Join our cause...help fight the injustice in this society...with you working as an inside member, our revolution can change the whole of society.

Michael’s words from yesterday continuously repeated in her head.

Ailith stared dumbfounded at the food on her tray.

Alex waved a hand in front of her several times. “Ailith...Ailith.”

She looked up, snapped out of her trance..for now. “Sorry, what did you say?”

He seemed to hesitate. “Where were you last night?”

Trying to hide her surprise she replied, “I was at the dorms all night. What do you mean?”

He picked at his food. “I came in last night and you weren’t in your bed. I just thought…” He shook his head. “Nevermind.”

She leaned forward, looking around the room as if to tell him a secret. She beckoned to him and he leaned towards her. “Do you promise to keep this a secret?”

He nodded.

The lie tumbled out of her lips frighteningly easily. She sighed. “To be totally honest, the day was really tiring and I decided to take a stroll. But Clarice will scold me if she finds out so you have to promise to keep it a secret.” Ailith had learned from a young age that mixing part of the truth into the lie made the lie sound more convincing.

Alex leaned back into his chair looking slightly...disappointed?, but convinced. “I see. Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.”

Satisfied, Ailith loosed out a breath and smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“Yeah.” He returned his attention back to his food, fidgeting with today’s menu, spaghetti.

Their minds wandered to separate places and they finished their breakfast in silence.

Only once they started their walk down to the training room did it dawn on Ailith that Alex had also gone missing for the duration of the night as well. She turned to peer curiously at the boy next to her. She meant to ask where he had gone but got distracted looking him over. He looked different in the sun, not like the shy boy he had been yesterday but a stronger and more confident person.

Beautiful auburn curls seemed to bloom on his head and framed his lean face. And oh god..his eyes...his eyes... although she had never seen the ocean, she figured that if she was to ponder amidst the deepest depths of the sea, it would be the color of his eyes. It was a deep blue that turned even deeper the closer it got to the iris. His figure also seemed more lean and less of the scrawny boy that she had seen yesterday. Perhaps it was due to perspective... Overall, he looked magnificent. Yes, that was the only word that could be used to describe him.

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Ailith inwardly scoffed. These days, all the people around her were good looking.

Alex must've noticed her looking him over because the corner of his mouth twitched.

Embarrassed, Ailith turned her gaze elsewhere and walked faster. ‘I shouldn’t be embarrassed. I didn’t do anything wrong.’ Still, her strides became longer.

He laughed and ran to catch up with her.

Training was particularly gruesome that day. Either Alex had succeeded in managing to convince Evan to increase the training or Evan had been really pissed with Ailith yesterday. Either way, there was nothing she could do but try her best to keep up.

Alex breezed through it as usual.

‘Strange.’ she thought to herself. ‘Why does it seem as if Alex is experienced in this?’ but her thoughts were cut short as Evan approached her during her set.

He stopped in front of her, looking more devilish than usual.

Internally, Ailith was freaking out. ‘Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. He’s going to kill me after what I did yesterday.’

He opened his mouth to speak and Ailith flinched back a little. She prepared herself for his lecture when an alarm started blaring. It sounded distant at first but got louder and louder.

Evan shut his mouth and quickly glanced around the room before shouting, “Everyone get to the basement! Those suitable to fight, head to the roof!”

Confused, Ailith frantically got up. “What’s going on?” she tried grabbing some of the other trainees to ask but they shoved her off and ran towards the door. “What’s going on?” she screamed again, demanding answers from anyone who would so much as look at her.

From the chaos, a hand grabbed her elbow and whipped her around. She struggled to break free but stopped when she realized who it was.

Alex.

He said, “Follow me” and lead her out the door and down a staircase.”

“What’s going on?” she asked again.

He simply answered. “It’s just a drill.”

“For what?”

“Later.”

Ailith shut her mouth. In situations like these, it was better to stay silent.

Alex dragged her down, down down, into a basement. He sat her against a wall and comfortably positioned himself next to her.

She turned to him. “What the hell? What’s going on?”

He let out an exasperated sigh and rubbed his forehead. “The base gets attacked often by rebels so we have drills set up to prepare us for when it does happen. Considering half the people in the building are trained fighters, the qualified are sent to fight and the others are sent to the basement.”

It took a while for her to register this but she only replied, “We?”

Ailith laughed as Alexander frantically tried to correct his words. “They...they have drills set up.” Seeing her laugh, he trailed off and smiled back.

Ailith said through near tears. “Alex, you’ve been here for 2 days, same as me. We?” She burst into laughter again.

He laughed along with her until they got shushed by professors. There was nothing really funny to it but it felt nice for once to forget everything for a second and just...laugh.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Alex said once they managed to stop their hysterical laughing. “I’ve only been here for 2 days.”

They burst out laughing again.