The Trouble with Love

❝ ready for those flashing lights ❞

      Where they trying to be like me? Did they think being quiet would make the Elite notice them?

      Two minutes before the bell rang, Jenna slid her textbook over to me. It was open, turned to the section we had done last month. There was also a lot of highlighting. I glanced at her as Mrs. Gastern finished her speech, but Jenna didn't reply, or even so much as to look at me.

      I turned back to the book. I don't think what Jenna wanted to tell me was related to World History, so I started checking the words that she hadn't highlighted. I found the message there.

      Beware of the, I looked past the chunk of highlighted text, royals or you will- I stopped. She had stopped highlighting on the next page. Only a couple dashes of bright colour littered the text. I traced those bits, drown in their- I flipped the page. There wasn't any highlighting on the next page. I scanned the text, she couldn't have ended it there, that wouldn't have made any sense. As I looked closer, I noticed letters had been scratched out. I erased the four patches of pencil to reveal the last word- lies.

      Beware of the royals or you will drown in their lies.

      Hands on the desk made me look up. "You know the bell rang ten minutes ago, right?" Jacen asked. I glanced around, the classroom was notably empty, except for Mrs. Gastern, who sat at her desk, acting as if we weren't in the room.

      I shut Jenna's textbook, and grabbed my things. "I just lost track of time," I said. When Jacen took my books from me, I let him, my mind still whirling from Jenna's message. It wasn't hard to figure out what she meant, she was telling me to beware of the Elite. I could've dismissed it as a petty message, except the way she had worded it, and all the different ways of hiding it that she had used- it didn't add up.

      "You know Jenna Tunclet?" Jacen asked.

      It was like he had read my mind. "What?"

      When he gestured to the pile of books in his hands, I realized that Jenna's textbook was on top, her name printed in neat letters at the bottom of the cover.

      "Oh, I just forgot my textbook at home so she let me borrow hers." Not a complete lie. My textbook was currently sitting under an essay that was due next week, but we hadn't done any textbook work in class. Jacen wouldn't know that, though.

      He was silent until we got to my locker. "Elena," he said, leaning against the locker next to mine.

      "Yeah?" I glanced at him for a second before turning to shove my books in my locker.

      "Don't talk to Jenna, okay?"

      I turned to stare at him. "What? Why?" Now I definitely couldn't dismiss Jenna's message as a petty act. Not if the Elite was aware of her as much as she was aware of them.

      "Word is, she went a little crazy after her sister disappeared," he said.

      "She doesn't seem crazy," I replied, attempting a casual voice as I locked my locker.

      "Just trust me on this." I'm not sure if I can trust any of you on anything now. Jenna's message had been like a cold, hard yank back into reality.

      I might have known more about the Elite now, but I still didn't know them. Definitely not enough that I could let myself be sucked into their lifestyle.

      "Hey Jacen," I said, hoping to distract him. "Why do you always get sent to get me?" Only half of me was focusing on our conversation. The other half was trying to build a lie. I wanted to find out what Jenna meant, which would probably mean tracking down Jenna during lunch. There was no way she would talk to me during English since Vanessa was there. And since I had been eating lunch with the Elite over the past week, I needed something to tell them.