So I came down with a huge cold today and couldn't go to work. So instead of taking two or three weeks to update, I was able to write it all out and get it updated today. I do unfortunately have to go back to work tomorrow but until then, here's chapter 10.
It was about two minutes before he finally heard his twin sister on the phone telling him, "I have a Math test in 45 minutes I need to keep studying for. Also, what's going on? You never ask me about this sort of stuff. What are you up to?"
"Hello to you too sis," he greeted sarcastically. "Look, I need your help with something. Can you meet me at Galaxy Pizza at 3:30?"
"Hold on, how do you know about Galaxy Pizza?" she asked him, almost angry.
"That's not important. I need your help. Will you meet me there? It's really important," he emphasized, hoping she would just do it.
"No way," she told him. "I'm not helping you humiliate someone I don't even know."
"This isn't for a prank. It's for a friend of mine. Please Phoebe, I wouldn't be asking you if it weren't this important. Please," he asked her, praying for her to just help him.
"Oh my gosh, you're serious," she realized. As much as he hated how well he and his sister knew each other, he was really grateful she knew that this was real. "Yeah, I'll meet you there. See you then."
"Thanks Phoebe," he sighed as he relaxed against the wall. "See you then," he agreed before hanging up the phone.
Bree pulled her backpack up higher onto her shoulder as she made her way to her next class. After a night of processing everything that was going on, she found that she didn't feel any better about it all, only clearer. She needed to talk to Max about this some more. Luckily, he was in her next class so she could…, "Oh," she grit her teeth as she crashed into something she hadn't been looking at. She really wished she had as she looked up to find Harvey in front of her.
"We need to talk now," he told her with the understanding that this was not negotiable. He grabbed her arm and pulled her forcefully over to the side of the hallway.
Her head was swirling in fear as to what he could possibly want from her this time. What had gone wrong now? She'd been so careful about where and with who she was seen. Was it about Daniel or Max? Please, don't let it be about them. She didn't want to end up in another situation like last time. Why did it always revolve around them?
"You haven't been listening," he began the way he always did, letting her fear run rampant before he dropped the bomb. "My buddies saw you yesterday, hugging Max McGrath."
Of course someone had, it wasn't enough that she had fallen almost completely apart but she also had to be caught being put back together.
"When I said stay away from him, I meant that," he told her firmly as his hand squeezed tighter around her arm.
"I know," she told him quickly, fear running wild through every part of her body including her speech. "I'm sorry, I, I had a really, really, bad day and I broke, I broke down. I didn't know he'd find me. I, I didn't even know he was there. I swear. He gave me a hug. He was just trying to be a good friend. I'm sorry, it won't, I promise it won't happen again."
She stared pleadingly into his cold and angry eyes. He kept his vice on her arm for five more seconds before finally releasing her. She finally started partially breathing again.
"If I catch you one more time with either of those two losers again, I will tell everyone I know the truth about you. You think you had a bad day yesterday? Just think about how your whole life will be like when people know just what happened to their powers," he growled out before something shifted in his eyes. "Then again, maybe it's not you who I should be threatening." He smiled as he watched her grow confused and even more scared. "Maybe it's Max I should be punishing for your behavior? Hmm? If you don't stay away from him, neither will my fists. Do you understand me now?"
No! No! Not Him! No! She couldn't bear it if Max got hurt because of her. The thought of it sent chills down her spine. She wouldn't let that happen. She wouldn't. She nodded her head so hard she was afraid it would snap her head right off.
"Good," he said as he took a step back and out of her face. "I'm glad we were able to get past this. I'll see you at lunch."
She tried to shove every feeling she had down as hard as she could as he kissed the top of her head before leaving for his class. She leaned back against the wall. It hadn't worked as she felt so sick. Her stomach churned inside her as her head felt dizzy. Everything, just everything, was falling apart. Now more than ever, she wanted to get her stupid chip out of her head. If she got it out, she could finally be free, be rid of Harvey, and do whatever she wanted to. Doing that meant putting Max in danger. She couldn't do that to him. He'd done so much for her and all she'd done is cause him pain. Well, there it was. She knew what she had to do. She had to tell Max that they couldn't be friends anymore. She would thank him for everything and apologize for wasting his time. This was for the best. She just had to keep reminding herself of that. Max was more important than her. She only hoped he would understand and let her walk away. This was for the best. Though, the tears running down her face weren't helping any.
Something had changed. He'd seen it during class with her. He'd seen it when she avoided him in the halls. He could barely even get within five feet of her today. He knew they were supposed to be keeping a little more distance than they had been but after what happened last night he thought they could at least smile at each other. Something happened and he needed to know what. Unfortunately, That would have to wait until after his meeting with Phoebe.
He sat at the barstool area as he waited for her. He'd gotten there early and now was just counting down the minutes until she got there. Thankfully, she arrived on time and half of his nerves could relax as she headed towards him.
"Alright," she said as she set her purse down on the counter and took the seat next to him. "So, what is it that's so important?"
"You cut right to the chase. No hello for your twin who's been gone for a while?" he asked. The two of them falling back into their old patterns as if they'd never left.
"Good grief, is saying hello really that important to you?" she asked him angrily before switching to sarcasm, "fine. Hello Max. There, can we move on now please?"
"Thank you, yes," he agreed. "I need your help. I need you to get me all the chemical formulas for bone adhesive you can get your hands on."
"Bone adhesive?" she asked, astonished. "Did you break some poor kid's arm? Did you break the skeleton in one of the science rooms? No, wait, you don't go to class."
"Phoebe, I'm serious," he sighed as his head fell into his hands.
"And I want to know what in the world you want to use it for," she told him just as seriously. "I told you, I don't want to help you prank someone."
"It's not for a prank, okay? I told you that already," he told her, slowly getting more and more agitated.
"Yeah, so that probably means you are in trouble and need an escape," she guessed, following suit with her voice. "I'm not gonna bail you out for something stupid you did."
"I'm not in trouble. I don't need you to bail me out. I need your help," his hands tightened.
"And I need to know what this is for. I need to know what my evil twin brother is planning on doing with bone glue before I give it to him," she barked, fully aware of her brother's past.
"I'm not doing anything evil, Phoebe. For once in my life, I am trying to do something good. I am actually trying to save someone and I can't tell you any more than that because that would put her at risk. Do you get that now? She needs my help and I can't afford to be wrong," he told her close to yelling. His breathing was all over the place and he just felt like a complete mess. Then he realized she hadn't said anything in a while. He turned to find her staring at him with a look he'd never seen on her before. She looked like she was surprised and confused and maybe like she was short-circuiting.
She lightly cleared her throat before she started, "there is so much to unpack from that." She took his glass of water and drank a little before continuing. "How? Where do I even start with that? Um…. Alright, so you're not doing something evil?"
"Sometimes I can't believe it myself," he answered, taking a sip of his water.
"And you really are trying to save someone?" she questioned again.
"I need to. I'm past the point of trying, I have to save her before anything else goes wrong for her," he gave. It was weird being this honest to her.
"Her," she said, not asked. "She's really important to you?"
He sighed as he nodded. He looked straight into her eyes, "I can't stop thinking about her. I mean, not just about how she's in trouble but just about her, the kind of person she is. She needs me. I'm the only one that can save her but in order to do that I can't afford to mess up a single thing. I have to get it right. Will you help me save her?"
Silence fell between the two of them. He knew Phoebe would always help someone in need. She was a hero. That's the way she'd always been. The only reason that she wouldn't would be because she didn't believe him. If there was ever one time he needed her to believe him, this had to be it. He waited on edge for her to finally answer.
"Alright," she said at last. "I'll help you."
"Thank you sis," he breathed as he leaned over and hugged her. "Thank you, I will never forget this. Thank you."
"You're welcome," she told him slowly. "Now what exactly do you need me to do?'
He let go to answer, "I need you to send me any chemical formula and success rate you can find on companies making bone adhesive. It's mostly in the development stage but with the formulas, I can make an improved version, giving her the best chance."
"Okay," she nodded. "I'll send you an email of what I find. For the record, Max, I really hope you save her."
"So do I," he told her before they headed their separate ways.
Max was smiling as he walked back to his dorm after practicing with Daniel. Practicing with Daniel always brought his spirits up. He was just fun to work with. Their times had improved and Max was sure that by the time they were back on the field, they would be the fastest on the team. With his spirits high, he was ready to get back to work on his nanobots.
He was halfway to his room when he saw Bree working on her homework underneath a tree. He started walking towards her when she saw him. She looked terrified. All of a sudden, she grabbed her things and started running. What was going on? She'd been really weird all day. Well, he was going to find out. He wouldn't let her get away this time. He started running after her.
He chased after her as fast as he could, trying not to lose her. He'd forgotten how fast she was. He followed her as they entered the forest surrounding the campus. She was trying to lose him in there but he wouldn't let her. He pushed himself harder and harder as pain started growing in his legs. "Bree!" he called out to her. "Bree! Stop! What's going on?"
She kept running, not even looking back. She just kept moving.
"Bree!" he tried again. He was almost out of breath. He didn't know how much longer he could keep going.
Finally, they came to the edge of a six-foot cliff leading next to a river. Bree shoved her stuff into her backpack and zipped it up to try and climb down while he just kept running after her. She had one leg over the side when he grabbed her hand.
"No!" she cried weakly as she tried to pull her hand free. Tears were already rolling down her face before he stopped her from nearly falling over.
"Stop, you're going to hurt yourself. What's going on?" he asked her, pulling her back up.
"Max stop, you have to let me go," she told him, trying to roll away.
"I'm not going to let you fall, now, talk to me. What happened between yesterday and before class?" he pleaded, holding onto her even tighter.
"It's only going to get worse," she told him as she tried to wrestle herself away.
"Bree, I'm not going to let go," he promised her.
"You have to!" she yelled.
"Why?" he asked.
"Because he'll hurt you instead!" she shouted. "And I couldn't handle it if that happened!"
With that final admission, she crashed, unable to fight him anymore.
He sat down on his knees and pulled her into his arms as she cried. He could feel her tremble against him as she held onto him. His hand slowly rubbed her back as his other one held her tightly. It was a few minutes before she spoke again.
"I can't be friends with you and Daniel anymore. He's not just threatening to tell my secret anymore. He says if he catches me with either of you two, he'll beat you up. I can't, I won't have you get hurt because of me," she told him as she melted into his arms for what she was sure to be the last time.
"I can handle Harvey. You've seen me handle myself with him," Max reminded her.
"Not against him and his friends," she said as she moved slowly out of his arms. "Max, you are the best friend I ever had and I will never forget you but all I've done is bring you pain. I'm so sorry for that and I'm so sorry that you wasted so much time on me. Which is why we have to stop being friends. I'm not going to take the chance that you're going to get hurt anymore. It's for the best."
"Bree, we've had this conversation before. Please, listen to me this time when I tell you that none of this is your fault," he told her confidently as he took her hands. "You are not responsible for Harvey's actions. He is the villain here, not you. I know you're scared. I'm scared too but I know that if we stick together, we will get that chip out of your head. We will fix you and you will finally be free to do anything you want. But you need to stick with me here. My plan is coming together and in about two weeks you will finally be free," he promised her.
She looked deep into his eyes as she took in every word he said. She looked at him and wondered how she got so lucky running into him in the woods. To have this kind of friend that stood by her so strongly. She wiped her eyes with one hand and asked, "you really believe that?"
"Yes," he answered her with every fiber of his being.
She nodded as she took a deep breath, "Okay, I, I believe you."
"Alright, does that mean you're going to stick with me, no more backing out?" he asked her this time.
"Yes," she nodded, promising him.
"Good," he breathed as they hugged each other once more. Though there was a lot left to do, both of them were sure that they were on their way. For good this time.
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