“But I like you.” He froze, his wrist tightly held by the man who just taught him how to shoot straight into the basket, now he’s trying to shoot his chance.
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“What… the fuck do you mean?” He managed to utter through the thoughts that spiraled into his mind; no words could express how much he wanted to punch his face.
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Even now, as he waited for that damned senior to arrive, his thoughts kept creeping back to where his wrist was in the hold of the man he pitied.
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“What’s he thinking about?” Josh whispered as he leaned into Fred, making Fred chuckle, “Jared confessed to him earlier after their match.”
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Josh let out a gasp, his eyes widened as he looked at Fred directly in the eyes, “Jared? My classmate?” Fred nodded.
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The sound of a crisp leaf being crushed captured their attention as they saw three shadows. “Finally, you’re here.” Iresh snapped.
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“Why are you guys here?” Josh stood up, walking around the fountain before sharing a handshake with Kurt and Meljasher.
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“We were threatened–I mean, we volunteered to join ya.” Meljasher flashed a smile, then did a short nod at Fred, which Fred ignored before pulling Siam close to warn her, “One of those kids is a mafia–” but she silenced him by shoving a leaf in his mouth.
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“We’ll start now; everyone, gather into a circle.” She said, turning to the side of the fountain and sat where a tree is behind her, Jazzi and Blanche sitting next to each other while the guys sat together, and Siam is next to Blanche.
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Josh’s POV
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I watched as they sat with me, Siam looking at me as if she were expecting me to say something. Girl, you’re literally the one who told us to wait here.
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Finally, I opened my mouth, “It’s spying on us, even has pictures and videos, around eleven or something.”
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Blanche raised her hand willingly, “It also has information about us through the–what was it called?” She turned to Jazzi, who was using her phone, and nudged her, “The chip?” Jazzi responded. Blanche looked back at us again, “Yeah, the chip.”
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“So… It has eyes on us,” Fred muttered, his thumb under his chin as his knuckles lined up in front of his underlip.
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We can avoid that, though; we have to act naturally and use code names and stuff.
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“We can still be low-key, yknow.” Dan–whom I forgot was even here–chimed in, arm around Meljasher.
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“He’s not wrong, but for the chip part…” Siam’s voice trailed off. She’s right. How are we supposed to avoid that? Even if we remain secretive, the chip will still explode and collect our info…
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Unless… “we fake it.” I accidentally uttered, shit.
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But I was too late, they’re already looking at me like I just cracked an Easter egg or something,
“Fake it?” Iresh snorted.
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“That might be possible.” Fred smiled at me as he stood up and sat beside me, leaving Dan with Meljasher.
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“How can we fake it again? What–make another chip and stick it in our skin?” Meljasher asked, making Dan push him away, “You dumbass! We can’t stick it in, that’s gay!” and Kurt just nodded like an NPC. These three bro…
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Faking it… Why did I think of that?
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Oh, now I remember, every time they scan us before entering the classroom, I saw that little X-ray thingy that showed our bones and the chip that was on our neck… which was... beneath the skin.
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Wait a damn minute.
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“Is there a tape as deep as our skin?” I asked, leaning in, but Fred is also leaning in… to me?!
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“We do,” he whispered in my ear. I scooted a bit away because of how awkward it is, but he scooted closer, leaning in more until our ears– “Here, this is as thick as our skin, medical tape.” Oh. He was reaching for the tape behind me.
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“Yoo, that was freaky.” Meljasher exaggerated, pointing at us. I took the tape and turned to Siam, but I could see Fred’s smirk. What the heck, dude.
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I began to unravel the tape, which is thick. Cool.
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I touched the soft outer of it, its sticky inner side, the thickness– “Could you stop caressing the poor shit?” I heard Siam say. Right.
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“So–uhm, I was thinking… maybe we can remove the chip and stick it in our skin and use the tape to cover it and then use… maybe make up?” I managed to voice out, I tried to sound as nervous as possible, which better worked.
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I watched as Fred and Dan exchanged glances, then at Siam, but Siam was looking at Meljasher and Kurt like they were about to tell on us.
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“I’ll try it.” Iresh stood up, with no hesitation, he took the tape from my hands and before I could speak, he pulled out a random pen from his ass and pierced his skin while opening the tape and took out the chip while his neck bled, he threw the pen on the ground as his blood stained the gravel, then taped the chip beside the wounded skin.
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Everyone grew quiet until Dan stood up, he placed his hands on Iresh’s shoulders and asked with a straight face. “Why did you have a pen up your ass?”
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“... It was in my pants’ back pocket…”
“You don’t have to hide anything from us; we still respect you, bro.” Kurt placed his hand on his chest like he was saying something inspirational.
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“IT WAS IN MY–”
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“You’re into that? Shi–me too–” Fred was cut off by another bunch of leaves shoved in his mouth by Iresh.
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“Let’s see if he dies or not.” Siam leaned, counting down seconds as she gazed at her watch.
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Iresh leaned back on a tree and spoke like his neck wasn’t bleeding as he ripped his shirt, wrapping the fabric around his neck to stop the bleeding.
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“The AI can also control the student council, so that means it’s 70 out of 30 percent chance that they’ll follow it. Josh is one of them, but he serves as the soon-to-be replacement if the current auditor dies,” he paused, looking at me.
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They’re surprised… but so am I. Is that why the AI spared me?
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But then he continued before I could speak, “And that four-eyed nerd Siam’s been looking at is the Vice President. If I were you, I’d avoid him at all costs.” He glared at her as if she were doing something that would destroy this whole plan… and she’s…
“I can’t deny that. But the chance of being able to get him on our side is still there.” She’s not denying it...?
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“But the chances of him being under the AI’s control are stronger! Your chances are low as hell!” He snapped at her, standing straight now.
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“The chances may be low, but never zero.”
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Her words only made him more irritated as he scratched his head and gritted his teeth. “Look, her miss know-it-all, I don’t give a shit if the chances aren’t fucking zero, what’s important is we’re safe than sorry!”
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She stood up, her face calm but her walk a bit aggressive, “Damn it, listen here, kid. Whatever happens, whether bad or good, I’ll take care of it. You follow whatever you guys' plan out, whatever Bernard does will be taken care of by me. Understood?”
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Everyone went quiet… And Kurt nodded like an NPC…again.
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and then Add to home screen.