Mum wasn't home, thank God. The last thing I needed was the waterworks coupled with emotional head smacks and shoe throws from her that I'll have to awkwardly elude for coming home late.

   This loneliness in my home gave me the opportunity to gaze around when I had been born and bred like it was the first time. I was currently standing in a small kitchen with just enough room to accommodate a medium sized table with two chairs.

   The living room was spacious enough to accommodate three mini couches and an ancient coffee table at the centre they formed.

   The two bedrooms and one bathroom could be found upstairs as well as the miniature attic that led to the roof.

   And of course the tiny garage/laundry room turned into my recreation/comic book room.

   I hated myself for believing how this was not going to be enough for Dorian, Aarav and Camila. They were probably ecstatic to get a glimpse into the life of the underprivileged scholarship student like the other Zavolonians for all the wrong reasons.

   After definitely thinking they were good people because they felt sympathy for me, they were going to back to their Avenger Headquarters-like houses for homes and get to talking about how my situation made them feel.

   They were probably going to compare my house to those they had only seen on the news or really old newspapers. It was just really upsetting to think about—

   The knowing creak of the kitchen door broke my train of thought.

"Honey! My welcome kiss, dear? I'm waitingggg!" Talise announced as she walked through the kitchen door.

   For once, I wasn't adverse to the 1950s male voice impression Tali had nailed just like the many others she could do.

"Beth-whoa! Okay." Her tone switched to shock when I suddenly rushed over to give her a huge hug.

   Clinging unto her with all the force I could muster would've been a surprise to even me on any other day. I couldn't ignore how this time, however, she remained one of the few things that was relatively normal in my life. She represented every situation that wasn't crazy or alien-infested.

"What's the occasion?" she chuckled as we pulled away.

"You haven't come over in a week." I shrugged. "You kind of asked for it."

"Uh...thanks?"

"So what's new?"

"The reason I've been swamped this week," she replied. "Principal Glenny has finally understood what a waste detention is and knows the uselessness of a suspension. Since I've not done anything expulsion worthy, he can't bark up that tree so he made a decision believed to make my 'abilities' productive. I'm officially a member of one of Rigdeton High's school clubs."

"But they all suck!" I laughed. "I spent less than a week in the scrabble club."

"Don't remind me." She grumbled.

"Dirty words earned you more points." I shook my head.

"I'd still pick that over the debate club though. Those snobbish airheads." She scoffed. "Anyway, the AV club was full and glee club is just...ugh."

"So which didn't you find repulsive enough to be a part of?"

The ignited sparkle in her eye at my question instilled sinister chills down my spine. Was I sure I could handle whatever her response may be?

"My very own!" she cheered, jumping up and down. "I mean, he didn't say I couldn't."

"You're not breaking any rules as far as I'm concerned." I agreed.

"Oh and get this," She grabbed my arm in her fit of excitement. "I've already recruited two members!"

"That's great! I'm so proud of you, Talise! Anyone I might know?" Although Tali was probably the only student in Ridgeton High who still remembered me, that didn't mean I had blocked out all my memories of the people and moments in my first high school.

"Yeah, actually. Remember Ducky Chucky?"

"Landon Charles?" I inquired with raised brows.

"Yeah, you know, got that name from running in that weird arms way?"

"I got it, Tali." I said, holding down her hands to stop her from acting out the run she had just described. "Didn't his dad's new job take him and his family to Germany? Year Seven, right?"

"Yeah, but they came back last year or earlier this year? ... I don't know. Landon re-enrolled into Ridgeton around the time you left Ridgeton actually. And my other member is Spencer Davies. She's new."

"Cool. So what's this club about?"

    Her enthusiasm for this club was making me a thousand times more curious... and a bit worried, I'll admit.

"I should've led with that." She grinned. "We don't have an official name or anything yet, but we do basic coding and programming stuff and are willing to teach whoever asks. We'll also try our best to take down and retrieve any personal info of anyone that was shared without their consent."

"That's amazing! It's nice to see you put your skills to legal use."

"Wait, you actually believe that?" She chuckled. "Then I can't wait to see the look on Glenny's face when he swallows it whole!"

"What are you really doing, Talise?" I sighed.

"We're still going to do the stuff I said, it just includes other stuff on the DL," she said. "It's all for a good cause I promise."

"Stuff like?" I pressed.

   Maybe I shouldn't have asked to know more. Great, now I was an accomplice in whatever horrors occurred eventually.

"Taking those self-proclaimed assholes of students in Ridgeton down a peg or two by sharing personal certain things they might not really want others to know. That'll teach them."

"But that would make you guys downright hackers!" I bellowed.

"Shh!" She moved her hand to cover my mouth. "Oh my God, could you just keep it down?"

"We're in my house." I withheld a face palm at her paranoid antics. "Literally no one else can hear us."

"What my club is doing is what people would call hacktivism. We are hacktivists, Beth. What do you think the superhero Cyborg is?" She snapped.

"Let me see," I feigned a thoughtful expression as I tapped my chin. "He's a human-cyborg being who doesn't use his abilities to leak some horny teenager's search history to the whole school like you guys plan on doing."

"Hey, listen, I've got to go." Tali rose her head from the focus on her phone. I was just going to convince myself she had been listening to my rant all along. "The club's got a virtual meeting in a few. Our first victi— person is already under evaluation. And don't worry, Spencer has made sure we could detect any foreign interferences from potential hackers. Everything is going totally safe."

"I hope you're right."

"So how was everything when you guys returned to Zavlon after the outbreak on Liberation Week?" she asked.

"It," I tried to chug the rotten guilt that came with lying to your best friend. "It was pretty normal. But that wasn't too surprising since they did mention what had occurred wasn't more serious than a common cold. We still have to wear a mask all the time though which could be pretty depressing. How did those who had to wear this thing 24/7 during the time of the actual virus survive, honestly?"

Now I was even scared at how I was rambling so much blatant bullshit per second.

"Sounds... depressing."

"It's not so bad." I shrugged to hide my quivering shoulders.

"Well, " Her deadpan expression moved to her phone. "I'll see you later then."

"Okay." I nodded, walking her to the door.

   The repressed air I had been restraining for a record period burst through my nostrils the minute I shut the door behind Talise.

   People like my mum, Tali and Mr. Shin were the ones running through my mind when I decided to take the risk to follow up on Mr Sacury's message. It was ironic how doing so was now going to be the very thing that put their lives in danger if any of them had even the slightest idea of what was going on. I had to make sure I could keep them as far away from this as possible.

   Even if it involved being the two-faced villain for a while.

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PUBLISHED 5th OCTOBER, 2021.