Gift Academy (Book One in the Gifted Series)

Chapter Fourteen

Hailey

I pace around my dorm, waiting for Claire. We're going to start spying on the Extras today, and I'm absolutely terrified.

What if we get caught? What if we're killed? What if Claire is in trouble and I can't help her?

I shake these thoughts out of my head and focus on the task ahead. Claire and I are going to be led by Nick and Gina, who are going to hack into the security cameras and tell us where to go.

"Hey," I hear someone call out to me. I turn towards the voice and Claire, Nick, and Gina all pile into my dorm room, followed closely by Mr. Hernandez, who's going to drive us to Gift Academy.

"Alright, you kids ready?" Mr. Hernandez asks us all. We all nod our heads. "Good, let's go then." He leads us outside from the back, where no one can see us. We all hop into Mr. Hernandez's car. He starts the engine and drives away, slowly at first to make sure that none of the other students can see us.

When we're out of sight of Gift Academy, Mr. Hernandez starts to speed up a bit. I'll admit, he's a really cool teacher.

I get more and more nervous as we near Extra Academy, knowing that we might not make it out alive.

Veronica

Flora and I make our way to the gym, where hundreds of students wait for us patiently.

"Alright, we're going straight to the point and start with sparring. We have a list of your names, and we paired you up in groups of two so listen carefully," I speak to the students, raising my voice so that everyone can hear me. I actually sound serious for once, which Flora looks surprised about. I hold up the list and start reading off names.

When I'm finished, everyone is paired into groups of two and a few with three people. I'm paired with Flora, and we friendly battle each other. I win since I've had more experience than Flora, but she really put up a fight.

"Okay everybody, we were told to dismiss you early, so go to your dorms and get some rest. Tomorrow, winners will meet on the right wall and losers meet on the left. You're dismissed!" I inform everybody. They all hurry out of the door, eager to go to bed after today's long workout.

"You're a really good teacher, Veronica," Flora tells me. I look at her and see Fay smiling at me all over again, making my heart crack. As mean as it sounds, I wish it was Fay who was helping me teach the other students, not Flora. Probably because I'm closer to Fay than I am with Flora. Which is sad, because they're twins, but it's still true.

"Thanks. You are, too," I reply, then we head up to our dorms with the other students.

Fay

"This dorm next," I call out silently, once again using Austin's debit card to unlock the door. I quietly push the door open and peek inside. No one's here. I start to step inside until I hear tons of pounding footsteps coming up the stairs. I quickly lock the door and close it, and Austin and I head to his dorm. Chuckling, we open the door and go inside, seeing Nick and Gina staring at a computer screen.

"Hey. Did you guys make it in?" I ask them, taking my shoes off and plopping on the couch next to Gina.

"Yes, we did," Nick answers, showing me the screen, which has tons of different live videos on it. There's one in a cafeteria, a main office, hallways, the nurses office, the front and back door, classrooms, and the front, back, and parking lot of the academy. It looks exactly like Gift Academy, and that makes me feel kind of bad for wanting to tear it down brick by brick and throw every single piece of it at each Extra.

"Great. Did Mr. Hernandez, Hailey, and Claire make it there yet?" Austin asks. Gina shakes her head.

"If they did, they would've told us," Nick replies, holding up his phone. I sigh and wait anxiously for them to call, hoping that nothing bad happened to them before the real part of the mission even began.

After a few silent minutes of waiting, Nicks phone rings. On the very first ring, he snatches it up and check the ID number.

"It's her."

Hailey

Nick picks up the phone on the second ring.

"Hailey? Are you there?" He asks me, sounding worried.

"Yeah, we're near the parking lot. Is it clear?" I ask him. There's a pause on the other line until Nick answers again.

"It's clear, you can park the car," He answers. I turn to Mr. Hernandez, who's still driving the car. It's almost been a whole day of him driving. He looks really tired, but he doesn't seem to care.

"It's clear," I whisper to him. I make sure to keep a quiet voice the whole time as to not be heard, until I remember something.

"Wait, Nick. What about the cameras used by the Extras? Won't they be able to see us, too?" I ask him, getting scared quickly.

"Don't worry, Gina disabled those. They won't be able to fix them for another two days," Nick responds, which sends a wave of relief over me. I glance at Claire, who's waiting for an answer. I give her a thumbs up and she smiles at me, causing butterflies to fly in my stomach.

Do I actually like Claire? What if she doesn't like me back?

I shake these thoughts out of my head and focus on the situation at hand. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. I'm actually going to spy on the Extras. If we get caught, we're definitely screwed, but I know with Claire with me, I'll be fine.

Mr. Hernandez parks the car the closest he can to the Academy, just in case we need a quick getaway.

As Claire and I quietly climb out of the car, Mr. Hernandez softly grabs my wrist. I look back at him and he looks concerned.

"Are you sure you girls are going to be okay?" Mr. Hernandez asks me. I smile at him.

"We'll be fine, Mr. Hernandez. Thank you," I answer. He hesitantly let's go of my wrist. Claire and I head to the front, following Nicks orders. We quietly take a step inside, looking around.

Here we go.