Eight

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Alexander Nathaniel Walker

"You know Adelina, when someone asks you to call them as soon as possible a whole fourteen hours later doesn't really cut it." Auriella glares intensely at the dark haired girl on the screen who looks sheepishly back at my girlfriend. For someone who was normally so dominant in her daily life. Her, like Ambrosi and I, were terrified of Ella. She was the youngest of all of us and the nicest to other people but we know how quickly she can turn from smiley to traumatising someone.

"Oh but don't you know the world revolves around the princess and she doesn't do things until she wants them done." I add fuel to the fire, enjoying riling up someone I consider a sister and best friend. Adelina glares at me but her face automatically goes to one of innocence the second Ella turns back to face her but that makes my smirk rise even more.

Adelina Albrecht was a real life princess, in fact she was first in line to the throne of Great Britain. She was the only child of her father, King Lennox. We had met her at school along with another of our friends, Ambrosi Valiente, son of a Spanish businessman.The four of us had formed a fast friendship that had never once faltered throughout the years. In the world of the elite where being friends with someone just to get something or betraying someone to get higher on the hierarchy is more normal than not we're able to find stability in one another and it has made our lives significantly easier.

"Shut your tramp." Adelina snaps at me and I mock her making her firefly glare burn holes through the screen. She had caught sight of the boys sitting behind us and since she knew this situation we were in she hadn't mentioned our names.

"Stop it you two." Ella groans, already fed up with us. Adelina was my big sister and I enjoyed tormenting her, the same way we knew she liked doing to Ambrosi so it made the princess and I raise an eyebrow at her hypocrisy. "I know I fight with AJ like that, but I also know it is seven in the morning, besides I still need to lecture that one."

"I'm sorry babe, I was working last night." She was speaking like she had some mediocre job but Ella and I knew the hidden meaning about what she was talking about. Her family might rule the country but what most people didn't know was that the Albrecht's also ruled over the darker parts of the country.

"It's okay, but I seriously need your specifications for your dress so I can draw it and send it to one of my tailors so it's ready for you." While Ella's talking she's taken out her tablet and has started rough sketching the outfit she and Adelina were discussing. Like always, Adelina gave only a few guidelines but gave full reins to Auriella, trusting Elle to make an amazing dress like she always did.

During the car ride Ella talked to Addi while she was sketching. The two of them stwitched between French, Italian and English like they didn't realise they were but they did, the two of them were always aware of every single thing they did.

"We're getting to the school, I'll talk to you later, love."

The two wrapped up the call as we saw the school approaching and as the car stopped both boys jumped out immediately but waited for us outside while Ella took a few seconds to gather courage to face the day.

Instead of saying anything Ella held out her pinky to me. "Got me?" She asks, wanting the reassurance which I easily gave her, hooking mine with hers.

Our most sacred promise to one another.

"I love you." She whispered, gathering her bags. She leaned over to press a kiss to my cheek.

"Stop." She pauses her hand that was reaching for the door handle. She looks at me, a little confused but I grab her chin bringing her face right to mine. "I want a proper kiss."

Her eyes light up with mischief. "Say please." Instead of listening to her I close the gaps between our faces and Ella quickly responds to our kiss but pulls back seconds later and jumps out of the car smiling cheekily at me. "Hurry up, Lex. We've got to get to class."

I roll my eyes but follow her, walking next to her as she chats to Ezra and Elijah about what to expect. Normally Ella doesn't like any sort of PDA, it's a struggle to get me to touch her in public, but today she's gripping my hand like her life depended on it. It's the only indication that she's actually really nervous. On the outside, she's the perfect display of calmness but I can read her like a damn book. She doesn't like crowds, or loud noises and this is a combination of everything she hates. It's taking everything in her not to have a meltdown and it's killing me that I can't do anything about it.

But other than that both of our senses are on full alert like we had been trained to do. We were both hyper aware of our surroundings, all the eyes following us as we walked through the halls, the quiet whispers that weren't as quiet as people wished. And even those slinking away trying to stay out of our line of sight.

This highschool was relatively small compared to others across America, and all the students in attendance were from three of the small towns surrounding the area. They all knew about our kidnapping, they had grown up hearing it and it was probably used as a scare tactic from adults to keep the kids in line. These people had all been going to school together since they were toddlers and we were the current outsiders.

"Okay, these are your lockers." Ezra stopped, in front of a row of red lockers that matched the school colours. He demonstrates how to work them while we halve focus on him and the other half on our surroundings.

This was a red zone.

There were almost a thousand kids in total currently in attendance, and both Ella and I were sure at least a couple were involved with NITE. We hadn't had enough time to dig through everybody's files, and honestly, it was a tedious and boring job. That is why we were on high alert and we had started sending out miniature drone cameras throughout the school and towns. The feed ran 24/7 onto all of our devices along with a tech support team back at the agency who was monitoring the feed continuously. We would get an alert if anything happened or if any of the drones stopped working. The drones also had A.I integrated to alert us if it saw any of the items we had programmed them to look out for. They were a fairly new design but they had been proved efficient in our testing so hopefully they worked out.

The way we had designed them was they were too small of a device to tamper with. You couldn't edit the feed and you couldn't switch them off unless you physically smashed them or had the right access codes, something that only Ella and I had. Not even Julian or Demitrius who had been on our team for four years knew them.

"What's your first class?" Liam asks, as he and Madi walk up to us, Emmeline and Gabriel follow but look less willing to be seen with us.

"Chemistry." I reply at the same time Elle replies with. "Maths."

"Math." Ezra corrects.

"Maths." Ella bickers back. And I blocked out Ella and Ezra's conversation. They had started finding it fun arguing over the word difference that we used and even though the two of them enjoyed it, the rest of us not so much.

Maybe it was because those two were so similar yet different at the same time that they could be arguing and getting along simultaneously.

From the other side of the hall the group of people we had met over the weekend were walking over to us as well. The siblings, Coraline and Franklin seemed decent but I wasn't so sure about Mara and Lucas.

Especially because Lucas seemed to have an attraction to my girlfriend. Or maybe that was a mixture of jealousy, protectiveness and possessiveness.

"Good morning." Ella greets, a soft smile spreading across her face and I mumble something with the same sentiment. She turns back to her blonde brother. "So I'm in class with you?"

"Yup, and Lucas."

Ella lifted her head to meet my eyes but quickly looked back to her brother. She took a step back into my body, tilting her head back to it that rested on my chest. I felt her move my hand out of my grasp but instead of fully removing it she kept her fingers tracing over the back of my hand. She was drawing tiny shapes but I knew what she was trying to communicate. She was fine, and so was I and we could do this. I lifted the hand she had been drawing with and pressed a kiss to the back of it.

"We'll see you later then." Ella smiled at the rest of them. Elijah gave her a small smile, as did Madi and Liam. Gabriel nodded to her but was more focused on his phone than anything. Emmeline didn't react at all to Ella, instead she turned to me.

"Come on Nathaniel, you have chemistry with me." I was a little taken aback and when I glazed at Ella she looked more amused than anything. Instead of engaging with Emmeline she went up on her toes and pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"He also has class with me." Elijah cuts in, catching a glance at Ella.

"I'll see you later." Ella whispered to me and took a step back walking with Ezra but turned back and gave us all a little finger wave. "Have fun."

She was bloody enjoying this, I mentally scoffed but a little amused. Back home we knew everyone in our circle and not many people would attempt to flirt with either of us considering we were always together. But this was new ground and even though I knew we would go through our fair share of new problems my relationship was not one of them.

"Come one." Emmeline grabbed my wrist to pull me with her but I quickly retracted my hand placing it in my pocket.

"Please don't touch me." I ask, in a tone that was a lot politer than I wanted to use. The only reason I didn't was because I didn't want to cause more problems for Elle. Elijah glanced at me to make sure I was okay then placed his body in between his sister and I to create a distance for us. "Thanks." I whisper to him.

"No problem, man."

"Would you like to sit with me, Nate?" Emmeline asks not at all looking rejected from how I had previously addressed her.

"You sit next to Mara." Elijah cut in, pointing out the dark haired girl who already sat in her seat typing away rapidly on her phone. "Come on, I have a free seat next to me."

Elijah had a seat by himself right at the back of the classroom and even though I can tell he preferred being alone he didn't seem to mind my presence. Maybe it was because after all the traditional introductions I never spoke to him, choosing to work on my phone instead. The teacher didn't seem to mind, or even care if people were paying attention to her which wasn't so good for the students who actually needed to learn but great for me who could actually do something productive with my time. And when the tedious lesson ended I followed Elijah to another class which thankfully I had Ella in and didn't have Emmeline.

When we finally found the class Auriella and Ezra were already waiting for us. Elle was sitting in the back row, her brand new laptop on the desk open in front of her, she was half listening to Ezra half typing. She was now wearing a pair of what looked like blue-light glasses but were actually more of our, or well her inventions. A pair of glasses that you paired with your device, no one else could actually read what was on the screen unless you had the glasses on.

They were still new ideas so currently only four of them existed, one for Ella, one for me and we had given one to both Adelina and Ambrosi who had happily been our test subjects since Ambivalent was just an idea.

I took a seat next to Ella and Elijah took one on the other side of me. The two were chatting to a boy and girl sitting in front of them but were quickly silenced when our teacher came in.

The minute the teacher stepped into the classroom I immediately had a feeling that she and Ella were going to clash. I had no idea how I knew but the way Ells shifted in her seat next to me I think she knew it as well.


"What's this teacher's name?" Ella whispered to her information giver, aka Ezra who subtly leaned in closer to Elle so the couple had his voice even lower than a whisper.

"Mrs Miller, try your hardest to get on her good side."

"If she even has one." Elijah snorted quietly and was sent a sharp look by his twin.

"This isn't a class to mess around with. If you fail this class then you don't graduate. And trust me when I say it's awfully easy to fail this class." It was surprising to see the sunshine, always smiling kid so serious about something and I guess it made Ella and I realise the weight of the situation. The lady who was presently glaring at the class from where she stood at the front like she was a military sergeant. Her eyes narrowed to where Elle and I sat and both of our bodies tense subconsciously.

"You two." She looked towards us. "What are your names?"

"Nathaniel Walker." I answered first and nudged Ella so she could answer. She was studying the woman intensely and I already knew that Ell's was going to cause chaos for this woman.

"Everleigh Taylor, Miss." She answered politely, a faux innocent smile on her lips.

"Do you know French?" It was required that we chose between Spanish or French even though we were fluent in both, and Ella had decided on going with her first language. I didn't care either way so I decided to do the class with her.

"Yes." We both answered at the same time.

"Good." She barked out but she looked like she was ready to test our knowledge. "This isn't an easy class, and I expect nothing less than perfection."

Mrs Miller turns back to the board scribbling down some grammar that everyone starts copying down. I follow suit but Ella just sits there, her hand resting on her chin as she once again studies the woman.

"It's our first day, Ev. It's not the day to start something." I whisper to her and she bats her eyelashes at me.

"Who, me?" That gets an eyeroll out of me.

Cheeky brat.

"At least wait a week or two." I bargain and she shrugs, accepting the deal and starts typing out the notes as well. Or not really, she takes a picture of them when no one's watching and has them transferred to make them appear typed while she plays a game. When she sees the teacher coming up towards us she switches back to the notes and turns off the function that makes the screen for her eyes only.

Mrs Miller eyes the laptop and looks at Elle with disdain. "You're the kid that has all those special needs." She says special needs like Ella was making it up and I narrowed my eyes at her this time. Ella doesn't bat an eyelash though, and it breaks my heart because I know it's because she's used to it by now.

"Yes, I have the paperwork if you would like to see my document." Ella offers and Mrs Miller shakes her head. Instead she places down a large stack of paper in front of each of us.

"You say you speak French? If so, do you mind getting these back to me by Friday so I know where you are in the syllabus?"

"Are we exempt from doing the daily school work while we complete this?" Ella eyes the large stack.

"No, this is bonus work, you still need to do the classwork." With that she walks away and Ella glares at the papers, then picks them up, flipping through them.

"There's fifty pages here, each double sided. That's a hundred worksheets."


"That sucks, Ev." Elijah says, sympathetically. "If you need help we can try but she isn't the best teacher so half of us don't know what we're doing."

"Don't worry, I can do the work." Ella waves her hand, and since she had technically finished today's work she started on the pile. Ella actually found it easier to read French over any other language so she didn't need help getting through it. She paused occasionally when new work was added to the board but had already done quite a bit of it when the lesson ended.

During our next class Ella worked on it again and so did I, catching up to her quickly since I didn't need to read the question more than once. She never put her file in her bag and brought it with her to the lunch table where everyone sat.

"You're still working on that?" Ezra asked, glancing down at Elle's work.

"Yeah, I want to hand it in during tomorrow's lesson." She doesn't look up from where she was writing. There wasn't changing her mind once she set herself a challenge and Ezra could tell that so he didn't even try.

At the table it had only been Ezra, Eli, Ella and I but soon Emmeline, Gabriel, Madi and I along with Coraline, Franklin, Mara and Lucus had joined us. I had no idea where Grayson was but I doubted he would make an appearance. They didn't look like they normally sat together, and the look our group was getting just confirmed them. I side-eyed Lucas as he took the seat on the bench on the other side of Elle sitting a little too close to her. Auriella actually looked up from her work for a second to look over at him then scooted closer to me.

There were too many people and conversations happening at the table for Ella to concentrate so she closed her work and started eating the sandwich Eleanor had packed for her.

"So what's up with the French teacher?" Ella asks.

"You have Miller right?" Madison asks. "I don't know, she's been teaching here for about a year and has just always been like that. People have made speculations, but no one really knows anything about her personal life. She doesn't live in our town so no one sees her out and about."

"She seems like a bully. I mean she was so rude to kids in the class when they didn't understand anything but she wasn't explaining it well and made fun of them for asking a simple question."

"There's nothing we can do about it, unfortunately. We've tried bringing it up to the administration and nothing happened, we're all just cautious about her."

Ella's face scrunched in disapproval but didn't say any more on the situation, both of us just observing the conversations and groups rather than participating.

"So are you?" I hear a voice ask, breaking me out of my trance and I turn to face Emmeline, confused on where the conversation had gone. "Are you coming to the party on Friday?"

She was looking right at me for an answer.

"Umm, I'm not sure. Are we allowed to go?" I ask my siblings and they nod their heads.

"We all are." Ezra chimes. "The parties in this town don't get too big and they prefer us to go to things where they know we'll be safe. I choose not to go, I don't enjoy it."

"I don't think I'll go either." Ella agrees.

"Come, it'll be fun." Liam urges me. "And if you don't like it, it's literally five minutes from the house."

I look at Ella who shrugs, in fact urging me to go. It would be better if we monitored events like that as that's a place where people are most vulnerable. I could just watch out for the others, Ella wouldn't be much help as she struggles with loud noise and crowds and my mind would be more focused on her rather than the job at hand.

"Sure."

"Great." Emmeline grins as we all pack our things to go to the next class. "It's going to be great."

Yeah,

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