Chiron Academy

The Professor's Daughter, Part 2

Wyatt knocked on the door.

The sound was softer than he wanted. He thought about knocking again but then he was worried that it would be weirder to knock twice than it would be to knock kind of quietly.

He waited.

There was no response from the other side of the double doors.

This was stupid. He shouldn't have come here. This wasn't going to change anything.

He let out a long, slow breath and knocked again.

It was louder this time. Wyatt thought it sounded more confident. He wished he felt as confident about this whole thing as the knock sounded. 

There was still no response in the room.

Part of him was happy about that. If she wasn't here, all the better. He was late for class anyway.

Another part of him snarled about coming here at all. He didn't owe her anything. 

He pulled the handle. Unfortunately, it was open.

Well, Wyatt thought to himself, time to put up or shut up.

He pushed the door open.

"-don't have to wait for me to say something before you come in," she was saying. "The door is soundproofed. You wouldn't be able to hear me say anything anyway."

Things in the lab looked very similar to the last time he had been there, chock full of different scientific devices, though they looked a bit more organized this time. The jungle of science machines had been tamed, things looking a bit more organized than their haphazard layout the last time he had been there. 

Wyatt saw Cassie's expression change from neutral to annoyance when she realized who he was.

"What do you want, Flyerman?" Cassie said.

"I wanted to apologize," he said.

It sounded as stupid as he was saying it. 

"For what?" 

She was seated at the lone table in the crowded room tapping away at a tablet.

Wyatt wondered if she had seen him yesterday. He had been just one table over the day before when he had heard them talking. He hadn't tried to draw attention to himself, but she or one of her loud friends might have seen him at some point throughout the meal.

"The day we talked about your dad, you were crying. I'm sorry I didn't help."

She set down the tablet.

"Why are you here? Is this about cracking that phone?"

"No." He said. "It would be nice if you helped me with it. It is still important, but that's not why I'm here. The day when we were talking about your dad, I didn't help you out when you needed it. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

The Professor's daughter took a long look at Wyatt. 

"You're strong right?' she said rising from her chair. "You might as well make yourself useful while you're here."

She stood and motioned to him over to a sturdy-looking device on the countertop. 

"I need to move this over there," she said.

She pointed to a space on a shelf along the far wall.

"Buckingham wants me to clear the lab up a little bit, make it more presentable for civilians. 'Better looking' rarely ever means the same as 'more efficient' but that's what happens when you let administrators get involved."