Behind the Walls. NOVEL By Claire Darcy.

14. I Accidentally Joined a Gang.

TYLER.

I felt a sharp poke in my ribs and swatted Frankie's hand away as she leaned in to hiss in my ear, "Look who decided to show up. It's Ace. What do you know?"

The cafeteria had gone quiet. We had been waiting in line when in walked Ace, followed by the infamous Agent Lux. Gosh, I despised that guy. As the youngest soldier in the regime, he was known only as a traitor to the students.

"What will it be, Mr King? Skim or soy?" the lunch lady asked, interrupting my thoughts. I turned back to her, glancing down at the cereal in my bowl.

"Soy, thanks," I said dryly, watching as she poured the milk in. It always felt unnatural being served breakfast in a cafeteria line, but then again, nothing was natural about this place.

"What's she doing?" I asked, trying to get a glimpse at the mysterious girl.

"Probably getting breakfast," was Frankie's response. I nodded but didn't respond.

The thing was, the Council knew there was an underground rebellion somewhere, silently ruining their plans, and they knew it had to be a group of extremely intelligent students who were running it. The Elites and I did whatever we could to avoid unwanted attention. If they saw that we had too much interest in Ace, they might get suspicious.

I watched as Ace glared at Lux, saying things I couldn't hear but was sure weren't nice. There was something about her that said she wasn't to be messed with. Even if she physically didn't look it, Ace was undoubtedly tough.

"Let's sit down," Frankie said, leading me to a table in the corner. I followed with my breakfast, glancing back to where some of my friends - my rebel friends - were looking over. I slid into the seat beside Frankie and turned my attention to the girl at the door. After quickly scanning the crowd, I noticed that Joshua Rigby had found himself a place with some of the guys from the rebellion, beside the blue-haired boy named Andy. All eyes were dead-set on Ace. Rowan hadn't come down to breakfast.

"How long do you think she'll last?" I asked, spooning some granola into my mouth. My sister shrugged.

"She'll be dead within a week."

...

JOSH.

I couldn't take my eyes off of Ace. She was arguing with the same guard she'd fought in the elevator, and it looked like the situation was getting serious. Any second now she would lash out and get herself into trouble.

"Oi, Josh mate. You alright there?"

I looked back to the table I was at. A curly haired boy with an upturned nose was questioning me. Dallas, as he had mentioned.

"Yeah," I shrugged, "I'm fine."

Dallas didn't look convinced. Tyler had told him to keep an eye on me, and had told me that Dallas was one of his many followers from the rebellion, although he led his own fierce gang, consisting of a bunch of guys who didn't play by Tyler's rules, but had a lot of fire-power on their side; from guns to grenades.

"You know her?" he asked, playing with his food. I glanced quickly back at Ace, then back at the table of boys who sat around. Nobody was paying attention to our conversation, they simply ate their food and made small-talk. They were undoubtedly part of Dallas' gang.

I nodded slowly, "I, um... yeah. Her name's Ace."

Dallas' eyes grew wide. He turned to the guy beside him.

"Isn't that the one you were talking about?" he asked in a low whisper.

The boy leant over and they started whispering back and forth among themselves, glancing occasionally up at the scene. I felt uncomfortable. Frankie had been right; everyone knew about Ace.