A secret is a secret | ONC 2024

16 | The news travels so fast

As the weekend went away and the start of the week arrived, at my morning class, I felt everyone's eyes on me following me everywhere I went. At first, I thought that I was being paranoid, that it was all in my head. But it dawned on me that I wasn't feeling crazy or paranoid, everyone was looking at me.

I know that I didn't do anything wrong or attract attention to myself. I am not dumb to realize that the news about Alfred's arrest must have gotten out to the public. I have never been a huge fan of being the center of attention and that's never going to change until I take my last breath on this earth.

I hate how the news travels so fast around the campus and there is nothing I can do to make them stop traveling so fast like it was a virus. After my morning class ended and lunchtime came around, I reached the point where I couldn't handle feeling all eyes on me. To be honest, I am surprised with myself that I lasted this long. Instead of eating lunch at the cafeteria like I always do. I decided to eat at my dorm room until further notice, it would give me a break from prying eyes.

Successfully, I made it across the campus to the floor of my dorm room without anyone stopping me for small talk. However, people still were looking at me the entire walk here. I slipped my key into the keyhole and walked into my dorm room. I faced away from the door, placing my keys on the entryway table. I didn't fail to notice my best friend's keys.

"Let me guess everyone was watching you like a hawk today, Lenora?" I heard Beck's voice coming from our living room.

"Yeah, I got super sick of having multiple different sets of eyes on me at every place that I walked into. I know for a fact that today I am not able to eat lunch at the cafeteria at peace, at least for a while." I spoke, walking away from the door, entering the living room, and sitting down on the couch right next to her.

Beck gave me a quick hug, once I let go after returning her hug. "Yeah me too, I thought that I was tough but eventually I reached a breaking point. You and I aren't the only ones, our best friend Cyrus is going to join us."

I smiled learning that our best friend Cyrus was going to be joining us. "I hate how the news travels so fast no matter if they are good news or bad news. Don't get me wrong, I know that people can help themselves. Anyway, I am glad that Cyrus is joining us. It has been a while since the three of us had eaten lunch together."

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"Just to triple check before placing our order we want to eat lunch from TacoBell and get a good dessert for the first half of our day we had from Coldstone?" Cyrus asked us, looking up from his phone, while he was sitting down on one of our bar stools.

"Cyrus, yes, Lenora and I want to eat lunch from TacoBell. For the sake of our poor stomachs please place the order, I must not be the only one who is staving." Beck responded to our best friend's question, walking out of her bedroom, she closed her bedroom door before she walked into the living room.

"I got the answer that I wanted so I will place our order now." Cyrus told us before he returned to look at his phone.

"Are we going to watch a movie or a TV show while we wait for our food to arrive?" I asked them, picking up the TV controller from the coffee table, I went ahead and turned on the television.

Beck entered the living room, carefully placed her phone down on the coffee table and then she joined me on the couch, sitting down on my left side. "I vote for a movie!"

"Me too." Cyrus's voice carried from the kitchen into the living room, sharing with us the response to my question.

"Me three." I said, clicking on the streaming platform known as Netflix. I looked at my best friend over my shoulder as I pointed the TV controller at her. "Beck, do you want to do the honors?"

Beck looked back at me, showing her kind smile as she took the TV controller off my hand. "Lenora, yes, I would love to do the honors. Not to brag but I had people tell me that I have good movie choices."

"My only request is that the movie doesn't have any romance." I pointed out, standing up from the couch.

I love romantic movies, I live for that type of movie, Alfred and I love watching them together but given the situation that Alfred is in. Until he is free from prison, I am not going to any romantic movies without him. It might be silly for some people for me since our thing, it would be like the ultimate betrayal.

Beck nodded in understanding at my request as she began looking for a movie for us to watch. I walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. "Cyrus, did you place our order?"

"Lenora, yes, I just finished placing our order, it should get here in the next thirty-five minutes. Well, that's according to the app." Cyrus responded to my question as I picked up an iced tea bottle and closed the doors.

"Thank you, Cyrus, you are the best. An important question, which one of us is going downstairs to pick up our food?" I asked them, placing my bottle down on the counter.

"Cyrus and I can pick up our food when it gets here, I don't mind." Beck spoke, volunteering herself and Cyrus to go downstairs.

"I don't mind either." Cyrus said, looking at me as he smiled softly.

"Okay thank you, Beck and Cyrus." I thanked them as I opened my iced tea and took a sip out of it.

"You're welcome, Lenora. Oh, by the way, your sister just texted you." Cyrus informed me as he passed me my phone.

"Oh, she did? Thank you for telling me." I said, taking my phone from his hands. I looked down at my phone turned it on and read the top notification.

Kara: I just watched the news, please call me when you can, Lenora.

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Everyone, we are reaching the last couple of chapters!

Final chapter word count: 1,085

Total book word count: 21,383