Robert POV
I looked at Nora. She looked very confused. I wondered what she's was thinking of. Probably Emma. I am very bad at reading emotions. How can people be so evil, to take Emma away from Nora. I remember playing for another hour. Nora was very sad. She had probably figured out what they were doing do her best friend. I had not. Though, I had not had aptitude for Erudite and she had.
Nora POV
What the hell is he doing here. Can't he see that I'm crying over here. I try to move away from him. It almost works. As I look at his face, I see how beautiful he is. I wonder if he thinks I'm pretty. Or plain. I hope I'm not plain. Plain people are so boring and boring people are dull. I don't want to be dull. And I don't want to be plain. How can I get that to work?
He looks at me that way again. Or more like stares. I don't like this. How can he stare at people in a time like this? I probably lost my best friend today. I don't need a stalker as well. He starts moving closer to me. I move away from him. He's really nice. But, I don't like him like that. I've gone to the same school as him. For years. He always seems to stare at Peter the same way. Peter. Just to hear the name rises the hairs on the back of my neck. He's probably really into boys. I can't do this. I place myself in the corner. My head against the wall. No boy had ever wanted to kiss me before. And I didn't want it to start like this.
Robert POV
Why was she moving away from me? Could she possibly know that I like Peter? When I come to think of it, she looked rather familiar. Was she the one I sat next to in history? I could tell she didn't want me so I moved to the corner on the opposite end of the room. I was extremely embarrassed. How could I have mixed the signals? How could I think she liked me? I could feel I teardrop on my chin and I wiped it away. I didn't normally cry, but how could I not, when I was captured. My last chance of escape was over.
After a while of sitting in a corner, I heard the door click open. I looked around in the room. Nora was asleep on the floor. I looked at the door. It opened. At once I saw who it was, I felt for the first time today that I was happy. Mother. She gestured for me to follow her out. Of course, I did. It was Mother. We sprinted out of the compound. Into the park. Out of the park. There were many nervous stares from bypasses. At last we reached our house. By that time, I was very tiered. We went inside the house.
"Can we please just sit down and talk about what happened?", mother asked. We sat down at the table. "So, what happened, Robert?". She used her calm mother voice. "I know something happened. You're covered in blood."
"Ok, ok. Um… I came out of my aptitude test. There were two men, they came and kidnapped me. In their van, I fell on my face and started to bleed. End of story. Can I please take a shower?". She shook her head.
"Wait a bit. I'm not stupid. Why do you think they 'kidnapped' you?"
"I don't know…". I was lying. I knew exactly why they captured me. But I don't know the purpose of it. I had to find out. Mother must have known I was lying. But she let the matter go.
I went upstairs. I took out my pyjamas and brought them to the bathroom. I know I showered already that day, but I really needed one that night. The water was hot, and the steam was on the mirror. When I got out of the shower, I put on my glasses and pyjamas.
I went to bed a little later. It felt incredibly good.