"Normani... who is Ryder Garner?"
I layed in bed, on my side of the room, facing Normani with my head resting on the palm of my hand as she typed away on her laptop.
She narrowed her eyes and quickly shot me a glance. "Where you hear that name?"
"Lauren mentioned him when I was with Daisy earlier at the pool."
She took a minute, then proceeded to shrug her shoulders. "Honestly, I have no idea. I've heard Lauren speak about him rarely, and when she does, it's brief. She said he was some child they found, but that was it. Truthfully, who ever that is, seems to be Elite business only.
"If he's just some child, why keep him a secret?"
She quit typing briefly to look at me, uncertainty written in her eyes. "Why are you so curious about this? Just... Don't worry about it. I'm sure that what ever the issue may be, the Elites have it all under control."
If the Elite's were hiding him, would that mean that he was somehow special? Did he have anything to do with Austin? Or even Leo?
Well, yeah, if a child goes missing it becomes an extremely important issue. So maybe at the end of the day, I was probably just overthinking this.
She gave me a reassuring smile, and I took it by smiling back. But In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but ponder about what other things these guys tend to hide from everyone else.
--
I tossed and turned all night. I felt in a constant discomfort, just thinking about this place. Its meaning. Its people.
I thought maybe I couldn't catch some sleep simply because I was in a new strange place that I didn't know very well. But I've lived as different people, in different places, doing jobs that were always strange and uncomfortable to me. Therefore, that wasn't a reason.
But when my mind drifted back to The Elites for the thousandth time that night, I understood the reasons for my lack of sleep.
The Elites, who were very well trusted and better trained than anybody else in here, feel quite odd to me. Barely anyone knows about them, and on top of that, they act extremely hostile towards anyone who is not them.
From my time working for Austin, only folks with vibes as mysterious as The Elites, had the darkest and deepest secrets.
And even Daisy felt odd to me now. She had the same aura to her as every other Elite.
I felt like they were hiding something. And i'm willing to find out, for my sake.
And I was going to start by finding out who Ryder Garner is and what's so special about him.
I stood up from my bed, slipped on the sneakers they had provided for me, and quietly made my way out of the room. I grabbed my Key Card, and slipped it inside my pocket before closing the door behind me, making sure not to wake Normani up.
I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. For all I know, this might actually just be a disastrous idea, but right now my brain wasn't telling me anything productive. In fact, it was telling me to follow my gut.
And my gut wanted me to do selfish things. Such as find out things that might not concern me.
Curiosity killed the cat, yes. But satisfaction brought it back.
As my mind battled with it self, my body had already wandered into strange territory. I had reached another hall of rooms, that had an open window, all the way at its end, subconsciously calling me over to explore its views.
I didn't hesitate to reach it, and when I stood by the window sill, it felt like time stood still.
The moon illuminated a beautiful field of colorful flowers, that danced to the song of the night breeze.
And as soon as I saw the daisies in between the many colors, I smiled.
How ironic.
The moment was interrupted by the sound of a door opening, and I quickly hid behind one of the window's curtains, tucking in my feet as much as I could.
I peeked my head out, just enough to see the petite girl that Daisy had pushed down earlier. She was speaking to someone, but I couldn't tell exactly who.
"Lo, I would love to stay, but you know they are starting to do those early room check ups lately. I can't risk it any more than we already have, love."
I heard a huff coming from the other person. "But Camz, I promise I'll wake you up. You'll be back at your dorm before they even see you were gone in the first place."
"Lo, you know that won't happen."
"Are you never going to trust me again after that one time I made both of us over sleep?"
They both laughed in quiet voices. "You know I am a heavy sleeper and you are no better."
"Ugh. Fine. But can I at least get a kiss goodbye?"
The girl smiled, as the other girl came forward, and they kissed. That's when I noticed who the girl inside the room was.
Lauren Jauregui.
A bell went off in my head. Maybe if I was quick enough, I could get some answers out of her. I had enough training under my belt to get Lauren to say something in regards of Ryder Garner.
Elite business my ass. If I was going to stay here, I needed to know what's going on here first.
This place seemed to good to be true. All crimes pardoned? Not even God was capable of such thing.
I waited about 30 minutes after the girl left and Lauren had gone back inside, to make my way towards Lauren's door. If I was going to find out more about this people, I need to get inside Lauren's room.
I examined her door's lock, which was a key pad, and figured out it wouldn't be too hard to hack it. I've done it before anyways.
Her room was dark, I could tell from looking under her door, but I needed to make sure she was really sleeping. I leaned my ear on Lauren's door, paying attention for any kind of sound, but as soon as I heard something, I was already falling forward, having lost my post, and a pair of hands grabbed me by my shirt, pulling me back inside the room, Throwing me right onto a chair.
The room was pitch black when I felt a fist collide with my jaw. I waited for the second blow, and when I felt it approaching, I grabbed her wrist to keep it from my face, and pushed her to the nearest wall.
I heard her grunt, but before I realized how dangerously close my head was to hers, she head-bumped me, causing me to fall back, right on my bum.
My eyes were shut tight as I held my head, pools of blood coming out of my temple from the resultant cuts.
I'm pretty certain this was the moment I realized I underestimated greatly her abilities.
I hadn't realized she had sat me down back on the chair and turned on a lamp until I opened my eyes to find her menacingly looking down on me.
"Give me a good fücking reason why I shouldn't have you thrown out of here right fücking now Hernandez!"
I couldn't speak. All I could do is hold on to my head and breath, in hopes that I would not bleed out.
"Speak to me-"
A few knocks on the door interrupted her, and she rolled her eyes as she went to see who it was.
I couldn't see from the blood and pain, but the voice was a dead give away.
"Holy shit! Lauren what the hell?!"
"Why don't you ask your little girlfriend here why she decided it was a good idea to come down to Elite quarters, hours after curfew, and come to my room to fucking TRY me."
I waited impatiently for Daisy's answer with my eyes shut to keep pain from entering my brain some more. But as soon as I felt a pair of heavenly hands cup my cheeks and caress them, I couldn't help but to let out a ghost of a smile.
"Daisy..." I whispered.
She let out a breath. "Robin, you can't just wonder around this place after curfew hours. You could get into so much trouble. Please don't do it again. Okay?"
I grunted as an answer and I felt her lips peck me on the cheek.
"Lauren she's bleeding out. We need to stop the bleeding and clean her up."
I heard a sigh come from Lauren. "Okay, I'll be right back."
The door closed, and I had finally mustered up enough courage to open my eyes.
Daisy was standing in front of me, her hands still holding my face, while she looked at me with an unreadable expression.
"If I ask you a question, will you lie to me, or tell me the truth?"
I bit my lip. "What question is this?"
"Robin why were you here?"
I blinked. "I couldn't sleep. Just wanted to explore that's all. I wanted to see if Lauren was awake so she could tell me where your room—"
"Oh please, Robin. I was not born yesterday, and neither were you. Why were you REALLY here for?"
I took a deep breath to calm my heart. "I'm not sure if I should tell you that."
She furrowed her eyebrows. "Don't you trust me?"
I let out a sigh. "Daisy, I don't know this place, or anyone here. I barely even know you. I don't know who to trust."
She opened her mouth to speak, but Lauren came back, with a kit in her hand.
"Alright love birds, let's get this done. I'm exhausted and I'm also very grumpy without sleep. So, chop-chop."
Daisy backed away from me so Lauren could examine the cut.
"You're not bleeding anymore, but I still have to get that cleaned up. So, Look... I tend to make girls scream, but please hold it. We have neighbors."
Daisy punched Lauren in the arm, giving her a death glare. "Ouch!" Lauren exclaimed.
After getting me cleaned up, Daisy volunteered to take me back to my room. It was quite for the most part, until we reached my hall.
We were walking for a couple seconds, enveloped in complete silence, until she spoke.
"I trust you." It was barely audible, merely a whisper. But I heard her.
I glanced at her, and she was just looking forward as if she hadn't said a thing. Her face was illuminated by the blue lights in the hall, making her cheekbones stand out.
She looked beyond beautiful. And I could tell she was shy about what she said, so I intertwined my left hand with her right and kissed her on the cheek.
"I trust you too."
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A/N: guess who's back?