"And that, students, concludes our class. I hope you all have understood thoroughly." Said Professor Sienna, shoving her makeup supplies into her bag and swinging it over her shoulder. "I will be leaving you early today, as I have some work to finish, but I do hope you choose to make the most out of your time." She hurried out of the room, and as soon as the door closed behind her, everyone started getting up and forming their little groups, chit-chatting about useless gossip like always. I turned around and found Fatima walking over to me, her new red heels clicking on the floor. Somehow, she seemed to have a new pair of shoes to wear every single day.

"So, what do you say? Should we grab an early lunch?" She asked, checking her Receiver. "We've got an extra 15 minutes."

"Sure," I replied, grabbing my bag and following her to the door. Maybe if we ate fast, I could finally talk to Raiker properly. As soon as I thought I was getting closer to figuring him out, he turned all confusing again. I wasn't going to let him slip away from me this time. Especially not after he knew so much about me.

I was so caught up in thinking about Raiker that I barely noticed that he himself was standing right in front of me; not until I banged right into him, sending my bag flying.

"Cra-" I cut myself off, biting my tongue and reaching down to get my bag. I straightened up and muttered a quick apology, my cheeks turning pink.

"Sorry about that. It's not the first time it's happened, is it?"

"Nope. But it's always a pleasure to bump into you, Aisa," he said, wearing his signature half-smile. He was too used to my clumsiness by now.

"Wow, Raiker," commented Fatima, sighing. She was clearly not falling for his smooth-talking.

"Anyway, Fatima and I were about to grab an early lunch. Would you like to join us?" I asked.

"Of course," he answered. "But I thought Fatima had a meeting with her etiquette professor during lunch today. The one she was telling me about yesterday, remember?" He looked at Fatima, who seemed like she just snapped out of a daze. My eyebrows crinkled as I interjected, "When did she tell you-"

"Oh right! That meeting. It completely slipped my mind. I don't want to be late," she said quickly. "Aisa, Raiker will accompany for you today, if that's alright? I really should get going now." And with that, she zoomed out of the hallway. I rounded on Raiker, finishing my question.

"When did she tell you about a meeting? You two barely know each other."

Raiker let out a soft, almost dismissive, chuckle. "Aisa, Aisa, always so curious. Fatima and I had a little task to do yesterday, and she mentioned it then."

What task? Why would she mention it? But Raiker's expression was so confident and reassuring it was hard to doubt him; even after all the lying he had done to me earlier. "Alright, then, should we get going?"

"As you wish, Aisa."

***

Lunch passed quickly and more smoothly than usual; without Zander and Fatima at our table, things seemed to flow a lot better between me and Raiker. Before I knew it, we were handing our trays to the workers and walking up the huge staircase; which my legs were finally getting accustomed to. I glanced over at him, running his slender hand over the railing as he trudged up alongside me, a few wispy curls of hair falling onto his forehead. My heart twisted unexpectedly, and suddenly my brain was buzzing with questions about him, as if looking at him triggered some sort of strange force which started pushing the questions from the back of my mind to the front where they struggled to get out, fizzing and bubbling like soda compressed in too small of a bottle. I tore my eyes away from him, but the questions continued to swirl in my brain, to the point where I could no longer ignore them. I'd been wanting to ask him them for so long, but I'd never thought it was the right time. But he already seemed to know so much about me; and I knew so little about him.

"Raiker?" I began hesitantly. He turned to look at me, and the same feeling was back; except with more pressure. The desire to finally understand him more had overtook me so suddenly; it had washed over me earlier like a wave lapping onto shore, but now was as strong as a tsunami about to devour a town. What was happening to me? It felt like the only way to escape this feeling was to ask; I couldn't hold off any longer. I lowered my voice to a whisper and continued. "I was wondering...do you really believe what they teach you?"

For a moment, he looked completely confused; but within seconds he had arranged his face back into its regular half careless, half amused look. "Why the sudden curiosity, Aisa? I thought you would have come to your own conclusions about that."

I swallowed, my eyes darting away. Should I respond with my own doubts? Or should I give him his answer? Just as I opened my mouth, I noticed the security cameras, dangling from the ceiling and capturing every angle of the room. I met his eyes. "I think it would be better to talk somewhere else. Your room, perhaps?"

He nodded in agreement, grabbing my hand and leading me towards it. He threw open the door and settled into his chair, leaving me to sit on the edge of his bed. His room was simple and neat; no pictures with friends or family were hung up, and his belongings didn't scatter every surface of the room (much to my surprise). Plain white sheets covered his bed, matching perfectly with the plain white walls. It was nothing like I expected.

"So, Aisa, you were going to say?" He was gazing at me with a mixture of curiosity, seriousness, and amusement at the same time; an expression I didn't think anyone but him could pull off.

I nodded slowly. "I guess I have got a slight idea. But why come to the Superiot at all if you don't care about what they teach here?"

He wrung his hands together in his lap, looking down at them as he said, "It's quite simple, actually. I came because I want to stay Superior."

I raised my eyebrows. I don't think he realized exactly how much I'd been analyzing his personality, trying to figure him out as if he were a mystery to be solved piece by piece. I didn't believe the answer for a second. "I thought it would have been different."

At this he looked up, his eyes meeting mine. "Different? How?"

I licked my lips, which suddenly felt dry. Was I invading his personal space by asking all of this? Or was I just jumping to illogical conclusions about him? "You don't seem to me like the kind of person who would care if they were Superior, Median, or Inferior. That's all."

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes still on me. "You observe a lot, don't you?"

I ignored his comment, cutting to the point. "You still haven't answered my question, you know."

He smiled. "Oh, I know. But you see, Aisa, there are some things that just can't be shared so early. I don't want to lie to you. So I'm hoping you'll understand and leave it alone, for now, at least."

There was a small silence. It looked like I hadn't gained his full trust yet. But I couldn't help but wonder if anyone ever gained his full trust. Something was a little off about his tone; it was light but at the same time serious, almost like a warning; probably so he could get me to back off. He was a master at subtle implications. "It's better than lying," I said finally.

"Glad you think so, Aisa." He paused, glancing at his watch before speaking again. "Now that my little interrogation is over-"

"I wasn't trying to interrogate you," I interrupted, wondering how my tone had come off. Unlike Raiker, I couldn't always make my tone send the message I wanted.

"I'm teasing, Aisa, relax," he chuckled. "But speaking of which, I think it's only fair for me to ask you the same question."

"What? You want to know why I joined the Superiot?" He nodded. "Don't you think I just joined for the status?"

"Not anymore," he answered confidently. "There's more to you than meets the eye, Aisa."

"Same with you. Maybe even more than me."

And the silence settled in again; a comforting silence, not awkward, almost as if it was a blanket covering up everything that we didn't want the other to know. Instinctively, my mind flashed back to Zander, and how whatever silences there were between us were always awkward. When I was around him, if someone wasn't talking, the conversation was stunted, turning the atmosphere around us almost tense. Why had I never noticed that before? I'd come to believe that any silence between two people was awkward; no matter how close the people. It was only now that I realized I was wrong.

With Raiker, there was no pressure to keep the conversation going. For a long time, we were both silent, our heads heavy with thoughts, with the words we exchanged, and the ones that remained unspoken.

A sudden sound cut through the silence, and Raiker, slightly startled, reached into his pocket and pulled out his Receiver.

"Who is it?" I asked as a small smile spread across his face.

"Nobody you should be worried about," he answered, standing up. "Sorry Aisa, but I kinda need to go now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay then," I said, wishing I had the courage to say a little something more. This was nice. The words almost escaped my mouth, but as soon as I caught a glimpse of the contact on the blue screen of his Receiver, they died on my lips. Fatima Ahmed. My heart sank, and something inside of me seemed to crumple like paper as I remembered the smile on his face when he read her message, and the secret nighttime meeting he had with her. Who else could it have been? He would never think of me as more than a friend. Maybe not even that.

"Bye, Aisa," he called, a heart wrenchingly beautiful smile splitting his face as he closed the door behind him.

It was only later, after I had reached my own dorm, nestled inside of my comforter that it hit me.

In our entire conversation, neither of us had answered any of each other's questions.