Agreements With Mr Rich Boy | ✓

18 | Shifty

A WEEK HAD GONE BY since Michelle apologised, sort of. Miles seemed to have gotten over whatever it was that was bothering him, but he still seemed a bit... on edge.

At breakfast, when he'd jumped at a fork scraping against a plate, I decided to say something.

"Is Harry still bothering you?" I asked, looking over to him sat further down the table with his cronies.

"What?" He asked, having been zoned out. "No, no, he hasn't."

"Hmm," I said, not believing him, but deciding not to push it. "I meant to tell you." I lowered my voice and now snuck a look at the Elites on the other side of the hall. "I saw Archer and these guys last night."

"What, like you had an orgy or something?"

"No, no," I choked. "I mean I saw him with a bunch of guys and they were giving something over."

He chewed on his bacon. "Sounds shifty."

We both looked over to them.

Archer was eating, stony faced as always. He was next to Autumn and Noah was opposite her. They were talking amongst each other, but he didn't seem to be listening all that much. There was no sign of Houman but by the protectiveness his guard had shown already, I imagined he didn't eat with everyone. And I supposed the dragon girl joined him.

"That's what I thought. I mean what if it's guns or some shit."

"Oh god yeah, we could be in a real life James Bond. What if they're in MI5 or some shit?"

"I doubt they're spies," I said, stabbing a sausage on my plate. "Maybe drug lords."

Miles nodded and widened his eyes. "It would explain the money."

I decided it probably wasn't healthy to be talking so much about someone who may or may not be a gang leader, so changed the subject. "You doing anything today?"

"Gonna see She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." I raised an eyebrow in question. "Nan," he answered.

"Ah," I said. "I'm going to take the bus and see mum."

"They don't live that far apart," he said. "We'll go together!"

I didn't know how to deflect that, didn't know how to say 'no, I don't want you coming anywhere near my mum' without it sounding like I thought he was some mass murderer. I don't really know if I didn't want him to see my mum so that I wouldn't have to explain everything or whether I just wasn't ready to get that close with someone. Was I embarrassed, even?

"No, no," I said. "I mean, I'll be there ages and she'll probably bore you to death with talking about Grand Designs."

It probably wasn't the best choice of tv show, considering Miles loved everything to do with art and design. This was proven correct as he exclaimed, "I love that show!"

"I better be going. Bus leaves in ten minutes. Bye!"

And I was running away, leaving him to watch my retreating back, confused and probably a little hurt.

***

The entire way there, I felt undeniably guilty for how I had dismissed Miles, which was a heck of a long time— three buses. I'd had to scrape together some change, which ended up being more money than I'd spent the entire time here.