Classified

Chapter 5 - "Because I'm extremely smart."

She smirked and tipped an imaginary hat.

Donovan didn't react. He wasn't sure if this girl was a troublemaker or bored?

The thought made him pause. How many times had he acted out in middle school because he was bored? It had been enough that his mother had pulled him out and homeschooled him. It seemed Carter suffered under the same sense of boredom.

Mr. Miller stepped into the middle of the classroom, banging his leg against a table on the way.

"Everyone, calm down," he said. "It was just a mishap. Nothing to be alarmed about. Continue with your projects, you still have a few minutes left of class."

Donovan watched as Carter swept away the evidence that she'd used to cause the disturbance. That explained her nearly clean record, she knew how to not get caught. Donovan puzzled over that, not sure whether that made him admire her or be wary of her. Either way, she warranted a close eye, she was too unpredictable.

**********

"We need to look like we're having a conversation," Donovan said, as he walked beside Link through the school hallway.

Link gave him a baffled look. "We are having a conversation."

"I mean a real conversation," Donovan said, twisting to avoid colliding with a pack of jostling boys.

"You mean besides the conversation we are having right now about having a conversation?"

Donovan threw Link an unamused look, which he replied to with a toothy grin.

"A couple of days with Carter and you seem to pick up her annoying smart-aleck habits, this doesn't bode well," Donovan said.

"I don't know, I kinda like it."

Though Donovan wasn't sure he liked the quipping version of Link at least it was better than him small and retreated into himself. For that he was grateful.

"Do you plan to also pick up her sarcasm?" Donovan asked.

The question was meant only as a means of getting Link to talk since Donovan spotted his target. He knew he hadn't needed to worry about Miguel being on the inside of a group, he'd always been more comfortable on the sidelines. Which still held true as he tagged along with a trio of guys, walking on the outer edge, typing away on his phone.

Donovan purposefully knocked into him. Miguel dropped his phone in surprise. Since Donovan predicted this would happen, he deftly caught it.

"My bad," he said, making eye contact with Miguel as he handed back the phone.

Link stopped talking but Donovan guided him onward, not glancing back at Miguel to see if he recognized Donovan. Before Link could question whether the collision was only an accident, Donovan diverted his thoughts.

"What were you and Carter talking about in class today?" he asked.

His tactic worked.

"Oh! She does that insane thing you do where she can know everything about a person just by looking at them."

Donovan didn't find this at all surprising since he knew her father to be a Navy SEAL, he would have raised her to see and take in everything.

"It's not an insane thing," he said, pushing open the library door for Link.

"It kinda is, I still don't get how you do it."

As they passed the older librarian, Donovan nodded in greeting.

"It's about taking in the facts and eliminating factors that don't plan into the equation."

Link simply looked at Donovan like everything he said is gibberish.