"You are." she stared at me in admiration. "You're strong and fearless."
"I don't know about that." I shrugged, but really feeling quite happy at her assessment of me. Maybe I was stronger than I thought. Maybe I was a warrior princess, just waiting to break out.
"Did you hear about Brandon Hastings?" she gushed in excitement, her eyes alive and glowing.
"No, what about him?" I asked softly, noticing the change in her demeanor. She was upbeat now, and she was breathing fast.
"He's coming to the club."
"He is? How do you know that?"
"Huh?" she looked at me blankly and bit her lower lip. "I just heard somewhere, as I was walking back to the room."
"Who did you hear?" I pretended I wasn't that interested in her answer, but I felt tense inside waiting.
"Dunno, one of the girls." her eyes looked past mine and she shifted uneasily. She was lying go me. I could tell she was lying to me, but I just didn't know why.
"Oh, okay." I walked back to my bed and sat down. "Do you care if he comes?"
"No, of course not." She rushed out quickly. "I don't even know him."
“So he was best friends with Greyson Twining, huh?” I asked innocently, faking ignorance. “Do you know anything else about them and the club?”
“Not much.” She looked up at me and her face looked pale. She looked younger than her 18 years as she stood there, and my heart ached for her. Whatever was going on, I had a feeling that, Nancy was not the mastermind. She just didn’t seem to be fully with it. And if she was, she was a mighty fine actress.
“Come and sit next to me.” I sat on the couch in the corner of the room and patted the space next to me. “We should talk now anyway. Try and figure out what information we have and what we should do next.”
“Yeah.” She sighed and walked over to me. “You really don’t have to.”
“I don’t mind.” I smiled at her.
“I don’t want you to get hurt.” She looked down. “This isn’t a safe place.”
“I can protect myself. Greyson isn’t going to harm me.”
“I’m just saying there are other people, you know?” She looked around the room. “I don’t think that you’re...”
“Hey girls, do you mind if I come in?” David walked into the room and gave me a tight smile. I smiled weakly and nodded at him. Trust him to walk in at that moment.
“Hi, I’m David.” He introduced himself to Nancy and she nodded and looked away. “What’s your name?”
“Nancy.” She sighed and I could see that David’s face was tense as he stared at her. I stared at him for a moment, wondering what his game was. Earlier he had known exactly who, Nancy was.
“It’s okay, Nancy.” I stood up. “I spoke to David earlier. He may be able to help us figure out what happened to your sister.”
“Your sister?” David’s eyes narrowed and I saw Nancy’s face flush red.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything. It wasn’t my place.” I gave David a look, but he just stared at Nancy, who still looked terrified. I was slightly confused and my heart beat rapidly. Hadn’t David and I talked about Nancy’s sister earlier? Hadn’t he mentioned something about knowing she had gone missing? I wanted to slap myself for forgetting exactly what we’d discussed earlier.
“What do you want?” Nancy spoke up finally and I was surprised at the temerity in her voice.
“I came to talk to Meg. Do you mind?”
“Why would I mind?” She glared at him and his eyes narrowed.
“Just keep it to yourself.” He muttered and turned to me. “So, did you get anything from Greyson?”
“No, I didn’t even see him again.”
“Yes, you did. You saw him in the corridor.”
“Are you spying on me?”
“I have eyes everywhere.”
“Not really.” I raised an eyebrow. “If you did you’d know what was going on here.”
“Greyson’s not dumb.” He shrugged. “He knows the only person he can trust is himself.”
“You don’t think Patsy knows?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Her lips are tighter than a dead Catholic priest’s.”
“What?”
“They’re not meant to share your confessions.” He spoke slowly as if I were slow.
“Okay.”
“It’s okay if you don’t get it. You’re blonde, after all.”
“David.” Nancy’s voice was shocked and she looked more affronted than I felt.
“It’s okay, Nancy. He’s an undercover cop with an ego. I guess you have something to prove, huh? You’ve been here two years and you still have no clue as to what’s going on here.”
“I already told you what’s going on.” He glared at me.
“What proof do you have?” I questioned, really wanting to know the answer to the question.
“Ask him.” His voice was low. “Ask Greyson and see what he says.”
“Do you really think he’s going to tell me?” I rolled my eyes.
“He’ll come and see you tomorrow, I’m sure of it.” He stared at me. “He’ll come to see you during the tests again.”
“He won’t come and see me tonight?” I tried not to let him see how eager I felt.
“No.” He shook his head. “He would never come and visit you during the night. You’re not that important to him. He’ll only visit you in the day.”
“I see.” I felt hurt at his words, but didn’t disagree. I couldn’t see Greyson coming to the door or window late at night either. He was no Romeo, and I was no Juliet.
“Brandon Hastings is coming tomorrow.” David’s eyes lit up.
“How do you know?” I stared at him and saw, Nancy’s face reddening as she avoided eye contact with me. I looked at Nancy and then at David and realized that there was some sort of weird tension between them. I hadn’t noticed it before, but now I could definitely tell. Something wasn’t right here. It wasn’t a lover’s tension either. It was something more than that. Something impenetrable. I shivered as I realized that they knew each other. I was sure of that. But I was also sure that they were keeping it a secret. My head started pounding again as I remembered seeing Frank and Elizabeth talking as well. What was going on here?