Page 55 of Surge

Chapter Eighteen

After a weekend of eating too much ice cream and watching the video on my phone from the swimming meet on repeat, a few things had become clear to me: they were on some crazy type of performance enhancers, or they weren't human.

I found myself giggling like a mad woman anytime I thought about them being something other than human. Humans were it. There were no other lifeforms with our level of intelligence.

Or was there?

I didn't want to believe what I had seen in the aquatic center. It could have just been my nerves playing tricks on me. It had been so dark that when Morgan had looked at me, his eyes had flashed to something non-human. Unless it was just a trick of the light or a side effect of taking drugs.

Things were too quiet at school on Monday. I'd come to anticipate something happening and was on edge. I was pretty sure I was developing an ulcer; my stomach was constantly in knots.

Added to that was having to go to yearbook. Every Monday we did a debrief of any photographs taken from the week before and shared the best shots with staff. I had considered sharing the video on my phone, but I didn't have enough evidence to accuse them of anything yet.

As soon as I entered the room, I walked over to Mr. Garcia, who was already powering up his computer and connecting the projector.

"Mr. Garcia. There was an accident over the weekend with the camera." I kept my voice low so no one would hear me. He looked up and waited for me to continue. "I was chased after the swim meet on Saturday night and I dropped the bag. It was run over."

"Chased?" The room behind me fell silent and I felt all eyes on me. "We can always send it to the repair shop."

I pulled the camera bag out of my bag and opened it. "I'm afraid it's damaged beyond repair."

He took the bag from me and looked inside. "This is our best and most expensive camera, Riley."

I guess he had missed the part about me being chased. "I know. I... they were going to hurt me."

He put the camera off to the side and looked up at me. "Did the surveillance get them?"

"The cameras were conveniently rebooting." I turned and looked over my shoulder at Jax. He was sitting with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at me. I turned back to Mr. Garcia. "I identified them though."

"Did you press charges?"

I twisted my mouth to the side. "No. They said being chased wasn't a crime."

"I can find out how much a replacement would cost and see if we have enough money in our funds to replace it."

"Thank you. I-"

"Mr. Garcia, shouldn't she have to pay for the camera since her negligence broke it? That money is supposed to be to update old equipment." Ashley needed to shut up and go away.

I didn't take my eyes off Mr. Garcia. "I'll take that under consideration. Go sit down. We need to get started."

I kept my eyes down as I went to my computer and sat down. Tory nudged me. "Are you okay?"

"No."

If I had to pay for the camera, I was going to have to start selling furniture.

* * *

"Where's my car?"I stared at the empty space where I had parked my car. "This is where I parked it, isn't it?"

Ivy stood next to me and looked around. I had parked right next to her like I normally did. "Do you think they could have..."

I didn't know what to think. So far, the things they'd done to me had been childish. Stealing my car would be stooping to a new low.

"There's only one way to find out." I turned back toward the school with Ivy hot on my heels.

I was angrier than I had ever felt. If I'd had my knife, there was no telling what I'd have done with it. I stopped short and Ivy almost bumped into me.

---