"Baby even though I hate ya
I wanna love ya
I want you you you
And even though I can't forgive ya
I really want to
I want you you you."
~ Problem by Ariana Grande
RAP. RAP. RAP.
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise and horror as they all turned to face the door.
"W-whose that?" Hayley spluttered.
"I - I dunno," Daniel shrugged as he called out, "Who is it?"
"It's me, Daniel."
"Oh crap. That's Brooke," Jackie covered her mouth with her hands.
Daniel jumped straight up from his chair and dashed around the table towards the door. Unlocking it, he swung it open. "Oh, hey baby."
"Don't you dare 'hey baby' me!" Brooke shouted as she burst into the room. "What is THIS?" she shoved her Louie, bearing the picture of him and Adalynn, right in his face.
"Oh, babe, it's not what it looks like ..." Daniel began but Brooke cut him off.
"You're cheating on me! WITH HER!" Brooke pointed a manicured finger in Adalynn's direction.
"What, no, Brooke, no!" Daniel tried to protest.
"How could you do this to me?" Brooke cried as tears slipped down her cheeks. "How could you? How could you?"
"Is getting really over-emotional another sign of hypnosis?" Jackie hissed as she glanced sideways at Leo.
Leo's brow crinkled into a frown as he studied the papers in front of him. "Uh ... it doesn't say ..."
"Shut-up you two!" Hayley glared at them.
"We're through!" Brooke cried out.
As she stormed from the room, Daniel prepared to go after her. He was stopped mid-stride by Hayley. "Let ME talk to her," she said as she slipped outside.
Daniel heaved a deep breath and sat down shakily in his seat once again. He buried his face in his hands and swallowed hard. "W-what have I done?"
"It's NOT your fault, Daniel," Jackie told him. "It's Aspen's. And I'm gonna wring her neck! She just wants to spite Adalynn. She wants Ethan to like HER. She figures that getting Adalynn out of her way by setting you two up like this is gonna get her what she wants, the bitch."
"It's probably best if you stay out of the room when we follow through with this dehypnotision process then," Leo advised, addressing Adalynn.
Adalynn nodded, gulping down tears. "Okay." She slid off her seat and walked towards the door.
"It's nothing personal, Ad," Jackie called out after her.
"I know," Adalynn returned. She stepped outside, just in time to see Hayley returning with Brooke in tow.
"She's willing to cooperate," Hayley whispered in Adalynn's ear as she passed her.
When Hayley went inside the lab, Brooke paused and glanced at Adalynn. "I - I'm sorry. I overreacted. Hayley's pointed out some things that I'm not comfortable with and I'm gonna try this 'dehypnotision' thingamajig."
Adalynn cracked a smile. "Good luck in there."
Brooke nodded and disappeared through the doorway.
Adalynn leaned back against the wall and slowly lowered herself to a sitting position on the floor. She drew her knees up to her chest and fiddled around with the loose threads of her ripped jeans.
This had better work, she caught herself thinking. It HAS to work.
Just then, the sound of someone's stealthy footsteps reached Adalynn's ears. Frowning, she slowly got to her feet and glanced up and down the hallway. She cautiously headed down the passage, her mind blaring with alarm bells.
"Don't do it. If someone's spying on the ROP, you'll find them and you, in turn, will be discovered. Don't you dare do it. Go back and sit down and pretend that nothing ever happened. Adalynn! You'll be screwed if that's Louis or Jason; what will you tell them about Brooke if you're caught? DON'T DO IT!"
But did Adalynn listen? No. She continued on down the hallway, her breath stuck in her throat, her arms shaking uncontrollably by her sides. She came to a halt just before the bend in the passage ahead. She perked her ears up, but she couldn't hear anything. Maybe, whoever was there previously had now gone? There was only one way to find out.
Adalynn heaved a deep breath before suddenly stepping out around the corner of the hall. She nearly screamed in fright but didn't have a chance too before she was cut off by someone else's startled squeal of horror. Glancing up, she gazed straight into Aspen's face!
"Aspen!" Adalynn hissed, lunging forward and grabbing her by the front of her pink coloured shirt. "What ... are ... you ... doing?"
"Get off of me!" Aspen cried, wrenching away from Adalynn's grip. She smoothed down her shirt before glaring angrily in Adalynn's direction.
"I'm gonna ask you one last time: what are you doing?" Adalynn narrowed her eyes at Aspen.
Aspen huffed and flicked back her perfectly curled hair. "Well ... if you MUST know, I'm trying to find out what the hell YOU'RE doing."
Adalynn raised her eyebrows and scoffed, "Oh yeah?"
"Oh yeah," Aspen repeated, stepping forward threateningly. "Whatever you and the others are doing; well, it's suspicious. Eagles AND Ravens hanging out? Since when does THAT happen? I'm gonna go and tell Louis about you all meeting in that ol' biology lab right now!"
"No, wait," Adalynn grabbed Aspen by the arm and faked an apologetic look. "Well, I guess there's no harm in telling you ..."
"I'm listening," Aspen crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor expectantly.
"Uh ... we're trying to set up you and ... and Ethan."
"W-what?"
"Yeah, that's right. Daniel was just convinced that Ethan ought to ask you to the mid-year ball but he didn't know how to tell him that; so we're playing it cool and trying to figure out the best way to go through with it," Adalynn shrugged as she finished.
Aspen stared at her disbelievingly for a moment before mumbling, "Are you serious?"
"Yep!" Adalynn nodded brightly. "Dead serious."
Before Aspen could respond however, the lab door flew open and Daniel rushed into the hallway. "Adalynn! Come quick!" he gasped. Abruptly, he froze when he saw Adalynn and Aspen in conversation. "W-what ... ?"
"Hey, I'd better go," Adalynn shot Aspen a quick wink. "Don't wanna go to the ball without a date know, do you? Bye!" Spinning around on her heel, Adalynn flounced over to where Daniel was standing, gaping at her. She grabbed his arm and marched him right back into the biology lab.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Daniel turned around and demanded, "What was that?"
Adalynn shook her head. "There's no time to explain." Looking over at Brooke, who was sitting on a tall stool near the table, she asked, "D-did it work?"
Daniel's face broke into a wide smile. "You bet it did! Jackie's hypnotic spiral worked like a charm. At first, Brooke wouldn't wake up, which was really scary, but after a few moments, she just opened her eyes. Hayley's trying to explain what happened to her."
Adalynn nodded and bit her lip, her insides dancing with joy. She scurried over to where everyone was huddled around Brooke and pushed her way through to the front. Bending down so she was eye-level with the blonde-haired girl, Adalynn spoke, "Brooke. What do you remember from your night in the cave?"
Brooke hesitated, then tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I - I remember ... everything."
"Tell us," Hayley gently prompted her.
"It was dark, very dark ... but then - then there was this large metal door. On the other side of it I remember seeing dark hooded figures and hearing lots of - er - computer sounds. There - there was a cell. I was thrown into it. I begged Marcus to let me out ... but he wouldn't. Then the door opened and - and ..."
"And what?" Jackie asked.
"And Judy walked in," Brooke's voice broke as she glanced over at Daniel. "She - she threatened me. She told me that I had to stop Adalynn from spreading rumours about her throughout the school ..."
Adalynn's brow puckered in confusion. "O-kay ... go on ..."
"Then - then Judy talked to Marcus and - and told him that their mission, whatever it is, was to come into full effect forty-eight hours from Thursday, the 18th of March. If only I knew what they were talking about ..." Brooke's voice trailed off.
"Wait ... the 18th of March? That's today," Daniel glanced worriedly at the others.
Jackie swore under her breath. "You're kidding me."
Adalynn turned big, nervous eyes towards Brooke. "Is there anything else you can remember? Anything at all?"
Brooke squinted and pressed her fingers to her temple. "Umm ... well, I remember hearing this - this zapping sound ... Wait! Wait, I remember! I - I saw this big rock behind a glass wall. It had volts of electricity or something going through it. It - it was making the zapping sound that I heard!"
"Oh no," Hayley breathed. "That - that sounds like the magnetite rock MY mum discovered!"
"Well, that's where the link between Ryan and the rest of Judy and her minions comes in," Jackie muttered.
"Do you mean to say that my mum and whoever else is in on this plan is using that magnetite rock for their own purposes? And whatever 'mission' they have to accomplish is to be completed 48 hours from now?" Daniel recapped hurriedly. "Somehow, we have to stop them and ... we don't even know what they're planning to do or what, how, and where! Brilliant! I love this - this feeling of absolute helplessness! I love it!"
"Calm down Daniel," Adalynn got to her feet and frowned at him. "There's still time to save Ryan's work AND the magnetite. We don't know what Judy wants to use it for ... but I know someone who might."
"Who?" Daniel flailed his hands in the air.
"Emma ... or, more precisely, Emma's chess-set. We need her white knight ..."
~~~~
Gif: Hayley talks to Brooke :))
A/N: Okay, so I'm sorry that these later chapters are a bit longer than the previous ones but please bear with me. I'm almost completed this story and I'm really excited about how it's turning out. First of all, I just wanted to thank each and every one of my readers for the 2.1k reads this book has received. It seemed to happen over night and I'm so grateful and so so happy and excited. THANK YOU! Now, it's time for the questions: do you think Emma's white-knight will reveal Judy's secret? What does Judy want with Ryan's magnetite rock? Is Brooke telling the truth about what she saw? Will Daniel help the rest of the ROP if it means turning in his own mum? What do you think about Aspen and her snooping tactics? Do you think she believed Adalynn when she was told about being set-up with Ethan? Please comment your opinions below, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next chapter! xx