Her Compound

Chapter 16

We walked hand in hand back to my room, without getting caught by anyone. I couldn't stop the large smile on my face from being front and center as we stopped by the door and said a quick goodbye to each other before I walked into the room.

Everything that had happened leading up to the time I had spent with Zack seemed like a dream. Reality only completely set back in as soon as I walked into the room and the door closed behind me and I felt a set of strong arms wrap tightly around my midsection.

"I thought something bad happened to you!" Willow exclaimed as she backed up to look at me. "What happened? Where did you go?"

The smile that had been on my face moments before completely vanished. "He just needed some help with something."

"Mio Dio," Matteo muttered from where he was seated on his bed. "Why are you lying?"

"I-" I bit down on my lip. I didn't want to lie to them, but at the same time I didn't want to tell them what happened between Zack and I.

Willow took another step away from me and dropped her hands away from my arms, crossing them over her chest. "You know you can tell us, right?"

Matteo stood up and joined Willow. "C'mon, did he show you Logan's body or something? Please tell me he at least told you what they're going to do with him."

I stared down at the floor as my whole body went numb. I had completely forgotten about Logan. How could I forget about him?

I wanted to kick myself.

I looked back up at them and shook my head. "It was nothing about Logan."

Matteo rolled his eyes and huffed a loud breath. "Then what the hell were you guys doing?"

"It's none of your business," I snapped at him.

Willow looked taken aback at my outburst, but Matteo completely switched up his mood. He looked down at me with a smile, but I could see the remainder of the anger still in his blue eyes.

"He kissed you, didn't he?"

Willow raised her eyebrows and glanced at Matteo before looking back at me. "What?"

My arms crossed over my chest as I looked at the ground while rocking back and forth on my feet. "It's nothing like that."

"So, you two did kiss?" Willow asked in pure disbelief.

"Well..."

Matteo threw himself back down on his bed. "I saw this coming a long time ago."

My brows furrowed as I looked down at him. "What do you mean?"

"C'mon, Zoe," he said, the anger completely leaving him. "It was quite obvious something like that was going to happen."

I chewed on my lip. "You're not mad?"

He shrugged and stared down at the floor. "If I'm gonna be honest, today's been really ruff. I'm not quite sure how to feel." He looked back up at me. "I'm just a little mad that it was with one of them."

"Also that you weren't going to tell us," Willow chimed in quietly.

I ignored what Willow said and arched an eyebrow as I continued to look down at Matteo. "What do you mean by 'one of them'?"

He looked at me as though I were insane. "Need I remind you, they are the ones who put us in this situation. It was their fault any of this happened to us. It was their fault that Logan is dead."

I swallowed past the lump in my throat and stared down at my shoes. A part of me wanted to yell at him and tell him that it was all done for a reason, but the other part of me knew he was right,... knew that they were in fact the ones to put us through this hell.

I finally looked back up and looked at each of them. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight. Everything that happened with Logan... It was all just messing with me."

Willow closed her eyes for a moment before sighing and throwing her crossed arms back down by her sides. She then sat down next to Matteo before looking up at me and giving me a half smile.

"I need a pick me up," she said. "Tell us everything that happened, and don't leave anything out."

I forced a smile onto my face as I rolled my eyes and then reached into my back pocket, pulling out the half eaten cookie. I then tossed it to her which she caught between her two hands and my smile became more genuine as I saw their eyes widen.

"You guys can share the rest of it."

"How did you even get it?" Willow asked as her eyes remained on the cookie.

"Well we..."

* * *

"...and that's it," I said after telling them the entire events that had taken place. "We just walked back here and you know the rest."

Matteo glanced at Willow with a large smile before staring back at me on my own bed across from his. "This is perfect."

Confusion filled me. "What?"

I could see Willow just as confused as I felt as she looked to her right and at Matteo who had his arm over her shoulders.

Matteo glanced at Willow before turning his attention back onto me. "You being with the guy is perfect. You could be like our spy."

Now it was my turn to stare at him like he was insane.

"What are you talking about?"

He took his arm away from Willow as he leaned forward and rested his forearms on the top of his knees. "Well his mom is like the leader here, correct?"

I nodded my head. I knew where this was going.

"Then you can get information out of him." Matteo glanced at a blank-faced Willow and then looked back at me. "Maybe -just maybe- if you play your cards right, we could get out of here."

My lips parted in shock and my brows furrowed slightly. "Wh-"

"C'mon, Zoe," Matteo said with an exasperated breath. "This could be our only chance out."

"Only chance out!?" I exclaimed, glaring at him. "Have you stopped to think, at all, that maybe this place isn't the enemy you keep thinking it is?"

Matteo looked outraged as he scowled at me, throwing daggers with his eyes. "Are you crazy?! Logan-"

"It wasn't their fault that Logan died," I interrupted with an identical expression.

"You-"

"Teo."

My glare left my face as I looked at Willow who had spoken up for the first time in a while. Matteo's scowl remained plastered to his features while his head turned to look at her, but he had closed his mouth into a tight line.

Willow looked down at the ground. "Zoe is right. It was not their fault that Logan died."

"But-"

"No." Willow shook her head. "Zack told us that he grew up here, so he's clearly been misguided throughout his whole life. We can't possibly be mad at him, nor blame him for any of this from happening. If Zoe wants to be with him, we can't stop her either."

I felt relieved at Willow's words, but a sad/nervous feeling spread through me as she forced a small smile onto her face and stood up.

"We should get some sleep," she said as she hoisted herself up onto her bed and turned to face the wall to fall asleep.

Matteo gave me one last look of pure disgust as he got up, walked over to the light switch, and turned it off with a click. In the dark and with the faint light coming in from the small window on the door, I watched Matteo go back to his bed and lay down.

I was left feeling numb as I sat there in the dark. I could feel the hate radiating out of Matteo and the disappointment coming from Willow above me.

I hated it.

I wished I could go back in time and not tell them anything.