Picture of Trai on the side!

Chapter Six

Caleb

"Do you know the answer, Mr. Payne?"

Dr. Hart's voice jolted me out of my thoughts. You know how when you really want—no, need—something to happen, it becomes all you can think about? I was having one of those moments. It had been four days, and Delaney still hadn't responded.

I was getting desperate.

"Um...sir?" I asked stupidly, blinking up at my teacher. Despite how idiotic I sounded, no one dared laugh. Dr. Hart sighed.

"Caleb," he said, shaking his head, "while I realize that you must have some very important things on your mind, I'd appreciate it if you would pay attention to the lesson. Now please, what is the answer to number five?"

I stared down at my math book and tried to make sense of the sequence of numbers and letters. When I didn't respond immediately, a voice hissed the answer my way.

"X equals twelve?"

Dr. Hart looked at me sternly, then focused his vision somewhere behind me. "Thank you, Mr. Kaiser." I turned to see my friend Trai smirking at me smugly.

"You're off the hook this time, Mr. Payne," my teacher said grudgingly. "Next time, however, I expect you to be prepared to answer."

I nodded absently. "Yes, sir." Though I tried to pay attention, for the rest of the class period, my mind was elsewhere. By the time the bell rang for lunch, I'd retained nothing of the lesson.

Just as we were walking out the door, the expressionless voice of the school secretary came over the intercom.

"Attention, students and faculty of Beverly High: this is just a reminder that the Superiors will be arriving on May 31; in exactly fourteen days. The Community Service Club has volunteered to assist us with preparations. A meeting will be held today after school, regarding this, so if anyone is interested..."

The rest was lost on me as I processed the information. Fourteen days. It had already been four days, and there were only fourteen left. Two weeks may seem like a long time, but I knew it would pass in a heartbeat. During the past ninety-six hours, I had wanted to call Delaney, only to realize that I didn't have her number. And although it would have been easy to obtain through a few connections, it would started a wildfire of rumors. Carlie was already suspicious enough; I certainly didn't want her to find out about my meeting with Delaney, even if we were doing nothing wrong.

But there were only fourteen days.

And if Delaney didn't respond very, very soon, I'd be screwed.

○●○●○●○

"Hey, beautiful," I said, kissing Carlie on the cheek as I slid into my place next to her. The greeting came out automatically. Everything I said to Carlie felt like it was programmed into me. No surprise there; my parents had coached me for days on how to act with Carlie when in public. They, after all, were Popular in their high school days. They weren't Chosen, though, and so were bent on making sure that their kids were. They passed on all their knowledge, first to my brother, then to me. And based on the fact that I had a 10+ rank, they were doing a pretty good job.

"So, how does it feel to know that in ten days, the two of you will be off to the Capitol?" Trai asked us as he took the seat across from me. Gradually, other Populars and several followers, few of whom were actually my friends, filled in the other places. We were at Dulcet, the favorite hangout of all the school's Populars. It sold amazing desserts, though none of us ever actually bought anything. Over the years, it had become a routine after-school meeting place.

"Amazing," Carlie gushed. I shrugged.

"Alright, I guess."

My girlfriend mock-glared at me. "Just 'alright'?" she demanded. "You're not excited? I thought I trained you better than that!" The whole table erupted into laughter, not because Carlie was actually funny, but because she would turn scary if they didn't pretend she was. I was the only one who didn't react. Normally, I would have laughed along with them, but today I just wasn't in the mood.

"I don't see why you're making such a big deal about being Chosen," I said moodily. "You already know it's going to happen, so can you just shut up about it?"

One of Carlie's eyebrows raised slowly. "Excuse me?" she asked sweetly. It was meant to be a warning to me, but I ignored it.

"You heard what I said. Now how about we change the subject? Everyone's staring." And they were. Everyone at the table stared at us, their eyes hungrily devouring the argument. Carlie's eyes flickered to them, then back to me, a sour expression on her face.

"Look, Caleb," Carlie hissed. "I don't know what the hell you're doing, but you'd better stop it right now. You're making me look bad."

"Since when do you care about looking bad?" I shot back, a little too loudly. "Half the school hates you already!" A collective gasp circled the table.

Carlie's face turned an angry red and her eyes flashed with fury. "Babe," she said coolly, "I think we need to talk. Alone." As she rose from her seat beside me, I could tell that she was struggling to stay calm.

"I'd rather not," I replied, not standing. It was dead silent. Then, slowly, Carlie sank back down into her chair. The corners of her mouth turned down.

"I'll speak to you later," she murmured, her lips hardly moving. Then she looked up suddenly and swept a glare around the table. There was a moment of silence before conversation gradually returned to the room. Everyone was talking, I think to try and fill the space. Everyone, that is, except for Trai and Carlie.

"What's on your mind, man?" Trai asked, just as Carlie demanded, "What's wrong with you?!"

I smiled and forced myself to meet Carlie's eyes. "I think I'm just a little stressed out."

Carlie narrowed her eyes. "Well at least try to control yourself."

"What do you care?" I hissed. "Public arguments will only help our Rank."

Realization dawned on Carlie's face, and she smiled pityingly. "So that's what it is. Caleb, you said it yourself; we're going to be Chosen for sure."

"That's not what I'm worried about," I murmured as she turned around and began talking to Brooklyn. She didn't hear what I said. Trai, on the other hand, did. He had said nothing the entire time, and when I glanced at him, he still didn't. He simply narrowed his eyes and looked away.

○●○●○●○

I was still at Dulcet when my phone rang. Nearly everyone had cleared out, leaving only a few of us sitting around the table. I glanced at the screen, expecting Trai or maybe my mom, but didn't recognize the number.

Immediately, I knew who it was.

"Guys, I gotta take this," I said quietly.

"'Kay, babe," Carlie replied. "I'll miss you." I didn't respond. She didn't mean that; in fact, she was probably still furious with me. It was just automatic.

I had to force nonchalance as I hurried out of the cafe and into the chilly evening air, accepting the call as I went.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this Caleb?"

I laughed. "Who else would it be?"

"Just making sure." She paused. "By the way, this is Delaney."

"I figured."

She laughed then, a nervous sound that crackled in my ear. "Well. I called about your...request." Just as I'd instructed her, she was being careful about what she said.

My breath caught in my throat. This was the deciding moment. "Yeah?" I asked.

"Well. I just wanted to tell you that—I mean, I just wanted to make sure—I just thought that you should know that—" She sighed, took a breath.

"I accept."

Delaney

I waited for his reaction on the other line, the phone hot against my ear. Through the faint static, I heard a sharp intake of breath, then a sigh of relief.

"Thank god," he muttered. "I thought you had forgotten."

"Forgotten? Hardly. I was just...contemplating."

"Took you a damned long time to contemplate," Caleb grumbled. When I didn't respond, he continued. "Look, when are you free? I want to start this as soon as possible."

"What?" I asked stupidly, then immediately chastised myself. Of course he'd need to meet with me again; how else would we get anything done? But I wasn't so sure that that would be such a good idea. The first time had been risky enough, and—for obvious reasons—I didn't want Carlie to find out. It's not like Caleb and I were actually doing anything, but he still had one scary witch of a girlfriend.

"We need to start this right away; there simply isn't time to waste. Why don't we meet at Savory on say, Sunday?"

"Savory's?" I squeaked in disbelief. Savory's Italian Cuisine was a nicer restaurant in the heart of Seattle's shopping district, famous for being the top first date locations for people at my school.

"Yeah," he said, like it was nothing. "Don't worry; I'll pay. Is six o'clock alright, maybe?"

It seemed like a full minute before I could respond, and when I did, it was unintelligible. "Um, well, um, well, I, um, I..."

"Is that okay with you?" he asked finally, cutting off my meaningless stuttering.

"Yeah!" I spat out before I could stop myself. He laughed.

"Okay, cool," he said. "Well, I—"

"What about Carlie?" I interrupted suddenly. "What will she think about all this?" There was a pause as Caleb presumably organized his thoughts into an generic response.

"Listen, Delaney," Caleb commanded, his voice very quiet. "When it comes down to it, Carlie and I are very different people. We make our relationship work for the most part, but this is a subject she will not appreciate disagreement on. I'm not going to tell her anything."

"You can just tell her it's a school project," I suggested, "can't you?" Though I didn't like the idea of Carlie knowing that her boyfriend and I were meeting, the thought that she could find out another way was even more unappealing. Wouldn't it be better to just feed her a lie?

But Caleb only sighed. "I know Carlie comes across as a dumb blonde, but she really isn't. She'll see through any lie in an instant, and the result will not be pretty. You have no idea what you're dealing with, Delaney. Carlie is disagreeable at her best; but when she's angry, it's a whole other monster."

"I know that," I snapped. "And I can handle it." But could I?

Silence. Then, "So, is Sunday okay?"

Way to change the subject, I thought sullenly. I had half a mind to continue arguing with him, but that would get us nowhere. Instead, I sighed. "Yeah, Sunday is fine. I'll be there at six." Before I could take it back, I hung up.

I set my phone down on my lap and stared at it for a full minute. A part of me couldn't believe what I had just done. Agreeing to meet Caleb Payne at a restaurant behind his girlfriend's back was a suicide mission at best. Yet for some reason, I'd consented.

Obviously, passing up on a challenge was not my style; but I was wary all the same. Maybe I was being overly paranoid, but I still didn't completely trust Caleb. I was pretty sure that he wasn't going to use me to secure his Popularity, but this just didn't seem like a good idea. Carlie was clever, and I knew she had ways to figure things out. She had connections everywhere. Eyes, you could say. I didn't have to be her friend to know that.

Biting my lip, I stared at my phone, which still had Caleb's number displayed across the screen. Beneath it was a blinking Call Again? sign. My finger hung over the button for a moment; I almost pressed it. It would be so simple to call back and tell Caleb that I had changed my mind, that I wanted nothing to do with him. He couldn't stop me, and I'd never have to deal with him again.

But I couldn't do it.

Despite all the risks, despite the dancer girl's warning and my unshakeable distrust of Caleb, I was pathetically curious. Even Carlie couldn't scare me away at this point. Because while I knew that maintaining her ignorance would be tricky, the whole situation was far too intriguing to turn down. For all I knew, Caleb was wrong, but I had to know for sure.

And hacking into the Superior databases? How many times in my life would I get to do that?

With that, I convinced myself that I had made the right choice, and that accepting Caleb's request had not been a mistake. Or rather—I told myself that, and hoped with all my heart that it was true.