The Gemini

17. Coffee and Confrontations

Lena Matthews

"Morning." Monique strolled into the foyer like she owned the place. Technically, she did, but I still found it annoying.

"Do you know when she's coming back?" Jessica asked. She asked the same question every day. And I had the same answer.

"I don't know."

"Have you told Jane-Anne that she would be safer here?" Monique asked. "This is the only place in the world with the fourth circle. They cover up our incidents, and the Agency hasn't been here since."

"So why don't we get to go out?" Kiara asked loudly. She jumped down the last four steps before running to join the conversation.

Since our last excursion, we've had a couple more chances to leave the penthouse, but only when Jessica had enough time to check in every 15 minutes.

"Jess, you can let them go," said Monique. "They can handle themselves."

"Maybe we should figure out what to do next," I suggested.

"Do?" Taylor asked, entering the conversation.

"Yeah, like go to school again, or-"

"If I have to go through high school one more time, I'm going to punch Taylor in the face," Carter announced.

"What about college?" I suggested. "We could say we're dual enrollment students or something."

Kiara's eyes widened. "Isn't Evergreen University here? That's the school that you and Jane-Anne were going to go to!"

At the mention of Jane-Anne, everyone went quiet. I wanted to pretend like I could understand what she was thinking, but I had no idea. I knew that she was struggling, but I didn't realize that we were part of the problem too.

"I guess I expected to attend Evergreen with two of my best friends, not alone," Carter admitted.

"Lena and I can go with you!" Kiara chirped.

"And I'm just staying here?" Taylor asked.

"You can come, I just didn't want to lump you into the 'Carter's friends' category," Kiara explained.

"It would be a nice distraction, but I still need to know that you're safe," said Jessica.

"I can work something out." Monique offered. "I've always wanted to work in college administration."

"How are you going to pull that off?" Jessica asked.

"I made myself a couple of friends in the fourth circle," said Monique, smirking. "Don't act like I've been pining at my windowsill the entire time you've been gone."

"That-" Jessica exhaled loudly, flustered. "That is not-"

"Okay!" I interrupted. "All in favor of wasting time at Evergreen University, please raise your hands."

Everyone's hand shot up.

"Okay, I guess that settles it," said Jessica. She turned to Monique. "You promise you can do this?"

"Have I ever let you down before?" Monique asked before walking back to the elevator. "And the redhead is coming with me."

"Wait, what?" I asked. Even though I knew I was the only person with red hair, I still scanned the room to see if another person had magically appeared.

"I want to get to know you, Sunshine. I think we should get some coffee," said Monique, almost sounding annoyed that I didn't read her mind immediately.

"Well, but I-"

"Meet me in the lobby in five minutes." Monique decided, stepping into the elevator.