Author's Note:

Nana: But you didn't have to cut me off~ Make it out like it never happened and we were nothing~ But I don't even need your-

Oh okay. Bad singing. Uh huh, I'll stop now.

-emo corner- *CRIES I'M SORRY MY VOICE CRACKS*

Erika: hey, kids! don't buy cheese! jk I HAVE NO IDEA IM SO AWKWARD!

Nana: I think we're drunk today. Like, totally. I swear we're not usually this weird. ^^ AND INSIDE JOKE SO DON'T JUDGE (hugs to those who get it)

Anyways, have an awesome time reading and maybe reviewing! Love you guys!

Tiptoeing back to my dorm in the dim hallway light, I pray that Erika and Cam have gone to sleep already. The thought of an interrogation is enough to make me sleep outside. I pressed my ears to the wooden door, listening.

Nothing.

I turn the handle quietly and tread silently across the floor in the dark. My eyes haven't been accustomed to the dark yet. Suddenly, a pair of strong arms grab me around the middle and another hand clamp on my mouth, muffling my gasp.

I'm dropped on my bed as the lights are flicked on. Erika stands over me with her hands on her hips, with a dangerous expression on her face.

"Something you want to tell us, Ellie?" Erika asks in a faux innocent voice.

I see Cam behind Erika's shoulders with an apologetic smile on her face.

"No, not really." I smile back.

The cheerful grin drops of Erika's face. "Okay, you can do this the easy way or the hard way Ellie. What's it going to be?"

"No way?" I answer meekly.

"Ellie, why did you come back so late? It's been almost forty five minutes since Cam and I left. Did.. something happen between you two?"

"No, no! Nothing happened. We just talked! I swear. God, guys, we're only in seventh grade!" I rolled my eyes.

Erika cocked her head in confusion. "What?"

"Nothing. Happened. Between. Jake. And. I. Where'd you'd even get that idea?" I said, exasperated.

Cam's eyes widened and her mouth dropped. Erika raised her eyebrows.

"What? Jake..?"

Oh. Snap.

"I .. I thought you were with Liz." Erika stammered.

"Um. yeah. I was.. then..." I stuttered.

"Then he came into the library again." She finished for me, grinning slowly.

"Yeah."

Cam turned her head, biting her lip to hide her smile.

"It's okay to like him you know." Erika says.

"I know," I say, blushing madly. I leaned back onto my bed, hugging the strawberry plushie to my chest like a life support.

"What did you guys talk about?" she asked, grinning.

"Well..." I trailed off, my eyes burning holes into the floor. Cam jumped onto my bed, with her own little hedgehog plushie. "It all started after Liz left the library..."

"Oh my god. That is so freaking-"

"I know right?"

"But do you think-"

"I don't know about it-"

"Me neither."

We lapsed into silence, Cam smiling at our conversation.

"I'm happy for you, Ellie," Erika says, smiling at me. Cam's eyes mirror her meaning.

"So," I say, abruptly changing the topic, "what's with Tyler, Erika? You guys were practically chasing each other down, weren't you?"

It was her who blushed, this time, as Cam rolled her eyes.

Erika plugged her ears, tuning out our voices. "La, la, la! I can't hear you!"

I shared a grin with Cam who was sliding under her covers.

"Erika~" I stretched out her name, my voice reminding me why exactly I hadn't tried out for choir.

Taking all possible lobbying objects around me, I began to hurl them across the room to Erika's bed; my aiming was getting better, now I could hit her anytime I wanted from the warmth of my blankets.

First went my cat blanket, rolled into a ball for easy throwing. It hit Erika's face spot on.

I giggled.

She groaned at this, and lamely threw it back. It landed a foot away from her.

"Ellie, it's Monday morning, it's bright, I want to go back to sleep."

"It is Monday morning," I agreed, smiling largely. "And if my memory serves me right, today's breakfast is Belgian waffles, Erika."

I waited 30 seconds before considering to throw something else, but Erika didn't disappoint me as usual.

Rising from her bed like the dead, she glared daggers at me and I smiled back.

"I hate you," she muttered, dragging herself to the bathroom where Cam was just walking out of, with perfect timing.

"I love you too," I sang loudly, getting a laugh from Cam.

"Oh my god."

Tyler looked up, his face full of cream. "Is that all of the waffles?" Erika gaped.

He swallowed, before smirking at her. "Maybe," he replied.

She growled at him. "No one steals Erika Hart's Belgian waffles."

By the time everyone else had gotten breakfast and had sat down, Tyler looked somewhat quieter, glaring at his much smaller plate of waffles. Erika smirked.

"I am so going to get you back, Hart," he narrowed his eyes.

Erika smirked. "I'd like to see you try."

With Erika and Tyler fighting over waffles, I was managing to avoid contact with Jake (staring at my delicious waffles does help), which was pretty hard because he was sitting directly across from me on our table. (Which Erika tried to convince me was a coincidence.)

"Hey, Ellie," A voice says behind me. I see Aiden smiling down at me. He slides onto the bench between Cam and I.

I looked up, and surprised, and smiled. "Oh, hi Aiden!" Okay, maybe that sounded too enthusiastic. Cam, the ever observant one, raised her eyebrow at me, halfsmiling behind Aiden's back. I bit my lip.

But he didn't seem to care, or notice. "Like your breakfast this morning?" he asked, nudging me.

"Of course. It's the only way I can get Erika out of bed without torture tactics," I joke.

His laugh is the contagious kind, the one where everyone joins in. Soon, everyone on our table is laughing besides Erika who is too busy devouring her waffles to notice.

"Ellie- what's our first class?" Erika asks, with her mouth partly full.

I roll my eyes. "Erika- our grade isn't that big. Everyone in seventh grade has the same schedule."

"Culture, I think." Aiden says.

"Thank you, Aiden." Erika says, throwing a scowl in my direction.

I grin back at her.

Tyler and Jake both chorus their disgust.

"I hate culture class!" Tyler declares.

"Me too!" Jake says.

"But at least Madame Dabney likes you!"

"That's true." Jake grins.

"Not fair." Tyler pouts.

"I thought you'd like culture class, Tyler. After all, she's-"

"Shut up! God, I wouldn't be talking Jake. I can tell-"

"You wouldn't"

"I would." Tyler grins.

The whole banter leaves me confused and dizzy. This must be what Camellia feels like during my conversations with Erika. I felt a sudden rush of sympathy for her.
I can tell Erika and Cam are as confused as I was. We are learning five languages at once this year, but unfortunately boy talk isn't one of them.

Aiden just shoots me a secretive smile. He's obviously in on it.

"Okay then..." Erika trails off.

She grabs my arm and Cam's and drags us down the winding hallway towards class.

"What was that about?" She asks, once we were out of earshot.

"Beats me." I say. I'd rather not know.

Cam just shrugs.

Walking towards the doorway, I see a flash of white out of the corner of my eye. I stop abruptly, causing Cam to crash into me.

"Sorry," I say as I walk towards the white. It's a piece of paper lodged in a crack by the stained glass window. Exact to my eye level.

"Guys," I whisper, tugging the paper out.

"What's that?" Erika asks.

I open the paper and read:

Lily-
Meet me at the same place asap. We've got answers.

"It must be Bex and Liz and Macey." Erika says. "But how long has that been there?"

"Not long," I say. "Or else they would've put it into our room. Let's go guys." I spin in the direction of the library.

Erika catches my arm. "But what about the guys? We should go find them."

"Guys, we don't have time. Class starts right about-"

"Now, Miss Sutton. Please take a seat inside the classroom. Class is about to start." Madame Dabney calls from the doorway with impeccable timing, per usual.

Hanging our heads and dragging our feet into the classroom, we pass the boys who are already seated, giving us questioning looks.

I catch Aiden's eye and mouth "later".

He nods, and leans over the carry the message over to Jake and Tyler, who are sitting next to him. They both nod, but Jake's expression has 'irritated' written all over it.

What's his problem?

I take a seat next to Erika and Cam, as usual, and stare straight at Madame Dabney's lecture. No need to get in trouble twice today. Halfway through the lecture about the waltz, I feel Cam's elbow in my ribs. She motions her head towards Jake, who is staring directly at me.

He mouths something unintelligible.

"What?" I mouth.

When he does the same thing, I realize how important lip reading is, and if we're going to cover it in CoveOps soon.

"Huh?" I try again.

So engrossed in our conversation, I didn't realize Madame Dabney had stopped her lecture to ask, "Mr. Adams, Miss Sutton, anything you would like to share with the class?"

"I like your hair!" I blurted out, and promptly regretted my words. Apparently today was the day Madame Dabney had killed her curls during the night, the next day's hair was hidden with a scarf that no one tried to state was out of dress code.

She raised her eyebrows with the professional skill that one has when they could lift only one eyebrow at a time, and said, "Thank you, Ms. Sutton. Come see me after class, please."

I could virtually hear Jake relax with a sigh, and she pinpointed him with a look and said, "You too, Mr. Adams."

I smirked at him, and he glared at me.

After class, Erika and Cam lingered but I shooed them off with a look, reminding them of the paper we found in the morning. Tyler and Aiden also went, Tyler with great gusto and Aiden somewhat reluctantly.

Madame Dabney beckoned to us with a curled finger, and I moved my feet towards her.

"So," she said, clicking her manicured nail, "what year was the Taiping Rebellion?"

I stared at her, dumbstruck. Taking a glance at Jake, who looked equally stupefied, I was glad I was in good company.

After a moment of silence, she sighed and glared at us. "Detention, both of you. When would it be most inconvenient?"

"Today," I said, the hastily added, "ma'am."

Jake shot me a look for some reason, and in an instant, I knew why.

"Perfect. Detention for today, after dinner."

I opened my mouth to protest, but she cut me off with a, "During dinner would also be fine, Ms. Sutton."

She sends us out of the classroom without another word.

Once she was out of earshot, I groan.

"Great! You got us in trouble again. What's new?" I glare at him.

"What? What were you thinking? 'Today'?" He retorts, "How could you not see that coming? Some spy you are."

That stung.

He sighed impatiently. "Hey, wait Ellie. I didn't mean that-"

I give him a death glare and stalk in the direction of the library, where undoubtedly the rest were. I don't even tell him why, I'm just so angry.

My stomach growl in protest. Why does it have to be during lunch? I scream mentally.

"Hey, Wait. Where are you going?" He grabs my wrist, forcing me to face him.

"The library." I spit the words through my teeth, and yank my wrist from his grip.

I storm through the library doors, to the back where they were all sitting with Jake close on my heels.

Everyone was laughing at a joke Bex made, but their smiles froze on their faces when they saw Jake and me, with identical storm clouds on our faces. Aiden jumps up out of his seat and offers it to me with a concerned look on his face. I offer a tight smile and a thanks and turn to Liz.

"So what's up?" I ask.

"This." Macey answers holding a small flash drive, a smug smile on her face.

"What's that?" Erika asks.

Liz jimmys it into her laptop and presses full screen.

"We found it in the office." she explains.

It loads to a black and white overhead shot of the kitchen in the diner.

It's unnerving to see what happened from the outsider's point of view. I see the identical shock on our faces, and my fall, and Jake's valiant attempt to save me, all captured in this screen. He takes numerous beatings, and I wince every time he gets hit. I gather the courage to look him in the eye, but he's already looking at me.

Liz reaches over to hug me tight.

We watch the whole video up to when the woman drags us out the back door. Could this all have happened in ten minutes? Ten minutes for my life to be changed forever, ten minutes I wished had never happened.

I look at the different expressions after the video. Tyler and Erika have an awestruck and horrified expression, like killer My Little Ponies or something. Aiden and Cam both have concerned, shocked expressions. Bex and Macey look look indifferent, they've probably seen worse. Liz, on the other hand, looks like she's going to throw up.

Macey, of course, is the first to break the silence. "This is good, right?" she says, "We have a lead now. Liz can do her techy-facial recognition stuff and then we can match a name to the face."

Liz nods distantly, "I can do that."

And just when we thought the only person in this library was the librarian, out of earshot, we were wrong.

We all jump when we hear a voice from the nearby bookshelf say, "Need any help?"