Chapter 6

Tally's POV

The following days were endless. All I could do was think about Zane. Wherever I was whether with Rane, Garren or anyone else Zane was on my mind. I would have nightmares where his eyes were literally daggers and would pierce me in the heart. I would wake up sweating and nearly in tears. I know STUPID! I am a special I am suppose to be strong but something was happening to me, it was like I was unraveling. So here I am, sitting here on the grass where Zane and I had first sat. We had been talking and I had first taken calorie purgers, making myself feel so extremely bubbly. It's horrible but I was loving reliving those memories.

"Tally" Tessie, one of the other specials walked up and sat next to me.

"Hey Tess." I replied forcing a smile to my lips and trying to relax keeping my swirl at an even pace.

"So Tally-wa, I got the short straw and was the one who had to come talk to you." She was talking metaphorically about the short straw we don't literally pull straws we did that MUCH differently.

"About what?"

"Well you've been a bit… weird lately. What's going on?" She asked.

"Nothing," I replied. "I mean besides the usual, rusty patrol and occasionally crashing an ugly or pretty party."

"Besides that… nothing?" She asked.

"Yeah…nothing" I replied with a smile. I was a pretty good liar.

"Well, if something IS going on you'll tell us right?" She asks rather uncertain.

"Sure," I replied knowing that was a complete and total lie. She nodded and walked away leaving me alone to wallow. Yes that's what I was doing, I was wallowing. I pulled the calorie purger from my pocket and took it. I loved the feeling, something nearly addicting.

~…~

"Listen Tally-wa, you have always been around helping me acclimate to being a special. What ever is going on with you right now I PROMISE it will stay with me and only me… but what IS going on?" Raney asked me as we hovered around the grid.

"You really want to know?" I questioned.

"Yes."

"And it won't get to anyone's ears?"

"No." She replied. I trusted Rane with my life and she wouldn't do anything to get me despecialized.

"Ok… well, I can't stop thinking about Zane. I think about him everyday I miss him and I remember everyday with him like it was yesterday." I take a deep breath. "I know I shouldn't have such emotions but I do. I miss him more then anyone can imagine. Before I saw him I missed him, part of me always felt like it was missing. When I thought of his name I felt like a special had punched me hard in the stomach. Now that he is back it has only gotten worse."

"You still love him?" She asked but I didn't reply. Did I still love him? But I had Garren why would I need Zane?

"Tally, Rane, meet at HQ we are about to leave." I got a ping and at the same time Rane looked at me apparently getting the same one.

"Let's go." We turned our boards and headed to HQ I wondered where we were about to head to. They only sent us messages like that when it was an unannounced meeting and we were preparing for a hit, but they had just hit the night before so I was surprised another one was happening so soon. We weaved easily across the grid and docked our boards outside before walking in to the meeting room.

"Finally, where have you guys been?" Fausto asked with a roll of his eyes.

"Sorry," I mumbled and took a seat. I still had Zane on my mind and it was putting me in a fairly bad mood.

"We have some business to take care of." Dr. Cable briskly walks in to the room. "We have kept some things from you for some time now. Unfortunately I waited to long and we now don't have a lot of time to explain. A group of you are going to be sent out on a… trip." Dr. Cable began. She paused but no one said anything. "I am not sending all of you because we need some of you here at the city keeping the smokes out." There was another pause before she continued. "This trip is to take out every smokey that is now left. We have been preparing for this and that is why the tests have come more frequently. I was hoping we would have more time… but we don't." Her voice sounded almost disturbed. "More will be explained but first I want you to meet the one who will be leading you. He is a new special but don't underestimate him." She looked over to her left at a door and my heart did a back flip as I realized who was about to walk in.

"Most of you know him." She said as Zane stepped into the room. My jaw dropped and all I could do was stare. He was even more beautiful then the last time I saw him. His jaw was sharp and his eyes slightly softer. His arms and body was toned and the muscles were still visible even under his loose shirt. I wanted to cry… wait no I didn't. I was a special we didn't cry, yet some how the emotions in me were running wild.

"He will be leading you on this… mission." She announced. "Kalen, Roy, and Tally will be staying here just incase the smokies are stupid enough to attack the new pretty town." Horror ran through me at the realization that she had said MY name I would be staying behind. Zane would be leading them and I would be stuck HERE. Dr. Cable was obviously trying to get back at me for not giving up Rane. Yeah right! There was no way in hell I would be staying behind to protect no pretty town. I didn't care about the pretties…

"You three can go," Zane glanced at Kalen, Roy, and his eyes lingered slightly longer on me. "The rest of you stay and I will explain what you are going to do." Zane's voice was slick and icy. I didn't move for several moments.

"Tally!" Dr. Cable snapped and I stood up.

Zane's POV

"A group of pretties are leaving the town tonight to head to the smoke. It's simple. We will get spray to cover any of our special looks. The important thing is that we appear as though we are pretties." I said. The plan was easy enough as long as everything went as planned. I glanced out the conference room window and saw Tally walking out of the building. I use to love her, I couldn't believe I had once loved her! She was smart, a good crim, we had a lot in common until I got sick. When I was sick she always treated me differently. I had tried to ignore it but she looked at me like I was weak. I had been dying and I was weak but she treated me like I was an ugly again. Those months of training when I was special made me realize it had been stupid and foolish to love her, and now I was the most powerful Special. I was stronger then any other, and what was she? She was like the ugly now, she was the weak one! She could no longer look down at me; she could only look at me with fear at the realization that she no longer held the power. I did.

"We leave tonight so be ready. The pretties that are going are Sadie, Aria, Dustin, Anna, and Peris." I scoffed at the last name. I doubted he would actually go through with it. Last time he had wanted to run away, he had chickened out. He was not a pretty. He was a special. The only special dumb enough to want to leave, but he was a wimp. I was never sure why Tally had been such good friends with him, even in her ugly days she had been better then him.

"Zane," Dr. Cable was speaking to me after the meeting was dismissed.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I have a feeling one of our specials is not going to want to stay here." She told me. "This special has a problem with following orders, but if you find them following you… don't worry about it. They seem to do their best work when going against orders." I knew exactly who he was talking about… Tally, but I just laughed and nodded.

"I can't break her in half for disobeying orders." I joked. Yes, I was joking with Dr. Cable. It was better to be on her good side then her bad.

Tally's POV

"Bye," Garren kissed me and pulled his backpack on. He looked like a pretty but even then he was still more special looking.

"Bye," I replied. Him and I had been dating for a long time now and I did like him, but it wasn't very hard for me to watch him go. We had met right after he had become a special and hit it off immediately, but we had never been like Zane and I had been. Garren and I hung out all the time, went to things together, kissed etc… But I just never felt the same about him as I had about Zane. Although I would never tell Garren, or anyone else, this it was the simple truth.

I watched Garren jump on his board and leave.

"Love you babe." He called out behind him as he rode off. Now it was time for my plan to take action. There was no WAY they were going on this trip with out me.