doors opened again. I stepped out and looked down the never-ending hallways on either side of me. My father laughed behind me and led me down the left hallways, all the way to the end. The white door was old fashioned, at least a 2000's design, but had been renovated. My father pulled the key out of his pocket and passed it over the handle like it was a barcode scanner. The lock clicked and the door slowly opened.
I had to hold in an amazed scream. The place was gorgeous! The front room had a computer, a vidscreen, two couches, four chairs, and glass tables. The walls were painted a deep red and all the fabrics in the room were off-white. And this was just the front room.
I ran into the second room and the third, both of which had queen-sized beds, another vidscreen and chair, and mini-fridges. They each had their own bathroom and walk-in closets, too. I squealed in delight and leapt onto my self-proclaimed bed.
"So you like it?" my dad called from the first room. I squealed again in response and he laughed.
"Well, maybe I've bribed you enough," he continued, coming into my room. I sat up on the bed, confused. He pulled the chair nearer to me and sat in it.
"Tell me all about your little talk with Morgan. And I want the truth."
A/N: Cornelius is way too smart for his own good. :D Please review!
