The Pentagon Paradox

Chapter Seventeen

SCARLET

"No!" Theo shouts at me. This man, I swear. I ball my fists and try so hard not to punch him right now.

"No, your ass, Theo! I do what I want to do, whenever I want to do it! I don't take orders; I don't even take suggestions!" I shout back. This is never going to end.

"I already told you, this discussion is closed. You're not-" The door flies open, and the chairman walks in. Oh shit!

"You two! Out, right now!" he shouts at us from the door.

"Out where?!"

"To wherever the hell you two can throw your shit and come back!"

He glares at us for a couple of seconds, then slams the door shut on his way out. If the chairman wants us out, we get out; no words exchanged.

I roll my eyes and turn to Theo, who's already grabbing his trench coat and his glasses and walking out. "Hey! Where the heck are you going?" I grab my bag and my scarf and follow him out. I'm already wearing my black puffer jacket.

"I have stuff to do," he says, pressing the elevator. "No shit, Sherlock. I'm coming." I walk into the elevator once it opens. Maybe I'm tagging a lot with Theo, but this time it's not me who decided; it's the chairman.

He walks in, and judging by the look on his face, he has already accepted it, although I would really love to know where we're throwing our shit.

We drive in silence till we get to what looks like a school. What in the world are we doing in a school? "Is there a specific reason we've been sitting in front of this school for half an hour?"

"I'm picking up my brother. I was supposed to come at three, but thanks to the old man, we're here an hour early," he answers. He has a brother?! Who's in school?!

"Don't look so surprised. Did you think I was an only child?" He asks with a small smirk on display. I'm not sure; did I think he was an only child?

"I mean, you definitely play the part of the spoiled only child who always got his way." I shrug, and he laughs at my response. His laugh is infectious and warm, as if something funny caught him by surprise.

"You know, sometimes you manage to be really funny without it having to do anything with getting yourself killed," he says, and if the bell hadn't rang and a couple zillion knee-tall creatures came swarming out the gate like a zombie apocalypse, I would've responded to him.

I stare blankly. There are so many of them, it's like they don't end. Once I start to think they're done, they only prove me wrong and continue to pour out of the school gate. I can hear Matheo laughing from his seat, but my eyes stay glued to the creatures.

One kid, with features almost identical to Matheo's, comes up to the car. The closer he gets, the more he looks like his brother, with furried thick brows, high cheekbones, long lashes, and soft, wavy brown hair. The only feature that isn't identical are his dark brown eyes.

"Fair warning; he talks a lot, and he has no filter," Theo warns as he opens my window. "Get in, Nathan!" he calls out to his brother.

Nathan leans into my window and whisper shouts to Matheo, "Why do you have a very beautiful lady in your passenger seat?!" He side-eyes me and goes on, "Do you have a girlfrie- I'll tell mom!"

"She's not my girlfriend, Nate. Get in!" Matheo nods to the backseat, but Nathan doesn't move. "Why isn't she your girlfriend? Are you freaking dumb?"

"Language!" he glares at him. "Sorry! Do you have a brain the size of a herbivore dinosaur?!" I officially like this kid.