Listed: Book One of The Listed Trilogy

Chapter Twelve

 Betrayal

When I'm sure everyone's asleep, I creep out of bed. I sit at my desk, and open my laptop. I tap the google link, and wait for the bar to load. I type in "Lavender Tiller" and wait for it to load.

This time, only five links appear. One of them is the video I watched earlier. I notice that most of them are just videos of her being Listed.

"Ugh!" I groan, and slam the laptop shut.

"Huh?" I hear from my side.

 Shoot, I jump back into my bed, and pull the covers over me. I hear blankets being moved, and then soft footsteps. I try to act like I'm asleep, when the covers are pulled off of me. I sit up, and look to my right at Alan.

"Athena, what are you doing up?" he asks. I growl, and roll over so that I don't have to look at him.

"None of your business." I mumble. He pulls me back over.

"I know you were doing something." he says, looking at me seriously. I growl, and turn back over without responding. He pulls at my hair, and I screech.

"Alan!" I scream, and punch him in the gut. He doubles over, then pushes me down. I roll over and fall to the floor. I peek over the bed, and I barely see him in the dark. But that's all I need. I jump over the bed, and knock him over onto his bed. We slap and kick each other until the lights turn on.

"What is going on here?" General Babcock barks. I look up to the door, and sure enough she's standing there. Alan pushes me off of him, and I stand next to his bed.

"Duncan, Rothwell, follow me." she demands. I reluctantly follow her out into the hall, and Alan is right behind me.

We walk down the white hall, taking only right turns. General Babcock stops in front of a gray door that says "General Lillian Babcock" on a steel plague. She opens it up, and gestures for us to go in.

Inside are tons of pictures and awards hung in frames and locked in glass cases. In the center of the room is a desk, with manila folders and papers in neat piles on top. In front of the desk are two chairs, each made of stainless steel.

General Babcock walks in front of us, and sits at her desk. She takes out a laptop, and turns it on.

"Sit." she demands.

We both walk over to the chairs and sit down. I can feel Alan's eyes boring into my side, and I turn to look at him. I turn just in time to see him shift his gaze to the floor. I open my mouth to say something, but General Babcock lifts her index finger.

"Not a peep." she says. I close my mouth, but give Alan a deadly glare. 

General Babcock types something in, and then looks up at us.

"Alright, what was going on? You were loud enough to wake up the dead." she asks. I open my mouth, but Alan interrupts me.

"She was up past curfew and woke me." he accuses. General Babcock types something in.

"Wh-, that did not happen!" I shout.

Alan raises an eyebrow at me. I sigh, and look at General Babcock.

"Alright, so maybe I was up after curfew, but that doesn't give him an excuse to attack me!" I growl at him. 

"Hey, I was just trying to get some sleep!"

"You didn't have to go snooping!" I argue, and General Babcock types furiously on her keyboard.

"Snooping? You were on your laptop!" he yells.