Fast-Tracked (21 page)

“Just when I think it’s not possible for you to get any more beautiful you prove me wrong,” he breathed into my ear as he wrapped his arms around me.

Pretending I had just remembered my purse, I twisted out of his arms and darted back into my room to get it.

When I returned Avery seemed content to rest his hand on the small of my back and lead me out the door. We made pleasant small talk while we rode on the tram. He wouldn’t tell me which restaurant we were going to. He insisted he wanted it to be a surprise.

When we got there I could understand why. He had brought me to the Capital Fare. From what I had read it was the most exclusive restaurant in the city. It only had twelve tables total. Reservations were made six months in advance, and only the highest ranking fast-tracker families ever secured any of the reservations.

“So what do you think?” Avery asked hopefully after the waiter served our main course.

“It’s really wonderful. Thank you for bringing me here.” I tried to sound as enthusiastic as I could. But I couldn’t tell him what I really thought about the restaurant. The atmosphere was nice enough. Each table had its own separate room, but that was where it stopped being impressive to me. The restaurant was all hype. Its exclusiveness was really all that set it apart. And the food so far was bland: apparently the chef favored appearance over flavor.

But I realized it was the thought that counted. Even though I never asked him to, Avery was doing his best to impress me and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings over it. So we made it through the meal with him thinking his plan to impress me had worked.

Afterward we walked to the museum. It was only a block away. The night was warm with a soft, relaxing breeze, and the scent of lavender from the nearby trees was intoxicating. So I didn’t refuse when Avery suggested we spend a little more time outside. And I didn’t pull away when he wrapped me in his arms and pressed me to him. But at the last moment, before he could kiss me, I broke from him to admire a blossoming rhododendron. Avery gave me a confused look, like he had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.

“Some people call it an azalea,” I clarified.

Shaking his head, Avery grumbled, “I know what it is. There are tons of them around here, all identical to that shrub.”

My attempt at redirecting his attention had only succeeded in hurting Avery. He had seen right through my flimsy excuse – but there had been nothing better around us. Luckily for me, lying was becoming second nature now, and I quickly came up with a believable lie. “I know. I guess it’s silly for me to gush over, but I was feeling nostalgic. Back home we don’t have any of the fancy landscaping that you do here. The fanciest plant on our row was a rhododendron with the same purplish-pink flowers. When I was a little girl I used to dream about growing up and surrounding my house with the plants.”

“So you’re homesick?” Avery asked with a bemused expression.

“A little.”
I gave an
embarrassed
shrug. I grabbed Avery’s hand and led him inside the museum before he made any more attempts to kiss me.

I felt guilty for using Avery this way. Since my first day here, he had been nothing but kind and understanding towards me. Yet I was repaying him by making him a pawn in my plan to gain power. I really was becoming a wretched person, but if it helped Byron in the end, it would be worth it. Besides, Avery wasn’t that good of a person.

I spent the entire walk through the museum reminding myself that Avery was a pampered, spoiled kid. He was used to getting his way in everything. He took others’ hardships for granted. He treated anyone beneath his status like they were garbage. And as far as I knew, just last night, he had beaten a man to near death. Besides being nice to me, I hadn’t discovered a single redeeming quality in him.

Throughout the entire evening, Avery never left my side. Before long his hovering just started to annoy me. He went as far as standing outside the door when I went to the bathroom. It was clear that he was establishing his claim on me to everyone at the museum, so that there could be no doubt. As long as everyone knew I was his, nothing like last night would happen again. Being treated as a possession upset me, but it was sweet that Avery was doing his best to protect me. Still, I was tired of having a personal bodyguard follow me around the entire night. So, I ended the night early. Avery looked hurt, so I lied and said I had a headache.

The next morning, as soon as I got back from running, I began putting my plans into motion. I searched my tablet until I found what I was looking for, but I didn’t dare order them online: I couldn’t risk leaving an electronic trail. So I jotted down the name of the store and its address.

Before going to breakfast or any of my classes, I went to the library and downloaded all the business texts required for Avery’s classes. None of the classes we were currently taking would be graded; they were only intended to help us decide on our careers. Of course, after seeing Avery’s course list, I suspected that was only true for the
newbies
. Nonetheless, it gave me the freedom I needed to ignore my classes and independently study what I needed to know.

At breakfast I walked right over and sat down next to Vera. “I was willing to let it slide the first time, but pulling the same prank twice when it wasn’t even your original idea is just too pathetic to ignore,” I said in an exaggeratedly pleasant tone.

Vehemently Vera spit back, “Just what do you think you’re going to do about it? You can’t prove a thing. You’re only guessing it was us and none of your precious so-called friends.”

Relishing the moment and the predicted response, I took my time saying, “No. What I’m thinking of doing is showing one of my two recordings of you vandalizing my room to Mrs.
Glabough
.” I waited while the fear spread onto her face. “Maybe you girls can bring back your bet over what the punishment would be.
One level?
Two?”

Vera turned several shades of green. “I… I… I…” Her mouth flapped open and closed.

“Lucky for you and your little group of friends I have a better idea.” To make sure she actually heard what I had to say next, I waited until her mouth snapped shut and she managed to nod. “You and your friends are going to stop bothering me: no more pranks, snide little remarks or anything else. That
might
be enough for me to forget about the recordings.” I stood up and watched her lip quiver as she managed another nod. “Enjoy your breakfast. I’ll see you in class.” I gave a huge, warm smile and strode away.

My threat did its job well. Vera must have spoken to all the girls, because they were perfectly cordial to me the rest of the day and didn’t once point out the fact that I was reading instead of paying attention to any of our nitwit teachers.

I saw Avery at the end of the day, and I told him that I still had a headache and went back to my room. Any other day, I would have been happy to see that my gardening supplies had finally been delivered, but today they just got in the way of my plans. Quickly I shoved them onto the patio and headed out of the door.

My first stop of the day was at Triton’s Jewelry. I had gathered enough information from my studies and fellow fast-trackers to know that if you wanted to buy something on the sly gold was the way to do it. Expensive jewelry purchases easily went unnoticed and were easily resold later on. It was the black-market’s bartering item of choice.

After the jewelry store I took the tram into the red workers section, and made my way to Samuel’s Electronics. A half hour later I left with a box full of expensive looking trinkets: frosted crystal animals, gold paperweights, and other miscellaneous objects. None of them were what they appeared to be. Each one contained a small sound and motion activated sensor device, and each one had the capability to gather a week’s worth of recordings. Supposedly they were virtually impossible to detect because they only recorded and didn’t transmit any signals. I risked everything if I got caught planting or retrieving them, but I had decided the potential payoff was worth it. If I could obtain just one or two incriminating recordings of the right people, it could be enough to protect me. Not that I planned on actively blackmailing anyone: it was strictly for protection.

I had just finished hiding my box of trinkets in the spare bedroom closet when there was a knock at my door.

“I’ve decided to take you up on your offer,”
Autumn
announced as she breezed into my apartment. Making
herself
right at home she began to explore the place. “It’s a little small, but I’m sure we can make do until my renovations are complete.” Peeking her head into my bedroom she asked, “Do you think you can have all your stuff cleared out by tomorrow afternoon? I’ve already arranged to have my stuff moved in then.”

I was at a complete loss for words, but
Autumn
must have taken my impression of a beached trout as a yes, because the next thing she did was to start typing on her tablet.

Giving a satisfied nod, she stated, “I’ll have some movers here first thing tomorrow with some storage racks and boxes for your clothes and shoes. It was selfish of me to think you should have to move it all on your own,” she apologized dismissively. “Well, I have so many things to get ready tonight. I simply have to get going, but I’ll check back in with you tomorrow at lunch.” Without giving me a chance to say anything,
Autumn
breezed out as quickly as she had breezed in, wiggling her butt the whole way.
 

Avery’s words had come back to haunt me: “What Autumn wants
Autumn
gets.”
Me and my big mouth.
I didn’t even find out how long she planned to stay for.

I spent the rest of the evening clearing my personal items out of my bedroom and placing them into my tiny, cramped spare bedroom. The bedroom wasn’t any smaller than the bedroom I grew up in, but I had gotten used to the extra space my apartment allotted me.

The next morning I skipped running and the gym to prep my planters. I needed to get my cuttings started even more now that I was losing my personal space.
Getting my hands dirty – physically dirty – felt good.
Every spring I would help my mom plant her annuals in her flower boxes, and the similar task the planters presented brought me back to those happy moments spent with her. The reassuring emotions it evoked were needed and welcomed. At least my patio would feel like home for me until I got my apartment back.

By lunchtime when
Autumn
and I checked in with the apartment all of my clothes and shoes had been transferred over to the guestroom. Autumn was delighted. I just felt stuck. So that afternoon while
Autumn
had her servants move in all of her things, I took a walk through the park’s gardens. I searched until I found my Amber Flush roses. By the time I got back to the apartment with my clippings,
Autumn
was fully settled in. My apartment was now hers.

Chapter 14

Autumn ended up staying for a month, and it was just as bad as I had imagined it would be. She was a complete and total slob. Even though she had her servant come in twice a day to clean, she wasted no time messing it up again. She seemed unable to place a single dish into the sink, or pick up a single piece of discarded laundry, regardless if it was clean or dirty. So wiping up a spill or sweeping the floor was completely out of the question.

To cope with the situation I spent as little time as possible in the apartment. Unless I was getting ready to go out or sleeping, I was outside. Fortunately – or maybe unfortunately –
Autumn
was oblivious to the strain that living together was causing me. So our friendship was stronger than ever. My seat next to her at the lunch table seemed to be a permanent position.

Over the last month Avery and I had become closer too. Talking with each other came naturally now. There was no effort behind our conversations, and we were equally comfortable with our silence. It was generally accepted by everyone that we were dating, and I no longer tried to protest differently. I enjoyed being around Avery.

I was still keeping him at arm’s length, but just barely. I was beginning to wonder why I was. I knew I could be happy with Avery. He genuinely liked me and had been nothing but patient and understanding with me. I could see myself even developing real feelings for him, if I allowed myself. With Avery I’d have the power I needed to get Byron restored. Then Byron could live a normal life – just not with me.

Besides, Byron didn’t want to be with me any longer. He hated me now. He’d made that abundantly clear every time he’d seen me. I had stopped looking for Byron during my morning runs. In fact, I hardly ever thought about him anymore. I had convinced myself he no longer wanted me and that by moving on I was doing what he wanted.

I was still working hard to gain all the power I could. I spent nearly every spare moment studying the textbooks I had downloaded. I had discreetly placed my surveillance trinkets at every event I went to and then I switched them out again when I next revisited the location. Unfortunately, thanks to Autumn I didn’t know if my efforts had paid off yet, because I never had a moment of privacy to review any of my recordings.

But if I was honest with myself, I would have to admit that I was now only seeking power for myself. My goals of helping the lower class children were all but forgotten and I was only considering helping Byron out of a sense of obligation. I no longer thought in terms of me versus the fast-trackers. I had become one of them in both my thoughts and actions. That was the danger of pretending to be someone else all the time. If you do it long enough, eventually you start to become that person.