Shattered (The Academy)

Chapter 9: Hearts On Strings.

Once that Kota and Nathan leave the house to look for my things, I take a shaky breath and go through the small attic in my room, where I keep Elizabeth's stuff. Elizabeth took over somewhere between classes and lunch and wrote me a note saying she had said yes to a pool party in Nathan's house and I had to wear a cute bikini.
  I'm mortified. Bikini? They're too revealing. Too tight and small and slippery...  I don't have a bikini, but I know Elizabeth has, which is worse. I can imagine already all the black or red or... Where does she  gets the money?
I haven't give a thought about the money I found in that little hole in the ground. How could that pass by me?
The attic is dark and is already starting to get too hot in here to be, but I pull my hair over my head and hold it. I go through her stuff, first her clothes, where I find a hot pink bikini I fear is a little too small, through her jewelry and makeup bag. How does she get any of these stuff anyway? How did she get away with it without someone in the family noticing? Why none of these questions popped in my head before?
  There is something so weird here.
And then, when I'm putting her clothes inside the old green suitcase I keep them at, I see something at the botton, a different kind of fabric than the one the inside of the suitcase has. A different kind of black. Almost grey-ish...
I touch it with my fingers first before removing it. It slips off easily, and underneath that, I see green. The kind of green a fortune looks like.
  She came back for it.
I feel myself going pale, staring at the money in the bottom. And what do I do? I panic. I keep it down there and pretend it never happened. It's safer that way. At least, until I can find out what she's been up to. Getting out of the little attic space with the bikini in hand, I write a note to Elizabeth, hoping she shows up to read it and hoping not to at the same time, so I can have more time here. With the guys.

Elizabeth, what is the money for? How did you get it?

I leave the notebook in my bed opened up in the page I wrote in. She's so evasive, but I'm hoping. Quickly, I put on the bikini, which is way too tight at the breats part, but it will have to do... under a shirt and shorts. Of course. 
"Sang?" Kota calls my name somewhere in the house. I imagine at my house's door.
"You can come in!" I yell, getting out my room so he can hear me "I just can't find a couple things!"
"Want some help?" Another voice joins, from downstairs. It's Gabriel.
"Uhm... Yeah"
Footsteps echo through my house and then I see Gabriel's head. He smiles at me, looking up, and I can't help but think how handsome he is.
I instantly blush and he widens his smile. We do that for a couple seconds: Just staring at each other.
"The others left to get things ready at Nathan's" He whispers, looking at my eyes.
I nodd, still drinking him in. "Okay".
"I love your hair" Gabriel lifts a hand and touches a lock of hair that frames my face.
"I love your eyes" I say. And it's true: They're cristal blue, like the ocean or like the sky...
Sang, you are losing it.
All he does is smiling, which makes me blush more.
"Come on, I'll help you out. What do you need?"
"I can't find my towel and flip flops"
"This is your room?"
"Ah... yes"
Suddenly, I become well aware of my bedroom: The small space , the white nude walls, the lack of personal stuff. I look around, trying to see what he's seeing right now, trying to figure out if I'm too weird, too out of place.
"Where are all your stuff?"
"These are my stuff" Avoiding the question mark in his eyes, I turn around and look inside the top drawer of the tiny closet. 
 Yes, I think maybe I am too weird for a teenage girl. Marie's room is different than mine, with all those posters and the big closet that she doesn't really use because all her things are scattered all around the floor. Enough to say she was kind of the favorite. Maybe because she was older than me. And the truth is that Marie was awful with me, but even like that, sometimes I find myself unable to fall asleep wondering if she's okay, wherever she is. If she's cold, or hungry, or she's in a better place. I don't blame her for wanting to run away, even after Mother died, but I can't understand how is that she blamed it on me, some way. The morning I found out she was dead and went downstair hearing Marie's crying, she insulted and pointed at me like I was the devil. Like I did it. When I asked dad to see it, he barely even looked at me and said she was gone.
 Marie called me a bitch while going up stairs to her room. Two weeks later, she was gone too.
"Is this your towel?" Gabriel asks, and when I turn I find my soft pink towel "It was on the desk, beneath some shirts" He shrugs. If he indeed thinks I am a weirdo, he lets go.
"Thank you. Now just let me find the flip flops" I search in the lowest part of my closet, where I use to put my shoes, but they're not there. Where did I leave them?
"What is this?"
I turn to find Gabriel looking at the attic space, getting closer. I jolt a little.
"It's an attic space. I'm surprised you found it: it's hidden" I smile at him, but I'm feeling nervous.
"I'm observative. Maybe they're here?" He asks, touching the wall to find where to pull or push.
"No!" I shout. Gabriel jolts and looks at me very susprised, and that's when I know I shouldn't have done it. I freeze "I just... Hmmm ... It's full with spiderwebs and bugs. I don't want them to get in my room" I lie, looking away. It's  the thing about me when I lie: I tend to look away. It's kind of like a tic.
"O...kay" He says slowly.
I laugh nervously. 
"You know what? I think I already know where they are. Wait here" I go to Marie's room and look for her flip flops. I could have done this before, but even when she's not here anymore, I can't really take her things. I feel bad even entering her room.
 I take them fast and go to find Gabriel, because him being so close to the money, to the things I can't understand, make me nervous.
  They say money has always been the roots to all of our problems.

Gabriel's Point Of View.

I can't stop fucking staring at the attic space in her room. 
Can it be? Where she keeps all her secrets? But again, she's supposed to be a thief who stole a big amount of money from a dangerous guy, but her house and room is so... minimalistic. They said it wasn't the first time stealing, but the first time that she bothered such a powerful guy. Where the fuck is all that money? 
 I get my cellphone out and text in the group chat conversation.

Gabriel: Guys, for real, I'm telling you. THIS IS NOT THE GIRL WE ARE LOOKING FOR. I'm in her room and she barely has a closet. But... There is an attic space where she freaked out about when I got close...
Mr. Blackbourne: Did she say anything else about this attic space?

Gabriel: No, she seemed nervous and then left to look for something.
North: Maybe the money is in there. Can you get in before she comes back?
Mr. Blackbourne: You are not getting in today, Mr. Coleman. That is taking a lot of risks. We will wait until tomorrow when she's at school, then I'll send another team to sneak in and look.
Dr. Green: Can't any of us do it?
Mr.Blackbourne: We all have responsabilities we have to attend.
Victor: I'm sure you'll find nothing. As Gabriel, I think this is not her, and I'm not getting too personal, I swear.
Luke: I agree there is something wrong.
Nathan: Do I have to remind you guys she fakes like shit? There is no way she is this thief and con master being the way she is and for the state of her house and room.
Gabriel: Besides, lots of her clothes look very old. Mr. Blackbourne, I know you don't like this, but I insist. And yes, she lies like shit, looking all nervous and looking the other way.
Silas: I knew it!
Mr. Blackbourne: All of you go back to your assignment. Tomorrow we'll send a team and if we don't find anything, then we are going to decide. 
Silas: I say we keep her. I like her.
Kota: She might be dangerous.
Luke: Oh, come one, Kota. Admit you like her.
Kota: That's not relevant. I don't trust her.
Silas: But you do. You like her.
Kota: If she doesn't turn out to be a criminal... She is nice, okay? But I still don't trust her.
Mr. Blackbourne: Back to the mission. 

I smile, happy he finally admited it. He was being a pain in the ass about it. I guess I cannot blame him since he feels as responsible for our well being as Mr. Blackbourne, but sometimes relaxing seems so foreign to him. I wish he could look at this girl's eyes and say he is hooked up already, like the rest of us. 
  As I see Sang coming back, smiling with flip flops in hand, I can't help but think that it doesn't matter if she's actually a criminal or not: We are all already too hooked up. And deep down I know that might destroy us, if she is bad, if she's evil. But how can she be? She looks like an angel. I can't blame Silas for calling her like that. The only things missing are the wings.
"Ready?" She asks.
"Yeah. North is cooking today. He is a health freak, but when he relaxes on days like these, his meals are way too good" I mumble while going downstairs. In the way, she looks susprised and pleased as I tell her about me and the boys, and sometimes that brings a smile on her face. And for that smile, I keep talking. But there is something else inside her, something in her eyes, somethins we haven't talked about but all have noticed:
 She looks so incredibly sad. So broken.
And there is nothing in this world I would like more than fix her and tell her I will always be there for her. But the thing is, my heart is on a string. And I'm begging her not to cut it.