Power (Book 1)

Chapter 21

A knock at my door woke me up the next day.

I picked my tired body up off of my bed and trudged toward the door. "Who is it?" I called.

"Police!" I heard from the other side. "Open up!"

Whoever was on the other end wasn't Officer Wilkey, fortunately, but that didn't make this situation any less stressful. I hurriedly grabbed the disc off of bedside table and stuck it under my bed. Then I threw on some pants and a t-shirt before opening the door.
"Wassup, officer?" I asked him. I leaned up against the door frame, trying to act like I was just chilling.

"What's up, Jay?" he said. "How are you doing?"

"Good?" I said hesitantly. The officer was a lot younger than Officer Wilkey, probably in his early twenties. He had a clean cut of dirty blonde hair, and a jawline so defined that I was afraid to hurt myself looking at it.

"Of course you are. Anyway, I have some good news for you. You are now unbanned from Skyview High. We submitted the evidence to Mr. Brown, and he had no choice to reaccept you. Your books will be waiting in your locker, and the locker number and schedule are the same."

He leaned in close, glancing around to make sure no one was watching. "Afterlight's got your back." Then he scooted back and cleared his throat. "Alright then, have a good day. Oh, and you might want to hurry if you want to make it to school on time. You start today." He turned toward the elevator and left, whistling with his thumbs in his belt loops.

I had little time to contemplate what he just said. Looking at the clock, I knew it was already 7:25 A.M. I had five minutes to get to school.

I ran around my room, picking out a better choice of clothes and packing my book bag. That alone took me two minutes.

I grabbed everything I needed and headed out the door, opting for the stairs instead of the elevator. I turned on my speed as soon as I got out of the front doors.

I made it to school in another two minutes, arriving just as the first bell rang. I breathed a sigh of relief. There's nothing worse than being late on your first day back- regardless of whether or not you were told you could go five minutes before it started.

When I opened my locker, everything the officer had said was inside was in it- books, schedule, even my old gym shoes. I must have left them by accident.

It wasn't until I sat down in first period that the full implications of what the officer said hit me.

First, how had Afterlight known that I was looking for a way back into Skyview? I didn't tell anyone except for Cassie, and she definitely didn't tell them. She didn't even know they existed, as far as that was concerned.

Second, if that officer really was working with Afterlight, which he probably did, just how many people in the city worked for them? They could be anywhere, doing anything, hiding in plain sight.

Lastly, I just got to school and in class in about five minutes. That was amazingly fast, especially since I wasn't even prepared to go today. I think my mind is able to comprehend faster now as well.

As I was thinking about all this, I didn't notice Cassie come into the class and take the seat next to me.

I have no idea how long she was sitting there. A few minutes, maybe? But she had definitely been there for a while because I didn't regain my senses until after Mr. Lough had started teaching the lesson.