Secrets

Chapter 5

After school, Ryan met up with Reece.
"Hey, you ready to go?" Ryan asked.
"Yeah, but I don't want to ride with your brother," Reece replied.
Ryan nodded slightly. "Fair enough... Wanna walk?"
Reece shrugged. "Sure... Why not?"
Spyder and Harris caught up with the two.
"Everyone ready to go?" Ryan asked.
The group said their yes's and they headed towards the Walker household.

At the house...

"So, who are you? What's your name?" Harris questioned.
Reece sighed. "Reece... I'm not sure what my real last name is, but Kayla's fake last name was Stephens, so... That became mine 'adoptively.'"
"So Kayla was trying to find your dad and they arrested her or something?" Spyder asked. "Your life sounds crazy."
"It kinda is," Reece agreed. "But so are yours."
"Well, you're part of this too," Ryan said.
Reece laughed. "Me? I doubt I could help. It's Mech X4 - not X5."
"Well, you still know and you're almost as smart as me, so we can use all the help we can get," Harris replied.
Reece resisted correcting the 'almost', thinking she was smarter.
"One thing I found in my necklace... Is a computer chip. But it's only for a specific computer, so... I think it's from my dad," Reece said.
"The Mech X4 computer could probably access it since it's so advanced," Harris suggested.
"Good idea, Harris!" Ryan agreed.
"So, when are you two gonna start dating?" Spyder asked.
Reece went silent and Harris facepalmed.
"Could you stop with that, Spyder?" Ryan asked exasperatedly.
Spyder sighed. "Fiiiineeee..."
Harris cleared his throat. "Back to the task at hand-"
Mark walked in. "Having a team meeting without me?"
"We were gonna fill you in later if it makes you feel any better?" Spyder tried.
Mark raised an eyebrow at Ryan. "Not cool, dingus. You trust me over her?"
Reece stood. "He has a point. Just... Let me know if you need any help-"
"No he doesn't, Reece," Ryan interrupted. "We trust you... You're part of this."
Reece sighed. "I'll just see you at school, Ryan. I'm done with your brother, his mocking, and his accusations... I'm done. I don't understand what I did to him, but whatever. Bye."
Reece stood and walked out, across the street, and went up to her room. The house was empty without Kayla... For once in her life, she almost felt completely alone.

Ryan stood and glared at Mark. "Mark, what's your problem?"
"My problem is that she's replacing me. I thought we were a team and you have a team meeting without me and with her instead. How do we know she's not working with-?" Mark began.
"She's over at her house completely alone because her guardian got captured or arrested or something today. The reason we met with her instead of you is because we were trying to learn more. We wouldn't have learned more if you were here because you're always mean to her," Ryan snapped.
Mark realized and frowned slightly. "Oh... Well... I didn't..."
"If she was behind the monster attacks, I doubt her guardian would have been captured," Harris added.
Mark sighed. "So I was..."
"Yep," Ryan nodded.
"And I should..."
"Definitely."
Mark sighed. "Alright... I guess I need to apologize. I'll be back."