Hey! I'm really sorry that I haven't posted in, like, a month. I got really busy with the first week of summer, and it was not what I had expected my summer would be like. I was reading last night, and I got a notification on Wattpad that made me get up and write the next chapter. So here it is! It has a reference to Hunger Games in it, and it's not meant to deter the story line, more just because I thought it would be funny, and it's something I relate to. Okay, enjoy, and I hope you have a good week! Like I said before, super sorry I didn't post faster.
Chapter Seventeen
Books
Helicopter
Somewhere over an Ocean
January 11th
0400 hours
I rested my pounding head on the window of the helicopter. I clearly wasn't great with flying. And I had had a minor heart attack. Erica was fuming, finally settling down after yelling for ten minutes in which I had cowered in my seat. Charlotte had just yelled back at Erica. Some nerves she had.
Now sitting next to me, sleeping, was Charlotte. How she had snuck on, I had no idea. But I had screamed louder and harder than I had ever before when she jumped out from under the luggage and sat down next to me. She had simply said,
"You didn't look for me, but I looked for you," And then that's when Erica had started lecturing her.
"We'll be there in another two days, if we continue to fly at this rate. We'll have to pause in the mornings to refuel, but other than that we're good," Erica whispered back to me, and I closed my eyes. Two more days in this stupid metal bird.
"And if we don't go at this pace?" I asked her.
"Well it doesn't matter does it, Ben? Because if you know me, I'm not going to change pace. And you need to read up on this virus."
"My head hurts too much to read," I groaned. Although I couldn't see her, I felt Erica roll her eyes.
"And when Nathan Hale got a headache, do you think he stopped what he was doing and complained?"
"Erica!" I cried, exasperated. Charlotte shifted beside me, and I fell back into a whisper. "Nathan Hale was the best spy in history. I'm not necessarily at his level of competence. I am only fourteen, give me a break."
Erica fell silent for several long minutes. Then she spoke so quietly, it seemed as if she didn't believe she was saying it herself.
"You've been a spy for two years, and you started out as a normal boy who can't control his emotions. Now, you actually have a brain, and you use it to your advantage. You still have to develop, but think of where you might be in six years or more. I didn't get to where I am from doing nothing. I was like you at one point, Ben."
I couldn't find the words to reply. Erica… Was complimenting me. Or as far as complements went with her.
"Aww, the Icequeen is tired enough that she is being nice to the Smokescreen. How cute." I almost screamed again as Charlotte spoke. "You know, Erica, your nice side is way nicer than anyone else's that I know."
"First chance I get, you are dead meat." Erica growled from the cockpit.
I couldn't muster the strength to laugh before my eyelids fell closed, and I lost consciousness.
? ゚メᆪ?
When I woke, we were still in the air, but morning sun was leaking through the small windows. Charlotte had alternated spots with Erica, who was now asleep on the floor at my feet. I watched her for a second, her chest rising and falling in slow motions as she breathed, and then I stretched out on the couch I was strapped to.
Charlotte was a good flyer. The tribulation was minimal, and the slight rise and fall of the copter set my brain straight.
"When did you learn to fly?" I asked Charlotte, letting my arm fall off the edge of the seat.
"My first year with CROATOAN. We took courses and one of them was flying. I passed with a 51% but Erica told me it was better than nothing. And she was falling asleep in her seat so I told her I'd fly for a bit. It took a bit of persuasion, but it worked."
"It took a lot of persuasion," Erica muttered. I started. "She gave me twenty bucks and her fully fledged promise for reality in life, whatever that means."
"I just felt like using big words. It makes me feel older," Charlotte said.
"Roger that," I murmured.
We all fell into silence until Erica got up and took back her spot in the cockpit. Charlotte came into the passenger area, and pulled a container out of her bag.
"I have eggs. A few fried, a few boiled… You choose which you want." She smiled at me as she opened it to reveal six eggs. I chose a boiled egg, and started taking the shell off.
"I want a poached egg," Erica said simply.
"I have you covered, my friend," Charlotte mused, and retrieved a second container from her bag. Erica just snarled at her defeat, but ate the egg.
We ate in total silence, and then I took my book out of my bag.
"What book?" Charlotte asked.
"A story of ancient Egypt. It's boring. Did you know they used to worship cats?"
"I did," Erica said. "It's a bold fact in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban."
"Ooh, have you read Hunger Games?" Charlotte asked me, clapping her hands together.
I shook my head. "No. I've been told to, but I never get around to it."
"You haven't read Hunger Games." Erica looked at me with disbelief.
"No. Have you?"
"Obviously. It's a 'read, or your life isn't complete' novel. I've never had people to discuss it with. Or to talk about anything really. I have read almost all the YA novels at the bookstore."
"You need friends to talk about books to," Charlotte said, and grinned at her win.
"I've never been very good at friends," Erica said flatly. A slight smile played onto her face.
"For starters, it does help when you know the person. I hardly know anything about you except that you are cold and distant and that you are good with weapons."
"That about sums me up."
"No there's more than that, you just don't want to tell me. You see, Erica, the way the whole friend works is you need to tell each other the deep stuff."
"The deep stuff?"
"Yeah."
"Uh-oh. Like what?"
"Like, what's your favorite color?"
"Well now you've stepped over the line."
"Seriously though, what is it?"
"Green. What's yours?"
"Orange."
"Like Effie's hair?"
"No. Not that orange. More like a sunset kind of orange."
Both the girls started laughing uncontrollably, and I just stared blankly at them.
What the heck had just happened?
But neither of them explained. Erica just began her descent. It was several minutes before they calmed their breathing, and Erica said,
"We are at the coast of Portugal. I will refuel here, and then we will begin again. It'll only be another day."
Charlotte sighed with relief, and I slumped back in the chair. Then I held tight to the seatbelt as we dove for the ground. Charlotte reached for my hand and clasped it, and I held hers back.
As we lowered, I thought it might have been my last sensation. So I embraced it.
