"What are you doing here?" The next day, I had gotten a knock at the door from one of the people that I least expected to visit me. Adriana.

"I brought something for you." She held out a plastic bag, practically shoving it into my arms after I hesitated to take it. Even after I took the bag from her, I refused to open it, and opted to stand awkwardly and wait for her to speak.

She didn't speak, instead walking enough into my apartment that it would then be considered rude for me to kick her out. Smart.

"How's science?" I asked, stepping aside to let her walk in a bit more.

"It's good." Something else seemed to be on her mind as she spoke, for she looking around the apartment very curiously. I felt the need to distract her.

"Have you seen Nadia at all?" I knew the answer was a no. Nadia had been "relocated", according to Mrs. Greenstein, and Jacob said she hadn't been going to school.

"Why don't you sit down?" I was taken aback by the question. Adriana was standing next to the dining table now, gesturing solemnly for me to come over. Hesitantly, I walked over to her, sitting in one of the chairs.

That chair was a lot more uncomfortable than I remembered.

"Are you okay?" I had never seen Adriana as the super serious person, even though I really only saw her from afar.

"I'm fine, I just want to talk," she said, which only made me more freaked out. Setting the bag she gave me on the table, I braced myself for the worst.

"Shoot."

"You know what my parents' jobs are, correct?" The way she said it struck a nerve within me, as if her parents were some sort of famous couple. Either way, I didn't have much of a clue.

"They're like, sciency people, right?" I purposely tried to make sound as stupid as possible. I wished Nadia could've been there to serve as my buffer, but I knew it was probably my fault for not talking to Adriana in the first place.

"Well, yeah." It took Adriana a few seconds to decide what she wanted to say, which I took as a little victory. "They work for the government, though. Specifically, a segment that deals with Superhumans."

"If you're going to ask if I can volunteer myself for scientific research, I only have one question. Will it kill me?"

"Stay with me here, Giovanna. It's just that, my parents and I had an idea." Adriana looked like she was about to continue, but she stopped herself. "You can't tell anyone about this, by the way."

"Why not?" I arched my eyebrow, looking at her quizzically. A bad feeling was beginning to form in my stomach. Or, maybe I was just hungry.

"What if I told you, well, we're doing something illegal?" Adriana tensed up there, and she suddenly looked down instead of at me.

"No, I, I can't let you guys do something like that. You can't get in trouble because of me." I found myself looking away too, and it was then I needed to just get up. I walked towards the window, thinking of all the things that she might say.

"But we want to help." I heard a scuffing of a chair across the floor as Adriana spoke, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Her words were just making it all worse.

"Whatever you want to help with, it's not important." I looked out of the window, my mind going to another place. "How the hell did I let this all happen?"

"We want to help you be safe." I felt Adriana's hand on my shoulder, jumping slightly since I didn't know she was that close. "Isn't that important?"

"It isn't." I was beginning to get really agitated. Maybe trying to mess with Adriana wasn't such a good idea. "Can we just drop it? You barely even know me anyway."

"Why are you so afraid of doing anything?" Adriana spun me around, standing in my way so I wouldn't be allowed to walk past her. "Can't you see that you're hurting?"

"You're sounding too much like Nadia now." I found myself talking without thinking, and some of my words contradicted my own thoughts. "People have it worse than I do."

"That's bullshit and you know it."

"Adriana, I don't want to talk about this, please." I finally pushed her aside, albeit rougher than I wanted to. I sat down on the couch, pulling my knees up and looking away from her. My hand was shaking, and I was biting my lip so hard I wasn't surprised when I tasted iron.

"God, I," she paused for a moment. "I didn't mean to upset you, I'm just trying to help. But, whatever. I'll drop it. Did you see what I brought you?"

I shook my head. I listened to her walk slowly across the room, as I tried to steady my breathing. I hadn't realized, until then, that I had been holding it.

"Here." I let Adriana place the plastic bag in my lao, her hand on my shoulder as she sat down next to me. Slowly, I opened my bag, feeling Adriana's dark eyes gazing into my soul.

The first thing I pulled out of the bag was a sketchbook, plain and simple. The only adornment it had was the word "BELIEVE" written on the front in small, gold letters. The second thing was a pencil case, holding a bunch of pencils, a couple of markers, and a few other small things that I didn't really know the purpose of.

"Why?" Was all I had to say, finally looking at Adriana again.

"It's nothing. Just us trying to help you not die of boredom." It was her turn to look away now. Her hand moved away from my shoulder, and she shifted away from me. "Read the letter."

I reached into the bottom of the bag and pulled out a blue envelope, not sealed properly, but instead tucked into itself. My heart dropped as soon as I saw it.

Nadia always used the same blue envelopes.

My fingers shook as I untucked the flap of the envelope, pulling out a simple piece of folded lined paper. I opened up the paper, and began to read.

Gi, It began simply.

I miss you a lot. I don't think I've ever been away from you for this long. Greenstein's still visiting me though. Sucks without you as a buffer. I'm sorry that I left you and Adriana alone. Trust me, I do NOT want to be stuck here. I'm planning my escape as I write.

Though, I guess you wouldn't like that, would you?

Anyway, maybe you should get to know Adriana better. She may be more social than you, but you're just as cool as she is, I promise.

I'm planning on getting back to you two as soon as possible. Then, we'll be able to kick the world's collective ass, I assure you.

Love you,

Your favorite,

    Nadia :)

I folded the paper back up quickly, glancing at Adriana quickly to make sure she hadn't been looking. Adriana quickly cleared her throat.

"I haven't read it." Adriana looked a little stiff as she spoke, her voice coming out as if she had been rehearsing what to say as I had been reading.

"Um, well, thanks for bringing--" I began to say, but a loud, shuddering knock came at the door. "Wait one second."

I made sure to get to the door before the knocking tore it off of its hinges, since I was not letting my father pay both the impending bills and the security deposit because the door was broken.

"Good afternoon, Mister Lanock." I put on my bravest, most polite smile as I opened the door for the building's landowner. Extremely tall and strangely slender, I thought he was some sort of alien creature when I was little. I made the mistake of asking him once. Never again.

"For your father." He was precise in his words, which were few as always, as he handed me a bleach-white envelope, shut tightly with the strongest glue he had in his office. I nodded.

"I'll make sure he opens it as soon as he gets home from work, sir!"

"Too old. Too old to be talking like that." He gave me a strange once over, before trudging away to find his next victim, never saying goodbye.

"What a weirdo." Despite that comment, I still made sure to shut the door really fast. I looked back at Adriana, throwing the envelope on the nearest table. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to say, well, thank you."

"That stuff isn't a big deal, it's just, nevermind." Adriana stood up. "I need to get going."

"It's fine. I know you're a busy person." I tried to not sound sarcastic as I said that, but I knew it didn't work. "See you."

"Well, I hope you can go back to school soon. It'd be nice to have you back in science." Adriana smiled in a way that I knew she was lying. "Bye." That was the last thing she said before she hurried past me, and out of the door.

I stood in silence for a few moments, letting my thoughts flow through me. Nadia just told me to be nice to Adriana. Easy right? But, she didn't seem like she wanted to warm up to me. And, even if she did, she was trying to drag me into something that was wrong and she knew that I wasn't the warmest to that. With Nadia there, it may've been easier, but with just the two of us? Impossible.

After all, it's not like I was in that deep in trouble. I could handle myself, and survive in the system that has been laid out before me.

... right?