I Told You, Eli Oxley

Chapter Thirty-One

Now's a good moment for a time-out. Let's review:

Hometown: Chattanooga, TN

Education: Studying at Crockett State University in Chattanooga, TN, but desperately wanting to study at Colorado University in Boulder, CO.*

Relationship Status: In a relationship – with Allison (Al) Rutherford; not in a relationship with Kara.**

Living Situation: Currently living in the 14:21 Hacker Frat House

Current Interests: Hanging out and Making out*** with Al, Freeing crazed female prisoners from dad's work facility, Planning a cyber bank heist.****

Recent Noteworthy Events: Was maced and then slapped by the stripper-heiress, Lacey, after finding out diddly-squat about dad; stole and duplicated dad's keycard in preparation for freeing above prisoners.

*I'm not sure I knew why I wanted to get out of Chat-town so much anymore. It wasn't like I had embarrassed myself in front of the entire school again, and I had found friends. Also, Crockett wasn't all that bad – I mean, once I found friends, I kind of started ignoring the annoying cliques. Classes were still a joke, but I had other things (girls, mystery to solve) to distract me from that.

**Even though I had broken up with Kara, I had residual feelings for her. Those feelings, however – if I'm being completely honest – were more sexual than emotional. I desired her. But I was with Al, so I decided to not actively try to get Kara back. Still, if Kara threw herself at me, I wouldn't hesitate to catch her.

***Al and I did more hanging out than making out. Actually, we hadn't kissed passionately in quite a while. Was she scared we would go too far and wasn't ready for that? Was I a bad kisser? Whatever her reasoning, I was becoming frustrated – sexually frustrated, that is. It's weird – I was never frustrated before Al and I had become physical, nor before Kara and I, but I became easily agitated when Al would stop us from going too far. What's up with that? Maybe because Al was so closed off was why I thought about Kara so much – I figured I had a better chance to release my frustrations with her than with Al. (Note: I don't know why, no – scratch that – I do know why I hadn't discussed my feelings about my frustrations with Al. I was yellow. Yellower than Big Bird's Pinterest page. I was scared of what she would think of me for wanting her. [Double Note: any romantic relationship is bound for a break-up if you fail to communicate, to share how you really feel.])

****I can't explain my reasoning for wanting to hack a bank and steal money, nor how I switched courses so quickly from helping the women to helping myself with some extra dough. The thought just popped into my head, and I went with. It sounded exciting. Enticing. Plus, I knew I could do it, so why not? "It was other people's money," you say? I did think of that, but I figured the bank had insurance that would cover the losses, so everything would be fine – no harm done, right? Another probable reason for my sudden pursuit was that the deadline for reserving a dorm room at CU was getting close, and the deposit was a good chunk of change, not to mention I was reserving two rooms (one for me and one for Al).