Number Seven

Chapter 10

My peas and corn blend together as I haul my fork back and forth along the plate. It's cold in the cafeteria. Colder than usual. Maybe it's because I'm thinking too much. Everyone is acting as if nothing happened and it's creeping me out. I'm starting to wonder if they've actually brainwashed them all. Two girls smile at each other as they sit perfectly poised in their seats. Another pair of guys are laughing, acting all polite with one another. I feel like they only call this the dining area for etiquette, but in reality, it's just a normal cafeteria. The cooks are closing up the food bar, clearing away all of the leftover scraps. Jinx and her sister are nowhere in sight and there are barely any supervisors in here at all.

Seven isn't anywhere to be seen.

I swallow glimpsing back at my food, knowing it's getting cold. Reminding myself I don't care. A figure distracts me, pulling my sight away from my abandoned food. Pale skin, freckles, red hair, and a smirk across his face. I raise a brow at him sitting on the other side of me.

"What's a pretty lady like you sitting here all alone for?" he vamps. His voice is a lot deeper than I imagined it would be and his personality is ten times more outgoing than the innocence that overflows on the outside. "You remember me, right? We rode the bus here a few weeks back."

More than a few but who's counting? I take a quick once over and notice how fit he's gotten since that day. How the round curves he once held have flattened into slightly straighter lines.

"Don't have your boyfriend today?" he pries.

I tilt my head the slightest bit before scoffing and finding a reason to stuff my mouth with food. A reason to make me occupied. "He's not my boyfriend," I answer, scrunching my nose. My eyes are on the clock, hanging above the food bar, wondering when dinner is going to be over.

"No? Hm. You know, if he ever gets on your nerves, just holler and I can take care of him for you." My body freezes as I find his hand on my forearm. My teeth stop chewing. I shoot him a look. A glare. He smoothly removes his hand as if it were the smallest deal in the world. "I heard you're roommates with him. You're welcome to sleep over in my bed. I don't bite—"

"Look, redhead—"

"It's Bryce," he snarks. Another name. A rare find in an environment like this.

I look at him in silence for a second too long. "Whatever. Is there a reason you're here?"

Now he's the one staring. Staring with an intention roaming through his pupils. His eyes look me over several times before sending an open-ended raise of his brow and a grin implying something I hope it doesn't. My sights land back to the clock to watch it reach the last minute.

Dinner is dismissed just in time as jolt up from the bench of my seat, nearly hitting the table, and storm out. Surprisingly enough, he doesn't chase after me for a second attempt to talk my ear full with crap. Who would've thought there would be so many events on today of all days? I wish I had a calendar to mark everyday I hate being here, but then the entire thing would be filled with red markings, month to month.

By the time everyone's ready for lights out, I'm ready to be on the move. The thought of what's past that staircase has been itching my mind all day. The chance of it being an armory, another torture chamber, or even a way out. The possibilities are endless. Men and women dressed in black call out the last five minutes before curfew. Seven hasn't returned from wherever he went. I shake him off from my thoughts as I step out into the hallway before leaning over the rail that's keeping me from falling down several floors onto the dining area floor.

My gaze flies up before stopping on another floor. In the distance, I see the lights to the combat room on. Looking closer, I find something unexpected. Something out of the ordinary.