I went back to my room, threw on a shirt, then flopped down on my bed. On the nightstand, my phone buzzed again. I picked it up, unlocked it, and checked my text messages. There were three.

From Jake. Make any new friends today

Cassie must have gone to bring Jake up to speed after dropping me off. If I knew Jake, by now he was at Marco's house doing the same to him.

There was a Facebook notification. I had two friend requests, from Tobias and Marco.

And, also from Marco, an invite to a group chat titled, "The Usual Fuck-Ups."

I snorted. I accepted Tobias' friend request, declined Marco's, and joined the group chat.

Jake, Marco, and Cassie had started talking without me. I scrolled up to the top of the conversation to catch up and started reading.

So, Marco started.

So, Jake answered.

So? Marco asked.

So, Jake replied.

"Good talk," I said to myself, and scrolled down.

Met the new kid today, Cassie said. He's cool! He's a foreign exchange student.

Oh, we were speaking in code. Good. I was wondering whether it was safe to talk about Ax on Messenger. We hadn't seen anything saying there were Yeerks working for Facebook, but that didn't mean there weren't. When your enemy can actually be anybody, anywhere, it paid to be paranoid.

After all, that nice lady at the food court might be a Controller with a handgun.

How foreign, Jake asked her.

VERY, Cassie replied.

That IS cool, Marco said. Is he nice

That was the end of the chat, so far. I decided to reply. He hates dogs, I texted. Seeing as how I was the only one of us with a dog morph, hopefully Jake and Marco would understand my meaning.

Sounds like a dick, Jake said.

He is alright, Tobias countered.

He *really* hates dogs, I texted.

How much, Jake asked me.

In his country, I answered, they slaughter dogs in public

DISLIKE, Marco said instantly.

That's a myth, Cassie said. I looked it up. He's not going to murder your dog, Rachel.

He could, I said defiantly.

He can't sit with us, Marco said in support.

Lol, Tobias said. Are we the cool kids now

Chance would eat him, Cassie told me.

Probably true. If I watched the tail and came in fast enough, I could probably take down Ax if we had to. He's really secretive, tho

He's just shy, Cassie said.

Like a serial killer? Marco asked.

Like a kid with no friends, Cassie told him. That got a thumbs-up from Tobias.

I don't like people with secrets, I said.

Stranger danger, Marco agreed.

I was hoping he could help with my calculus homework, Cassie said. Cassie wanted to work with him.

He also seems like he'd be good with computers, Tobias supplied.

So Tobias thought Ax could unlock the disk for us, too. I initially did, too. But why would he? That would definitely go against whatever said Ax wasn't allowed to give us anything.

If he's a bad dude, Marco asked, why would he want anything to do with us

Someone got in his face today, Cassie said. Rachel told the guy to step off

Rachel no, Marco said to me.

I frowned. Rachel YES

I prefer meeting people before I judge them, Jake said suddenly.

Lolwut. Marco, obviously.

Let's hang out with him tomorrow, Jake continued. See if the new kid is cool

How do we know he's not a terrorist or something, Marco asked us.

Wow, Tobias replied.

He's not, Cassie responded. He said ISIS killed his brother a month or so back.

Oh, Marco said simply.

Yeah. Marco was the most reluctant of our little group, but even he respected what Prince Elfangor did for us.

Yeah, Tobias said to him. OH.

Sounds like cool kid material, Jake said. He sounded like he believed it, too, even through text.

Fearless Leader had spoken. We were meeting with Ax.

Why was I not okay with that?

Okay, yeah, he almost killed me. But that was the heat of the moment, and Ax stopped the second I told him I was a friend. He was a soldier behind enemy lines, so his reaction to me JUMPING HIM was completely understandable. Wasn't I musing not ten minutes ago that in this fight, paranoia was practically a requirement?

Then why are you asking yourself why you're paranoid?

Great, now I'm talking to myself.

There was no need to be worried about Ax. Even if he didn't want to give us information, he had offered to meet with us. Ax was taking a risk, just like us, in hopes of acquiring new allies. This couldn't do anything other than help everyone involved. No one was going to get hurt.

Until you get shot again.

So, don't get shot.

Because that worked so well the last time.

My phone buzzed again. Let's try and get together more, Jake said in the group chat. Texting is exhausting

Agreed, Marco said.

Might be difficult, Tobias said. I do not get a lot of free time.

Make time, Jake told him.

You're always welcome at my place, Cassie said.

, Marco commented.

I'll try, Tobias replied.

I gotta crash, I announced.

Later, Marco said.

See you tomorrow! Cassie replied.

Tobias just sent a hand-wave emoji. Good night, cuz, Jake said.

Ttyl, I answered. I set my phone down and laid back on my bed.

The pizza Jordan made me was right next to me. It was no longer steaming. I picked it up and went downstairs to warm it up. I put it in the microwave and stood in front of it, arms crossed as I watched the pizza spin.

Why did Ax make me nervous?