Game Changer

FIFTY-FIVE

The next day, it feels like an invisible weight has being lifted off of my shoulders and I feel myself feeling lighter than I have in quite a while. Don't get me wrong, I still feel a certain amount of guilt and shame after everything that has happened but I can forgive myself and am willing to move on. I'm on the road to healing. However, there are a few things that I have to do if I really want to let go and move on. Alex trails after me as I walk to my locker and I can't help but smile at our intertwined hands.

"Are you okay?" Alex asks me when I pull it open, exchanging my books. I look up at him briefly as I flash him a small smile.

"Actually," I say, licking my chapped lips. "I'm good." I add. Alex stares at me intensely for a moment but my smile doesn't falter. He grins at me and leans against the locker beside mine and nods almost as if he knows what I mean when I say that I'm good.

A hint of pride is clear in his eyes and I feel myself heating up as Alex scrutinizes me. My eyes slowly move passed his shoulders as Courtney walks through the hallway. My smile immediately drops and Alex turns to see the reason for this. As always, Courtney looks perfect; curled hair, heels and a fancy skirt and blouse. You'd never suspect that one of her friends just lost the use of her legs. However, she doesn't look at me. At all. It's as if I'm completely invisible as she walks passed us. As much as I'm grateful about that, I'm stunned. She actually, for once, has nothing to say.

I watch her go by before she's out of my sight and then face Alex again with a surprised look. Alex looks just as confused as I am before he shrugs, grabs my hand and pulls me to class.  Once we're seated in class and Miss Rosely has started her lesson, I realize how close I am to finishing school and I suddenly feel a little sad. Sure, I hate school in a sense but it will be a whole chapter of my life closing while a new one begins.

I push those thoughts aside while I stare at the board as she teaches her lesson and I take down notes.

****

I can feel it. Something isn't right. There's a tension in the cafeteria that I can just sense. And I just have a gut feeling that it's by the Elite table. Maybe I can feel it because I was once an Elite and I have some unknown sixth sense to tell when something is wrong at the table but today, something is definitely not right.

"Can you guys believe it? We only have a few months left of school. Then we're free." Nina says, her eyes twinkling in excitement.
"We're fucking free! We're done with all this shit." She bangs her hands on the table in excitement and I chuckle at her antics.

"I honestly can't believe it, though." Cole adds but I don't listen to the rest. My gaze is pulled back to the Elite table and I can see how tense everything is. Ashleigh seems to be pursing her lips and I suddenly have a fearful feeling of what is actually going on at the table. I try to ignore it and cast my attention back to the Rebel's conversation but I can see Dylan staring at the Elite table, too. He is not paying attention to the topic of conversation at all and is completely consumed in his own thoughts as he stares absent mindedly. My eyebrows scrunch together and I find myself watching him closely, the noise around me drowning out as I start glueing pieces together that I should have figured out long time ago.

The Elite some how always knew what was going on with the Rebels even when we weren't scheming. Dylan knew I tried Khat when only the Elite were there, Thalia said to me there was more to their relationship, Dylan was just as unsupportive of my relationship with Alex as Courtney, he insulted me and then tried to kiss me at the beach, he miraculously wanted to share a room with Alex over our stay, Courtney received a strange message from an unknown number, Logan always seemed to have dirt on her and, somehow, the Elite knew we were going to the party on Friday even when we said we weren't. It's like someone was always tipping us off; like Courtney had a connection.