Instability

※ 11 ※

In the six remaining days before our mission, Daniel and I train as hard as we can. Between exercising, running, and perfecting our weaponry skills, I feel confident in our abilities. I also feel considerably better about the bi-polar relationship between Daniel and I.

Daniel and I finally reached the "friend" zone, or where our bickering is more fun than frustrating. But sometimes a snide or two comment can be too rude. A few day after Vivian's prank, Daniel and I actually hung out after training. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I even sat with all of Daniel's guy friends at lunch. That was a battle and an adventure in itself.

All of his friends teased me lightly, but I teased back, sarcastically scolding Daniel when he commanded his friends to shut up because I "couldn't handle them." It was a perfect example of a harmless comment gone wrong. Things like that always anger me, but overall, Daniel's decent to be around.

Wow, never though I'd say that.

I'm still not sure how to handle the shock gun incident or the Stockyard incident. I confronted Daniel and somehow managed to make him explain himself for a whole hour, which to anyone is the definition of pure hell. He owed me that, and I can sort of understand his perspective. Taylor had him warped, and I guess my Imperial self was too much for him to handle. But still.

I half-forgive Daniel, but I flat-out told him there's no excuse for what he did. It took him a whole month's worth of screaming matches with his dad to make him say the small "I'm sorry." Another thing that annoys me: people who can't accept defeat.

I guess General Fadhill managed to bring Danny back without keeping Daniel around. I don't know; this is all still confusing. All I can do is be friends with Danny, the kind, loving, and sometimes judgemental boy that his father missed.

I still don't understand how I resemble Taylor. Does she really look that much like me? Enough to make me the target of violence? According to my Daniel, the answer is yes.

On the bright side, Daniel does all of my cleaning and cooking shifts as punishment. Now that I'm never going to get tired of.

The only downside to being Daniel's "friend" is that everyone keeps calling him my boyfriend. My mom, my brothers, Vivian, and even General Fadhill himself.

I mean, yeah, Daniel and I mess around a lot and make fun of each other. We've always done that kind of stuff, even when I 100 percent hated his guts instead of the 10 percent I have now.

Two days before launch of the Renegade final mission, the Renegades set up a few workshops to prepare us for the non-violent situations we might encounter. My favorite was the wilderness survival workshop. If something goes wrong on our mission, Daniel and I can live in the forest regions of the Rocky Mountains for a few days or more.

"So what streets are we covering?" I ask Daniel the night before we leave Hawaii for Fort Collins.

Daniel invited me into his apartment to explain more details about the mission. I tuck my feet to the side on the familiar dark sofa, leaning against the comfortable cushions. With the shades drawn and a few lights on, the living room is really cozy.

"Any streets we can," Daniel replies. He rises from his spot next to me and sits cross-legged on the ground near the coffee table. Pulling out the map of Colorado, he shows me where we are getting dropped off. "We're going to spend all of tomorrow's daylight hiking to Fort Collins. Whatever extra time we have we'll spend studying the maps or resting."

"What equipment are we getting?"

"We each get a gun with a few cartridge of bullets, a bow with eight arrows, eight knives, and a backpack filled with flyers."