“When are you going to tell Jack you like him?” Asked Megan. “Megan” Alie said in an embarrassed voice. “What?” Said Megan. “You gotta tell him you like him sometime” she said with a smile. “Well when are you going to tell Samuelson you like him?” Said Alie. “Ok I’ll make you a deal” said Megan. “I tell Sam I like him, if you tell Adam you like him” “Ok” said Alie. That night she grabbed a pencil and a pad of paper and started to to right a note to Jack. Finally, after many crumpled pieces of paper, she had the perfect note to give to jack. The next day in home room Alie passed the note to jack. He smiled at her and put the note in his back pack and turned back to the teacher. When the bell rang to switch classes, Alie saw the note fall out of jack’s back pack. She picked it up and held it to her chest. She had to think of another way. Then she remembered something. This wasn’t her first crush, in middle school she had a crush on Tomithen greyhound. She sent him a poem in the mail! If it worked for him then it might work for Jack! So she wrote him the perfect poem, signed her name, and sent the poem. A few weeks later, she got an email saying that “the letter could not reach its destination”. “Why not!?!?” She screamed into her phone. She laidback in her chair and sat her phone on her chest with her hands covering it. “Why is this not working” she thought. And then she had an idea. “Hey” said Jack. Alie turned around to see his blond hair and deep blue eyes and soft peach colored skin. Alie had dark brown skin, chocolate colored eyes and hair. “So” he said. “Is the roomer true?” He asked. “It can be” she reapplied. Let’s rewind a bit shall we? Alie wrote in the school news paper that there was a roomer that Alie liked Jack. So now that your caught up back to the story. “Well then would you like a dance?” He asked. By the way this was happening at the spring dance. “I would love that” she said. Eventually they got married and had to children (twins to be exact) Clair and Maggie. The End

Steve handed the note to Bridget, not knowing of she would ever look at it. He hoped she would. She took it from him, not looking at him at all. To be fair,it was dangerous these days to pay to much attention to your fellows, it attracted the Regimes attention. Workers were to look forward, get to their destinations, do their work, and return to their quarters. Talk only about approved topics; work, supplies, the weather. It had been like this for their entire lives, but there were rumors of a different life. True, people didn’t bring up these rumors often.

Bridget walked in the other direction, and Steve paused for a brief second to watch her go. Just a second, that was all he risked. He turned, and headed to his job in processing. He thought about the note. Paper was expensive, the masses were forbidden to have it. Only sold on the dark market, it had cost Steve a week’s work of potato rations. He hoped it was worth it.

Arriving at his assigned cube, he began his work. Same thing day in and day out, so he did this without thinking about it. He thought about Bridget. They had met on the street, he dropped his hat, she handed it to him. Nothing crazy, but a small interaction. Something in her eyes let him know she was like him, not settling for this world. But they never had a chance to speak.

Bridget arrived at her assigned destination. She was late, the quick interaction with Steve and delayed her. She looked around to see if anyone had noticed, but she appeared to be in the clear. She braved a look at the note, it was a drawing of...a cat? She though that was what the creature was called. It was not realistic, but sweet, smiling. She smiled to herself, and hid the note in her pocket. She should destroy it, erase the evidence of owning paper, of showing creativity, of interaction. But she wouldn’t. A little act of rebellion.

She didn’t see Steve on her way home, that was unusual. Nor did she see him again. She wondered if he was caught, and she grieved his loss, and felt a stab of guilt she was the cause. That risk of the note.

Time went on as it does, and soon Bridget pushed Steve’s memory away. She didn’t verve from her role, her “purpose” in this life.

But she kept the cat drawing. Her little act of rebellion.

“What are we gonna do?” Jackson moaned, leaning back in his chair as if his own spine had given up supporting the rest of his body,”we’ve looked everywhere, the drug gang’s got the precinct on a leash and we’ve only got 10 hours before we lose her,” Emily sighed, looking up from the laptop with cctv tapes clicking back and forth. The sound of her heel tapping repetitively on the floor wasn’t helping and her hope was slowly deteriorating,”I don’t know,” As the two exchanged worried glances, the door opened slowly and Jess entered. Her face consisted of the mixed shades of purple and blue, dried blood darkened her brow and a pained expression was set as she limped over to the desk. “Jess? How the hell did you get here?” Jackson gaped. He reached for a hug but she waved him away and went for the pad and pen on the desk. “I’m not here for any of your snivelling,” she said, her voice monotone and held a slight tremor,”you are going to get me the 101 files and after that you are going to resign from the police force, as well as... this bitch of course” The two stiffened up at the command and the tuned out tone of their colleague. Jackson gulped as Jess lifted her shirt slightly, revealing a black, ominous, beeping bomb. The wires and the metal and the red light sent a wave of dread on his chest. “This needs to be done in at least 2 hours or this building... and you of course,” Jess muttered, as she spoke, she motioned to the paper. As they followed her gaze, she started to write... THEY ARE LISTENING “When you resign, you need to show the cctv tapes we have sent you,” She continued, her eyes still fixed on the paper. GET SOME CLIPPERS, I KNOW WHERE THEY ARE. “Do you have any questions?” She asked,”before you lose your careers and reputations?” WE’RE GOING TO CLOSE THEIR
OPERATION DOWN

Why did she have to pass me that note? Now I’m out here all alone, in the dark, waiting. I’m so tired. Would it be okay if I just fell asleep? * There he is! Is he sleeping? Why would he invite me out to the clearing in the woods to watch him take a nap in the dirt? I was so excited when I found that message in my locker. He must’ve asked one of the other girls to do it since our schools are on opposite sides of this small forest. He went through all that effort for me. And to think I thought boarding school would suck... * I’m shaken awake. “Sorry!” I laugh, “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.” I sit up and try and wipe as many leaves and as much dirt as possible off of my sweatpants. * He looks so cute with his sleepy eyes and messy hair! I want to kiss him so badly it hurts. His lips must feel so soft... * “Why did you ask to meet up so late anyway?” I ask. “What do you mean?” she asks, furrowing her brows in that adorable way. “We could’ve met up during lunch. Snuck off and-“ “But, you’re the one that sent me the note!” she points out. And then we both realise. * My plan worked! I knew those two would never build up the courage to contact each other, so I had to step in. Play Cupid. I love love, and these two are so clearly meant to be together. Who says ghosts can’t interfere with the living?

“So are you in?” He asked the confused kid sitting across from him. “Ummm... I don’t know what you mean”, the boy stated worriedly. “Read the note, tick one box and then you’ll find out”, the muscular middle-aged man commanded. The scared little boy opened the note, whilst taking small glances toward the bulky man sat across from him. With every glance over at him he got very agitated and started to shift in his seat whilst reading the note. The young boy started to get very uncomfortable and scared that he was trying to plan a way to run away from the man. But as he lifted his head up slightly he realised that he was trapped. There was no where he could run that the athletic man wouldn’t be able to catch up to him within seconds.

The skinny boy started to panic, he wasn’t the kind of boy that wanted to do things like this. He was only ten years old. Why did the strong man have to ask him, a scrawny kid that probably didn’t have any idea how to look after a hamster never mind a FLIPPING GUN!

The fragile kid didn’t know what to do: should he agree with the man and do what he says to avoid being hurt. Or try and get away from the man and stay away from trouble and risk getting hurt. He thought either way he could get hurt. He was only a young kid, why did he have to go through this. Why couldn’t he be a normal child and live his life without worrying about getting hurt.

Whilst all of these terrifying and confusing thoughts rushed through the nervous kid’s mind, the man had already grabbed him and taken him away from any crowded areas. The boy couldn’t help but think that he was going to be killed. So he began to try and fight back, by pulling away from the powerful man and punching him with his only free hand. As much power as the weak kid could put into his punches it was no where near enough power to stop the huge, towering man. What was he going to do?

“I know what you did.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Abby freeze in her seat. I pretend to pay attention to my teacher reading about the fall of Czar Nicholas II, but all I hear is mumbling. Abby hands me the note again, which I open to find the words “Sit with me at lunch” scrawled underneath my message. I pocket the note.

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t even be within a foot of her knowing what I know. The worst part is that what she did isn’t part of her reputation at all; she is known as the reserved nerdy girl in the back of the class. Yet when I read her message, I got a gut feeling that my request might get me into more than I bargained for. As cheesy as it is, desperate times call for desperate measures.

We walk to the courtyard in silence after the bell rings, finding a secluded spot away from our peers munching on Cheetos and poorly made burgers. As I take out my own sandwich lunch, Abby finally speaks.

“How do you know?”

“I have my sources,” I try to say as they do in movies, but I think I sound like an idiot.

She narrows her eyes at me, “There must be a reason why I’m not in handcuffs then.”

“Well,” my voice shakes and I clear my throat, “I have a favor to ask you. A job, I guess. There’s a boy that has been going around messing with the underclassmen and I think he needs to be stopped.”

I see her quirk a brow, which I must admit fits her face very well. “What makes you think I would do it anyway, princess?”

I struggle to keep my composure when I say, “I bet you wouldn’t want me spreading the word about how a few guys around the area have been disappearing, would you, Abby?”

“All right, all right, quiet down. I’ll help you,” she sighs out, scanning around us to make sure no one is listening, “but you have to pay me back for it somehow.”

“Oh shit, you’re right, how did I not think about that? What’s your price?” I should have prepared for this part, I rehearsed every other aspect of this conversation.

A knowing smile creeps onto her face, making me uneasy about what’s to come. She scoots a bit closer and says, “Pretend to be my friend for a while. I think it throws people off that I don’t hang out with anyone from school, so we’ll just go to movies and stuff.”

Okay. Not what I expected. It was very tame compared to my request, but my gut was hoping for something I can’t quite put my finger on.

“Oh. Um. Yeah, that sounds great. Deal,” I say while extending my hand to her.

She takes it and pulls me into a hug, “Deal.”