It's a short chapter (sorry)! Whateve876, I don't think I mentioned Timmy's eyes in chapter 14 except "He looked at me with those big eyes trustingly." Where did I say it was blue? I'll try and fix it when I can. :)

The Month of Running (March) Age 8

Week 1

The stupid Lupe broke the necklace! I didn't see it, of course. If I did, I'd probably have punched him in the face again. I got it from Timmy. He has all the good traits of a spy; observant, sneaky, and cute.

"The pwetty girl was running and running when this big meanie came it twipped her!" He was telling me.

"Let me guess," I groaned. "A Lupe with a face that looks like it belonged in Moltara?"

"Yup! The pwetty girl fell in the mud. Then he got this wovely jewel from her neck. He grabbed it and bwoke the chain, then threw the gem and stomped on it. Like this!" He demonstrated excitedly, jumping up and down. What he didn't know was that each hop made me angrier and angrier. But not at him.

Something snapped between me and Kayley. We were never friends or whatever, but we got along. Now….ugh, I just hate her! I mean, I go through all that trouble stealing the darn thing then giving it back, and now she ruined it. It wasn't that, either. She punished me loads of times, but what she did never really affected Brynn. That was cool with me. What I did was my thing, and if she just had to beat me up for it, then I didn't really mind. It was my choice. But Brynn never even did anything, and all of a sudden Kayley goes mad and brings the fight to her. I just…ugh!

Week 2

What really sucks is that I was depending on Kayley to make most of the plan up with me. She's the best strategist in our class. Like I said before, I'm a do-it-and-think-later kind of guy, but this is serious. We couldn't afford anything to go wrong, and we need someone to map it all out. Someone who can really design a blueprint that nobody would ever see coming. Before, I thought she was the perfect candidate, but now….

You'd think I'm being selfish. I'm putting Kanrik's life at stake because of some petty quarrel. Still, I need someone I can trust to help out. And if that someone has to be incompetent, then fine. I'll ask Razor.

Week 3

I'm not being vain or anything, but I think Kayley's starting to miss me. She doesn't show it the sobbing-and-begging-to-forgive-her type of way, but with little things. Like when I'm getting especially desperate with Razor planning it all out. I open my mouth to say something, and she looks at me all hopefully. Then I shut it again. I can't just forget about it.

I know that even Brynn's over the whole necklace thing now, and I heard she even told the teacher, but I can't just forget about it. What if she does it again? Kayley probably guessed what I was thinking, because she offered me a deal (as if she's in a position to do that). "You don't talk to the guards, and neither do I." I refused, of course. What kind of agreement was that?

Week 4

Today, the most amazing thing happened. Juliet came to speak to me, and it wasn't because of candy. I was practicing throwing pebbles at bulls-eyes (You know that trick when you toss a stone, and while the guard checks it out you sneak in? That's why we have to learn how to do it). Then, without saying anything, she sat down quietly and waited.

Sometimes that's an absolutely normal thing to do. If Razor did it, I would assume he just wanted to pick up a few techniques. If Kayley stared at me like that, she would probably be wondering how to bring me down. If my mom walked into class to scrutinize my abilities, I wouldn't have thought about it much (though I'd be really embarrassed). But Juliet, one of the twins who always moved, sit still? Something weird was going on.

She wasn't good at being patient, either. Her hands kept fidgeting, and she bounced up and down on her seat. I sighed. "Juliet, just spit it out. You look like your being tortured."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" She pouted. "I was here to ask you about Kayley. When are you going to forgive her?"

"Why do you care? Secondly, as an answer to your question, never."

"Why?" She demanded.

"She doesn't want forgiveness, Juliet. Remember before when I was the one apologizing even though she did the bad stuff? You know I'm not one to hold grudges. But she kept doing it over and over again…"

"To teach you a lesson! You have to admit, she does have a point."

"She doesn't."

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Ugh!" She complained. "Do I have to do this with everyone? Alright, her view on the guards is a little exaggerated, but…"

"But what?"

"Oh, believe me, she does have her reasons. And Hanso, it is killing her. You're one of the few friends that she has."

"Yeah right- what?" I stared at her. "She thinks of me as a friend?"

"Friend might be a little too strong," she amended. "How about acquaintance?"

"Whatever. I'm still not forgiving her."

"Hanso!" She exclaimed. "Come on. You know she can be really sweet when she's nice."

"When's that?"

She glared at me. "You know how you helped Razor a lot last year, and she kept making fun of him?"

"Yeah," I said slowly.

"She hates you for it. For being so noble, even though you're a thief. She categorizes everything. If you aren't dark and mysterious and mean, you'll never succeed in being a crook. You are living proof that she was wrong."

"Huh. That makes sense. She doesn't really like being wrong much, does she?"

"No, she doesn't." Then suddenly she smiled. Then I smiled. Without any warning, we just started laughing hysterically. It carried on for a few minutes, until we were out of breath.

"You can talk major sense when you're sentences are legible," I told her.

She put her hands on her hips. "And when weren't they?"

"Last year, when you asked me for a fake gem," I reminded her.

"Oh, yeah…"

Then I thought of something. "Hey, Juliet, remember what you said in January? About being yourself and stuff?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Why'd you decide to do that?"

She was quiet for a moment, and then replied, "When you get older, it's gets hard to get someone presents, right? My mom used to give me a doll and Julius a toy car or something like that almost every year. Then Julius decided to make a wish list, since he didn't like what he got. In Christmas, he had everything." She took a deep breath. "The thing is, I was given exactly the same. But I only wanted my dolls. When I asked my mom why she didn't give me one, she said that she didn't know I didn't like action figures or whatever. I never said what I wanted, so she assumed that I copied Julius. 'Cause that's what I normally do. What I always do." She shook her head. "But Julius's little sister can't be all I am, right?"

She had been talking non-stop for five minutes, and for some parts of it I tuned off. I blinked rapidly, but managed to say, "'Course not."

"Good," she said, relieved. An awkward silence followed. "So, um, forgive Kayley, okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "No promises." Later at break, though, when Kayley was at a table alone, I went up to her. "I have a favor to ask you," I began.

"Thank goodness," Razor mumbled, always right behind me. "I'm not very good at planning stuff."

She raised her eyebrows, and a familiar, calculating look came over her eyes. "A plan, huh? What do you have in mind?"