It was never effortless to love Aaron Warner. He was a difficult teenage boy who seemed to forget a lot of the time that that was what he was-a teenage boy. He'd always felt that loving or even caring for him would be impossible for all the world to...
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AS I PLACE my tray on the table, I'm already bombarded with questions as to what happened with Warner in the room they're holding him.
Isaac and Juliette tell them to back off and Kenji begins to approach our table. "Yo, what's going on?" he asks. The people won't stop chattering and practically interviewing me like reporters. "Hey, hey, hey, get the hell away from her!"
"But, Kenji—"
"Yeah, I don't give a shit, give her some goddamn space,"
The people groan and mutter insults under their breaths before listening and moving over to their tables. I don't even think people would've done that had it been Juliette or someone quieter who'd talked to him. But now that it's me—someone who's known for being extroverted and outspoken—they feel they can do so without complaints.
"Mara," says Isaac, placing his hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"
I nod. "I'm fine."
"Okay, one thing I do know about chicks," Kenji says to me as he sits down across from me and Juliette with Isaac, "is that whenever they say they're fine, they never mean it. Like, ninety percent of the time."
Isaac snorts. "I'm just going to ignore that you seem to think you have any idea about girls."
"The hell, of course I do!"
"Right—"
"It's not important," Juliette interrupts the boys, shooting them looks. Kenji rolls his eyes and Isaac shrugs. She turns to me and asks, "What happened in there? Are you upset?"
"Uh, no," I shake my head unsurely. "I don't think so,"
"What do you mean, you don't think so?" asks Adam suddenly as he approaches with James and sits down across from Juliette. I watch her take in a sharp breath. "How can you not know if you're upset or not?"
I motion my hands like hell if I know and continue eating. Except I do know. I know exactly why I'm upset and not having my usual breakfast. And it's all because of a stupid blond boy that is so goddamn hot it feels wrong to be able to breathe around him.
"So, what'd he say?" asks Kenji.
I look up in frantic panic, my heart sinking so low that I feel the need to go the bathroom. "What?"
He frowns. "Warner, Mara. What did you and him talk about?"
"Did he say anything about Brendan and Winston?" questions Isaac.
I begin to tell them about mine and Warner's chat. Conveniently enough, I leave out all the parts that make my brain go fuzzy, but manage to mention that even Warner knows his father will never come for him and trade our hostages for his son.
"So?" I say. "What's everyone thinking?"
Juliette shifts in her seat uneasily. "Do you think he's right that Anderson won't care if he's been taken hostage?"
