Too Late To Save Time

I got into the school by the written and the physical test. It was easy, but what came after was more testing.

"Fallon Alexa Clearse, report to the Main office for your room number and schedule." Came the loudspeaker voice. I tried to manuever around the huge gymnasium(?) in betweeen all the kids and to the door.

"Lucas Kyle James, report to the Main office for your room number and schedule." The voice said again. Lucas joined me on my distorted path out of the crowded room.

When we finally got to the door we wandered around, trying to find the main office. The place was empty and the lights seemed dim, creating a completely creepy feel to the place. I wanted to grab Lucas's hand and hide behind his shoulder until we found the main office but instead I just crossed my arms and refused to look at him.

"Why do you hate me?" He asked out of nowhere. I didn't respond, and looked down a random corrider. Nothing there but lockers. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I glanced at Lucas, but then continued down another hallway. "Fallon-" He started.

"Because you annoy me." I cut him off. He silenced. I glanced over my shoulder at him and he had stopped and was staring at me. "You asked." I pointed out, going back and grabbing his arm so I could pull him forward. He slid his arm back until his hand was in mine.

Heat rushed through me like it had this morning, but I jerked away immediately. Lucas grabbed my hand again. I pulled it away and glared. He reached for my hand again.

"Stop it." I whined. He smirked, and reached for both my hands. I took a step back. Lucas took a step forward. I took another step back. He started chasing me. I spun around and ran, going down endless hallways to get away from him.

I started laughing as I heard his footsteps getting closer. His arms wrapped around my waist and he spun me around, my laughter echoing around us.

Then I had a flashback to when the old man had tried to......you know. My laughter ended suddenly and I tore myself away from Lucas, sitting down by the wall.

The smile faded from his face, and was replaced by concern. He sat next to me, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Please....don't." I said softly, trying to fight the tears that tried to spill over. His grip tightened and I whimpered in pain a little bit. Then Lucas wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into him, holding me tightly. I bit back the urge to cry and just let him hold me, pressing myself against him and wrapping my arms around his waist.

Lucas

I knew when I caught her I shouldn't have held onto her for so long, but I did anyways. Suddenly she tensed and pulled away from me, sitting by the wall.

I wanted her to just let me be her friend, at least for her let me touch her. I sat down next to her and put my hand on her shoulder gently, like Casey had done.

"Please...don't." She said softly. Anger bubbled inside me, and I gripped her shoulder tightly. Big mistake.

Fallon whimpered in pain, and instead of letting go and leaving her alone, like I have been doing, I pulled her into me and hugged her tightly. She didn't cry, but wrapped her arms around my waist and held me tighter.

Her face was against my chest, so I set my chin on the top of her head.

"You don't hate me do you?" I whispered. She smiled.

"Nice try, but I do." She said, pulling away. "You're just warm, and I'm freezing." Her smirk grew. I stared at the ground and she got up, extending her hand to me. "But I'm not a jerk." She said gently. I took her hand and got up, following her down the halls and finally getting to the main office.

The staff smiled at us, probably because she was holding my wrist. I wanted to tell them that it wasn't like that, out of regret, but I didn't want Fallon to hear it in my voice.

"Fallon? Lucas?" an elderly woman asked, tilting her head down to see us without her glasses. Fallon nodded. "I understand you two have come from the same house?" The woman inquired. I furrowed my eyebrows. How did she know that?

"Yes, I understand that you are like the government with your top secret, illegal to civilians, ways of finding information." She joked. The woman smiled.

"You are very smart Fallon. You two will be sharing a room because of all the especially talented children here this year. Unless you want to room with a group of boys, Fallon, because there are absolutely no places in the girls dorm." The woman said. Fallon tensed.

"If I was to room with a group of boys, could you tell me who those boys would be?" She asked. The woman nodded once and pulled out a book of complicated graphs and lines. I wanted Fallon to room with me, just like she had every nigth in Claire's house.

"Fallon, you could either stay with Blake Bright, Hunter Laine, and Trevor Nightly. Or Mason Taverne, Oliver Jainl, and Aaron King" Fallon slumped a tiny bit, but then straightened.

"Thank you, but I think I'll stay with Lucas." She requested. The woman dipped her head. I looked down at the floor in attempt to hide my smile, and realized Fallon was still holding onto my wrist, and she was playing with the palm of my hand.

Electric shots went through me every time her long fingers touched my palm, and if she knew then she was taking advantage of me completely. Her hand dropped a little and she rubbed lopsided circles in the center of my palm with her pinky finger. Her touch was light and distracted, but the fact that she didn't pull her hand away as soon as she had to just made me wonder.

"Here are your keys, I hope you have a good time here at the Academy." I nodded and the woman handed us each our keys. She turned around to do her work and Fallon turned back to me.

"C'mon. We have to search for our room now." She said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes in response and she pulled me down more endless halls, her hand finally falling into mine.

I wanted her to like me, but she had said it herself, she just accepted my hug because she was cold. But then why had she hugged me tighter to her? And why had she been playing with my hand in the office?

Then I realized something.

She was warm when I hugged her, not a cold place on her. And now her fingers were intertwined with my own as she pulled me down the maze of a school.