Classified

Chapter 2 - "You really have no boundaries, do you?"

"You up for some minor trespassing?"

Donovan had barely lowered his phone when it dinged with a response.

"Dude, of course. When and where?"

Donovan held back a laugh at his oldest brother's quick reply to breaking the law, despite the fact that he worked for the FBI. After typing out a time and place, he pocketed his phone, just as Link closed his locker.

"Here's another thing," he said. "Carter is an outsider which means she doesn't have this huge group of friends to tell even if she did know."

Donovan nodded but said nothing. All through morning classes, Link had given out reasons why a friendship with Carter was a good idea. He never once mentioned the single reason he wanted the relationship, but Donovan knew it. In a school where everyone adored the First Son, Carter had been the only to show she didn't share the same affection.

Link shouldered his backpack and the two of them headed towards the Cafeteria. Clusters of students walked alongside them, their conversations revolving around the influx of new peers and the typical teenage mundane topics that seemed worthy of hour-long discussions.

The volume rose as the pair stepped into the cafeteria. A line of windows along one wall poured light onto the tables packed with students who had found their social equals through hours of weeding through those that weren't worthy.

It was a cast system where the dividing lines were drawn by the gleam on watches, the tailored line of uniforms, the subtly of make-up, the richness of hairstyles. In the midst of it all was Carter, a single entity alone at a table. She stuck out like a switch blade in a bed of diamonds.

After getting their food, the pair surveyed the mass. Though Donovan knew where Link's wish to sit lay, he was also wary of the girl who had the most to gain if she discovered Link's parentage. In a world where secrets were power, this one would solidify her place among the peers that openly shunned her.

"You know the risks," Donovan said.

Link didn't reply as if thinking it over, but Donovan could see in the way he was already faced that his decision was already made. They strode towards Carter's table and sat.

"You're sitting with me," she said, frowning at them.

The tight line between her brows only confirmed to Donovan what he knew, she was cut off from the rest of her classmates and never imagined that position would change.

"Is that a problem?" Link asked.

Carter shrugged as if the gesture could underplay the strangeness of the situation. 

"Nope. Most people just avoid it. The reasons are probably obvious."

They were, any more clear and someone would have to be screaming them out through a megaphone.

Biting into a fry, Link waved the other half at her.

"Because you're observant, smart and have no problem voicing your thoughts," he said.

She gave him a lopsided smile, the look self-deprecating.

"Most people usually say smart aleck or a more negative equivalent to that. But yeah, basically."

As Carter and Link had an exchange about swapping her sandwich for his chicken fingers, Donovan watched them. Link's body was relaxed and the way he easily navigated the conversation around her told Donovan more than ever Link wanted her as a friend. In a place where he would forever be hidden in his half-brother's shade, she was someone who could shine the light on his presence. For Link's sake, Donovan hoped Carter's heart could fit him in.