The academy has kept us isolated so we couldn’t run. But they didn’t count on my skill to make really awesome friends. And they didn’t count on our ability to fight back.
“What if we don’t wait?” Marcella whispers. I turn to her, my heart kicking up its beats.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“We can leave tonight,” she suggests, lowering her voice. “We call Jackson to pick us up. Then we run. We run because we’re not staying here to let Anton put us through impulse control therapy again. We’re not letting the Guardian puts his disgusting hands on you again.”
“I don’t have a way to talk to Jackson,” I say. “I have his number, but the phone in the hall doesn’t work. And I imagine they’ve locked the communications room.”
“The Guardian,” Brynn says, widening her eyes. “I think he has a phone. I’ve seen him use it on our field trips. It’s probably in his room.”
I look at Sydney, and although we’re quiet, we know that we have to get to that phone.
“Just after dinner,” Brynn says. “The Guardian is never around.”
“He’s been helping Dr. Groger in the evenings,” Marcella agrees. “You’ll have some time.”
It’s a terrifying thought—sneaking around in the Guardian’s room. Going through his things. But what other choice do we have? This might be it.
“Will that work?” I ask Sydney. Reluctantly, she nods.
Brynn reaches her hand into the center of the table, and all of us reach out, gripping each other. I don’t want to let go, strengthened by their touch, but we don’t hold on too long. We can’t draw attention.
“We run tonight,” Marcella whispers. “We run for each other.”
I agree, and the other girls nod, including Annalise. We’ll stick together no matter what.Codependent, I think Anton called it. But it’s not. It’s our strength.
•••
We’re not allowed to meet together in our rooms anymore, so all of our conversations are had in passing, comments in the hallways, nods and winks in the classrooms.
I try not to feel anything but bravery. When Professor Allister calls Sydney worthless for missing a question about the Federal Flower Garden, slapping his pointer stick on her desk to scare her, I clench my fist in my lap. It’s clear to me that the professors are out of control now, all oftheirdecorum gone.
They hate us passionately. They despise us because they know we hate them too. We don’t look up to them. We have no interest in their mediocrity.
We think they’re disgusting. We think they’re perverted and stupid and cruel. And without our admiration, we’re nothing to them.
But the truth is, without our admiration,they’renothing.
Of course, there are some logistical issues with running away. We have no money, no identification. And even if we go to the authorities about what’s happening here, what proof do we really have? My memories? Files that are locked away in Anton’s office? What’s to stop the academy from telling them we’re the problem? That we’re lying?
The academy can take everything from us, because as Professor Penchant once put it when criticizing Ida in class, “No one listens to little girls anyway.”
But we’ve agreed that we’ll find out who else knows about Innovations Academy—the people Anton accused of spreading lies. Maybe they’re the people who can help us. We’ll expose what’s happening here. The whole school. We’ll spare none of them.
“Grab any money you have in your rooms,” I tell the girls as we walk in the hallway between classes. “And only bring a backpack. We have to travel light.”
“It’s too risky to leave before lights-out,” Marcella adds. “We’ll get a longer window if we leave at night.”
All the movies about men that they make us watch are proving to be useful when it comes to escaping the grips of other men.
“But how will we get outside?” Brynn asks.
We pause at the fountain while I take a drink. “The drawer in the kitchen has a bunch of keys,” I whisper with the water against my lips. “Even one to the lab.”
“Valentine,” Sydney says, sadly. I straighten up, wiping my hand across my mouth.
Our friend is missing, and we might have the chance to save her—we acknowledge that, not sure if it’ll work, but we don’t brush it aside. We know that she’d come for us.
