The Good-For-Nothing Society | Completed

Chapter Fifteen

"I was jealous." I admit, my voice quiet. "I'm still jealous, but I don't have any claim to you. You're not my boyfriend."

"Yeah," He says, his face turned away from me, arms now crossed against his chest. "You keep saying."

I suddenly feel like crying, but I won't. Not in front of these two.

"I don't understand why you're so angry." I huff. "It's not like I knocked you unconscious. Lily has been picking on me for weeks, she volunteered to go in the ring, and I didn't know I was going to do that. I just... reacted."

"To what?" Elijah yells. "It was a hug!"

"She called me a bitch!" I say, looking between the two of them. "When she slammed into me, she muttered 'bitch'. I didn't know I could sail through the air and knock someone out, I've never done that before. But you can't train kids to take lumps out of each other and then be mad when they actually do it!"

Stan shrugs, "She makes a fair point."

"Everyone knows I'm not having the best time. There's no reason for her to call me names and wind her way around you, when my mum was literally murdered in front of me. I feel like everyone keeps forgetting that. My mum; shot dead; two weeks ago."

"We know," They both say in unison.

"But this is what I mean! The bored voices you have, as if I'm talking about it too much! I didn't grow up like you, I can't just power through as if nothing happened. Every time I close my eyes I see her face, the blood, the fear in her eyes just before she was shot. Sometimes, I shoot awake in the morning because the way she said 'you' is so loud in my ears. It's only been two weeks and you all expect to walk around like nothing has happened! You want me to come out and admit feelings I'm not ready to acknowledge. And you told me I wasn't taking it seriously and then spiked me with anayphlactic truth serum. I'm the only one behaving as a person should! Reactionary, sad, angry; I've just become an orphan for christ sake!"

"Again, all fair points." Stan says.

"Oh sod off," I tell him, then under my breath I mutter, "Condescending git."

"I was being genuine," He offers, half laughing. He really doesn't look much older than us, and he really, really, looks like Elijah.

"I'm sorry, I should have told her to get off me. But I just..." Elijah trails off, running a hand through his hair.

"... Wanted to make me jealous?" I offer.

He gives a little shrug, "Yeah, I think so."

"I forgive you." I give a small smile, because honestly what is the point in being angry over it? What does it achieve? It will just isolate me from Elijah, and God knows I need him right now.

"Fantastic!" Stan says gleefully. "Because you both have detention together for the next three weeks."

"What!" Elijah cries. "Why do I have detention? She's the violent one!"

"Because," Stan says, "You'll be training for a mission."

Both our mouths drop open, Elijah sits up straighter, alert.

"Sorry?" I spit, I can't have heard that right.

"We found the boy with the backpack." Stan says, "And you're going to meet him."

I freeze. My brain literally stops working. Whatever that sentence is, doesn't compute. I stare, agape, my mouth bobbing like a fish at the teacher before us. Utterly perplexed at why on Earth he would think that is a good idea? They want to send me, the girl who just got enraged by someone calling me a bitch, to the place where my mothers murderer is?

"Absolutely not," Elijah says. "I'll go alone, but she's not coming with me."

"I didn't realise I gave the impression it was debatable."

"She just kicked a girl in the head for hugging me!" Elijah shouts, getting to his feet. "She's not in the right mind to go on her first mission."

I mean, I wish I could be mad about the lack of confidence he has in me, but I totally agree with him. I shouldn't be sent out into the world just yet, especially when my emotions are all over the place. You need to be cool, calm and collected to be an actual spy. I am none of those things right now.

Stan opens up his hands, pleading with his brother. "She just did a move I've rarely ever seen, she has more training then any of us know. The best way to get this kids attention, is to have her there."

Realisation dawns on me, "I'm bait."

Elijah shakes his head, "It's too dangerous."

Stan heaves a sigh, "We really don't have a choice. The trustees have ordered it. They want this thing dealt with quickly and quietly. Miss Gateshead and I will be there, Grace and Tessa too."

"Not Lily?" I ask.

"No," Stan gives me a funny look. "We're moving her to another dorm."

"Oh."

"You're playing with her life," Elijah hisses, he's still stood, towering over his brother.

"I believe her life was already in jeopardy the day her dad died, which is why her mum worked so tirelessly to get her here. It's the safest place for her."

I laugh, not because it's funny, because of the irony. "My mum, the woman who was shot; here."

"Not in the confines of these walls." Stan shrugs.

"Will the mission be taking place in the confine of these walls?" Elijah asks, hotly.

"No," Stan says, then he levels his eyes with mine. "Do you want answers or not?"

We all know what I'm going to say to that; yes. I will do anything to get them, even if it means coming face-to-face with the boy that killed my mum. Even if it means going on this mission.