Page 72 of Silver Elite

She reaches across the table and takes my hand, squeezing it. “I’ll help you,” she says firmly. “An hour of studying before lights-out every night.”

Her expression is so earnest it triggers a pang of guilt. Now I feel like a jerk.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. You’re…” Her cheeks turn a little pink. “I know I’m being presumptuous. We don’t know each other well yet, and you probably don’t even view me as a friend—”

“I do,” I assure her, and it’s not entirely a lie. In here, I would certainly call her my closest ally.

“I consider you a friend, too. You’re funny. And you’re smarter than you think. You’re a fast learner—look how much better your marksmanship is getting.”

Sure, because it’s difficult to be incompetent. There’s a fine line between looking bad at something and looking like you’re deliberately sabotaging.

“I don’t want you to get cut. That means we need to get you studying, girl. One hour, every night. Keen?”

“Keen,” I say, and her whole face lights up. At the notion ofhelpingme. God, I wish I could dislike her, but I really don’t.

Kaine and Lash join us, setting down their trays. From the Psycho Brigade table, I feel Kess’s murderous eyes boring into the side of my head.

It brings me great pleasure that the bruising on her face still hasn’t faded. Her skin was black and purple the day after I attacked her.When the medics set her nose and sent her back to the bunks, I expected retaliation that night. She would try to smother me in my sleep. Drag me out of bed and hold me down while Anson did all the revolting things he imagines doing to me in his head.

But nothing happened. I don’t know if the instructors warned her against it or if she’s simply biding her time, but I’m not foolish enough to believe that Kess is going to let this slide.

“Well?” Kaine asks us.

“Eighty-eight,” Lyddie says, then blushes when he answers, “Nice job, Lyds.”

“I’m failing,” I tell the guys and bite into a piece of bread.

Kaine grins. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to get cut on purpose.”

I freeze. “Of course not. Why would I ever do that?”

“Oh, I know you’re not. You need to prove yourself to the higher-ups. But damn, cowgirl, you can’t pass a test to save your life.”

“Lyddie’s going to help me study,” I say, affecting a defensive tone.

Lash sits in silence as always. He rarely involves himself in our conversations unless they’re about politics, and I try to avoid those at all costs. But he does have strong opinions when you get him going.

Betima joins us next, settling in the chair next to Kaine’s. “What are you doing with your leisure pass this weekend?” she asks everyone.

Kaine shrugs. “Don’t know yet. Maybe drink myself stupid to make up for this week.”

He’s not the only recruit who’s been grumbling about the base’s imposed limits on alcohol intake. We can use our credits to buy booze at the commissary, but we’re only allowed to drink in the common room, and only on the weekends.

Me, I don’t care about getting drunk, and this is the first I’m hearing about a leisure pass.

“We get a leisure pass?” I say, unable to fight a twinge of hope. This could be it. My shot to escape. They’ll have a hard time tracking me once I leave the base.

“It’s a Sunday pass. Came in on our source.” Lyddie wrinkles her brow. “I had to scan my thumb to activate it. You didn’t get one?”

Suspicion tightens my throat. I grab my source. “Where was it?”

“In the comm folder.”

I open the folder and…there’s nothing.

“My folder is empty.”

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