Nor (Wattpad Featured Story, WriteAffair finalist)

Chapter 45: Snitch

A few hours later, Pia gets the courage to knock on her own bedroom door. "Uh, Nora?"

"Just a second." I hop over, pausing at the last minute. "He's not with you, is he?"

"No, he's not even here."

"He's not?"

"He went out to shop for clothes and get something to eat."

"Oh." I unlock the door, pulling it wide. "Sorry."

"It's OK."

I peer out into the silence. "Where's Brain?"

"He went home."

"Your brothers?"

"Took the Playstation into their room, thank God."

I shut the door as she plops down on her bed. "You OK?" she asks.

"Yeah. No. That was a pretty bad fight."

"Yeah, I'll bet." She does a small, sweet chuckle. "What is up with you and this Wes guy, anyway?"

"Nothing."

"Brian and I were talking about it just now. Brian doesn't like him, but I said I think it's sweet, how he seems to really care about you. Kind of like a big brother thing."

A big brother? That's just great. "Yeah, well, he's known me for years. And he cares what happens to me. Not like …. " Neither of us needs me to finish that sentence out loud.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?"

"He's just mad because I never told him the truth about me. And because … he doesn't think I should be funding the Watch."

She cocks a curious brow at this. "Funding? How?"

"I've been giving out money to people through somebody."

"Who?"

"Well – this is going to sound crazy – it's Brooke."

"Brooke who?"

"Brooke Martinez."

Pia stares at me. "From our school?"

"She wants to help."

"You can't seriously trust her."

"Well, actually, I do."

"I don't get it! All these new people, this Brooke and this Michael guy – I mean, who are they? They're not Watchers. We're the real Watchers. We were here from the start."

"Yeah, and look what a great job we did," I mutter.

"What did you say?"

"What did we ever do other than spray-paint a couple of pictures? At least they're taking action."

She frowns at me, but without argument. This pushes me to go on. "And look at me. I'm sitting here, hiding from my own father. Brooke was right. We're useless Watchers. I gave them money, and look what happened. They use it to buy guns and create chaos. I mean, I don't like these cops, but then again, I don't know. Remember Joanne?"

"Yeah?"

"She said her husband was a cop."

"I know."

"But he was too afraid to join the Watch. What if he got killed by a Watcher? I don't want that."

"This isn't what Nate wanted either."

"But Nate's not the one in charge now."

"Exactly. You had no idea you were giving money to these people. You had no idea they'd take being a Watcher so seriously."

My voice is softer with my next words. "Do you think I should do something? To try and fix this?"

"Maybe you should stop giving them money. "

"But Brooke told me a lot of it is for other things too. You know, for school money and repairs and stuff."

"So tell her to use it for that. Nothing else."

"She can't control that. She just hands it out, what the people do with it is their business. She can't tell who's going to buy guns with it, and who's not."

She thinks for a moment. "There should be another way, Nora."

"Another way to what?"

"If you want to help people, maybe you have to do it the regular way. You know, through charities and stuff."

"Like my dad?"

"Oh, yeah. He's supposed to be Mr. Charity Guy, right?"

"Yeah, but right now, he's the Kill-Nora-and-Wes Guy."

She smiles dryly. "Seriously. Maybe that's the best way."

"I don't know." I glance out the window, brimming blue, flecked with steel walls, radio wires, the shape of a bridge stretching across the river. So many people are out there, Watchers and non-Watchers, people whose lives have been affected by my dad and me. People whose lives will always be affected by my dad and me.

I swallow hard, like a weight is on me, getting heavier every second. How come it's me they're depending on? How am I supposed to know what to do?

"Oh!" Pia suddenly remembers something. "Hang on a sec. I'll be right back." She disappears from the room, but returns minutes later, carrying a phone book.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to look up Cole Barker."

"Cole? The guy you think leaked?"

"Yep."

"He should make friends with Maggie," I murmur as she searches. I watch as she starts calling up families and asking questions. She finds his family eventually, speaking to Cole himself.

"Hi, is this Cole?" she asks, affecting her voice and playing ditzy. "Hi! Yeah, see, I'm from your school, and I got your number from the phone book. I'm doing kind of like a survey thing for this project. Do you mind helping me out?"

Pause.

"Oh, yeah, great … No, just a few minutes. So, ahem, first question. Uh … what do you think of all this Watcher stuff on the street, Cole?"

A second, thoughtful pause, her eyes roving. "Yeah? You? Seriously? Wow."

"What's he saying?"

But she turns away from me, going on, "Cool, I didn't know that … So what happened? … Really?"

"Pia!"

"Shh!" She focuses on Cole. "Well, I think it was for the better, anyway. Those guys say they want to keep the streets safe and clean, but they're messing things up … Yeah! Absolutely … Oh, hey, I need to get off. But I think I've got enough for now. Thanks so much, Cole … What? My name? Oh, it's – " She hangs up on purpose, grinning Cheshire-like at me.

"Good?"

"Perfect."

"Yeah?"

"He said, and I quote, 'It was horrible, but they let me off once I helped them out'."

So she was right. "Geez," I murmur, thinking how this boy – this one boy – destroyed Nate, trapped all the others, and took Brian away from Pia and me, leaving us lost. "I can't believe he really did that."

"I think he was a freshman when they caught him."

"Fifteen, huh?"

"Yup."

"I guess he couldn't take it."

"Then maybe he shouldn't have joined."

Somehow, her words make me think of Wes. I wonder when he'll be back. I open the door slightly, but it's still quiet outside. The bags Maggie brought for me are still by the dining table, and I bring them in, sifting through the contents. Clothes, shoes, hairbrush, hand cream, underwear, cell phone … no Skunky, though. I guess she doesn't know me that well after all.

Then again, who does?