Ferd don’t act too hastily

The severity of all that Hydel had told me only minutes ago settled heavily on my mind.

There wasn't much time to strategize about anything else. I had to get back to school before lunch so Victor wouldn't come to know that I had left in the first place.

Vic has disliked Hydel since the incident with my missing file.

Both he and my dad blamed her for it but when they find out the real truth, I can only imagine how they'll react.

Jason and I agreed to meet up with Hydel again sometime this week. I don't know what I'm going to do yet but one thing is for sure. If Mario has my file then he has my Achilles heel. I only takes one leak or slip up on his part and Alister can find me.

We were currently in Jason's car; he was taking me back to school. I was still caught up in my own thoughts.

"What are we going to do?", Jason asks with a seriousness in his voice that is so cold, that it's a new record even for him.

I know it's not directed to me though. It's directed at Mario.

When I don't speak he asks again, "You know you have to call your father right?".

Snapping out of my daze I look over at him and I nod.

"I have to call him and tell him the truth. He'll know what to do".

"That's the best thing to do", he agrees, "but for now you have to go back to school and you need to pretend that nothing has happened. Mario cannot know that you know he knows your secret".

I blinked.

"You almost lost me there", I laugh forcibly trying to make light of the situation but Jason doesn't even crack a small smile so I straighten up in my seat.

"I'll call him right now", I mutter under my breath as I take out my iPhone and dial my dad.

The phone rings and goes straight to voicemail the first two times.

I look over at Jason who is now parked in the back of the teacher's parking area and his expression says it all.

'Dial him again'

So, I Dial him again, this time he picks up the phone on the first ring.

"Julian I hope you didn't just interrupt my meeting to ask more questions about you mother", his voice sounds tired, "I told you it's safer for you if you don't know everything yet".

I roll my eyes, "Hello to you too", I mutter sarcastically and he laughs which causes me to smile also.

"Hello son, what did you call about?", His English accent rings through the phone.

"Mario Levi", I day solemnly, "that missing file that got Hydel fired. He's the one who took it".

I don't know what I expected but there was a silence on the other end of the line for nearly a whole minute that I thought the call might've been cut off".

"Dad", I say into the phone.

He takes a deep breath and says, "I'll be there in a few hours", and he hangs up. I look at the screen to see that he had indeed hung up.

I guess dad was coming back to America then.

I look up at Jason who was already staring at me expectantly.

"He says he'll be here in a few hours", I say to Jason while staring ahead at the school building, "but what do I do until then, I can't just go on pretending like I don't know what we found out today!".

"You're gonna have to", Jason interjects immediately. "At least until your dad gets here. He'll know what to do next, we have to be careful as of now and there's no way that you can let Mario know that you know he stole the file".

I get that! I swear I do. But it didn't make any of this better. The severity of the situation had suddenly become all too real. I thought I had just gained some leeway when the Alister situation was resolved a couple weeks ago but apparently the probability of me being placed into danger again is nearly at a hundred percent.

I was seconds away from freaking out. I hadn't realized when I started taking in huge gulps of air through my mouth nor how my heartbeat only seemed to be accelerating more and more.

Who was I kidding, there is no way I could do this? I can't walk into that school and pretend like everything is okay. Not after all that I've been through recently.

"Can you take me home instead?", I looked hopefully at Jason who shook his head no.

"We can't do that or else Victor will figure out you're not at school and that will draw too much attention to us which we can't afford right now. That is, unless you're okay with them finding out about you meeting with Hadley today".

"Knowing Vic he probably already figured it out".

Jason shook his head once again, "He hasn't, I called your school pretending to be your dad and asked to have you excused from your morning classes before we left remember?".

Oh right, I forgot I asked him to do that.

It took a few seconds for me to psyche myself up enough to get out of the car. I would need to put on a performance if I ever ran into him today.

Somehow and quite unbelievably I managed to make it back into the school through the same way I had snuck out completely undetected. I did so right on time too since the lunch bell rang a few seconds later and the halls flooded with loud hormonal teens immediately.

I got a text right then from Victor asking me to meet him in the cafeteria.

My heartbeat picked up just then, as the thought of having to run into Mario became even more real in my mind. What if he takes one look at my face and figure out that I know? Maybe I'm just being ridiculous.

Shaking it off as best as I could I pushed my way through the crowds and towards the cafeteria.

As if the world was against me. I found Vic and Celeste already seated at our usual table only, they weren't alone.

The thought crossed my mind to run out of there right that moment and I glanced at the doors behind me that I had just entered through but before I could make my move Delilah spotted me and waved me over.

On one side of the table sat Ariadne. Celeste sat on her right and Delilah on her left. Delilah and Ari were both in their dance club outfits but I couldn't focus on that at the moment. On the other side of the table sat Victor and some other guys I didn't even know, but the seat to his right was left empty no doubt saved for me.

Before I could make my way over to them I was intercepted by Nicole and for once I didn't mind.

"Nicole hi," I smiled broadly at her showing my teeth.

She seemed taken aback by my pleasant response. Honesty I would have been too if I was her. But she didn't seem to mind.

"Hi Solace you made it back?", She asked referring to when I left this morning.

"Don't worry I didn't tell anyone I saw you leave", she assured and as she smiled I took my time to appreciate it as if somehow really seeing her for the first time. Nicole was beautiful but she wasn't like other girls, I think she hides behind her glasses and this persona she has of being a nerd. Not that I was one to talk since I basically do the same thing. I love how she doesn't wear such extravagant make up or thinks she needs it to look pretty. Honestly I think she's okay without it.

"What is it?", She asked after a moment her eyes widening in panic, "is there something on my face?".

This time my eyes widened. Crap I was staring.

"Oh no it's not that!", I corrected quickly, "I just think you look really nice that's all!".

Oh my gosh did I just say that?

I closed my eyes for a second. Nice? Really Julian?

She laughed and I only now notice the blush coating her cheeks.

"Thanks", she finally looked up at me, "you look nice as well".

I nodded even though I doubted I looked nice and before things could get awkward I quickly spoke up, "You wanted to ask me something right. I was in such I rush I didn't let you finish".

"Oh that", she looks down and rocked back on her heels uncomfortably. What did she have to be uncomfortable about?

I'm not that scary and I. After all what could possibly be so scary about a one hundred and thirty-five pound, five foot eleven nerd? Huh!

Exactly my point.

"Will you go with me to the dance this Friday?", She asks in one breath before looking up at me expectantly.

I think I had just stared at her for five seconds before I really understood what was going on.

Holy crap! Is Nicole asking me out? And better yet, there is a dance this Friday?

Because I had no idea. I had been so wrapped up in my own drama that I haven't been paying attention to much else around me. Couple that with the fact that I've been away from school for a while and now I was just feeling completely lost.

"So?", She prompted when I didn't answer her right away.

Oh my God what do I do?

I never really disliked Nicole, in fact I had much respect for her, if anything I've always seen her as my academic rival. Like I said before she's really pretty and smart. She only used to annoy me for one primary reason and that was how she fangirled over Mario and Ariadne's relationship so much as if they were some celebrity couple. I think you can tell why that would make me angry. Though I have to admit that's not a legitimate reason, now that I think about it. Other than that, I have nothing against her really. Which led to the possible mistake that I made next.

"Uh sure".

A brilliant smile spread unto her face and I was almost certain I had made the right choice if I could make her smile like that. She quickly reached up and kissed me on the cheek before walking away and I made my way to my friends and sat down next to Victor.

"Hey man what was that about?", He asked me the moment I sat down beside him, "I thought you didn't like Nicole".

"Later", I muttered to him and I knew he'd make sure I followed through on that promise.

He shoved a tray of food in front of me next but before I could even consider eating it the cafeteria doors opened and in walked Mario.

If I was holding anything I'm sure it would've fallen out of my hand. Mario's eyes scanned the entire cafeteria before they land on me. It didn't take a genius to tell that he was seriously pissed off.

What was Jason saying to me earlier again? Because I was seconds away from freaking out!

As he beelined towards our table I quickly took my eyes away from him and made eye contact with even more trouble.

Delilah looked like she wanted to castrate me for some reason. A reason which I would later learn had something to do with Nicole.

Then I looked at Ari and suddenly our make out session a while back replayed almost immediately in my head and I gulped as I remembered an important thing I had been trying to put off since that night.

She had called me Julian.